Rabbi H's Rabbinic Journey

Jonah, The Book of Irony - Yom Kippur Morning 5772

2011-10-20T22:46:00.000-06:00

Jonah, The Book of Irony

Congregation Albert

Yom Kippur Morning 5772

For my nearly my entire life, I like many of you, have listened to or dozed off to the reading of the book of Jonah on Yom Kippur afternoon. As I was reviewing Jonah this year some new things jumped out at me.

Jonah could also be called the Book of Irony or maybe My Story as a Shlemazel. For those of you who don’t know what a Shlemazel is: The Shlemiel spills the soup onto the Shlemazel. You really have to feel for the guy.

First, God appoints him a prophetic task and we all know just how little fun it can be to be a prophet.

Second, Jonah’s prophetic task requires him to go to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, ancient Israel’s fiercest enemy and tell them they need to change their ways or God will punish them. A contemporary example would be if Benjamin Netanyahu getting a call from God to go to Tehran and tell them God will destroy them unless they support Israel! Jonah would have to be thinking that his projected life span had just been shortened.

Third, he hops a freighter heading the other way, gets thrown overboard, gets swallowed by a fish in the Mediterranean which swims past Gibraltar, around Africa into the Persian Gulf, up the Tigris River and gets spit up on its banks just outside the gates of Nineveh.

Fourth, he is successful. In fact he is the only one of our prophets who got people to change their ways, repent and come to God. Unfortunately, from his point of view, these people were his enemy and in his own eyes at best he failed, at worst he was a traitor.

And fifth, God provides Jonah shade with what most texts call a gourd but a better translation is a “castor oil plant”. When God sends a worm to kill the plant, Jonah is upset that he no longer has a castor oil plant. From what my parents told me about their childhoods, they would have been quite happy if a castor oil plant had died.

Seriously though, it is the ultimate irony that in the prophetic age, our ancestors never answered God’s call to repentance but our fiercest enemy did. Jonah’s reaction? Anger and frustration. Listen to his words:

And this displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed to the God, and said, I pray you, O God, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I hastened to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and that you repent of the evil. Therefore now, O God, take, I pray you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

Would our reaction have been any different than Jonah’s? The Assyrians had hurt his people and destroyed his land. They conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and sent them off into exile where they lost their identity and disappeared from history. Jonah held onto his justified anger. It was not that he did not accept the Assyrian’s change of heart. He admits the Assyrian’s repentance is real. To use his own words he was: “sorely grieved.”

I believe this is why the rabbis chose Jonah for this afternoon’s Haftarah. God could forgive the Assyrians. Jonah could not. Jonah’s reaction to the Assyrian’s repentance is where we too often fail at this time of year. We are created in the image of God, commanded to be holy as God is holy. God forgives and therefore we should forgive. As we examine our own lives and see where we fell short this past year, sincerely repenting our behaviors comes relatively easily. Forgiveness, letting go of the pain others caused us, accepting their repentance as sincere, much, much harder.

Forgiveness is letting go of the pain. Moving ourselves through our own feelings so that we can move forward and not just survive but thrive.

This afternoon during the break we will show an incredible a video that has an incredible moments of true forgiveness, not forgetting, but dealing with the pain. A survivor of Auschwitz meets a Jewish gunner on an American flight crew whose mission was to bomb the factories adjacent to Auschwitz not the railways that led to death, the instruments or death or Auschwitz itself. Both the survivor and the gunner finally come to terms with their guilt, their shame and they forgive not just each other, but in their reunion you can see their individual pain leave their souls. The survivor’s anger that the Americans had left him to die a horrific death instead of taking his life quickly and perhaps saving many lives. The gunner for not knowing what was taking place just below him.

So my challenge to you this Yom Kippur is this: do not be Jonah sulking and finding comfort in your righteous pain. For the rest of today, for the rest of this year, focus not just on your own need to repent but rather on forgiving, letting go of the pain others have caused, are causing and will cause you. Instead of being Jonah who mourns the loss of a plant that shielded him from the heat of the sun, use the warmth of the sun to let go of your pain and forgive.

ONE WHO LOOKS FOR A FRIEND WITHOUT FAULTS WILL HAVE NONE - Erev Yom Kippur 5772

2011-10-20T17:56:00.000-06:00

ONE WHO LOOKS FOR A FRIEND WITHOUT FAULTS WILL HAVE NONE

Congregation Albert

Erev Yom Kippur 5772

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

My parents told me to never discuss politics or religion with people I hardly know. See how well I listened to that advice? Unfortunately, they did not teach me that the same applies to giving a sermon about Israel. It is the most dangerous sermon a rabbi can give. On the other hand, I would not have taken that piece of advice if it had been offered.

There is a Chasidic proverb: One who looks for a friend without faults will have no friends.

In 1971, I left for a high school semester in Israel. Coming from a lower middle class family, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My host family was an upper class Israeli family living in Ramat Gan, just outside Tel Aviv. Unlike 90% of Israelis at that time, they owned a single family house with a yard, two cars and two telephone lines. By Israeli standards, and mine, they were rich. I went with my Israeli brother to an elite school in Ramat Aviv, an even richer suburb of Tel Aviv than Ramat Gan. Like my classmates, in addition to phys. ed I took גדנה pre-army training. 1971 saw Israel in the midst of the war of attrition. Surrounding my elite high school was an 8 foot wall to protect us from terrorists. Of course what was the first thing they taught us in pre-army training? How to scale that wall. 16 years old, living in the lap of luxury, going to a school where the grades did not count toward my high school GPA, so… whenever the mood struck, that is, whenever I didn’t feel like going to class, over the wall I went to the nice little café across the street from the school.

One day, after spending an hour or so in the café and not being ready to return for my classes, I began to wander the streets of this rich suburb, Ramat Aviv. To this day I can remember the route I took. From school, I walked past the Tel Aviv museum, past what in Israel were mansions and then I literally and figuratively turned a corner that has shaped my relationship and understanding of Israel to this day. There, in the heart of this luxurious upper class Israeli neighborhood, stood tin roofed shacks with half naked children in torn clothing, malnourished animals and outhouses. Hearing Hebrew all around me I had stumbled into the Israel few outsiders ever see. Half way through my six month sojourn, I saw the Israel no one had ever described to me. Thus began my complex relationship with Israel.

My next trip to Israel was for Rabbinic school. I left 2 days after the raid on Entebbe and my plane followed the same route as the hijacked plane. Arriving in Israel I, like rabbinic students before me became friends with an Old City Palestinian merchant, Abed. That year my friends and I spent many an afternoon drinking tea, people watching, discussing the world and the complexities of Israel/Palestinian relations. Ever since, until he sold his store to his nephews, on my every trip to Jerusalem I found myself on a languid Jerusalem afternoon enjoying Abed’s hospitality and sharing our lives. Through the years, I have listened to his stories about his family’s land being taken to build a West Bank settlement, the struggles his children have had in Israeli universities and the restrictions he faces as a citizen of no country. Not an Israeli, not a Jordanian; with no country to call his own. My complex relationship with Israel continued and deepened.

In 2006, I visited hospitals in northern Israel struck by Hezbollah’s missiles. I met with Holocaust survivors in Haifa who in the aftermath of Hezbollah’s missiles were suffering flashbacks of being bombed in Europe. I saw stacks of thousands of Hamas rockets collected from the fields and school yards of Sderot. Who could not be moved?

The only police who tried to beat and arrest me during a protest march? Israeli. The only people who have tried to blow me up? Palestinians. How could my relationship with Israel be 2 dimensional black and white? How could it be any less than an elaborate tapestry woven from a thousand shades of hundreds of colors?

Make no mistake. I am, without question or hesitation, an unabashed supporter of Israel. In back of the sanctuary and in the lobby you will find cards forms to fill out to join me as an investor in Israel by purchasing Israel bonds. For nearly 20 years I have been active on the national level of federation to do what I can to support collecting tzedakah for Israel. At the same time, I fervently believe that when it comes to Israel, absolutist jingoism is not the way. AIPAC and JStreet and of course Israel’s enemies all preach their truths in the easy two dimensions of black and white. True support of Israel requires an acceptance and understanding of her subtleties, the internal and external challenges she faces. Just as with our closest family and friends, the beauty of the relationship exists in getting past the surface black and white and knowing the ever shifting grays and seeing the dullest as well as the brightest hues.

