Category Archives: Uncategorized

Jan 13 2017
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Open the Door

A quinceañera is a celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday.  This major life cycle event originated in Latin America but is now observed by many Hispanic families wherever they may be living. It is much more than a birthday party. It marks the transition from childhood to womanhood. This rite of passage should sound familiar. In many ways, it reflects the same values as a bat mitzvah. In addition to a big party and celebration, it includes a variety of different rituals that date back over 2000 years.
We are hosting a quinceañera at our temple soon. As it turns out, it is not for a temple family – at least not the way we traditionally define a ‘temple family.’ Rather it is an offering of love that we are co-hosting with The Second Step, an organization that fosters the safety, stability, and well-being of survivors of domestic violence. When our partners at The Second Step told us that a family with a 15-year-old daughter had to flee their home, that there was no way the mom could celebrate her girl’s quinceañera, then our role was clear. Our door is open, and the lights are shining.
When we began to explore what our work might be when we agreed to focus on social justice for victims of domestic violence, we imagined all kinds of activities and programs. We envisioned helping fleeing families by getting them the necessities of life: cookware, food, and clothing. We figured that we could get various gift cards from places like Target or Wal-Mart and then give them to victimized women. They would then have autonomy to choose the dish things they wanted without anyone demanding what they must buy, which is a hallmark of domestic violence perpetrators. We anticipated programming for our kids and our adults so that they would learn that domestic violence is as prevalent among the affluent as it is among the needy. Most of all we wanted to create a congregation willing to actively respond to the scourge of domestic violence – no bystanders allowed.
What we didn’t expect was a call to decorate the boardroom with pink ribbons and miniature Eiffel towers. What we didn’t anticipate was enabling a family of another faith and culture to find a safe, secure, loving place to mark a lifecycle event every bit as big as a bat mitzvah.
I imagine that 20 or 30 years ago we might not have so readily jumped to co-host this celebration. After all, it’s not Jewish. We’d help find a place. We’d donate some supplies. But such an event was not in our purview.
But the times, they are a changin’… When someone needs us, we are duty-bound to respond. We are not on earth to merely look out for our own. We are all connected, one to the other. Those who oppose such truth are always looking for how we are different rather than acknowledging how closely we are allied to the other. In the dialectical scrum between particularism vs. universalism, we postmodern Reform Jews are constantly trying to achieve a balance between the two. More and more, we seem to lean toward opening our arms and our hearts and the door of our temple. This does not diminish our Jewishness. In fact, I’d be willing to go to the mat for the claim that a quinceanera enhances our Judaism. We share our love with the other who then becomes a partner.
  Magda Trocmé, the wife of the local minister of a little French town, explained how it was that a French village saved over 3500 Jews during the Holocaust. She wrote, “Those of us who received the first Jews did what we thought had to be done-nothing more complicated. It was not decided from one day to the next what we would have to do. There were many people in the village who needed help. How could we refuse them? A person doesn’t sit down and say I’m going to do this and this and that. We had no time to think. When a problem came, we had to solve it immediately. Sometimes people ask me, “How did you make a decision?” There was no decision to make. The issue was: Do you think we are all brothers or not? Do you think it is unjust to turn in the Jews or not? Then let us try to help!”
In the months and years ahead, we will need to make all kinds of alliances with others, people whose culture and faith may diverge from ours, but whose values for diversity and plurality are like our own. We need each other: it’s as simple as that.
Madame Trocmé’s intention must be our credo: “Let us try to help.” A quinceañera at Temple Beth Avodah? Absolutely. If not now, when?
Dec 16 2016
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Answering In the Form of a Question

On Rosh Hashanah, I talked at length about questions. Specifically, I discussed that we stop asking them. The world goes by at a blistering speed, and we watch it all blur by. We spend an inordinate amount of time trying to focus on what it is we’re seeing, but by the time our eyes adjust, it’s all in the rearview mirror.

While there isn’t any sign of a change in the rapid pace of our lives, we can do something – several things – to offset the whirlwind. That is, we can live more mindfully. Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you’re mindful, instead of letting your life pass you by, you live in the moment and awaken to experience.There are so many means to that end. Yoga is a great practice for quieting the pace of one’s life. Meditation is another spiritual practice that can profoundly assist in feeling more centered.

