Parashat Haazinu:Finding Your Passion

Finding Your Passion

Parashat Haazinu

October 10, 2008

Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

What does it mean, to love "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might"?  We know love when we feel it, but love is often difficult to express in words.  Fortunately, for that we have the poet.  Consider this well known expression of love:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

This poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning expresses well the all-consuming passion that two human beings can have when they are in love.  That sense of passionate love is also given voice in the Hebrew Scriptures, when the prophets write about the love of G-d and Israel. 

In the poem that we read tomorrow in parasha Haazinu, it says -

G-d found you in the desert

In a desolate wasteland

A howling wilderness.

He encircled you, protected you,

Guarded you like the apple of His eye.

 

"I found you in the desert?"  Didn't G-d "find" the Israelites in Egypt, when they were enslaved there?  Perhaps another verse, this from the prophet Jeremiah that appears in our Rosh Hashannah service, can help clarify the matter:

"I remember in thy favor,

the devotion of my youth,

thy love as a bride,

when you went after me in the desert,

in a land that was not sown."

 

How passionate. Here, Israel is compared to a bride who falls in love with her groom in the wilderness of Sinai.  Israel and G-d are like a young couple, passionately in love, having nothing but one another -- in a desert that was not sown.  It is as if G-d's encounter with Israel in Egypt was like an arranged marriage, with each side dutifully contracting with each other out of a sense of family obligation. The love ignites in the desert.  That is where Israel and G-d truly "found" one another, recognized the true beauty of one another – fell in love.  As with many great loves, there are stormy times as well as loving ones. But G-d is saying, for the first time I fell in love with the Jewish people, and I knew they would return that love forever.

 

This love between G-d and Israel in this metaphor is not like the love between a parent and child.  Not like the love between friends.  Not like the love between a King and his subjects.  This love is an erotic love.  This story is told in the Babylonian Talmud:

 

R. Kattinna said: Whenever Israel came up to a Festival, the priests would roll up the curtain before the ark and they would show them the Cherubim, whose bodies were intertwined with one another, and the priests would say to Israel, "Look! You are beloved before G-d as the love between a man and a woman!"

R. Lakish said: When the heathen conquerors entered the Temple and saw the Cherubim whose bodies were intwined one with another, they carried them out and said: These Israelites, whose blessing is a blessing and whose curse is a curse, occupy themselves with such things?  And immediately they despised them……

 

The heathen could not understand. To them, the holy cherubim looked like pornography, and they lost all respect for the Jewish religion.  Of course they failed to understand what this symbolized to us -- the passion by which Israel and G-d loved one another.

 

This is why a book of erotic poetry, Shir Hashirim, The Song of Songs, was included by the rabbis into the cannon of the Bible.  Rabbi Akiba, famously, argued for its inclusion. This was no love story between a man and a woman, he argued. It was a metaphor for the love between G-d and Israel.  Rabbi  Akiva said that if all of scriptures was holy, Shir HaShirim was the holy of holies.

Shir HaShirm imagines a young woman, Israel, seeking G-d as she wanders in the city late at night:

The watchmen who patrol the city found me.

Have you seen the One I love?

The watchmen who patrol the city found me

They struck me, they bruised me.

The guards of the wall stripped me of my mantle.

Swear to me, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved

That you tell him that love sick am I.

Im tim-tse-oo  et do-di mah ta-gi-du lo she holat ahava ani

 

In 1534, at the age of 31, , Eliezer Azkiri, who is the author of Yedid Nefesh, recorded this poem in his diary.

To be lit up in your light always

Talking with Him and walking with Him

In silence with Him and sleeping with Him and waking with Him

Sitting with Him and standing with Him and lying with Him

All of my movements are for Him.

 

What do you have in your Jewish life that you are passionate about?  Music … Torah Study… Worship…. The Hebrew Language ….. Israel…. G-d… Social Action……Jewish Travel.  Resolve this New Year to explore what you might be passionate about in Jewish life.  Fall in love with Judaism.  It is what G-d wants of us.

 

 

 

Kol Nidre : The Four Questions

Kol Nidre

The Four Questions

October 9, 2008

Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

 

Although an honest judicial system is essential for the proper functioning of a society, nobody ever wants to go to court. If you must go to court, of course you want the best attorney, and the best preparation, that you can properly have. If this is true for a court composed of men and woman of flesh and blood, how much more so is it true of the Heavenly Court. And although we stand a chance of avoiding going to court in our lifetimes, according to our tradition, each year, on Yom Kippur, this Yom HaDin, this Day of Judgement we come before G-d to be judged.

