Gathering for the Good of Ukraine פּרשׁה ויקהל

Our Parasha for this week begins with the words, “Moses gathered all of the people of Israel.” The word used for “gather” is “Va-yakhel”, [ויקהל] in Hebrew. The three-letter root of the word “Va-yakhel” – kuf, hey, lamed – is used to form another word in Hebrew – “Kehillah”. A “Kehillah” is a congregation. Sometimes you will see the letters “kuf-kuf” [ק״ק] before the name of a synagogue. These letters stand for the Hebrew words “Kehilah Kedosha”, [קהילה קדושׁה] which means “Holy Congregation”. 

When Moses gathers the people, he asks them to bring donations for the construction of the Tabernacle. He needs gold, silver, and copper, yarns and linens and goat skins, oil for lighting the Menorah, and spices for the aromatic incense. We are told that the people were so generous that Moses had to ask them to stop giving! 

Several weeks ago in our Torah reading we read of a different kind of gathering of the Jewish people, this time, in the Wilderness. When Moses was late in descending from Mt. Sinai where he was receiving the Ten Commandments, the people gathered – “Va-Yikahel” [ויקהל] – against Aaron and demanded that he make a Golden Calf to worship.  The people donated gold, and out of their donations Aaron fashioned a Golden Calf to worship. 

Of course, these two “gatherings” were very different. The gathering of the people which led to the construction of the Golden Calf incident consisted of a mob that assembled itself and threatened to kill Aaron if he did not do their bidding. Aaron cooperated as a delaying tactic, hoping that Moses would return before the people would descend into idolatry. In our parsha this week, Moses convenes an orderly gathering to solicit funds for building the Tabernacle. Still, these two gatherings elicit a wry comment from the rabbis of the Talmud. “What a peculiar people,” the Talmud says of Israel. “When solicited to build the tabernacle to worship the One God, they give generously. When solicited to fashion an idol, they give equally generously!”

A “Kehillah”, a gathering, can thus be organized for both positive and negative ends. When degenerating into a mob, a Kehillah can be very destructive. When organized for productive purposes, a Kehillah can build a home for G-d here on earth. Over time the concept of Kehillah changed and evolved.

 For example, In Eastern Europe, “Kehillah” was the name given to Jewish communal organizations. At times that organization would have quasi-governmental authority over the Jews of the community and its relationship with the local or national government. The kehillah might be an elected body that would levy taxes on the Jewish community and provide educational and social welfare services for the Jewish population. In the United States, the Jewish Federation of each Jewish community is the professional organization that became the “Kehillah” of each community. Today Jewish Federations across the United States assess the needs and requirements of their local Jewish communities and raise and distribute funds to where they are most needed and to where they will have the greatest impact. 

The reach of the Jewish Federations extends beyond local needs as well. Throughout my tenure here and in my many travels to Europe as part of the Rabbinic Mission through the JUF, I have witnessed firsthand the contributions of our Chicagoland Jewish community to the welfare of struggling communities in Europe. I have been to Ukraine twice on these missions – The first time to Kiev, the second time to Odessa. Tonight, our thoughts and prayers are with all the people of Ukraine, and particularly with our fellow Jews there.  i 

Jews have lived in Ukraine since the 8th century, when Jewish refugees fleeing from persecution in the Byzantine Empire. Persia, and Mesopotamia arrived and established homes. The Cossack uprising in the 1630s led to the infamous Khmelnitsky massacres in which 30,000 Jews perished and 300 Jewish communities were destroyed. The late 19th century saw the beginning of what became a periodic outbreak of pogroms that lasted for the next 40 years. Hundreds of thousands of Jews left Ukraine during this time, seeking new lives in the United States and other countries. Many of our grandparents and great grand-parents came from Ukraine during this time.  A series of pogroms of 1919 to 1923 killed over 100,000 Jews alone in Ukraine. One the eve of World War ll there were 2.7 million Jews living in Ukraine. By the end of World War ll only 840,000 remained. The rest were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. The years of Soviet repression led to further assimilation and emigration. In 1990 there were 500,000 Jews living in Ukraine. In the decade following the fall of the Soviet Union, 80% of the Jewish population left Ukraine, the largest number, over a quarter million, emigrating to Israel. 

As with much of Jewish history, Ukraine has not only been the scene of tragedy and destruction but a place of flourishing communities, of renewal and creativity as well. Ukraine was the birthplace of the Hasidic movement. The teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, born in 1698, the founder of that movement, have had a profound influence on Judaism all over the world.  Ukraine was the home to famous Yeshivot, centers of Jewish scholarship, and of many well-known rabbis. It was the center of the Haskalah, or Jewish enlightenment movement. Late 19th century Odessa was the Yiddish publishing center of the world. Famous poets and authors made their homes there – Chaim Nahman Bialik, Shalom Aleichem, Ahad Ha-am and Nobel Prize winning author S.Y. Agnon, to name a few. Odessa served as the center of the Hibat Zion movement, and early Zionist movement that called for the revival of the people Israel on the land of its ancestors. Odessa became the port of embarkation for Jewish emigration from Russia to pre-state Israel. It was called “The Gateway to Zion”. 