Another way to achieve a measure of mindfulness is to ask questions. Not yes or no questions. Not what restaurant to go to, or where the best Chinese food is in Newton. I’m talking about substantive questions that force you to stop and ponder, questions that make you pull over and get out of the fast lane.

This essential value of asking questions is attested to in a story about the Nobel laureate in physics, Isador Rabi. His dear friend, Arthur Sackler, an American psychiatrist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, once asked his friend, ‘Why did you become a scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer or businessman, like the other immigrant kids in your neighborhood?” Rabi’s answer? ”My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: Nu? Did you learn anything today?’ But not my mother. ‘Izzy,’ she would say, ‘did you ask a good question today?’ That difference – asking good questions -made me become a scientist!”

I told that story on Rosh Hashanah, and I love it. It reminds me that the value of inquiry is priceless. It challenges me to frontload more on the question side. As Rabi attests, questions made him more mindful, more inwardly focused.

What follows here are some questions for you to ask over the next week or two. Pose them at the dinner table. Bring them up on the long ride to Sunday River. Ask anyone to join you: kids, partner, work people, parents: just ask questions!

 

  1. What is something you would love to learn more about? Why?
  2. What is a skill you do not possess, but wish that you did?
  3. Who were three great teachers in your life?
  4. What is the last book you read, from cover to cover? If you can’t remember, why don’t you read more?
  5. What’s the next book you plan to read?

Enjoy pondering these questions. Ask them and watch what happens! If you’d like to engage with me over these questions, by all means, email me and we can dialog in virtual time.

One last thing. If you like this format, share some of your questions; I’ll share them with the congregation.

rebhayim

 

 

Dec 09 2016
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Godspeed, John Glenn

One of the most extraordinary concepts I ever learned about was outer space. From the second grade on,  I loved books and pictures and maps and graphs about the solar system. I suppose it was the pre-dinosaur child’s obsession. I was hooked!
I was captivated by the notion of so many stars and planets out there. I just couldn’t believe that there was a planet called Saturn with actual rings. Scientists say that the rings are made of dust, rock, and ice accumulated from passing comets, meteorite impacts on Saturn’s moons, and the planet’s gravity pulling material from the moons. But no one seems to know to this day, why they’re there. Then there was giant Jupiter, not to mention tiny Pluto. Oh and regarding Pluto, I don’t care what anyone says, I will always call it a planet!
When a Russian cosmonaut actually flew into outer space, it was truly mind blowing! In 1961, Yuri Gagarin reached the outer limits of the Heavens. I didn’t immediately understand the political ramifications. It didn’t matter to me who got there first. The fact was that a human being had flown into space and made it home to tell us all about it.
It didn’t take long for me to begin to absorb all the cold war rhetoric about conquering outer space. The push to the stars had a distinct competitive edge, and neither President Kennedy nor Premier Nikita Khrushchev lost sight of that truth. It wasn’t about space: it was about global dominance. And while the Russians obviously had the initial edge, the USA opened the treasury and spent whatever they needed to win.
Who would be the great gladiator leading us into space? Who could counter Russian arrogance with American pride and ingenuity? John Herschel Glenn, thank you very much! Glenn entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in March 1942. He graduated and was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1943. After advanced training, he joined Marine Fighter Squadron 155 and spent a year flying F-4U fighters in the Marshall Islands. He flew 59 combat missions during World War II.

After the war, he was a member of Marine Fighter Squadron 218 on the North China patrol and served on Guam. From June 1948 to December 1950 he served as an instructor in advanced flight training at Corpus Christi, Texas. He then attended Amphibious Warfare Training at Quantico,VA.

In Korea, he flew 63 missions with Marine Fighter Squadron 311. As an exchange pilot with the Air Force Glenn flew 27 missions in the F-86 Sabre. In the last nine days of fighting in Korea, Glenn shot down three MiGs in combat along the Yalu River.