"You truly judge and admonish, You know our motives, you witness our actions," says the prayer Unetaneh Tokef. "You write, you seal, you count, you measure. You remember all that has been forgotten. Everyone passes before you. You review every living being. You decree the destiny of every living creature." What questions will we be asked when our case comes before G-d? If we knew the questions beforehand, we could prepare ourselves with answers that would vindicate us before the heavenly court. In fact, the Talmud offers us speculation on how G-d evaluates our lives. These are the Four Questions. Not the four questions of the Passover seder -- a different set of questions.

The questions don't concern the performance of ritual tasks, like the Seder questions. Nor do they concern the belief in G-d. It is not about whether you fasted on Yom Kippur, or even how often you attended services. The Four questions are interesting because they shed light on important Jewish values that should guide our lives.

The first question is, "Did you carry out your business affairs honestly?" Given the state of our country's current economic affairs, there may be a lot of answering for that has to be done today. Conducting ourselves with monetary integrity with Jews and non-Jews alike -- is more impressive to our neighbors than any ritual undertaking, any belief, that we might have. The 13^th century French legal scholar Rabbi Moses of Coucy ruled that Jews must be particularly honest in their dealings with gentiles lest a Jew cheat a non-Jew and the latter then resolve never to convert to Judaism. Indeed, it is agonizing when a Jewish businessman or woman is accused or convicted of cheating . You may recall the story of Jack Abramoff, who was sentenced last year to 5-10 years in prison for fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy in a the Washington Lobby scandal. Abramoff was raised as a conservative Jew, attended Brandeis in part because he heard that it had a kosher kitchen, and led a committed Jewish life. He said of his legal problems: "I had lost a sense of proportion and judgment. God sent me 1,000 hints that He didn't want me to keep doing what I was doing. But I didn't listen until He sent this catastrophe."

The second question one will be asked by the Heavenly Court is: Did you set aside time for Torah study?" A favorite saying of Hillel's was:

"Do not say, 'When I have leisure, I will study, for you may never have leisure.'" There are many opportunities to study right here at Congregation Beth Shalom. Every Thursday around lunchtime we gather in our library to study the 613 commandments as the Rambam understood them. On Saturday morning before services we have a text study of the weekly parasha. Yesterday our cantor started her adult bar and bat mitzvah class this year. You can learn about knitting and about the tallit by attending a workshop on October 23 on "How to knit a Tallit." I will be teaching a course on business ethics and professional relationships in the Talmud. If you want to learn how to read Hebrew, we have an adult beginners course, "Read Hebrew America" starting on November 6.

We are living in a golden age of adult education in English. Thousands of volumes, heretofore only accessible to scholars who understood Hebrew, have been translated into English. The internet is a vast and convenient resource for study. Perhaps you are embarrassed to study. Perhaps you feel you don't have the proper background. Our sages compare the Torah to water. Just as water descends drop by drop and eventually carves a river, so one who learns a little each day becomes a flowing fountain.

The third question you will be asked according to the rabbis is, "Did you work at raising children?" When the Roman historian Tacitus wanted to describe the strange customs of the Jewish subjects of the Roman empire, he pointed to their strong desire to have children, which, he wrote, "made it a crime among the Jews to kill any child." Among Greeks and Romans, exposing unwanted infants to the elements so they would die was a common practice. The also Torah warns us many times against giving our children to :Molech" -- the practice of Israel's neighbors to sacrifice their children to their gods. Some may say that they do not want to bring children into this world of violence, global warming and scarce resources. Raising children is an act of hope

Even in the dark days of World War II, in the Warsaw Ghetto, Jewish women expressed their hope in the future through giving birth. One unknown diarist commented, on seeing two pregnant Jewish women, "If in today's dark and pitiless times a Jewish woman can gather enough courage to bring a new Jewish being into the world and rear him, this is great heroism and daring. . . . At least symbolically these nameless Jewish heroines do not allow the total extinction of the Jews and of Jewry."

We are not going to finish our task of mending the world in our generation, so we need to raise children who will carry our work forward into the future.

The fourth question is: Did you hope for the world's redemption? If Judaism was only concerned with the individual, then the first three questions would be sufficient --

But Judaism is also concerned with greater issues -- have you concerned yourself with bringing the end of suffering and oppression to the world? Sometimes the problems of the world are so overwhelming we turn away. We feel impotent to change anything. Here it is wise to remember the words of our sages: "It is not up to you to finish the work, but neither are you free to neglect it."

