Jewish Values and Einstein

We are fast approaching the New Year.  The editor of our newsletter, Brad Kolar, assigns us "regular columnists" a topic to write on for each newsletter.  The topic chosen this month is "What Jewish values do you most want to carry with you into the New Year."  I wondered  about the concept of Jewish values, and whether there were distinct "Jewish" values that we Jews in America held that were different from the values of our neighbors.  After all, one of the reasons for our high intermarriage rate is the fact that young Jewish men and women meet other men and women in the workplace or socially who are not Jewish, but who hold the same values as they do.  They find that they have grown up with the same values, regardless of the religion in which they were raised!   American society has more or less made Jewish values its own, and America has benefitted mightily from that.  Jews have also taken on values from the non-Jewish world that has not been considered traditional Jewish values. For example, the emphasis today on athletic accomplishment and competition has not been a part of traditional Jewish values.   

One of my favorite quotations regarding Jewish values comes from Albert Einstein.  He said, "The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice, and the desire for personal independence -- these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my lucky stars I belong to it."  I associated the first part of that sentence – "The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake" – with the rabbinic value of "Torah Lishma" – "pursuit of Torah study for its own sake."  (I am using "Torah study" in its broadest sense here – the study of Hebrew scriptures, Talmud and the later writings of the rabbis.) In Pirke Avot, Chapter 6, Rabbi Meir says, "Whoever studies Torah lishma [for its own sake] merits many features and, in addition, his study warrants the maintenance of our universe. He is referred to as a friend, an adored personality, a lover of God", and Rabbi Meir goes on to list other virtues which more or less cover the entire gamut of positive character traits. 

Now there are many interpretations, it turns out, about what "pursuit of Torah study for its own sake" really means.  Some say it means studying Torah in order to be better able to fulfill all of its mitzvoth – the behavioral demands of Torah.  Others say "Torah for its own sake" means we study neither out of fear of punishment or out of expectation of reward, but purely out of our love for G-d.  Still others understand Torah Lishma as study to become more adept in Torah's logic and more knowledgeable of its vastness. 

This latter meaning of "Torah Study for its own sake" comes closest to the Jewish value that Einstein adhered to in his scientific investigations, and that he felt he owed so much to his membership in the Jewish people.  Einstein did not believe in a personal G-d who intervened in the lives of His creatures.  He did not seek the answers to his questions in Torah study.  Yet his motivation for his scientific investigations is deeply connected to Jewish values.  "I want to know how God created this world," he once wrote. " I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know G-d's thoughts. The rest are details."

That sounds like Torah Lishma to me.

 

Shabbat Shalom

Publicizing the Miracle

 

This week marked a first, I believe, in Naperville history – the placement of a menorah next to the Christmas tree on Naperville's Riverwalk.  Newspaper reports, ever on the lookout for the sensational or controversial to sell their papers, highlighted the perceived threat of a lawsuit should the Park District not acquiesce to Chabad's request to place the menorah on the Riverwalk.  But Chabad was merely asserting that they had a proven constitutional right to display a menorah, and in the end the issue was resolved amicably and in accordance with local ordinances and constitutional law.

The Naperville Sun asked its readers what it thought of such a public display of a menorah.  I reviewed all 22 responses on the website.  They were unanimous in their opinion that Jewish people not only had a right to display the menorah on public property but that such a display was welcome by the community. 

A number of parents commented how excited their children were to come upon a menorah on the Riverwalk.  Seeing the menorah brought a sense of pride and belonging, not only I suspect to the children but to the adults as well.  Yet, the purpose of putting up a menorah on public property is neither to improve the Jewish self-esteem of our children, nor to vigorously exercise our constitutional right to celebrate our holiday in a public manner, nor to raise the public profile of the Jewish community in Naperville – although it does all these things.  Chabad placed the menorah on the Riverwalk as a way of fulfilling an ancient mitzvah – not a "good deed" but a "divine command."   In their brief discussion of Chanukah in the Talmud, the rabbis engage in a discussion of how to fulfill the primary spiritual goal of the holiday.  In Aramaic, one of the languages of the Talmud, this mitzvah is called "pirsumey nisa" -- publicizing the miracle of Chanukah.

The rabbis even allowed one to neglect performing another mitzvah in order to fulfill this one.  They said that if a person only had enough money to afford either Sabbath wine for Kiddush or oil for the Chanukah lights, they should forgo the wine and buy oil to light the candles for Chanukah.  The reason given was that publicizing the miracle that G-d did for the Jewish people was preferable to sanctifying the Sabbath with wine if a choice needed to be made.

So important it is that the lights of the menorah be used ONLY to publicize the miracle of Chaunukah that the rabbis forbid using the light of the menorah for any other reason – such as reading by them or even studying Torah.  That is how we came to have the Shamash candle. The Shamash is used to light the other candles, and also may be used as a light to read or see by.  But the remaining candles are for display only – to fulfill the divine command to publicize the miracle.

So central to this ritual is publicizing the miracle of Chanukah that the rabbis ordained even where they are to be lit.  The lighting should take place where the most people passing by could see the candles.  Only during times of danger could the menorah be lit in the interior of the home.

Of course, today we have other ways of publicizing the miracle of Chanukah. The cantor appeared on the front page of the Downers Grove newspaper in an article about the Klezmer concert and Chanukah.  I appeared on the Nequa Valley High School television last Friday explaining the miracle of Chanukah.  All of this publicity serves to educate the general public about Jews and about G-d.  Perhaps someday soon the person checking me out at Naperville Toyota will not greet me with, "Have you set up your tree yet?" as she did, but with the more general, and sensitive, "Have a happy holiday!"  May this happen speedily and in our day!