The world holds Israel to a higher standard than any other country. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Robert Bernstein, the former president and Charman of Random House and the current chair of the group “Advancing Human Rights” wrote:

“Human Rights Watch, which I founded 33 years ago, continues to attack many of Israel’s defensive measures during war, yet it says nothing about hate speech and incitement to genocide. To cite just one example, the speaker of the Hamas parliament, Ahmad Bahr, called in April 2007 for the murder of Jews, ‘down to the very last one.’ Imagine what leading human rights groups would say if this same speech and incitement were coming from Israel, aimed at the Palestinians.
“Human rights groups, which could be highlighting the crimes of Arab dictatorships against Israel and each other, have instead chosen to focus primarily on Israel. They continually discount the extraordinary steps Israel takes to protect civilians on both sides — steps approved by military experts, such as using pamphlets, phone calls and even noise bombs to scare people away from a location before a bombing — while whitewashing Hamas’s desire to eliminate a whole country as just bluster and meaningless words. One would think that, of all organizations in the world, human rights groups would particularly believe that words matter. Words inform intent and influence action. Words and actions need to be taken seriously, especially when they are sponsored by governments.”

Mr. Bernstein is absolutely correct. However, we should hold Israel to a higher standard just as we should hold ourselves. Hopefully the difference between the double standard we hold verses that held by others is manifested in the intent behind the differing standards. Just as we expect more out of our parents, our children, our families because we love and care about them we expect more out of Israel because her people are our family.

During these Days of Awe we strive to search the deepest recesses of our selves with brutal honesty. Hopefully, we focus on our successes as well as where we need to improve. Without defensiveness or hubris but rather with gratitude and humility we find the complexity of our lives and learn the truth of who we are and where we need to grow and improve. If we look inward and see only the good we do not know ourselves. If we look inward and see only the bad, we cannot help ourselves. In either case we cannot really love ourselves.

The same is true in our relationship with Israel. To love, support, care for Israel and her people, we need to open our eyes and see it all, the good and the bad, the beauty and the ugliness. Just as we would do for ourselves and our families, we need to stand proud and defend Israel against those who wish to destroy her while we resist those in our community who condemn all who disagree with their one true vision of Israel right or wrong. Only then can we say we are אוהבי ישראל – lovers of Israel.

There is a Chasidic proverb: One who looks for a friend without faults will have no friends.

LISTS - Rosh Hashanah Morning 5772

2011-10-20T17:34:00.000-06:00

LISTS

Congregation Albert

Rosh Hashanah Morning 5772

Just about everyone I know loves lists: Some a Letterman top 10 list, some a shopping list and some lists of records and achievements. I love to keep a to do list so I can cross things out as I finish them. The feelings I get of taking my pen and drawing a line through something I’ve done, or decided not to do…

Each year, these ימים נוראים, these Days of Awe bring us the perfect opportunity to make our lists. The Hebrew word for list - רשימה literally means a recording. During these Days of Awe, we use the metaphor of our names being recorded in the Book of Life for the coming year. As children we picture God looking at that list and being perfect having no need to check it twice. We each keep our own lists of the highs and lows of our lives. Where we exceded, succeeded or failed.

Our texts and liturgy are replete with lists. Torah contains numerous lists: the 10 Commandments, Leviticus 19 - the holiness code which we will read on Yom Kippur, and let’s not forget the oh so exciting and endless genealogies! This morning we read the most awesome of lists in all our liturgy, the ונתנה טקף - who shall live and who shall die, who by fire and who by water, who by sword and who by beast.

Doing my summer reading in preparation for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur I came across two lists that intrigued me. I debated back and forth over which list to use as my theme for this morning until I settled on the list referred to me by Rabbi Hillel Cohn and composed by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain in his newly released מחזור - High Holy Day prayerbook. In the introduction to Rosh Hashanah he asks the questions: “What then does Rosh Hashanah say to us? Of what is it a reminder? How can it transform our lives?” In response he lists 9 ways Rosh Hashanah can transform us. Here they are with my take on them.

1. Life is short.

My teacher Rabbi Alvin Reines taught that the definition of religion is how we human beings react to being finite. Of all the ways we are finite, the limits of our life span is the most profound. The ונתנה טקף emphasizes the fragility of life. Infants and children die much too soon. Even those who survive the Psalm’s “threescore years and ten or by reason of strength fourscore years” or even more are felt to have died too soon. We lament those whose productive lives are cut short by the failure of their bodies or mind while they still breathe. We may feel their living goes on too long but if we had our druthers, we would love for them to have lived longer as we once knew them.

On the other hand, the finitude of our lives brings profound goodness. Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman wrote in 1946 as paraphrased in Gates of Prayer: “Mortality is the tax that we pay for the privilege of love, thought, creative work… Just because we are human, we are prisoners of the years. Yet that very prison is the room of discipline in which we, driven by the urgency of time, create.”

2. Life itself, each day, every breath we take, is the gift of God. Life is not something we may take for granted.

Because of the fragility of life we need to be appreciative of having it. Even when life presents us with the greatest of challenges, serious illness, the death of a loved one, the loss of self sufficiency, remembering the blessing of life itself helps us not only have hope, not only survive the pain or indignity, it leads us, even at our lowest moments, to dare to thrive.

3. We are free. Judaism is the religion of the free human being freely responding to the God of freedom.

Whether by nurture, nature or the intervention of other people, there are times when everyone feels restrained. Sometimes the shackles are literally forged from iron and at other times they are placed on our wrists and feet by our experiences and the impact those experiences have had upon our sense of self.

Yet God has given us the ultimate freedom - that of free will. While circumstance may impede the number of choices and chances before us, we freely choose how to respond to them. Joshua and Caleb stood against the other 10 spies sent into Canaan and insisted that our ancestors could prevail against all odds. The Jews of Spain, faced with the choice of conversion, death or exile left their homes and spread the beauty and depth of Sephardic culture through the rest of the Jewish world. In early America, colonists stood up to a king with the most powerful army in the world. In the ghettos and camps, at Sobibor and every other death camp in Europe, many maintained their humanity and some physically rebelled against the oppression. From the streets of Birmingham and Biloxi to Stonewall in New York City, the oppressed and victims of racism, hate and discrimination stood up and said “no more.”

They and so many others were infinitely more free than most of us in America who simply bemoan the state of our country and our world.

4. Life is meaningful. We are not mere accidents of matter, generated by a universe that came into being for no reason and will, for no reason, cease to be.

Each person’s life, no matter how long or how short, how blessed or how hard, has meaning and purpose. The challenge for us is to accept we may never know what that meaning and purpose may be. There are few Moses’ or Mandelas. For the rest of us the purpose and meaning of our life may lie in a simple glance at another person who needs acknowledgment or a caring word or touch that alleviates a measure of someone else’s pain.

5. Life is not easy. Judaism does not see the world through rose-tinted lenses. And

6.Life may be hard, but it can still be sweet.

Everyone’s life contains challenges: some existential, some practical, some just require hard work. The longer I live, the more I understand that every life contains challenges and every achievement requires hard work. Nothing is solely gained by luck. How many are born into privilege and still know pain and hardship? How many born into the most squalid of places or abusive of families worked their way up and out?

We cannot control what life throws at us, we can only choose how we face whatever life offers.

7. Our life is the single greatest work of art we will ever make.

The art of our lives is never finished. It is not to be sheltered away in a museum. With each action we add to the canvass of life the symphonic score that makes up the universe. Each action impacts and changes the world. The beauty or ugliness of our actions determines the kind of art we create.

One of the greatest artists of life I know has both physical challenges and Down’s Syndrome. One day he and his father were driving and he started screaming: “Stop the car! Stop the car!” His father quickly pulled over and before his father could stop him, the young man jumped out of the car, pulled of his coat and gloves and ran over to a homeless man and handed them to him. His father now carries extra coats and gloves in the car for his son to give away. Could there be more beautiful art?

8. We are what we are because of those who came before us.

Cantor Doug Cotler wrote these words:

I’m standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me
Today my life is full of choice
Because a young man raised his voice
Because a young girl took a chance
I am freedom’s choice inheritance
Years ago they crossed the sea
They made a life that’s come to me
So in the garden I’ll plant a seed
A tree of life for you to read
The fruit will ripen in the sun
The words will sound when I am gone
These are the things I pass along
The fruit, the Book and the song
I’m standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me

As Cantor Cotler rightly points out, not only were our lives shaped by the choices made by those who came before us, we need to remember that those who come after us stand on our shoulders, inheriting the world we leave them.

9. We are heirs to another kind of greatness too, that of the Torah itself and its high demands, its strenuous ideals, its panoply of mitzvot, its intellectual and existential challenges.

We live in a time when the rejection of obligation defines the generations. We see this in politics, in tzedakah, in affiliation rates with organizations of all kinds. Yet, rejection of obligation is antithetical to Judaism and Jewish ethics. Judaism demands and our covenant with God requires that we strive to meet head on the challenges that life and the world present to us. Why observe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur if we do not feel the obligation to be a part of this community, if we do not feel the demand God puts upon us to move closer to the ideal of perfecting ourselves and the world?

Thus concludes Rabbi Sacks’ list. What is on your list that allows Rosh Hashanah to transform your life for the better?