Glenn attended Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Test Center. After graduation, he was project officer on a number of aircraft. He was assigned to the Fighter Design Branch of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (now Bureau of Naval Weapons) in Washington from November 1956 to April 1959. During that time he also attended the University of Maryland.
Glenn was as clean cut a guy as NASA could find. His Eagle Scout sincerity, his smile, his traditional Midwestern values, and his combat record made him the perfect standard bearer for the US space program. He was the right man at the right time.
The book, by Thomas Wolfe, and movie of the same name, The Right Stuff, points out just how straight arrow a Marine Glenn could be. Compared to some of the other first astronauts, who did a lot of carousing and test pilot extreme behaviors, Glenn was a regular stick-in-the-mud. But he was an utterly sincere stick-in-the-mud.
I was awestruck by John Glenn. I remember the broad, brave smile glowing through his helmet. I remember his calm and steady voice even as he considered the possibility that he would burn up upon reentry due to a faulty heat shield. I remember the enormous sense of relief I felt when he appeared on the deck of the destroyer, the USS Noa.
Looking back now at that moment, I feel a sharp pang of nostalgia. I was a kid inspired by a young, dynamic president who helped to open the way to what Kennedy called the New Frontier. My uncle and aunt were among the first to join the Peace Corp, an expression of the New Frontier. There seemed to be so much in store for me. The world was my oyster. And then, with this hero, John Glenn, leading us into the future, I thought anything was possible.
What followed was so disillusioning. Assassinations, riots, Vietnam, the Generation Gap, racism, misogyny, and on and on. There’s not a lot of room for heroes anymore. I still have a few, but they’re nothing like the heroes of my youth.
Does anyone grow up and not look back with sadness? Does every generation believe that things didn’t work out the way they were supposed to work? Do the visions of childhood usually end up crashing against the rocks of the unknown?
I don’t have any explanations for why so many of our dreams evaporated. I want to believe that young children can still find people whose lives set examples of bravery and meaning. I want to believe that there are brighter days ahead.
Thank you, God, for the blessing of men and women willing to take the ultimate risks to push the envelope, to lead the revolution, to speak truth to power, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Godspeed, John Glenn.
Dec 02 2016
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No Coincidence

In the 1850s, Emperor Franz Josef ordered the construction of the Ringstrasse, a 3 ½ mile promenade in the center of Vienna.  It quickly became the prime location for the mansions of royalty and the ultra-rich. It became the location of large, official buildings, everything from the Parliament to City Hall to the Vienna State Opera to the Museum of Fine Arts. But even more importantly, the Ringstrasse became the place to stroll. It was, and remains, the promenade to walk.

Elie Wiesel talked about Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism. He described Herzl, a Viennese Jew, taking his constitutional along the Ringstrasse, thinking about the future of the Jewish people. One day, Herzl decides that a land for the Jewish people is the only way forward. And as impossible as it may sound, he said, “If you will it, it is no dream.”

Another Viennese Jew walked along the Ringstrasse contemporaneously with Herzl: Sigmund Freud. Imagine, said Wiesel, if Herzl uttered his famous declaration out loud as Freud walked by. Perhaps Freud would have stopped and said, “Dream? Did you say ‘dream’?” They might have engaged in conversation. And then, who knows? Perhaps the Jewish State would never have been founded!

There’s a scene in the Joseph story where Jacob sends his favorite son to check on his brothers out in the fields with the flocks. Joseph doesn’t know where his brothers have gone. When he reached Shechem, 36:15 a man came upon him wandering in the fields. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” 16 He answered, “I am looking for my brothers. Could you tell me where they are pasturing?” 17 The man said, “They have gone from here, for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothan.” So Joseph followed his brothers and found them at Dothan.

If it weren’t for that chance meeting with a nameless stranger, perhaps Joseph would have never found his brothers. Instead, he would’ve packed up and gone home. Had THAT happened, the Jewish people would’ve never come to be. We’d have died out in Egypt.

When I was in 4th grade and offered with a limitless choice of what musical instrument to play, I chose the oboe. I don’t mind saying that it was a bad choice. With all due respect to oboists everywhere – even on Mozart In the Jungle – it’s just not a cool instrument. Had my parents or some stranger intervened and said, “No dude. Pick up the alto sax!”, I may never have ended up as a rabbi.

Some people say that there’s no such thing as coincidences. They say God’s hand is in all such things. That man in the Joseph story who literally appears out of nowhere, without context or explanation, must have been strategically placed there by God. And perhaps it was God who led my music teacher to say that the oboe was a good idea, to keep me away from another path that would lead me away from what I was meant to do, which was not to be a jazz musician, but rather to be a rabbi.

I’d like to believe that God’s hand is in much of what we do or don’t do. I’d like to think that coincidences are holy encounters, the nearest thing to a proof of God’s existence. I’d like to believe that those people who appear briefly in our life stories and change everything are placed there, even if they have no idea. I’d like to believe that everything happens for a reason.