Today Ukraine is the home to 200,000 Jews. This makes it the 5th largest Jewish population in the world. Ukraine is the only country outside of Israel to have both a Jewish head of state, Vladimir Zelelnsky, and a Jewish head of government, Prime Minister Volodymer Groysman. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine, there has been a remarkable revitalization of Jewish life in Ukraine. Ukraine today has about 75 Jewish schools in some 45 cities, among them 15 day schools and 80 Sunday schools, 11 kindergartens, 8 yeshivas, and some 70 Hebrew-language ulpanim. Synagogues and other religious and cultural institutions function in every place with a significant Jewish population. There are Jewish sponsored nursing homes, JCCs, Jewish sponsored orphanages, Hillels at Universities, Birthright trips, and Jewish summer camps. There are Jewish newspapers – ten of which are published in Kiev alone – and a Jewish television program on state-run television. 

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country faces the prospect of political instability and all that comes with it – scarcity, chaos, the breakdown of law and order. Whenever this happens in a country, Jewish communities become especially vulnerable. This is where the “Kehillah” – the Jewish community organized for good – can make a difference.  The Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Chicago, which members of our congregation helps to fund, has already advanced one million dollars to our partners in Ukraine to help support the Jewish community in Ukraine. Through our contributions, we are helping to provide 40,000 poor Jewish elderly and families, with food, medicine, winter relief and emergency assistance. We are helping to equip the staff of the field offices in Kiev, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Odessa with the ability to continue to reach the homebound with aid in the event of major disruptions of transportation. Keenly aware of the current relentless assault on the country, we are preparing to dispatch mobile medical units to get supplies where they are needed most. We are bolstering institutions to withstand the indiscriminate destruction, the   aggression, homes, businesses, and infrastructure that accompanies the breakdown of social order. We are helping those who are willing and able to emigrate to Israel to do so. 

People often ask me, “What can I do about a conflict so far away? I feel helpless." We can certainly offer our prayers for peace and for the welfare of the invaded and besieged Ukrainian people. But we can do more than that. We can make contributions to our Jewish United Fund that will go directly to those on the ground in Ukraine most able to help. In the words of the well-known prayer, recited in our congregation at many bar and bat mitzvahs, “We cannot merely pray to You, O’ God…..Therefore we pray to You instead/For strength, determination and willpower/ To do, instead of only to pray……” 

Shabbat Shalom

Sermon on Antisemitism / February 4, 2022

Shabbat Shalom. It is good to be back after my month-long Sabbatical.  I spent a lot of time reading, practicing my guitar, reaching out to friends, colleagues, and old teachers. And of course, I kept abreast of the news regarding Israel and Judaism. Like many of you I have been alarmed and concerned by the continued increase of antisemitism not only in our own soil but the rest of the world since the beginning of 2022.           .        

As you might recall, On January 15 a gunman held 4 congregants hostages on Shabbat service    at   Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX. The hostage taker was demanding the release of a terrorist, sentenced to life in prison, held in a nearby penitentiary. This extremist, along with his partners in the United Kingdom, believed the antisemitic trope that Jews run the world and if he took some of them hostage, he could fulfill his mission. Fortunately, the situation was resolved, and the hostages freed.  

There are many other stories that you may not have heard, and which are also cause for alarm. On Martin Luther King Day, a mere six days after the hostage crisis was resolved, J Herbert Nelson ll, the chief officer of the Presbyterian Church (USA), published an article entitled “In a World of Trouble and Despair, We Need Unity.” In reflecting on the legacy and life of Dr. King, he singled out Israel, among all the countries of the world, as a violator of the tenets of justice. He accused Israel’s relationship with the Palestinians as being “21rst century slavery”. He suggested that Jews had forgotten our own history “as a humble and persecuted people”. He appears to call for the abolition of Israel as a nation. And he seemed to blame not only Israel but all Jews for the situation, never acknowledging the role that Palestinians and the Arab world themselves play and have played in the impasse. 