These, then, are the Four Questions of Yom Kippur

Why is this day different from all other days?

On all other days we engage in earning a living. On this day we are judged by how honest we have been in our dealing with others.

On all other days we pay some attention to the needs of the soul.

On this day we are evaluated on how well we have set priorities in our lives.

On all other days we engage in the nuts and bolts of raising our families.

On this day we are evaluated on how well we are doing in passing our values on to our children and grandchildren.

On all other days we hope for the redemption of the world.

On this day we hope for the redemption of ourselves.

 

 

Yom Kippur AM Do Jews Believe in G-d?

Yom Kippur Morning

October 10, 2008

Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

 

A rabbi is always entertaining interesting questions about the Jewish religion from his congregants and others. In fact, when one is introduced as a rabbi, people are often moved to ask a question they have been wondering about for a long time. Do Jews believe in the afterlife? Do Jews believe in angels? But nobody has ever asked me the question upon which today's sermon is based -- Do Jews believe in G-d?

After reading today's Torah portion one would think that belief in G-d is a fundamental belief of Jews everywhere. In today's Torah portion we read how Aaron performed the very first Yom Kippur ritual, asking forgiveness for his sins, the sins of his family and those of all of Israel from an all-knowing G-d. In our prophetic portion, Isaiah questioned the sincerity and usefulness of these ritual sacrifices in a society where people did not behave ethically. In both selections, the sense of G-d is palpable.

Late last year a Harris poll asked Americans if they were absolutely certain that G-d exists. 76% of Protestants and 64% of Catholics replied that they were certain of G-d's existence. 93% of Protestant evangelicals replied that they were absolutely certain that G-d exists. But among the Jews in this nationwide survey, only 30% replied that they were absolutely certain that G-d exists. [let this sink in].

The contemporary American rabbi, Harold Shulweis divided the Jewish world into three parts. Rabbi Shulweis said that they prayed in different ways.

The traditional Jew prays "Shma Yisrael Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ehad."

The atheist prays: "Shma Yisrael I deny Eloheinu I deny Ehad."

The agnostic recites: "Shma Yisrael I dunno Eloheinu I dunno Ehad."

The fact that 30% of Jews say that they have an absolute certainlty that there is a G-d, begs another question -- what is it that people mean when they say "G-d"? Rabbi Neil Gillman, a theologian at the Jewish Theological Seminary once said, "When someone says they cannot believe in G-d, I ask them to describe the G-d that they cannot believe in." Rabbi Gillman continues, "Most of the time I can't believe in that G-d either." Perhaps more people would believe in the certainty of G-d if they could describe a G-d they actually could believe in.

Rabbi Shulweis talks about an exercise that he does with his students. He writes in a column on his blackboard: G-d is just, G-d is merciful, G-d feeds the hungry, G-d is forgiving, G-d healing the sick, G-d protects the innocent. Then he asks his class how many believe that. Only a few people raise their hands. The discussion that follows includes questions such as -- How could G-d be just when so many innocent people suffer in the world, how can I believe G-d feeds the hungry when so many people are starving -- what about the Holocaust, what about Darfur. Then Shulweis writes a second column on the board, next to the first one. This time he writes: Justice is G-dly, feeding the hungry is G-dly, forgiveness is G-dly, healing the sick is G-dly, protecting the innocent is G-dly. Then he asks the class how many of them believe that? Many hands go up.

You see, when people experience themselves as passive recipients of G-d's beneficence, they have difficulty believing in G-d. But when they understand that G-d works in the world in partnership with humanity, they are much more likely to have certainty that there is definitely "Godliness" in the world. In the first instance, as in the Abraham story, G-d is a commander. We wait for G-d to reach out, to save us. As it says throughout our High Holiday liturgy, G-d is King. In the second instance, G-d is a source from which we draw strength and inspiration to make our world better. G-d does not work on us, G-d works through us. G-d is in the farmers plow, the nurses hands, the teacher's patience, the consoling words to the mourner. If you want to find G-d, according to this idea, don't look only above you, look inside yourself, look around you.