But alas! I do not. I am glad no one handed me a horn in 1963. I am thankful the first professor I spoke to in college became my mentor and friend. Because of him, I was drawn to the rabbinate. I don’t think God made that happen. I’m just glad it worked out as it did.

The world is filled with random events careening off of each other like atoms in a particle accelerator. And we careen right along with them. To get some balance, we find others who share common concerns and hopes. We build a community that provides lasting stability. That is not coincidence. That’s hard work. That’s commitment.

God’s presence is not in chance encounters. It is, rather, in every moment we decide to open our hearts and our minds. God’s presence is in the gesture of humanity. That’s no coincidence.
Nov 18 2016
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Grit

I have very few memories of Thanksgiving as a child. Passover has so many memories attached to it: from my grandmother’s house and later, apartment, in Pittsburgh. A long table, lots of noise, the smell of chicken soup and brisket, sweating bodies of relatives I did not really know: that I remember

But I don’t have an inventory of Thanksgiving images. This is likely due to a variety of unpleasant realities that formed my childhood. I won’t go into those details. Suffice to say that I wasn’t a happy camper.

We can have terrible childhood experiences, moments that scar us, physically and psychically, for life. Images we see, sounds we hear, smells, and so forth, can set off a round of anxiety and discomfort that can shut us down. This is a classic description of PTSD.

It can take a lifetime to uncoil from bad PTSD, hours and hours of therapy that is usually grueling beyond imagination. It ain’t easy. Despite the quixotic claims of modern neuroscience, there is no cure for trauma. Once it enters the body, it stays there forever, initiating a complex chemical chain of events that changes not only the physiology of the victims but also the physiology of their offspring. One cannot, as war correspondent Michael Herr testifies in “Dispatches,” simply “run the film backwards out of consciousness.” Trauma is our special legacy as sentient beings… The best we can do is work to contain the pain, draw a line around it, name it, domesticate it, and try to transform what lies on the other side of the line into a kind of knowledge, a knowledge of the mechanics of loss that might be put to use for future generations.

The lack of Thanksgiving cheer in my childhood has not robbed from me the possibility of a terrific celebration in the present. Whatever did and did not happen then does not interfere with what I have now. I love Thanksgiving now! I prepare a spread of delectables, a 20lb turkey, and all the traditional and not-so-traditional fixings. I create a songbook filled with all sorts of traditional American melodies and we sing! I used to recite Alice’s Restaurant, but I was told that I was hogging the spotlight. Moi?

Being able to unabashedly embrace Thanksgiving serves to remind me that we can break on through to the other side. Perseverance, looking into the future and believing we will somehow get there, is what they call grit. Without it we can’t draw the lines around the pain.

I am so grateful on this Thanksgiving for a warm and loving family and friends who shower me with love and joy and laughter. I am so grateful for the men and women with whom I work, selfless and inspiring people who devote themselves to the Jewish people. And I am so grateful for my congregation, my large and beloved ‘other’ family. You inspire me every day. There’s a lot going on out there. It’s good to know that we provide a place where the door is always open and the light is always on. Thank God for all of you.

Nov 12 2016
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Let’s Go!

This week’s Torah portion is Lech Lecha. All of a sudden, with no introduction or prologue or Producer’s Notes, poof! Here’s Abram (not Abraham yet – same guy, different name), and God’s telling him to pick up and go. Leave everything that you’ve ever known and trust Me, God says. I won’t tell you where you’re going until you get there. So you’re walking blindfolded into the future. But if you listen to Me, the reward will be nothing short of revolutionary. Abram, without pause or question or ambivalence, obeys. “Abram went forth as the Holy One had commanded him.” Gen 12:4. Just like that.

I’ve often wondered the extent to which Abram is either out of his mind or deeply pious or a visionary or a mix of all three traits and maybe more. How could he so resolutely step into the great wide open?

Oh, I know. If almost anyone got a direct message from God it would be hard to say no. Still and all, there’s no side bar, no analysis of the offer; that’s striking. I want Abram to get out a piece of papyrus and a pen and do a pros/cons comparison chart. I want him to ask at least a few questions. I want him to be at least vaguely curious about his final destination. But Abram hears God and obeys. He “just went forth as the Holy One had commanded him”.