Shabbat shalom and Hag Urim Sameach

 

           

Kabbalat Shabbat

Six year old Jacob approached me on the bima following a recent Friday night Family service. "This is what it is all about," he proclaimed, "this is the way it should be, and this is the way it will always be someday."  Intrigued, I asked him what he meant.  "Everybody sings together," he replied, "and everyone's getting along. It's peace." I thought, "He really gets it."  Jewish tradition views the Shabbat as a foretaste of the messianic age – a perfected world toward which all history is directed.  "This world is only like the eve of the Sabbath, whereas the world to come will be like the Sabbath itself," says an ancient Midrash.                                                                         
There are six psalms before Lecha Dodi, corresponding to the six days of creation.  The central theme of the Kabbalat Shabbat service is enthronement of G-d as sovereign of the world upon the completion of Creation.    These psalms can also be seen as having messianic overtones.  In the world to come, we will say to one another, "Come, let us sing to G-d, the Rock of our deliverance (Psalm 95). Psalm 96 envisions all the families of nations acknowledging G-d's power and justice, along with nature – the earth the heavens, the sea, the forests and the fields.   And so forth – Psalm 97 – G-d sits enthroned, let the world rejoice;  Psalm 98 "G-d's might has been triumphant, revealing supreme power to all;" Psalm 99, "G-d sits enthroned, the nations tremble.  Psalm 29, which we are about to sing, has a seven-fold repetition of the word – "kol"—"sound"—which connects it to the Sabbath structurally as well as thematically.
Then we sing "Lecha Dodi" which compares the Sabbath to a bride.  There is a lovely midrash which says that the Sabbath day came before G-d with a complaint.  Every day of the week has a mate, said the Sabbath to G-d.  Sunday has Monday, Tuesday has Wednesday, Thursday has Friday – but I have no mate!  The Holy One said to her, "Israel will be your mate."  When Israel came before G-d at Mt. Sinai, G-d said to Israel, "Remember what I said to the Sabbath: 'Israel will be your mate'." Thus the command, "Remember the Sabbath lkodsho" – that is, to enter into kiddushin, or marriage with it.  Not coincidently, a wedding is the other time when we Jews experience a taste of the world to come.  In fact, the entire prayer is filled with Kabalistic allusions to a perfected world where G-d will reign supreme.
Following Lecha Dodi we have two psalms, which form one unit.  Before the 16th century, when the Kabbalists of Safed developed the Kabbalat Shabbat service, the Sabbath evening service began here.  It too portrays an ideal world, where the "righteous shall flourish like a palm tree and grow tall like a cedar in Lebanon."  The Kabbalat Shabbat service concludes with psalm 93 and the theme of G-d's sovereignty over all the universe, for all of time and beyond.
Safed, the city where the Kabbalat Shabbat service was developed is on our itinerary for our CBS trip to Israel in June.  At 2,790 feet, it is the highest city in Israel.  In 1569 the great Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria came to live there, and we will be able to visit his grave. The compiler of the Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Joseph Karo, also lived in Safed, as did the author of Lecha Dodi, Shlomo Alkabetz, in the 16th century. Sefad commands magnificent views east to the Golan, north to the Hermon and Lebanon, west to Mt. Meron and the Amud Valley, and south to Tiberias and the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). We will visit medieval synagogues, stroll around the artist quarter, explore historical sites and breathe the cool mountain air which has nurtured the spiritual powers of generations past and present.  Hope you can join us.
 

True Heroes

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah.  I don't know about you, but all week my thoughts have been turned to the image of the heroic champion striding across the field of battle defeating all.  The victories over the many, coming it were, one after another, is a true miracle. The years of struggle and dedication to one sacred cause are inspiring. The name will be celebrated and remembered ledor va-dor – from one generation to the other.  I am speaking, of course, about …… Tiger Woods.

 

Yet, once again, one of our culture's heroes has fallen.  Those who looked to Tiger as a role model have had their illusions shattered.  If you want a role model, better to look toward figures in our own tradition.  This week we read about Joseph, a young man sold into slavery, who is put in charge of the estate of a man named Potiphar.  Potifar's wife takes a liking to young Joseph, and attempts to seduce him.  The easy thing for Joseph to have done would have been to give in to her demands. Yet Joseph resists.       Indeed, Joseph is held up by the Talmud as the paradigm of the man who struggles with his own desires in the face of Potiphar's wife's daily temptations - and succeeds in controlling his passions. 

 

Or, consider the Maccabees.  They lived in a generation where they saw their fellow Jews seduced by an alien culture – the culture of the Greek Seleucids.  As Rabbi Yitz Greenberg describes it, "Like country people who come to the big city and are horrified by its fleshpots and sinfulness, so the Maccabees were outraged and offended by the nakedness, the 'bohemian', avant-garde air of Hellenism."  Like Joseph, the Maccabees, took a stand against practices and values that threatened to destroy the ethical code embodied in the Torah. 

 

We live in a society which puts before us constant temptations for transgression.  When we see our cultural heroes succumb to that temptation, it might weaken our own resolve to live morally.  Everybody cheats in business, we might think, everybody cheats in marriage, greed and avarice are rampant, drug and alcohol abuse widespread.  With the recent convictions of Bernie Madoff and Shalom Rubashkin, we have yet another reminder that Jews are not exempt from immoral and unethical behavior.  On this Shabbat as we learn from our heroic ancestors Joseph and the Maccabees that there is another way.  We can resist the darkness that beckons us and turn to the light of the Torah and her values in order to guide our way.

 

Shabbat Shalom and Hag Urim Sameach