I recently read in the newspaper the story of Avichai Kremer. Kremer arrived at Harvard Business School four years ago at the age of 29. He was born in Haifa, served in the Israeli military as a captain, and graduated fromt eh Technion. He worked at a high technology defense firm before landing at Harvard. In his first semester at Harvard, Kremer was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. This disease destroys muscle control while leaving the mind intact. There are over 30,000 people who suffer with this disease in the US, and 350,000 world wide. Yet because patients deteriorate fairly quickly, and because there are relatively few of them compared to those afflicted with other diseases, pharmaceutical companies consider an investment in finding a cure to be a risky venture. So Kremer enlisted his Harvard Business school community to help raise money for Gehrig's disease research. They raised over $2 million and spawned research in 6 Israeli universities where no research existed before. In June 2006 they launched Prize4life, a non-profit that offers cash awards for new treatments. Kremer says, "I believe that there is a plan, a destiny, a calling that I take part in," .

That is what Shulweis means when he says that G-d works in partnership with people. To Shulweis, and to many others, this is an example of how G-d manifests Himself to us.

Another reason why so many Jews do not believe with certainty that there is a G-d might be because we come from a long line of G-d wrestlers. True, Abraham accepted G-d's commandment to sacrifice his son -- yet earlier in his life he had the hutzpah to question G-d over whether Sodom and Gomorrah should be destroyed. Abraham, after all, resisted the notion that he and Sarah could have a child in their old age. Jacob wrestles with an angel of G-d on the bank of the River Jabok. Moses argues with G-d, and the Israelites whine and complain for forty years about how G-d is treating them. They seem to forget the good that G-d has done for them -- the liberation from slavery, the signs and wonders G-d performed on their behalf -- and focus on the problems and discomforts of their lives, all of which they blame on G-d.

We come from a tradition that asks questions - and never settles for the easy answer. We are more likely to question the existence of G-d, and leave the question unanswered, or leave it with multiple answers, like those maddening rabbis of the Talmud. We answer a question with a question. As Eli Wiesel expressed it, "A Jew can love G-d or a Jew can hate G-d. But a Jew cannot ignore G-d."

Finally, the lack of certainty about the existence of G-d might be a sign that we take G-d seriously. The recent revelation that Mother Theresa herself questioned the presence of G-d in her life was widely interpreted by Catholic theologians as proof of her deep faith. Nearly 100 years ago, Rav Kook, the first chief rabbi of what was then Palestine, made the same point. To look at the world, he said - with all of its violence, suffering, injustice, poverty, hunger and darkness - and NOT experience at least a flicker of doubt - was itself a sin, because it demonstrated a hardened and indifferent heart. In light of the human condition, said Rav Kook, having serious doubts about G-d's presence or existence is not only acceptable - it is a sign of an insightful, caring and empathic soul.

So do Jews believe in G-d? Perhaps the complicated relationship some Jews have with G-d can be summed up in the following true story, told by Abraham Joshua Heshel in his book A Passion for Truth. "My friend," he writes, "an important Jewish official in post war Poland, was boarding a train when he saw a sickly, poor Jew outside. He invited the man to share his comfortable train compartment. My friend tried to engage him in conversation, but he would not talk. Come evening my friend prayed, but the fellow did not pray. The following morning, my friend took out his prayer shawl and tefillin and said his prayers. The other fellow, looking wretched and somber, said not a word and did not pray.

Finally, when the day was almost over, they started a conversation. The fellow said, "I am never going to pray again because of what happened in Aushwitz. How could I pray? That is why I did not pray all day."

The following morning, my friend noticed the fellow taking out his prayer shawl and phylacteries and starting to pray! He asked the man afterward, "What made you change your mind?"

The fellow said, "It suddenly dawned upon me how lonely G-d must be; look with whom he is left! I felt sorry for Him."

Parasha Vayelech You Shall Teach

   You Shall Teach and Learn

        

This weeks Torah portion contains the commandment to gather the people together every seven years at the Temple in Jerusalem in order to hear the King read from the book of Deuteronomy.  The Torah specifies that men, women, and children are to attend this gathering.  Why children? Wouldn't small children run around and disturb the learning of the adults?  Wouldn't they take up valuable study time, distracting their mothers and fathers from the concentration they need to listen and learn? 