In the end, it just may be that Abram’s determination to move forward is pragmatic. What else is he supposed to do? Why not dare to do something? It’s not as if you get to live a longer or better life by standing still. In fact, health experts insist that standing still is bad for our health. This means that there’s some physiological imperative that wants to drive us forward. So why not listen to that body truth?

I’ve been hearing the lech lecha imperative in my head since election day. So here we are.  Nothing happens in the past. The action is in the next step. We’re moving on.

God’s promise to Abram is loud and clear. If you go, if you trust in me and follow my lead, you will become a great nation that will teach the world what it means to be  faithful. You will teach the world what it means to be just and compassionate. You will take all the curses and abuse heaped upon you and you will not become embittered and vengeful. You will not resort to nihilistic acts of wanton savagery and terror. You will not use the name of God to justify killing children.  You will feel the pain of hatred and antisemitism and you will take that pain and it will inspire you to empathize with others who feel the lash of hate speech and prejudice and violence and death. You will stand with those who, like you, have been oppressed and beaten and humiliated.

This is our imperative. And it hasn’t changed. We keep following Abram’s lead. We keep stepping into tomorrow, not knowing what we’ll face. All we can know is that we go forth with confidence in who we are and what we’re willing to do for others who need us. We bring with us our tools: a belief in justice and equality, courage to do the right thing, and a clear notion that what matters in the end of the day, no matter where we end up, is to be a mensch.

So if and when someone asks you, “What’s going to happen now in this major transitional period in American life?”, you can tell them that, from a Jewish point of view, we follow Abram. It worked for him.

 

Lech lecha! And Shabbat Shalom

 

rebhayim
Nov 04 2016
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Pray for Us All

I am a hardcore news junkie. Throughout the day and into the night I will check in on the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and Haaretz. I get obsessive about it. I want to know as much as I can. I believe that it’s my personal and professional obligation to be informed, or what others might call, hyper-informed.
Over the past few weeks, I have pursued my media addiction with caution and trepidation. The Trump-Billy Bush Access Hollywood pushed me over the edge. How much more of this can I take?, I asked myself as I listened to the deeply offensive dialogue. What kind of an election year is this? And then for Hilary to have another round of email revelations hinted at by the head of the FBI?
I can feel my blood pressure mount with every article. I begin to go into a real paranoia jag as I read Adam Gopnik’s stuff in the New Yorker.  Next, I read, ill-advisedly, today’s Times article about the militias in the great American heartland getting ready to resist violently if their candidate loses. And just when I’ve had enough, Anthony Weiner shows up.
I have no solid advice about what to do for this acute anxiety. Maybe just stay away from the news until Wednesday morning…? Stick to fiction and escapist movies? I already voted, but that did not do anything for my nerves.
Then I realized that perhaps a prayer or two might help. What follows is some prayers from a variety of sources and faiths. I hope that, as you peruse them, you find something that soothes you. I hope they will remind you that serving the people as a public official is an awesome and honorable calling. I hope they will inspire you to hope and dream for a better future. I hope they will lift this election cycle out of the slop.
Take them along as you stand in line to vote. And pray. Pray that wisdom and decency will prevail. That people might rise above pettiness and self-interest to amity and purposeful living. This nation means so much to me. I couldn’t bear to see it degenerate into hatred and strife and civil unrest and violence.
I can’t suggest who you should vote for. Whoever you do choose, make sure your candidate believes in defending the welfare of the least empowered. Vote for dignity and peace and shalom. Just VOTE! And, while you’re at it: say a prayer.
Shabbat Shalom,
rebhayim
 **********
For Wisdom During U.S. Presidential Elections
God of Justice,
Protector and Redeemer,
Grant guidance to our nation
As we select leaders,
Senators, Congresspersons and a President,
The men and women who promise
To uphold the Constitution,
To uphold our values,
To serve and to govern,
To bring prosperity to our land,
To protect our homes and secure our future.
Grant wisdom and courage to voters
To select a visionary President
And steadfast leaders,
People who will serve our citizens,
And all who reside within our borders,
With honor and integrity
To forge a flourishing and peaceful future.
Bless our future President with
Wisdom and strength,
Fortitude and insight,
Balanced by a deep humanity
And a love of peace,
Leading us to a time
When liberty and equality will
Reign supreme throughout the land.God of Truth,
Source and Shelter,
Grant safety and security to all nations,
So that truth and harmony will resound
From the four corners of the earth.
Let the light of our U.S. democracy
Shine brightly,
A beacon of hope
For every land and every people.
*****
Prayer for Voting  Rabbi David Seidenberg
With my vote, I am prepared and intending
to seek peace for this country, as it is written (Jer. 29:7):
“Seek the peace of the city where I cause you to roam
and pray for her sake to God YHVH, for in her peace you all will have peace.”
May it be Your will that votes will be counted faithfully,
and may You account my vote as if I had fulfilled this verse with all my power.
May it be good in Your eyes to give a wise heart to whomever we elect today
and may You raise for us a government whose rule is for good and blessing,
to bring justice and peace to all the inhabitants of the world
and to Jerusalem, for rulership is Yours.
May You give to all the peoples of this country the strength and the will
to pursue righteousness and to seek peace as a unified force
in order to cause to flourish, throughout the world, good life and peace,
and may You fulfill for us the verse (Ps. 90:17):
“May the pleasure of Adonai our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands for us; may the work of our hands endure.”
*********
Before a National Election Reverend Peter Marshall