Fortunately, other Presbyterian organizations spoke up and took issue with Dr. Nelson’s words. Wrote one group, Presbyterians for Middle East Peace”, “The Rev. Dr. Nelson‘s actions in lashing out at the U.S. and global Jewish community is beyond the pale. Gratefully, his actions and words do not match the work of local PCUSA and Jewish congregations in communities across the nation.” Another group, Presbyterian members of the Jewish Presbyterian Dialogue of Chicago, wrote that they were “deeply troubled” by Dr. Nelson’s letter. Dr. Nelson “accused Jews of forgetting their own experiences of oppression and questioned Jewish ethics and morality. Dr. Nelson seemed to hold American Jews accountable for the actions of the Israeli government,” they wrote. And Pastor Jess Scholten of the River Glen Presbyterian Church on Raymond Drive in Naperville, just a short drive from here, wrote to me as well. “While we are connectionally part of the PCUSA, Dr. Nelson’s letter does not reflect our views, nor the view of the Presbytery of Chicago, which has sent a response on behalf of churches in this region asking Dr. Nelson to renounce the letter. I can't apologize on behalf of someone else, nor lessen your experience of pain because of his words, but please know many of us in the PCUSA were deeply saddened by the Stated Clerk's comments and the harm we know they cause, especially between faith organizations that generally have a had an amicable and supportive interfaith relationship.”

Last week, the human rights agency Amnesty International issued a 278-page report on Israel entitled “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity”.  The report accuses Israel of using apartheid tactics to racially discriminate against Palestinians and of intentionally committing crimes against humanity against Arabs in Israel, in the West Bank and Gaza and Palestinian refugees abroad. The report does not directly call for the abolition of the State of Israel but does call for a full return of refugees and their descendants and for reparations, which as we know is the same thing as calling for the dismantling of the Jewish State, only in a more genteel fashion. 

True, Israel has its problems.  It is not a perfect nation.  No nation is. It does not always get it “right”. No nation does.  Indeed, members of the American Jewish community are often deeply troubled by Israel's actions vis-a-vis the Palestinians. But an “Apartheid State?” Really? Consider the fact that minorities, which comprise 20% of Israel’s population and are predominantly Arab, hold full political rights in Israel, have a higher representation in the Knesset than do minorities in the United States Congress, and sit on the Israeli Supreme Court. The situation in Gaza and the West Bank are not comparable to that within Israel. There are security barriers and checkpoints on the West Bank which impinge upon the freedom of Palestinians. True, this has caused hardship and humiliation. But this ignores the reasons for these measures. Between September 2000 and continuing through 2004, the Palestinians launched an terror campaign that killed 1,100 Israeli civilians to and maimed 5,000 more. That is the rough equivalent of 40,000 Americans killed and 175,000 Americans maimed on American streets. Israel was obliged, morally required, to take measures to stop the carnage.

 In 2003 Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip, hoping that the absence of security barriers and checkpoints would encourage moderation and responsible self-government from the Palestinians. Instead, we got Hamas, which has launched rockets at Israeli towns close to the border in years of “peace” and sent thousands of missiles deep into Israel with the express desire of killing Israeli civilians in 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021. 

All of this is ignored in the Amnesty International report.

But don’t take my word for it.

NGO monitor, an independent research institute that publishes fact-based research and independent analysis on non-governmental organizations had this to say about the Amnesty International report: 

“Amnesty’s report manipulates and distorts international law, Israeli policy, and events on the ground, as well as denies the Jewish people their right to sovereign equality and self-determination”. 

Are Dr. Nelson’s or Amnesty International responsible for what happened in Texas? Are they connected to the seven incidents of vandalism in Rogers Park last week, including the spray painting of swastikas on a synagogue and a Jewish school? I believe they bear responsibility because their words contribute to a general atmosphere where Israel, and by extension, Jews everywhere, are vilified.

Although Antisemitism is increasing in the United States and around the world, we ought not become overly pessimistic about the future. Significant progress is being made to combat antisemitism as well. Here are just a few examples from abroad:

• The erection of a Holocaust memorial exhibition titled “We Remember”—the first of its kind in the Arab world—at the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai in May 2021.
• A joint religious complex including a mosque, church and synagogue is being built in Abu Dhabi;
• The House of Ten Commandments synagogue in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, was reopened in March 2021 following a comprehensive restoration. A few months later, in August, the first celebration of Shabbat services since the late 1940s was held in the country.
• Efforts have continued by young people from Poland to Ukraine to restore Jewish cemeteries and reconnect to their country’s Jewish history.
• Two major European soccer clubs—the German Borussia Dortmund and the Dutch Feyenoord Rotterdam—partnered with the Anne Frank House to develop guidelines for tackling anti-Semitism among players and fans.
• More countries have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, 
• In the European Union, the “Strategy on Combating Anti-Semitism and Fostering Jewish Life” program was initiated, urging member states to prosecute anti-Semitic hate speech and crimes.

Our parasha for this week is Terumah. In it, Moses asks, on behalf of G-d, for the people of Israel to bring forth gifts from which the Mikdash, the Tabernacle, will be built. We are told that everyone contributed – so much so that there was an overabundance of gifts, and Moses had to ask the people to stop their contributions.  Now maybe more than ever our world needs the contributions of everyone to face down Antisemitism. Fortunately, as we can see, there are good people in our own community and around the world contributing to stemming the tide of Antisemitism, the world’s oldest hatred. 

Shabbat Shalom