            That is a question that was raised in the Talmud.  R. Eliezer ben Azaria answered it this way -- The Torah commands that children be brought to listen to the King read the Torah in order to bring a reward to the parents who bring them.  What kind of reward will parents get?  The Talmud doesn't specify.  But it does seem obvious.  The reward of bringing the child is to raise a well-educated child, one that has knowledge of Judaism and who is religiously inclined -- one who will pass on the heritage of Judaism to the grandchildren.  It is told that from the day of his birth, Rabbi Joshua Ben Hannina's mother placed his crib in the House of Study, in order that he soak up words of Torah and that he be raised in an atmosphere of holiness.  Of course, at that very young age it is not a matter of intellectual knowledge the child will attain.  Rather it is the atmosphere that he will be surrounded with.  Once I mentioned to a friend that my sister had been depressed during the pregnancy of her first child, who is now 19 years old.  I was shocked when my my friend asked if the baby had been all right.  Then I understood -- even in the womb, emotional atmosphere is important. 

            The education of our children is an important value in Jewish life, as it must be in any religion or culture that wishes to perpetuate itself.  It is encoded in our most sacred prayer, the "Sh'ma" which enjoins us to "teach these words to your children."  The Talmud tells us that it  was originally the responsibility of the father to teach his children – a kind of home schooling.  But, if a child had no father, he did not learn.  Therefore, teachers were appointed in Jerusalem. He knew that the center of learning needed to be Jerusalem, for it says in scriptures "Ki MiTsion Tetze Torah":  (for out of Zion shall go forth Torah)." But if a child had no father, he would not be able to travel to Jerusalem to study. Therefore, the High Priest, Yehoshuah ben Gamla, appointed teachers of young children in every town, so that children could enter school at the age of six or seven.  Our religious schools are the direct descendents of these schools set up by Yehoshuah ben Gamla in Roman times.

            Yet many of us, even those of us who have had formal Jewish education as children, find that our education is inadequate for our functioning as Jewish adults.  I was very moved this Rosh Hashannah as our own Reb Baruch talked about the embarrassment he felt when he could not lead the prayers fluently at his father's shiva when he was but 23 years old.  He promised himself he would never again be placed in that situation.  He could have fulfilled that promise by withdrawing from Judaism, and thereby insuring that he would never be asked to lead services again.  But he took the opposite approach – to his and to our enduring benefit.  He resolved to learn more, so that he could lead services and act as a competent Jewish adult in the future.

            In taking this path, he was following a Talmudic prescription, although he may not have known this at the time.  The Rambam teaches, "If a father does not adequately teach his children, the children are obligated to teach themselves."  Reb Baruch taught himself magnificently.  Of course, he is still learning, like all of us who continue our studies into adulthood. 

                        Even in the Middle Ages, what we now call "lifelong learning" was recognized as important.  Rebenu Bachya wrote:

            "Do not be content with the impressions you formed in your childhood, of deep and difficult concepts and ideas.  Now that your intellect has matured, delve anew into G-d's Torah.  Then you will behold of the secrets of the Torah what would have been impossible for you to understand from the instruction of those who guided you in your childhood."

            May this year be a year of study and of learning, both for the children of our congregation and for the adults. 

Shabbat Shalom and Shannah Tovah

Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

           

           

 

 

Our Relationship to Israel

Our Relationship To Israel                                                                                                                                                                    September 30, 2008
Rosh Hashannah Day 1                                                                                                                                                                       Rabbi Marc D Rudolph
 
What should be the role of Israel in contemporary American life?

This year, 2008, we have been celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the State of Israel. Over the past sixty years, and even beyond, the relationship between the Jews of the United States and Israel has gone through many changes. In this sermon, I want to explore the changes in that relationship over the years. At the conclusion of this talk , we'll look at some contemporary responses to this question -- What should the role of Israel be in our lives, at this moment in history.
One American Jewish leader wanted United States Jews to HOST the new State of Israel! In 1825, Mordechai Manual Noah, editor, playwrite, and politician, issued a proclamation inviting Jews from around the world to settle on Grand Island in the Niagra River, near Buffallo, NY. He was no crackpot -- Mordechai Manual Noah was probably the most prominent and influential Jew in the United States in his time. He solicited funds for the territory which he called Ararat. Here is part of his proclamation:
In G-d's name do I revive, renew, and re-establish the government of the Jewish nation, under the auspices and protection of the laws and Constitution of the United States of America; confirming and perpetuating all our rights and privileges, our name, our rank , and our power among the nations of the earth, as they existed and were recognized under the government of the Judges……

He also declared in his proclamation that the American Indians, who he identified as descendents of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, would be re-united with their people in this new Israel. If it sounds like he was over-reaching a bit, he of course was. The project never succeeded in establishing a homeland for Jews, but Noah was one of the first to articulate the idea of the United States as a refuge for oppressed Jewry. It also stimulated much discussion in Europe and America over the plight of the Jews. Noah later turned his energies toward establishing a Jewish homeland in what was then Palestine.