Dear God, we ask You to guide the people of this nation as they exercise their dearly bought privilege of franchise. May it neither be ignored unthinkingly nor undertaken lightly. As citizens all over this land go to the ballot boxes, give them a sense of high privilege and joyous responsibility.
Help those who are about to be elected to public office understand the real source of their mandate – a mandate given by no party machine, received at no polling booth, but given by God; a mandate to govern wisely and well; a mandate to represent God and truth at the heart of the nation; a mandate to do good in the name of all the people.

We ask You to lead America in the sacred paths where You would have us walk, to do the sacred tasks which Thou hast laid before us. So may we together seek happiness for all our citizens, all of us who are created equal in God’s sight, and therefore all brothers and sisters.

**********
For the Leaders of Our Nation Reverend Peter Marshall
Dear God, bless the leaders of this nation. Strengthen the courage of the representatives in Congress assembled – sincere men and women who want to do the right, if only they can be sure what is right. Make it plain to them, God.

Forgive them for the blunders they have committed, the compromises they have made. Give them the courage to admit mistakes. Take away from us as a nation and as individuals that stubborn pride which, followed by conceit, imagines itself to be above and beyond criticism.

Save our leaders, O God, from themselves and from their friends – even as You have saved them from their enemies.
Let no personal ambition blind them to their opportunities.
Help them to give battle to hypocrisy wherever they find it.

Give them divine common sense and a selflessness that shall make them think of service and not of gain.
May they have the courage to lead the people of this Republic, considering unworthy the expediency of following the people.
As You inspire this nation, so now mold us into a people more worthy of a great heritage. In Your strong name we make these prayers. Amen.
 ************************
Prayer Before an Election  Reverend Peter Marshall
Dear God, as the election approaches,
we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our nation.
We ask for eyes that are free from blindness
so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters,
one and equal in dignity,
especially those who are victims of abuse and violence, deceit and poverty.
We ask for ears that will hear the cries of men and women oppressed because of race or creed, religion or gender.
We ask for minds and hearts that are open to hearing the voice of leaders who will bring us closer to a sacred understanding.
We pray for discernment
so that we may choose leaders who hear your word,
live your love,
and keep in the ways of your truth.
Amen.
 ******************************
 A Prayer For Election Day    Mark Sandlin
In Proverbs, we are reminded
that Wisdom is a thing
in which you delight daily,
that loving others
is one and the same
as loving you.
As our nation,
a nation who boldly proclaims
across the face of our currency
that “In God We Trust,”
approach yet another
election cycle,
we ask that you
might inspire in us
a deep seated desire
to delight in wisdom
rather than focus
on party lines.
May we be moved
to a compassion for others
as a way of expressing
our love for you.
May our hearts and minds
teach our eyes to see
the voting booth
as a way to express
our undying devotion
to a better world –
a world less cluttered
with the unnecessary
pitfalls of the powerful –
a world less littered
with the entrapments
of consumeristic competition –
a world less defaced
with the bastardization
of the beautiful diversity
your Creation contains.
Prayerfully we hope
to be moved into action.
Knock us out of our
sometimes overly complacent
perspectives of the importance
of an individual vote.
Compel us toward
a fully engaged electorate
who demands an equal
engagement from those elected.
Plant in us
a seed of biblical justice.
Teach us to nurture and grow it.
Teach us to never hide it
under a bushel.
Inspire us to plant it
in our town squares,
publicly proclaiming the value
of every individual
in our society.
And with it
grown in us
and in our nation
an expectation that our
elected officials
be active reflections
of that same justice.
Keep all of this in our hearts
as we approach
the voting booth this week.
May our choices
be predicated on
a desire to build
a better nation,
a true light on a hill,
a nation that holds these words
to be self-evident
that all people were “created equal
and that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
May we not forget
that in the creating of this nation,
our Founders were inspired
in its establishment to remind us
“that whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right of the People
to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government,
laying its foundation on such principles
and organizing its powers in such form,
as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Never let us forget,
that the voting booth
and an active electorate
are our first line of defense.
In a nation that has created
people out of corporations,
and “voice” out of dollar bills,
remind us that,
for now,
our Declaration of Independence
and our Constitution
still tip the balance of power
to “We The People.”
May we wield that power
with grace and love
and biblical justice
based in equality,
but…
may we wield it
boldly,
assertively,
and on behalf of all people.
May we do so in numbers so massive
that our voices be heard
and in standing up
may we alter the course
of this great nation –
re-establishing the pursuit
of Life, Liberty and Happiness
for ALL
rather than solely for the powerful.
Let us not leave these words
on this page,
heard only in our hearts
and never put into action
in our lives.
Rather let us be
the voices in the the Wilderness
that the United States as become –
let us be the ones
proclaiming a higher way
where all flesh may know
that it is valued,
it is cared for
and it is loved.
Amen.
Oct 28 2016
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Just Say Yes