In the Hebrew dictionary, רשימה - list falls between the Hebrew words רשות – permitted and רשע - evil. It is my prayer for all of us this year that we refer back to the רשימות lists we made for these Holy Days so that we may keep on track and balance between that which is - רשות, permitted and that which is - רשע evil so that this Rosh Hashanah has the power to transform our lives.

A Treasured People - Treasuring People Erev Rosh Hashanah 5772

2011-10-20T17:19:00.000-06:00

עם סגולה

A TREASURED PEOPLE - TREASURING PEOPLE

Congregation Albert

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5772

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

In the book of Genesis chapter 4 Cain rises up and kills his brother Abel. God punishes Cain in verse 11 “and now cursed be you from the ground which has opened her mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand; when you till the ground it shall not continue to give unto you her strength. A vagabond and a wanderer shall you be on the earth.” Cain’s response: “my punishment is greater than can be borne.

I always wondered why Cain felt this punishment was too great. It is not as if God punished him with death or incarcerated him forever, which would be the way we today handle murders. Was Cain so upset that God had punished him by making it harder for him to farm? Or, was Cain upset that he would be “community-less” a wanderer forever?

For me the answer to this question lies in Genesis chapter 2 verse 18. “It is not good that a person should be alone.” While most commentators understand that God is saying human beings need a partner to help them with the mundane tasks of the world, S’forno the great Italian Kabbalist and commentator of the 16th century, has a different understanding of the text. He says: “the end implicit in being created in God’s likeness and image would not be achieved if you would have to devote yourself on your own to supplying your daily needs.” In other words, to be a complete human being, wholly formed in the image of God, we need community. When we are without community we are alone, spiritually imperfect.

Judaism has always recognized this need to be in community in order to reach our full spiritual potential. That is why I prefer the description of Judaism as a faith-family. As much as we are a religious entity, we are also a community with deep familial ties. It is why when Jews are in trouble Israel is threatened, regardless of our differences, we unite as a single community. In my generation alone we witnessed the rescue of Soviet and Ethiopian Jewry, as well as the welcoming of thousands upon thousands of Jewish refugees and immigrants into both the United States and Israel. Once these refugees landed on our shores and arrived in our communities we did not stop but rather both here in the States and in Israel we worked hard to integrate them into the very fabric of our communities.

These familial ties are why Jews rarely, almost never, live a monastic lifestyle. Instead we form congregations like this one. The Hebrew word for congregation is קהילה literally meaning community. In fact, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many congregations added the words קהילה קדושה – holy or sacred congregation before their actual name in recognition that gathering together as a community has the potential to add an extra measure of holiness we cannot find on our own.

True, some of an individual’s most powerful spiritual moments come when he or she is alone. In fact one of my great pleasures is to sit on my back porch, look at the stars and feel my small place in the universe. Many of my most sincere prayers have been uttered either when I have been alone or during silent meditation in a congregational service. But that Silent prayer occurs while being a part of, not apart from, my congregation and therefore dwarfs even the power of looking at the stars. Both Torah and the prophets bear out the importance and power of being alone. Moses at the burning bush and Elijah hearing the still small voice while alone in the desert exist to teach us: we can find God on our own. But both Moses and Elijah understood the need to be in the company of others to complete their spiritual journeys and effect the transformation of our people. Both Moses and Elijah needed others to exist fully in the image of God and in turn were able to bring their communities the opportunity to exist fully in the image of God.

Connected through a shared history and tradition, we Jews bound ourselves as a family at Sinai answering God’s call to join with God in ברית - in Covenant. ָAt that moment we accepted as a matter of faith and obligation that we exist with God in partnership. God began the creation of the world, set it in motion and gave us the free will to take up and keep up our end of the partnership, לתקין עולם במלכות שדי - to finish the work of creation and bring our world closer to perfection.
What does it mean to be a Jew in a covenantal partnership with God? To use biblical language, when God finished the work of creation on the 6th day it was only very good, not perfect. God left some “unfinished business” for us to complete. All faith traditions have their own relationship with God but partnering with God to ensure that captives know freedom, those who lack have access to the resources to meet their needs and, as the Union Prayerbook put it so eloquently, we “lift up those who sleep in the dust.”

No one of us alone can complete the sacred work. It is only by gathering together as a קהילה קדושה, a sacred community, that we have even the slightest hope of being able to fulfill our obligation to each other and to God. As we look around us and see members of our own congregation in need, growing poverty in our community and continuing oppression and environmental threats to our world we understand just how daunting the challenge of completing the unfinished business God left for us.

Tonight marks the beginning of our 115th year as a congregation. One way to express the number 115 in Hebrew is by using the letters ה ע מ. Together these letter spell the Hebrew word העם-the people. This will be a year in which we celebrate our existence as a congregation and as a community. Congregation Albert has a long and proud history of being a community. From our earliest days 115 years ago our founders understood that in forming a sacred community they brought themselves closer to fulfilling the potentiality of the divine image in each other as individuals. Coming together in prayer, in times of personal need, and in reaching out to make this community, our country, and the world a better place they left us an inheritance that challenges us to animate the divine in ourselves by doing the sacred work of God’s unfinished business.

In more recent times we have seen the development of some Chavurot and our caring community committee which reaches out to members of our Congregational family in their times of need. As I have met members of our current Chavurot I see how they have become in every sense of the word family. Even those who were strangers before they joined a Chavurah now have a sense they are members of an extended family. Since the initial development of our Chavurot many of us are new to the congregation. That is why you received a brochure with your high holy day mailing describing our effort to expand this incredible opportunity to make our congregation more of a community and our community more of a family.

In a similar vein, our caring community committee does amazing work. They visit the homebound and sick, help provide rides for the high holy days, are a support to those in morning, and touch your lives in more ways than I have time to list tonight. But they and we need more help. As hard as they work, and I am in awe of how hard they work, and as many people as they serve in our community their work only scratches the surface. If you are willing to help with their sacred task or know of members of our community who could use our help please please let us know. The members of this committee deserve our deepest thanks and need our continued commitment and help.

But as I indicated before, God’s unfinished business does not stop at the doors of the sanctuary, this building or on the doorsteps of our homes. Our obligation in continual partnership with God demands that we reach beyond ourselves into the larger community around us. IHN, Project Share, the TASTY food drive and our other projects help us partially fulfill this mission. But the needs are endless. What do you do to help complete our world? What do you want to do but cannot do alone? Do you need help fixing the broken parts that keep you up at night?

I am honored and blessed that you called me to be the rabbi of this קהילה קדושה that understands so well the inherent blessing of being a community. And so I make this commitment to you: If you come to me with an idea, a desire, a need which is appropriate for us as a Jewish congregation, and you are willing to give of your time to make it a reality, we will give you every level of support we can. Our future is limited only by our vision. Our future is limited only by our commitment to see our dreams come true. We have seen this work over and over again. Congregation Albert has a solid tradition in facilitating the fulfillment of dreams. Most recently a few people decided our congregation needed to be more environmentally friendly and thus the Green Team began to gather and has begun a process that will culminate in reducing our carbon footprint. From our recycling bins to the changing of light bulbs our transformation has begun. Whatever you see as needing fixing in this world I guarantee other members of our congregation see as well. Let us help you find them. Working together with others from our faith-family not only multiplies your impact on our world but, as S’forno points out, helps animate the divine in you. Our human and divine power resides not in ourselves alone but rather in harnessing the קדושת הקהילה – the sacred soul of our congregational community.

Our task is to help you make your Jewish dreams come true, and thus create a Kehillah Kedoshah, a holy Congregation spreading its welcoming and sheltering wings around all who choose to enter, so that all who look upon us will be able to see you spiritual growth and go beyond God's words: “It is very good!”

The First Month In Albuquerque

2011-07-27T18:17:00.000-06:00

Well, this weekend Michele and I will have been here a month. Now that most everything except the artwork is unpacked, the furniture set up, we actually did some sightseeing today (Santa Ana Pueblo) and I have finally memorized my new cell phone number, I figured it was time to catch up with you.

The trip here was hard on Tawny. We spent my birthday in Cleveland with the Foxes and when we picked Tawny up at the kennel we could tell she wasn't doing well. Let's just say that we left decent tips in LaQuinta Inns all the way here. The second person we saw here, after the desk clerk at the hotel was the vet. It took about a week and a half but she seems to be recovered. On the other hand the trip was good for the rabbits. Most of the power struggles seem to have ended and a new equilibrium has been reached, or at least détente.

For us the trip was interesting. Missouri was scary in many ways. Oklahoma had a toll road!? What's that about? Michele's dad met us in Amarillo and I dare say none of us really care to go back there anytime soon.

Thankfully he was with us for a full 2 weeks helping unpack, run errands, fix things and keeping us both relatively calm. He met a friend from Asheville here and they drove back together. 500 miles the first day. 1000 the second! He may not be 80 anymore but it would be hard to tell. He's flying back for 2 weeks in September/October for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the Balloon Festival and hopefully save me from having to help hang the artwork.