In 1915, Louis Brandeis, the first Jew to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court, declared that "loyalty to America demands …. That each American Jew becomes a Zionist." Brandeis considered Zionism to be a remedy for the demoralization of the poor, struggling, immigrant community of Jews in the United States. Zionism, wrote Brandeis, would help build the self-respect of the American Jew and instill in him a sense of noblesse-oblige. For Brandeis, Israel was to be a refuge for Jews in distress, a group that did not need to include American Jews. The role was not aliyah for American Jews, but rather to uphold the state and enable the immigration of other, less fortunate Jews.
After the Holocaust, the Jewish community in the United States responded energetically to the needs in Israel, providing much of the material and money needed for Israel to come into being and survive. During this time, Israel occupied a central role in Jewish American life, serving as a rallying point to come together for a single cause, a cause more compelling that anything else offered in the synagogues of the day. Political pressure from the Jewish community for Harry Truman to recognize the State of Israel was so intense that Truman eventuallually barred all Zionist representatives from the White House. The energy and ingenuity with which the Jewish community of the time marshaled in support the emerging State of Israel is exemplified by this story. Shut out by Truman, American Jewish leaders asked Eddie Jacobson, Harry Truman's good friend from childhood, WW1 buddy and partner in his haberdashery business, to ask Truman for a visit. "Eddie," said the president, "I'm always glad to see old friends, but there's one thing you got to promise me. I don't want you to say a word about what's going on over there in the Middle East. Do you promise?"
Truman wrote in his diary about the meeting:
Great tears were running down his cheeks and I took one look at him and said, "Eddie, you son of a bitch, you promised me you wouldn't say a word about what's going on over there." And he said, "Mr. President, I haven't said a word, but every time I think of the homeless Jews, homeless for thousands of years, and I think about Dr. Weizmann, I start crying. I can't help it. He's an old man and he's spent his whole life working for a homeland for the Jews. Now he's sick and he's in New York and he wants to see you, and every time I think about it, I can't help crying."
I said, "Eddie, you son of a bitch, I ought to have thrown you out of here for breaking your promise; you knew damn good and well I couldn't stand seeing you cry."
And he kind of smiled at me, still crying, though, and he said, "Thank you, Mr. President." And he left.
On March 18, 1948, Chaim Weizmann entered unnoticed through the East Gate of the White House and met for 45 minutes with Eddie Jacobson's good friend. The president assured Weizmann that he continued to support partition of Palestine.
During the 1950s and 1960s, there was little evidence that Israel was a force that drove Jewish life, other than serving as a periodic source of ethnic pride. That changed with the 1967 war. Abraham Foxman, head of the ADL, writes:
For American Jews, 1967 was transformative both for its impact on attitudes toward Israel and for Jewish self-perception. Zionism had been a controversial movement within the American Jewish community from the beginning of the century. American Jews took a long time to feel comfortable with the Zionist movement and after the creation of the state, there still were large numbers of American Jews who remained indifferent to the new state, and even some who made clear that that was not their state.
The Six Day War made us all Zionists, if not literally than psychologically. The American Jewish connection to Israel was sealed.
Of course, the 1967 war made Israel the darling of the world. A small, beleagured country had defeated the much mightier forces of a combined Arab League. David had defeated Goliath once again. But we all know that since that time, the world's perceptions have changed. It has been difficult for some American Jews, particularly those in liberal and intellectual circles, to be unambiguous supporters of Israel. Again, I think a story best captures the problem:
An American, an Englishman and and Israeli are captured by cannibals. They are each permitted one wish before being thrown into a boiling pot.
The American takes off his wedding ring and gives it to the cannibal chief. "Please have this sent back to my wife."
The Englishman asks permission to sing "G-d save the Queen."
The Israeli says to the chief -- "I would like you to give me a very hard kick in the rear."
The chief complies, and sends the Israeli sprawling. The Israeli gets up, whips out a gun, shoots the chief dead and sends all the other cannibals fleeing.
The American and Englishman are grateful, but puzzled. "Why did you tell him to kick you in the rear first?" Why didn't you just take out your gun right away?"
"Oh, that I couldn't do," said the Israeli. "I didn't want to be denounced as the aggressor."
I need not say much more. Israel has consistently been portrayed as the aggressor in todays media. Even a physical partition, designed to keep suicide bombers from easily crossing from the territories into Israel proper, has been portrayed in the press as an aggressive action. In Europe, of course, it is worse. Last year the British National Union of Journalists joined an international boycott of Israeli goods over alleged human rights violations. Not a peep from them about the worst human rights violators: Venezuela, Pakistan, China, North Korea, Iran, or Saudi Arabia. Only Israel, has been targeted for sanctions by the British National Union of Journalists. This has little to do with human rights, and a great deal to do with anti-Semitism.
Last year, two prominent Jewish intellectuals, Ruth Wisse and Leon Wieseltier, were invited to a panel discussion in Washington DC on the role that Israel should play in our lives. Ruth Wisse is a Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. Leon Wieseltier s a columnist, author and literary editor of the New Republic magazine.
Israel, said Wisse, needs to be central in our understanding of who we are as American Jews. We were never a people without a land, she notes, we were a people without sovereignty in the land. The land is second only to G-d in the life of the Jewish people. To reclaim the Land of Israel in the same decade of the Holocaust is one of the great achievements in human history, she said. American Jews need to have the moral confidence in that achievement, and to project that confidence. "History will ask one question of this generation," said Wisse -- "Did you secure the future of the State of Israel?" Finally, she said, the enemies of the Jewish people are also the enemies of what we consider the best of civilization -- liberal democracy, emancipation of women, tolerance of minorities, human rights, and individual freedom. Israel is on the front line of the democratic world and opportunity. No wonder those who are threatened by liberal democracy are opposed to the presence of a Jewish State in their midst.
For Wieseltier, Israel should be an object of unconditional love and an object of admiration. Israel should be a source of honor, dignity and self-esteem. "I cannot imagine a meaningful self-definition that does not include Israel at its very center," he says. Finally, he sees Israel as a "practical necessity", even for Jews in the United States -- "the existence of Israel is an important part of our spine -- it puts bounce in our step." We would not be the confident community we are today if it were not for the State of Israel.
I hope this will stimulate all of you to ask --What should be the role of Israel in your lives personally? What role do we want Israel to play in our community? When our children, and our grandchildren ask us -- "What did you do to secure the future of the State of Israel?" -- will you be able to tell them? Or will you tell them you stood on the sidelines?
One easy way to support Israel is to buy Israeli goods. In our lobby this morning is a booklet published jointly by the Chicago and Israel Chambers of Commerce outlining the hundreds of products produced in Israel and available in American markets. Another way to support Israel is to visit. It is estimated that between sixty and seventy five percent of American Jews have never visited Israel. It is my fervent hope that we will take a congregational trip to Israel in the next two years, and that this will be only the first of many trips that our congregation takes. We need to explore other ways that our congregation can nurture and develop direct ties to Israel.
L'shanah ha-bah bi-rushalayim -- Next Year in Jerusalem!