Our little street in Newton Corner, right off the Mass Pike, has become a must go Halloween spot. Last year we went through over 30lbs of various goodies.  This year I’m expecting even more trick or treaters.

I’ve always loved Halloween. Collecting candy at night with friends, laughing, and having a great time: what could be better? It’s a wonderful American secular tradition, one I have always participated in. Now, to be perfectly honest, I don’t like wearing costumes. I don’t know why that’s the case. Maybe it’s the squeamish little boy in me who also hates to dance. But I love looking at the kids, and the occasional matching parent in full regalia when they come to the door for candy.

Given Halloween’s thoroughly secular character, it’s always surprised me that there are Jews who believe Halloween to be a treif (unkosher) day. As it says on the website kveller.com:

“ To many, if not most, American Jewish parents, participating in Halloween revelries is considered harmless fun. Increasingly, however, rabbis and educators have challenged Jewish participation in Halloween activities. To be fair, the holiday does have pagan origins, and it was later adopted by the Catholic Church.  So it is understandable why some Jews would be tepid about celebrating a religious holiday that was never their own.”

First of all, I would challenge the assertion that rabbis and Jewish educators have stepped up anti-Halloween rhetoric. I would bet that most Jewish professionals have no real problem with Halloween.

Second of all, for Jews to ban something because of its pagan origins seems ludicrous at best. Do you really think a lulav and an Etrog are not ancient pagan symbols of fertility? That the Urim and the Thummim, divination stones used by the priests, do not predate the First Temple? Acknowledging the pagan roots of a particular practice or custom is not idolatry if it has no current currency as a pagan ritual symbol.

Third, and most importantly: Contrary to Kveller’s assertion, Halloween is not a religious holiday! It’s only about having a good time. Period. There’s no religious imagery or content: Unless you worship sugar.

 

The Chabad website suggests “Make your kids feel that they are the vanguard. They belong to a people who have been entrusted with the mission to be a light to the nations–not an ominous light inside a pumpkin, but a light that stands out and above and shows everyone where to go. Forget about Halloween and wait for Purim to turn the neighborhood upside down!”

I would remind the author of that paragraph that Purim hardly shines a light of virtue and goodness. Remember the abiding obligation of Purim is to get drunk! Offering Purim as a substitute is a rather paltry offering. Purim is a Jewish holiday. Halloween is not a religious holiday for anyone.

As I advised last year, get out there and enjoy! With all of the trouble and pain and fear in the world, how nice to have a fun set of customs to share with others.

 

 

Oct 21 2016
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The Sukkah of Memory

I’m lucky to have a sukkah here at the temple. I like to walk into it and sit, have a nosh, shake my lulav and then go back into my office. It’s not that I’m such a stickler for performing mitzvoth; it’s just that Sukkot and some of its traditions are so evocative.