Somehow, even though this house is roughly the same size as the Buffalo house, not everything seems to fit even taking into account not having a basement but we are figuring it out. Michele has spent endless hours setting up the house and organizing while I've been at work. It took me a good week and a half to get my desk set up and the books on the shelves. They are still out of order but getting there.

While no congregation, or place, is perfect I think we have found a good fit here. People seem willing to consider new ways of looking at things and are pretty open to change. There are issues to be dealt with but I think none are insurmountable and most have already started sorting themselves out. It's hard to remember my first couple of years in Anchorage and Buffalo because by the time we left everything was well known. Sometimes I feel like I need a steeper learning curve but I am starting to see patterns and figure things out. What has really impressed me is that we have been averaging 120 people on Friday nights and 40 on Shabbat mornings. People keep apologizing for the low turnouts because it is summer and people are out of town. If that's true, we may never get to use the chapel during the school year on Friday nights. We are already opening the doors to adjacent rooms to fit everyone in.

I don't think Michele has put 50 miles on the Miata she's so busy in the house and I am driving about 1/2 of what I drove in Buffalo. Not having 2 buildings is quite a time and fuel saver. The synagogue is straight downhill from the house. If I use a couple of teaspoons of gas to get there I'd be surprised. Coming home is a different story. We both feel some effect from the altitude but I think I'm ready to break out the bike for a short ride this weekend.

The folks I work with here are accepting me (and even my "sense of humor) and we are breaking each other in. However, I still miss my co-workers in Anchorage and Buffalo. I met with a wedding couple last week and when I asked for their folder I realized I forgot to tell my assistant that I want each couple to have a folder. I didn't even think about it because Tina always just had it ready for me.

The congregants have welcomed us into their homes. We have 2 – 3 welcome events a week mostly dinners and Sunday brunches. We could have lots more. We're planning a couple of open houses at the synagogue before the holidays. We have met some folks we are pretty sure will be friends as we get to know them better. There are lots of former Clevelanders and Buffalonians here and even a few former Anchorageites.

It has been easier to adjust to the heat than I thought. For the first couple of weeks it was in the high 90's but only 5% humidity. Now that the afternoon/evening rains have started it is more humid but the temperature is a bit lower. In my work clothes I'm mostly inside or in the car. At home it's shorts and tee shirts. Dress here makes dress in Alaska and Buffalo seem very formal. How much so? I am constantly being told I'M too dressed up.

So that is the summary. We're having dinner with our first guest from Buffalo this week and then overnight company in August include 2 couples who used to live in Anchorage. Michele's dad will be here in September and by then we also hope to have a friend from Anchorage who now lives in Taos come down for a visit or the holidays. So the inn is booking up – get your reservations in soon!

Marriage For Anyone Who Chooses

2011-06-09T07:16:00.000-06:00

You can see the published version in the Buffalo News.

I take great pride that the board of Temple Beth Zion, Western New York’s largest Jewish congregation, passed a resolution supporting granting the right to marry to all of New York’s citizens. This is not a new stand for Temple Beth Zion. It was the first Western New York synagogue to perform a lesbian wedding.

Our congregation has welcomed gay and lesbian couples as full family members for more than a decade. When the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus was to perform at our congregation and a local media outlet would not run publicity for the concert because it contained the word “gay,” we pulled all our advertising and our subscriptions.

As a religious community, we uphold the principle that God created all people and that we are all created in the image of God. As science has shown, at any point in history, at least 10 percent of humanity is gay or lesbian. They, too, are God’s creation and therefore no less deserving of our God-given inalienable human rights than the other 90 percent of us.

Or to put it another way: God created Adam and Steve as well as Adam and Eve.

As a religious Jewish community, we are commanded to understand the heart of the oppressed because we were slaves in the land of Egypt. Temple Beth Zion rabbis and members have stood in the forefront of the fight for civil rights for all, and now stand with those fighting to provide civil rights to those still excluded from the right to marry.

There are those who argue that the creation of a parallel to marriage called civil union would suffice for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. That is the same reasoning used to justify segregated schools and red-lined neighborhoods. We rejected that flawed reasoning then and we should reject it now.

There are those who argue that their religion prohibits them from recognizing lesbian and gay marriages and see such relationships and marriages as sinful. That is the same reasoning used to prevent mixed-race marriages. We rejected that flawed reasoning then and we should reject it now.

Granting marriage equality denies no one’s religious rights; no member of the clergy would be forced to perform a same-sex marriage. Just as a member of the clergy can refuse to marry any man and woman, she or he could refuse to marry any same-sex couple.

New York State stands at a crucial fork in the road. Down one path is the acknowledgment that all are created equal and endowed with the same inalienable human rights. Down the other, the continuation of bigotry and the denial of those inalienable human rights to some.

It is time for New York to choose the path of equality, dignity and human rights for all of its citizens.

Parashat Shemot - My commentary for Jewish Federations of North America

2010-12-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

Parashat Shemote
Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld
Temple Beth Zion, Buffalo, New York

There is no more appropriate way to start the story of our meta story than with the name of this week’s parasha and thus the whole book of Exodus, Shemot - Names. Our story of salvation, first from famine in Canaan, then from slavery in Egypt, to the blessing of the Sinaitic revelation and finally settling in the Promised Land, begins and ends with names.

But they are not just any names. They are the names of the great and not so great. Judah and Joseph, Moses, Aaron and Joshua are intertwined with Gad, Zevulun, Noa and Milka and it is this that makes the Torah and the Tanach resonate with me. The great people and the “regular folk” are intertwined just as they are in our communities today. For me, this makes our sacred text real.

We all know names are important. From the earliest age we respond when we hear our name. We are called to Torah by our names and we are buried with them. Through all of the blessings of our lives and through all the challenging and painful times we carry our names with us.

So it is perplexing to me that in our day and age in our tefillot, our services we seem to only focus on names during the challenging and painful times. For centuries we have read longer and longer lists of the deceased. In more modern times we call out the names of sick and ask for blessing and healing for them. It almost as if the the only reason to come to shul is to deal with pain.

We do celebrate major occasions - namings, upcoming weddings, B’nei Mitzvah and in some shuls birthdays and anniversaries. But why, with a few exceptions don’t we ask people to share the “regular” joys in their lives - a child receiving a good grade, a promotion, hearing from a friend after a long absence, recovery from illness...? Our tradition has blessings for occasions like these and so many others, why do we not emphasize these personal joys? If remembering our beloved deceased with our community brings comfort and if praying for the healing of our ill brings some peace, how much the more so would celebrating our joys and accomplishments add to those positive feelings.

I am as guilty as any other rabbi about this but I am committing myself to changing the services I lead and asking people to share their names and their blessings. It will not be easy or quick. It took time before people were ready to share their hard times publicly, and some still are not. It will take time for people to be willing to share their joys. But think of the change it could bring our lives and our services.
______________________________________________________________

The Jewish Federations of North America Rabbinic Cabinet

Cabinet Chair: Rabbi Steven E. Foster
Vice Chair: Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt
Vice Chair Rabbi Les Bronstein
Vice Chair: Rabbi Fred Klein
Vice Chair: Rabbi Larry Kotok
President: Rabbi Jonathan Schnitzer
Honorary Chair: Rabbi Matthew H. Simon

Director of the Rabbinic Cabinet: Rabbi Gerald Weider

Moving to Congregation Albert

2010-12-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Friends,

As you may have heard I have been offered and accepted the position of Rabbi at Congregation Albert in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For me it has been a very difficult decision between accepting a wonderful opportunity and the thought of leaving so many of you to whom I feel so close. However, now it is time for me to move on to a new stage in life and so I will end my tenure as your Senior Rabbi this coming June. I have never been one to leave friends behind and hope that we will remain a part of each other’s lives and that we will be able to stay in touch.

My 10 plus years as the rabbi at Temple Beth Zion, as your rabbi, have been and always will be precious to me. We have celebrated together, cried together, held each other up, studied, prayed and played together. When I first came to Buffalo my stated goal was to continue the transformation of Temple Beth Zion into Congregation Beth Zion and ultimately into the Community of Beth Zion. I firmly believe that together we have moved closer to that goal.

TBZ is a community with unlimited potential. A congregation exists because people come together to support and care for each other. In my 10 1/2 years as your rabbi I have seen you do this over and over. Together we have educated our children and helped them develop a solid, positive Jewish identity. Together, during 11 Mitzvah Days we have made our community a better place. Together we have become a congregation that continues learning to sing and pray together. In short, we have worked to fulfill our mission. The work is not yet complete but I have full faith that you will continue this work and come closer to fulfilling the mission.