Rosh Hashannah Eve :Four Kinds of Repentence

 Four Kinds of Repentence

Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Erev Rosh Hashanna marks the beginning of the Aseret Yemai Teshuva – the Ten Days of Repentance.  During this time we seek two kinds of forgiveness – Bein Adam LeMakom – forgiveness that we ask of G-d; and Bein Adam LeChavero – forgiveness we ask of each other.  It is interesting, however, that the prayers that we recite on Yom Kippur asking for forgiveness are related only to the sins that we have committed with one another.  There is no "For the sins which we have committed before You by not Keeping Kosher; but rather, "For the sins which we have committed before you by stubbornness.  There is no "For the sins which we have committed before you by not keeping the Sabbath, but rather, "For the sins which we have committed before you by gossiping.  In other words, the liturgy does not mention ritual obligations which we have ignored, which only G-d would be aware of.  Rather, our prayers focus on those sins which we have committed against our fellow human beings.

Perhaps this is because in Judaism, the highest value is put not on how we fulfill our ritual obligations, but on how we treat one another.  It is not that ritual and law are unimportant.  They are a means of ennobling us and sensitizing us to the miracle and privilege of existence.  But ritual and law should ultimately lead to the perfection of the human soul, and be manifest in our actions with one another.

Repentance is a turning away from our hurtful behaviors.  How does one achieve repentance – true change? Consider this example:

A Jewish teenager by the name of David received a parrot for his birthday. Truth be told, his parents couldn't afford the one he had been eyeing at the pet store, but his father had a friend who gave him a deal on a parrot that he was trying to get rid of. This parrot was fully grown with a bad attitude and worse vocabulary. Suffice it to say that I won't repeat those words on Rosh Hashannah in Temple.