On the simplest level, Sukkot is a nostalgic holiday. It reminds me of the old days. Every year Liza and I would build a sukkah in our backyard and then encourage our kids and their friends to do Sukkot stuff. They’d decorate the sukkah with fruit and construction paper chains and pictures they’d draw with crayons and markers.

Every year we’d have a neighborhood party in the sukkah, asking folks to come over and enjoy the Fall colors and to have the fun of hanging out with a purpose. I’d make stews and chili and soups, gladly feeding anyone who came by. It was always so much fun and so fulfilling.

But when my nest emptied out, I stopped building a sukkah. It just didn’t feel right to have a lonely sukkah sit empty except for an occasional visit from me. That’s why I’m so happy to have a temple sukkah that’s filled with kids and grown-ups.

I rarely see the neighbors who used to come over for the Sukkot celebration at our place. It’s sad. I only have myself to blame for not keeping up the connections. This gradual self-isolation as one ages is pernicious. I didn’t realize that this is how it happens. As life circumstances change, where one intersects with others changes too. I like my neighbors a lot. Without the added effort, relationships fade away – not in anger or malice, but rather due to benign neglect. Things happen over time.

The sukkah reminds us that our ancestors wandered in the wilderness, dwelling in temporary shelters. The roof is purposely open to the heavens. In fact, if the stuff used for covering the sukkah roof is so thick that it protects sukkah dwellers from rain, then it is not kosher. In other words, we’re supposed to feel vulnerable.

We are not invincible. We’re not immortal. So every day that we have is a gift. As long as we can keep breathing, we can keep celebrating, thanking God for the frankly miraculous truth of being alive. Of course, we don’t need a sukkah for that… but it helps.

 

 

 

Oct 14 2016
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Tightrope Walking

Over the many Y’mei Kippur (plural form…)  of my life from childhood to just three days ago, there has been a wide variety of weather.  It’s been brutally hot. It’s been unseasonably cool. I’ve seen big rain storms. I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end… As long the heat and/or the air conditioning was working, it didn’t matter what the weather was outside because I was inside: all day.
Yom Kippur is so… insular. It is all about diving so deeply into one’s heart. It’s all about going to the mirror and then with courage and honesty looking at what you see.
If that were the only work of Yom Kippur, to assess one’s level ofmenschlichkeit from over the past year, then dayenu; that would be enough. But the assessment is just the beginning. The work that begins before Rosh Hashanah and continues through Yom Kippur is acknowledging who’s looking back at you in the mirror, and then doing something about the flaws. In a world where Botox fills are increasingly popular and common, it’s worth noting that what causes the lines doesn’t disappear. Ignoring our sins and our flaws doesn’t mean they evaporate.
Through Yom Kippur we are following the lead described by poet Wendell Berry, who once wrote: “The world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our own feet, and learn to be at home.”
And then, three days after Yom Kippur it’s Sukkot. We go from the most insular and self-absorbed mindset to the most expansive place imaginable. We burst out of the synagogue and rush towards a hut made from cornstalks and decorated with fruit and vegetables. We leave the prayerbook and pick up a lulav and an etrog and shake them around. We go from a place where we contemplate our mortality to a place where we glorify the spark of life itself which animates all of nature, including us.
The lesson is deep: we can’t only be in the Yom Kippur world, a place of self-abnegation and internality. It’s too dark and lonely. But we also can’t be complete if we are only in the world of Sukkot, of externality and the Universal. We are complete only when we recognize that we need both perspectives to see ourselves and the world we live in.
It reminds me of a wonderful story about the Hasidic master Rabbi Simcha Bunem who carried around two slips of paper, one for each front pocket. In one pocket was a quote from the Talmud: ” Bishvili nivra ha-Olam“-“For my sake, the world was created.” In the other pocket was a quote from the book of Genesis: “V’anokhi afar v’efer“-“I am but dust and ashes.”
God says, “You are the crown of creation.” Then God says, “I created you dead last. Even the mosquito was gifted with life before you.” We are everything. We are nothing. We are mortal. We are infinite.
We walk the tightrope of existence. It can be a fearsome thing, this journey. It’s a conglomeration of yeses and nos, of the best and the worst. It’s everything always at once. And it’s our life’s task to stay on this tightrope with all the turbulence and the contradictions. The idea is to keep moving and embrace it all, as wide as your arms can reach. It’s about remembering, as Nobel laureate Bob Dylan once wrote, “That the one not busy being born is busy dying.”
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