Over the years, as people have left Western New York and TBZ to live elsewhere, I have always told them that once a member of the TBZ family, always a member. I believed it when I said those words but now that they apply to me, I understand their depth. You, the membership of Temple Beth Zion will always be in my heart and I hope that you will keep some small place in yours for me.

Shalom uv’racha,

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

2010/5770 Report To The Congregation

2010-06-12T14:36:00.004-06:00

The Torah portions from 2 weeks ago and last week tell different stories of leadership.

Last week, in Shelach, 12 Israelite leaders are sent to scout the Promised Land. Each comes back raving about the lushness of the land, the bounty of the harvest and carrying bunches of grapes so large that it took two men to carry each one. But 10 of the 12 scouts also come back afraid and spread their fear throughout the community. The Israelites acted like all those who are afraid, they froze and refused to enter the Promised Land and they wanted to flee back to Egypt. Only Joshua and Caleb saw potential and hope. They were realistic about the challenges ahead AND wanted to proceed forward with vision, faith and of course a plan. Ultimately, the rest of the Israelites who acted out of fear were condemned to die in the desert. Only Joshua and Caleb survived the 40 years of wandering and ultimately received the blessing and reward of entering the Promised Land. We learn from this story, that realistically facing our challenges and our fears engenders the possibility of reaching goals beyond our wildest dreams.

Two weeks ago, in B’ha’alot’cha, Joshua comes running to Moses upset that 2 Israelites, Eldad and Medad, were prophesying in the camp. He said: “My lord Moses, shut them up”. Moses replied: “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all God’s people were prophets!” We learn from this story that Moses was the wisest of prophets. He understood that his leadership was not challenged by others who prophesied but just the opposite! When a people is infused with passion there is no limit to the greatness they can achieve. In fact, Moses laments that more people were not moved to prophesy.

As a congregation, as a community, these past few weeks have shown us our strength. Everyone, including me, was tempted to give into allowing our fear to drive us. But we did not succumb. We found a way to reach beyond the fear and emulate Moses and embrace the powerful energy generated.

This outpouring of passion, commitment and leadership did not surprise me but I was overwhelmed and humbled by the depth of it. I was not surprised because I have seen it many times in the past 10 years. When I first arrived 10 years ago and we were able to heal from the deepest of wounds; As Mitzvah Day grew and encompassed communities disparate from our own; As I watched my dream of this becoming a truly caring community flourish as dozens of congregants reach out to hundreds of members who have faced pain and reveled in simcha; How when the Jewish community looks for its leadership, the first place it looks is to us; How when the crash of flight 3407 threatened to suck the life force from our community and our sister congregation Temple Beth Am, the community turned to us; As I stood on the Bema at Beth Am that Friday night I saw you in the seats, comforting another congregational family who had lost their beloved cantor, Susan Wehle; As I stood at the crash site that weekend watching them recover body after body my cell phone rang and rang and rang as you called to see what you could do to help the survivors and the first responders; at all those times and countless others, we were there, infused with spirit and each standing together as leaders, uniting when so many other communities would have run in fear or fought about who was greater and more deserving.

Now here we stand again. Where others would split apart like the Red Sea before the Israelites, we rush together to face our fears and our challenges overpowering them as the waters of the Red Sea overcame the Egyptians and saved our ancestors.

Tonight we gather together not in fear of splitting apart but challenged by how to use this incredible commitment to and passion for TBZ to confront the real issues facing our community: a shrinking Western New York Jewish community, the still divisive city/suburban split, and the increasing demands of life that clamor to take up our every waking moment.

While daunting, these challenges will not overwhelm us. I am blessed to have with me an incredible Judaic team, our new Assistant Rabbi Laurie Green who is brimming with wonderful ideas, our Cantorial Intern Penny Myers who prays and teaches with a sincerity that is all too rare and our educator Susan Goldberg Pardo who inspires us and pushes us to strive for excellence. With the administrative support of Mark Criden and his staff at our side, Rabbi Green, Cantorial Intern Myers, Susan Pardo and I have committed ourselves to a plan that can, together with you and the energy you bring here tonight, not only face our challenges head-on, but take TBZ to great new places beyond the horizon of our vision.

First: All of our doors, mine especially, are open to you, to listen to you, to offer you spiritual guidance and support. I take incredible pride that the 4 of us are NOT the distant, remote rabbis satirized in the movie “A Serious Man”. Call me, write me, email me, IM or Facebook me.

Yet, it is not enough that our doors are open to you. The four of us are setting for ourselves an ambitious initial goal. Between now and October, we want to meet with at least 100 members to listen to and to learn from you. We will not ask you pedantic questions like what kind of programming do you want or what would make services more meaningful for you. Rather we will ask you to honor us by sharing your stories, your hopes, your dreams, and your reasons for being a part of TBZ. In all that we do, we need to transform from a place where inclusivity means our doors are open to all but we wait for you to come to us, into a community that understands that inclusivity means we also have to come to you. We will not stop with the first 100 but will continue this effort until we have reached as many of you as possible in the coming years.

Second: The ancient rabbis taught that each home should be a Mikdash Me’at - a microcosm of the Temple in Jerusalem, a place of safety, warmth, compassion and positive values. Much of my teaching and programming over the next year will focus on helping you transform your home into a more sacred place and reaching out beyond TBZ to those who need our help to find a home that one day they can transform into a Mikdash Me’at. We will also be looking internally to see how our TBZ home can be more of a Mikdash Me’at - a place of safety, warmth, compassion and postivie values. Here is a 9-point definition of what I hope to help you create.

“How to Construct A Mikdash Me'At mikdash me'at” by Ozzie Nogg

1. To transform the home into sanctuary what you have is not as important as how you behave.

2. To qualify as a mikdash me'at, a home must be a place of safety, comfort and refuge, where the hungry find food, the weary find rest and the stranger finds warmth and welcome. In order to be a true mikdash me'at, a home must be a place where many voices are allowed to sing - in harmony or in disagreement.

3. When erecting a mikdash me'at, place it on a solid foundation of compassion, generosity, humility and positive values. Trust and the ability to forgive are also critical building blocks.

4. To make a home a mikdash me'at you must take nothing for granted. When you rise up, give thanks for the new day and the opportunities it brings. When you lie down, give thanks for the day that is past and the lessons it taught you.

5. A mikdash me'at is built on respect - for spouses, partners, parents and children. In a little sanctuary there must also be respect for the people who work in the home. Pay them fairly. Treat them kindly.

6. Remember. Hospitality is as important as divine worship. In a mikdash me'at, food is happily shared with others. At the table, speak words of wisdom and support. Do not gossip. Even if you are alone, be not distracted by television during meals.

7. To qualify as a mikdash me'at, a home must be a place where each family member is appreciated, considered special, and encouraged to grow and learn in different ways. Listen to others with an open heart.

8. To be approved as a certified mikdash me'at, a home must be insulated against rough weather with a protective layer of peace - shalom bayit - if not every day, then surely on Shabbat. On this one day, at least, you must shut out the stress and cares of the world. Replace tension and argument with words of sweetness and love.

9. When building a mikdash me'at, begin now, and proceed with joy.

Third: Across the American Jewish community people are asking: “Where are the men?” This year I will be hosting a new group aimed at men: “Drash and Draught” - a men’s study group which will look at ways Judaism teaches us, in the words of Rabbi Dan Polish, to “Mentch Up”.

Fourth: Also in the realm of outreach - I have invited the Jewish Outreach Institute to come to TBZ to work with our entire staff and others to teach us how to be even more open, welcoming and inclusive than we all ready are. They will also be evaluating our written and electronic materials and presence on the web. JOI has worked with dozens of congregations to help them fulfill Isaiah’s vision, which is our vision: “My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples.”

The first of our program initiatives from JOI will be the implementation of a Grandparents Circle. This program, which will be led by our member and teacher Marcia Valente, is designed to help grandparents be a positive Jewish presence for their grandchildren, WITHOUT impinging on their children’s perogotive as parents.

Fifth: Celebration - On July 17, 1810 the first Reform service was held in Germany. That means this summer on the Shabbat of July 16^th and 17^th, we celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the beginning of Reform Judaism. Rabbi Green and Cantorial Intern Myers will mark the occasion at services that Shabbat and throughout the year we will focus on this anniversary. As a part of observing this milestone, I will be teaching a class on Reform Judaism at Temple Beth Tzedek and Rabbi Perry Netter from Beth Tzedek will teach a class on Conservative Judaism at TBZ. Rabbi Netter and I are committed to deepening the connection between our congregations, the oldest and strongest in Western New York.

In addition, 2010 marks the 100^th anniversary of our Women of Reform Judaism/Sisterhood. With everything Sisterhood has done to support and enhance our congregation one might even think it existed before the congregation. This year we will not only celebrate Sisterhood’s history of commitment to TBZ but also thank them for their ongoing vision and support as they are providing us with the resources to renovate the Sisterhood Chapel into a modern, even more spiritual worship space.