David tried hard to change the bird. He was constantly trying to introduce better words to the parrot's vocabulary. He would play soft music, read up on parrot training on the internet… he really made an effort to get his new pet to improve its ways. Nothing worked.

One day he was at his wit's end, and just plain "lost it". He yelled at the bird, cursing at it using the parrot's own vocabulary. The bird got worse. He shook the bird and the bird got madder and ruder.

Finally, in a moment of desperation, David put the parrot in the freezer. For a few moments he heard the bird squawking, kicking and screaming and then, suddenly, all was quiet.

David was frightened that he might have actually killed the bird and quickly opened the freezer door.

The parrot calmly stepped out onto David's extended arm and said: "I'm sorry that I offended you with my language and actions. I ask for your forgiveness. I will try to improve my behavior..."

David was astounded at the bird's change in attitude and was about to ask what changed him when the parrot continued, "May I ask what the chicken did?"

 

            I would like to suggest that, just like there are four sons in our Haggadah: the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son and the son who does not know how to ask, there are four kinds

 

of  repenters.  The parrot in the above story can be compared to the son who does not know even how to ask a question.  His behavior has become so much a part of his personality that he doesn't even know that it is what is causing problems for him in his life.  He finds himself constantly embroiled in troubles with his family, his teachers, and his employers, and he says to himself, "Why are these things always happening to me!"  Of the One Who Does Not Know How to Ask, the Haggadah tells us, "You must begin for him." He may need to be the object of family "interventions" to help him begin to change his behavior.  Perhaps, like the parrot in the story, he will to be scared into apologizing, into changing his behavior.  By repenting out of fear, and not out of an understanding of how he has hurt others, this person is not fully able to repent.

            The second type of repenter can be compared to the wicked son of the Hagaddah.  This person realizes that he has sinned, but only because of the circumstances that he finds himself in.  It was uncharacteristic of him to act in this way, he thinks, he is not like that. 

            In the Hagaddah, the wicked son says, "What is the meaning of this service to YOU?"  The Haggadah comments, "By saying "YOU" he excludes himself from the group." (thereby making himself the "wicked son.")  "Yes," this person says, "I lose my temper, but it is because of YOU.  YOU made me do it!"  This second type of repenter excludes himself from the sin. By failing to take full responsibility for his behavior, he is not fully able to repent.

            The third type of repenter can be compared to the naïve or simple son of the Hagaddah.  He is convinced of the absolute rectitude and righteousness of his behavior.  He doesn't understand why it is causing such problems in his family or in his workplace.  If only other people would see things HIS way, the correct way, everyone would be better off.

            There was once a young man who was at loggerheads with his supervisor at work.  After many months of stress and tension in the relationship, he received a threatening memo from the supervisor.  He took the letter to a senior colleague and complained bitterly about how misunderstood he was by his supervisor.  His colleague read the letter, and said that it looked like the young man was about to be fired.

            "He just won't support anything that I do," complained the young man.

            "Well, do you support him?" asked the friend.  "Perhaps if you are more supportive of him, then he will be more supportive of you."

            So the young man began to be more supportive of his supervisor.  He asked his opinion about things and started to try to please him.  And, lo and behold, the supervisor became more supportive of the young man!  This third type of repenter, cannot truly repent until he understands that sometimes you are wrong, even when you are right. 

            The fourth type of repenter can be compared to the wise son.  This repenter realizes he has sinned and takes full responsibility for his actions.  He examines his behavior regularly.  The Talmudic sage, Rabbi Eliezer, used to teach his students, "Repent one day before your death."  His disciples asked him, "But how does a person know on what day he is going to die?" 

"All the more reason to repent today," Rabbi Eliezer replied, "lest one die tomorrow".  In this manner, one's whole life will be spent in repentance."

            Recognize any of these kinds of repenters?  Each of us is all of these kinds of repenters at one time or another.  We are:

"The One Who Does not know how to ask when we need others to point out our bad behavior.  For these times, may we each find a good friend who will help us to see our behavior for what it is, and start us out on the road to change.

"The Wicked Son" when we exclude ourselves from our sins.  For these times, may we be able to own our own behavior – to accept those parts of ourselves that we want to disavow, and in accepting them, change them.

The naïve son, when our self righteousness blinds us to the wrongs that we are inflicting on others.  For these times, may we see our behavior as others see it, and have the courage to change so we can truly achieve a heart of wisdom.

Shana Tova