And Sixth: As the board resolution says, we want to involve more of you in the planning and decision making here at TBZ. In his commentary on this week’s Torah portion, Korach, my teacher Rabbi Herb Bronstein writes: “synagogue affiliation has two modes: Taking and giving... In our own lives we have to ask: ‘Are we takers or givers?’” That you are committed to TBZ and its future is evidenced not just by your presence here but that you are members of our congregational family. In most congregations, after the last child becomes Bar or Bat Mitzvah a large number of households quit the temple. Not at TBZ. Our members, you, are not simply takers, using our services and then leaving the rest of us behind. TBZ is a special place. You stay and you give so that others can come and stay as well. You know you own this congregation. Be like Eldad and Medad. Continue to make your voices heard in ways that will help TBZ remain the Jewish light of Western New York and be able to shine its light even further and brighter.

Finally, if any of you think we should fear our future or that the challenges are too daunting, look around this room. As the prophet Joel says in chapter 3 verse 1:

וְהָיָה אַחֲרֵי־כֵן אֶשְׁפּוֹךְ אֶת־רוּחִי עַל־כָּל־בָּשָׂר וְנִבְּאוּ בְּנֵיכֶם וּבְנֹתֵיכֶם, זִקְנֵיכֶם חֲלֹמוֹת יַחֲלֹמוּן, בַּחוּרֵיכֶם חֶזְיֹנוֹת יִרְאוּ

It shall come to pass that I will pour my spirit on all living beings and your sons and daughters shall prophesy and your old shall dream dreams and your youth shall see visions.

We dream our dreams but it is our youth who will show us, who have shown us the way. If there is another congregation that could inspire its young people to stand up as they have, express their opinion so passionately and articulately and to attend an annual congregational meeting, I am not aware of it. Your presence here tonight inspires us.

And so I conclude on a personal note. The great 19^th century Chassidic rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk said: It is the followers who make the rabbi. Tonight, looking at all of you, I understand his words, as I never have before. Seeing our high school and college students here as well as hearing and reading their words these past few weeks, if my rabbinic career were to end at this moment, Dayeinu, it would have been enough.

But my career has not ended. Now I look forward to the continued fulfillment of my dream - to be your spiritual leader as we together over the next year raise this Temple to the greatest glory it has ever known

Let us honor our students as they have honored all of us by ensuring that Temple Beth Zion will be here for them, their children and their children’s children, henceforth and forever.

Shabbat Shalom.

Response and Remarks for Temple Beth Zion's 160th Anniversary and the First 10 Years of My Rabbinate Here

2010-05-16T08:24:00.006-06:00

Tonight we celebrate our past, our future and our present.

Eight score years ago, our founders dreamt of forming a congregation that would represent who they were and how they wanted to worship. Twelve years later, they decided on a new path and invited Isaac Mayer Wise to send a rabbi to Buffalo who would lead a service in the “Reform tradition”. So 148 years ago, Temple Beth Zion left its original orthodox roots and became a congregation committed to adapting to its times and its community.

In Hebrew, 148 equates to the letters ק מ ח which spell the word “kemach”. Kemach literally means flour but our ancient rabbis understood that it is really much more. Kemach means sustenance, the sustenance we get from food, from our material goods and most of all, the sustenance we get from Torah. Our founders understood that for them, Temple Beth Zion would not only sustain their worship but also be the center of their social and communal life.

Our founders lived in a vastly different time than ours, a time when their goal was to acculturate into American life and be accepted by their neighbors as equals, even while being barred from the general community’s social institutions.

Throughout the years, the decades, the last century and a half, each generation of Temple Beth Zion faced its own challenges and met them with the same strength and insight of our founders. Led by wonderful, committed, 34 caring rabbis and cantors, 50 dedicated presidents and countless lay leaders, Temple Beth Zion changed and adapted to meet its time and community head on, finding positive ways to help its members negotiate being Jewish in Western New York.

In many ways, our challenge is the polar opposite of that of our founders. Fully acculturated into America, we strive to instill in ourselves and our young people what it means to be Jewish and be part of a Jewish community. We no longer live in Jewish neighborhoods. Our children often find themselves the only Jews in their class or even their grade and do not have the Jewish support network so many of us grew up knowing.

So 12 years ago, after much soul searching and planning, a decision was made to adapt our historic nursery school program, to confront our reality and reinforce the incredible base that our nursery school had created, and thus the Play and Learn School was born. Through the almost 11 years of its existence it has not only educated and brought our youngest children closer to Judaism and the Jewish community, it continues evolving to meet the changing needs of our children. Like every aspect of Temple Beth Zion before it, including our incredible nursery school, the professional and lay leadership of PALS understand that its work is not about the present, but rather ensuring the future.

A week ago, a great man died, Walter Hickel Sr. Anyone who knows me, knows there are few politicians that I like and even fewer that I respect. I liked and respected Governor Hickel. He was a man of principle. Forty years ago when he was Secretary of the Interior under President Nixon, he sent a letter to the President decrying the invasion and bombing of Cambodia and the killing of the students at Kent State. Nixon fired him and Wally Hickel returned to Alaska and in 1992 was reelected Governor. Why do I mention him this evening? Because when the congregation in Anchorage honored me for my 10 years of service there, Governor Hickel took time to be there with us. Tonight as we celebrate my 10 years here at Temple Beth Zion, he is here as well through these words of his that I try to live by and would like to share with you:

“If God didn't like big projects, he wouldn't have created the universe.

“When a man thinks he's too good to do another man's work, he neither understands work nor understands the man.

“I am sick and tired of those who say life is cheap. Life is only cheap when it is not your own.

And most importantly: “Dream big dreams. Because if you dream little dreams, you can only achieve little things. But if you dream big dreams, you can achieve little things and big things.”

Our founders, and our leaders since, dreamt big dreams, achieved things little and big. Can we afford to do any less?

I know I have gone past my self allotted 5 minutes but...

Tonight we have mentioned and honored many people; our founders, our historic and current supporters, our rabbis, and our lay leadership. But there is one group of people who get little or no public kavod, public recognition. But they are represented on this Bema and in this service. My predecessors certainly gave and I do my best to give as much as possible of ourselves to this, our congregational family. Yet every evening meeting, weekend program, or class that we, our clergy partners, educators, executive directors and others who work here give to this family, is time donated to the congregation from our own families. Tonight, Rabbi Fink’s daughter, Toby Laping, Rabbi Goldberg’s wife Claire and my own wife Michele are up here representing all the family members who donated so much to you, our other family. On behalf of the Rabbis, Clergy and Professionals, thank you Toby, Claire, Michele and all those whom you represent for supporting the work we do. I would ask the rest of you to join me in honoring and thanking them as well.

Finally, thank-you to all of you who have honored me by letting me be a part of your life these past 10 years. We have shared joys and sorrow, great successes and some of the hardest of times. Each moment has been a gift you have given me.

To my team members, Ilana, Penny, Susan and Mark, Gary, David and Jackie, colleagues and the office and maintenance workers thank-you. Temple Beth Zion would be so much less without each and every one of you.

Thank-you to Reverend Tom Yorty who has been my partner and friend these 10 years just as our predecsssors at Westminster and TBZ were partners and friends. No celebration of our history could be complete without Westminster being here with us.

To Rabbi Elwell, when I showed you around HUC 30 years ago who could have imagined how our lives would intersect and that we would be together here tonight? Thank-you for representing TBZ so well through your life and work and for representing the Union and our colleagues and friends tonight. And thank-you for always being there for me when I have called upon you as a friend and colleague.

And Michele, you love me (although God knows why) you push me, challenge me and support me. Thank-you. Who could ask for anything more?

Tonight we celebrate the first 160 years of Temple Beth Zion, the first 10 years of PALS and my first 10 years at TBZ - and the best is yet to come!

Dos Equis’ pitchman is Jewish actor living in Marina del Rey.

2010-05-05T14:57:00.001-06:00

A Rabbi Friend of mine sent me this and I just had to share...

Dos Equis' pitchman is Jewish actor living in Marina del Rey

To Israel with Temple Beth Zion and Westminster Presbyterian Church Part 8

2010-01-26T03:28:00.001-07:00

Tuesday January 26, 2010

If I was not jet lagged and thus writing this at 4:00 AM, it would be hard to believe we are home. Our last day in Jerusalem (was it really 2 days ago on Sunday?) was so full we had to actually skip some things so people could do their final shopping!

We began our day by attending the Scottish Church service at St. Andrews in Jerusalem. St. Andrews was established in 1927 and dedicated by General Allenby who had liberated Jerusalem from the Axis Powers in WWI. We chose St. Andrews as the Presbyterian Church in the United States was born out of it in colonial times. It was a nice service. The minister's sermon spoke of Martin Luther King Jr., his faith and his spirit.

We left the church and headed to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Forest to plant olive trees (a theme I will come back to later.) The last time I planted trees with a group in Israel was with my second group from Anchorage. We went to a greenhouse, purchased fruit trees and planted them on our guide's army base as a symbol of peace as the Torah teaches (Deut. 20:19-20) that one cannot cut down fruit trees in time of war. This time was equally as meaningful as we were planting these olive trees (also a symbol of peace) just a few days before Tu B'shvat, the Jewish New Year of Trees (sort of a Jewish Arbor Day.) We knew Tu B'shvat was near not only from the calendar but because the almond trees were in bloom. Historically, the almond tree is the first tree to blossom in the Land of Israel. Today, it has competition from a plant we in Western New York are particularly familiar with, the forsythia which according to the Wikipedia article is a relative of the olive tree.

After a brief stop at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel for lunch we proceeded back to the Old City to see the Upper Room, a possible site of the Last Supper. A group was already in the Upper Room when we arrived and holding a service to reenact the Last Supper. Even without the echo in the room, their harmonies were inspiring.

Just outside the Upper Room is the supposed site of King David's Tomb. While this is possibly the least likely site of King David's burial place, I couldn't resist taking a picture of David next to the statue of King David. I don't know about you but I see an uncanny resemblance!

The last touring stop of the day was at the Garden of Gethsemane. This is a lovely site with a beautiful church. It is still an olive grove containing a 1750 year old olive tree. While the Garden of Gethsemane is an important Christian site not a part of my Jewish tradition and in fact, because of the Gospel's account of Judas's betrayal of Jesus, it is a site I associate with historic Christian anti-Judaism, it seemed to me to be the perfect last stop for our tour. There we stood, Jews and Christians, among ancient olive trees, a universal symbol for peace and wholeness at least since the Biblical story of Noah. We started our journey as separate individuals from multiple traditions and ended our journey as a united group. While at times it may have felt like we were together for 1750 years, in reality it was only 10 days. But in those 10 days each of us was enriched and transformed.

We let everyone go do their last shopping and relaxing in the ancient holy city and regathered at the hotel to walk across the street for our goodbye dinner at the most appropriately named restaurant, Olive and Fish. We had already said goodbye to M and A as they had left earlier in the day for an add on trip to Egypt and G. R. who caught an earlier flight to D.C.. The rest of us gathered with our superb guide Julie Baretz and our incredible driver, Yossi for a wonderful meal. We shared some reflections and memories, noted how long it will really take us to process everything from our trip and enjoyed some more laughs before heading to the airport and our long flight home.

At that final dinner I said some thank-you's, five of which I would like to echo here.

First to our guide Julie Baretz. I do this hesitantly because I'm afraid if I say too much everyone will want to have her guide them and she won't be available for us next time. I requested Julie to be our guide for this trip for two reasons. One, she guided our last trip and was incredible. Two, she specializes in guiding Christian groups as well as Jewish groups. We were her first real interfaith group and as wonderful as she was on our last trip, she truly outdid herself! Her sensitivity to both faiths and her ability to integrate and combine information, sites and us exceeded my already high expectations.

Second, Rev. Tom and Carol Yorty. We have known each other and worked together since my arrival in Buffalo in 2000. I knew them as wise, kind, caring and sensitive people. But you never really know how you will relate to someone on this kind of whirlwind trip until it happens. Again, my high expectations were exceeded. There are really no words to express just how much they added not only to the group experience but to my personal experience as well. From colleagues and acquaintances before the trip, I now feel them as partners, friends and counsels. They don't come any better than Tom and Carol.

Third, Rabbi Shira Joseph. When Jeff from Ayelet Tours told me that there was a rabbi who was going to Israel for part of her sabbatical and wanted to experience our interfaith trip, as I later told her, I thought she was crazy. A day or two perhaps but the whole trip? I glad beyond words that Shira joined us. Her gentle way kept inspiring me to do better. She was there as extra help when asked and while she came to learn from us, she was a great teacher to me. I gained a new colleague and friend.

Fourth a huge thank-you to Michele. I work hard on these trips and am not as available as I should be. Thank-you for your patience, understanding and keeping me steady.

Finally the group itself. Without you this trip would not have been possible. But more, each of you individually and as a group made the trip the incredible experience it became. We all had our quirks but each of those quirks added to the whole experience and made it unique. In Hebrew the word for "holy" is Kadosh which implies unique and special. That is what you became, Kadosh, a holy congregation of Jews and Christians. What more could anyone ask?

שלום וברכה - Shalom uv'racha - Peace and blessings upon you all, Jerusalem, Israel and our world,

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

To Israel with Temple Beth Zion and Westminster Presbyterian Church Part 7

2010-01-23T09:09:00.004-07:00

January 23, 2010

Shabbat in Jerusalem - what else can one say?

Shavuah Tov!

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

To Israel with Temple Beth Zion and Westminster Presbyterian Church Part 6

2010-01-23T01:44:00.002-07:00

January 22, 2010

We left Jerusalem very early this morning for our day trip to the Dead Sea. Upon reaching the Dead Sea, we could see evidence of flash floods that had crossed the road days before. This is normal for winter in Israel. When the rains come the ground is often hard and dry and cannot absorb much water so it gathers in the normally dry river beds and heads to the Sea of Galilee and Jordan River, the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea.

Masada has changed for me over the years as it has for many Israelis. The message of the brave soldiers choosing death and suicide for themselves and their wives and children rather than slavery as the ultimate courage has been replaced by a more reflective understanding of "Never Again Will Masada Fall". The goal no longer is a choice between death or freedom, rather it is ensuring life and freedom and that is a powerful message.

Nonetheless, it is always a thrill to be on Masada, especially with those who have not been there before. The granaries, the cisterns, the breach in the wall, the discussion about Josephus and his agenda, never lose their power for me.

The rest of Friday was spent in "preparation for Shabbat" and welcoming Shabbat. Our guide Julie and I have been harsh taskmasters giving little time for shopping and hurrying people out of stores to keep us running on time. Our schedule has been full and timing has been important. So by the time we reached the Ahava Factory Outlet store and gift shop at Qumran, and we gave them a whole hour for eating and shopping, need I say more?

Then it was down the road to the Dead Sea beach at Qumran. Below are several photos of people covered in mud and floating in the sea. I am under threat of death to post certain shots here but perhaps they can be a fundraiser for Westminster and TBZ. Of course all the money would go to support Mitzvah Day and other similar projects....

Arriving back in Jerusalem we changed and dressed for Shabbat, boarded the bus and drove to Kol Haneshama for Shabbat evening services. Every Jewish worship service in every congregation is unique unto itself. After a brief introduction to the service and Reform Judaism in Israel the singing began and our souls were lifted. Shabbat should be about peace and joy. The service was that and more. At the service were two of our former Institute of Liberal Jewish Studies teachers, Rabbis Elyse Goldstein and Michael Klein-Katz and of course the rabbi of Kol Haneshama, Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman was our Halpern Speaker several years ago. It was a blessing to see them, hug them and wish them Shabbat Shalom.

Our Shabbat dinner at the hotel overwhelmed us with food and new, deep friendships. May the extra soul we gained this Shabbat carry us through to next Shabbat and beyond.

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem,

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

To Israel with Temple Beth Zion and Westminster Presbyterian Church Part 5

2010-01-21T14:00:00.001-07:00

January 21, 2010

Today was a somber day, but this evening was filled with joy.

We began the morning at Hadassah Hospital to see the magnificent Chagall Windows and learn a bit about the incredible work and research at the hospital.

We then proceeded to Har Herzl, Mount Herzl, Israel's main military cemetery which also contains the graves of some of it's most important leaders. I am always moved by our visits here and each time see something new. This visit was no different. As we approached Theodore Herzl's grave there were a number of new Israeli soldiers surrounding it as they learned about Herzl and the early Zionist movement.

We left the grave and went to a place in the cemetery where we could visit the graves of those who fell during the first Lebanon war. Buried among those dead was the grave of Yigal Yadin, most known for being the head archeologist at Masada but who was also a military leader and hero. When he died, he asked to be buried among his troops.

We left Har Herzl and went to Yad VaShem, Israel's Holocaust memorial and museum. As always, the range of emotions was broad. There were those who had to get out of the museum as soon as possible as they could not deal with the horror and those who read every word in every exhibit in order to try and comprehend the horror. We comforted each other, held each other up and supported one another.

We left the museum, had a Yizkor service in the Hall of Remembrance, honored the memory of the 1.5 million Jewish children killed in the Holocaust at the Children's Memorial and finished at the path which honors the Righteous Gentiles who at great risk to themselves and their families helped save Jews. I have never been to Yad VaShem with an interfaith group. But standing their with our partners from Westminster, who are now more than partners - they are friends, gave new meaning to this garden path. If God forbid we ever needed their help, I do not believe, but I KNOW they will be there for us, standing with us against those who would seek to destroy us.

This evening we had a joyous, raucous time. Just over half of us went to my favorite restaurant, Samy on Agrippa Street (yes this is a shameless plug for them!) Together we ate, we laughed, we bonded, we ate some more. It was the perfect end to our day.

Tomorrow we go to the Dead Sea and then come back to Jerusalem to welcome Shabbat!

Shalom from Israel,

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

To Israel with Temple Beth Zion and Westminster Presbyterian Church Part 4

2010-01-20T14:52:00.002-07:00

Wednesday January 20, 2010

I'm sure many of you would not be surprised that for most of my life I have asked my literature teachers: "How do you know...?" I had that feeling much of today as we walked in the walled city of Jerusalem.

We actually started our day outside the walls in East Jerusalem at the Garden Tomb. In the mid-1800's Protestant Christians decided that this was the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus while most Christian groups decided 1400 years earlier that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the site. For me the question remains: "How does anyone know?" These decisions were made long before archeology was even in its infancy! The same is true for Biblical sites. Even some of the places that have Biblical names but not much archeological evidence could have been identified 1800+ years ago as a particular location, may in actuality be in a different place altogether.

Jerusalem (in Hebrew Yerushalayim), however contains a tremendous amount of archeological proof confirming the reality the identification and today we spent a good deal of time looking at that evidence.

Leaving the Garden Tomb we toured the excavations outside the southern retaining wall of the Temple Mount. Here we saw evidence of the existence of Herod's Temple, its destruction and the building of new walls to replace older ones. We then returned to the Western Wall to meditate and pray. I was engaged by the intensity with which some of our group prayed. Some of the most jaded among us was moved to tears. I fulfilled the mitzvah of delivering a note for M. S.'s parents and saying Yizkor and Kaddish for him.

We then continued into the underground passage way which allowed us to see almost the entire length of the western wall of the Temple Mount. As we walked through the tunnels I was again overwhelmed by the amount of work it took to build the walls so perfectly and how it has become an object of veneration by so many. As always there was a group of women praying in the tunnel at the spot nearest to where many estimate the Holy of Holies would have stood before it was destroyed in 70 C.E.. Simply put, the Western Wall Tunnel is awesome.

Following a good, warm lunch we went to Hezikiah's "Broad Wall" he built to defend Jerusalem from the Assyrian invaders in the late 700's C.E. and the Cardo, the old Roman marketplace, now filled with modern Judaica shops. Leaving the Cardo and gong through the Shuk to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and finally to David's Tower and a tour of its exhibits. It was a long day of walking but more than worth it.

A couple of observations:

It is definitely different being at these Christian sites with members of a Christian congregation taht we know so well. The trust and openness is not only refreshing, it is inspiring!

Second, While today was about the "Old" City I think we all found a closer connection to our present and hopefully a commitment to the future.

Peace and Blessings from Jerusalem,

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

To Israel with Temple Beth Zion and Westminster Presbyterian Church Part 3

2010-01-19T13:15:00.002-07:00

Tuesday January 19, 2010

Today was a long but wonderful day!

We began by visiting the museum at Kibbutz Ginosar where we viewed the conserved remains of a 2000+ year old boat that was found in the Sea of Galilee (Kineret) just off the shore of the kibbutz. I remember reading about the efforts to excavate and conserve it. It was a thrill for me but even more of a thrill for our resident archeologists, M and G!

We went from viewing the 2000 year old boat to boarding a decades old boat for a quick ride on the Kinneret. While the wind was blowing and it was a bit choppy it was an incredible ride. Tom read the New Testament passages about Jesus calming the sea and walking on water and followed with a brief discussion of the passage. I couldn't help but compare and contrast it to the story of Jonah.

While on the boat I saw this sign. Normally when we see the word חגורת - belt in the Bible, it refers to a belt with which one "girds one's loins". It fascinated me that here it was used as part of the term for a life preserver. Perhaps if there is a need for a life preserver, one does need to find the courage to actually use it.

Soon we were back on shore and boarding the bus to head to Kfar Nahum, known more commonly in English as Capernum.

Capernum has always fascinated me. In the 3rd - 4th centuries it was a truly integrated city housing healthy Jewish and Christian communities. It had an ancient church and an ancient synagogue. And yes, the synagogue has "donation plaques"! The names of some of the donors are chiseled into the pillars of the synagogue. Even more amazing is that some of the names are non-Jews which shows just how close the communities must have been.

From Capernum we headed south to Tiberias and a quick visit to the grave of the Rambam, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides. This coming Pesach will mark his 875th birthday and I felt we had to go to see his grave.

After lunch in Tiberias we went to an overlook of Nazareth and Mount Tabor. Most people are familiar with Nazareth but not Mount Tabor. In the Book of Judges, Mount Tabor is the place where Deborah and Barak defeated the armies of Jabin and his general Sissera. If you have never read Judges chapters 4 and 5. It is a powerful story indeed.

Mount Megido - Har Megido - Armageddon stands at the intersection of the three major trade routes of the ancient fertile crescent. 27 times was the city built and 27 times it was destroyed as armies vied for control of the trade routes for nearly 2 millennia. The site has been named a World Heritage Site and it is a designation that is richly deserved. With its history, is it any wonder that Armageddon had become synonymous with the great battle at the end of time?

Exhausted after a long day, we began the 2 hour ride to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is where I feel most at home and most connected in Israel. Most groups like to enter the city and head up to Mt. Scopus or the Mount of Olives to mark the occasion of entering the city. I prefer to go to the Haas Promenade to the south of Jerusalem. It would have been from that direction that Abraham would have first seen Mount Moriah with Isaac as they headed toward the climax of Abraham's test - would he or would he not sacrifice his son. The story is an affirmation of Mount Moriah and Jerusalem as a place of positive change and peace. What better place from which to enter the holy city? I can think of none.

Tomorrow we will tour East Jerusalem and the Old City inside the ancient walls. We will finish our tour at the Kotel, the Western Wall. Custom is to place prayers in the wall. I am on a special mission to do that tomorrow on behalf of a special family. I cannot even begin to imagine what it will feel like to put a prayer in the wall in memory of M. S., z''l (of blessed memory).

Shalom from Jerusalem!

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

To Israel with Temple Beth Zion and Westminster Presbyterian Church Part 2

2010-01-18T14:05:00.001-07:00

Sunday January 17, 2010

This morning we began by going to Immanuel Lutheran Church. It’s pastor, Christian, welcomed us warmly. The service was interesting on several levels. First, the service was conducted in English, which was not the pastor’s native tongue. Second, the difference in participation in the Jews and Christians in our group. Third, Christian knew we were two congregations, one Presbyterian but thought TBZ was a “messianic” synagogue so both his homily and his remarks to us after the service were very Jesus centered. During his talk to us, one of the Westminster members gently moved him on to other topics. When we explained that no, we were not “messianic” he was taken aback as he had never heard of “regular” Jews attending church services.

After some cake and coffee, we boarded the bus and began our journey north to Ceaasaria. We stopped for a quick bite to eat at a mall with a food court. Not surprisingly, the group split, 1/3 heading to the falafel bar, 1/3 to the coffee shop and 1/3 to McDonalds! We reboarded the bus and quickly arrived at Herod’s great city by the sea.

Here, our guide Julie Baretz, outdid herself with her ability to weave both Jewish and Christian history into her commentary and her sensitivity to both groups. I listened with wonder while we were in the amphitheater and she talked of how Christians faced the lions there while the Talmudic rabbis insisted that Jews attend to show support for a “thumbs up” for the Christian and a chance to live.

From Ceasaria we continued north to Haifa and a panoramic view of the city looking down at the magnificent Bahai Gardens. My high school friend Hedy met us there for a too brief reunion and catch up session. I don’t care what anyone says, in person is so much better than on line!

We left Haifa as the sun set over the bay and we began our trek to the Galilee. Safely ensconced at Kibbutz Ginosar (the place where Yigal Alon founded the Palmach) guest house, we had a wonderful meal and retired to our rooms for much needed rest before our 6:30 wake up call as we begin our exploration of the Galilee and Golan.

Monday January 18, 2010,

This morning began a very moving day for everyone. We headed north from Ginosar to our first stop at the Church of the Beatitudes located on the site that Jesus is said to have given the Sermon on the Mount. Tom Yorty began by reading for us the Beatitudes from the Book of Matthew. I couldn't help but notice the similarity between the Beatitudes and sections of Pirke Avot. It was truly a moving moment for all of us.

From there we drove north to the head waters of the Jordan stopping at both Banyas
and Tel Dan. The rain was pouring, which after 5 years of below average rainfall was truly a blessing for Israel. It was a fulfillment of the blessing we say in the Avot - May God cause the rain to fall and the winds to blow! Needless to say, the hike through Tel Dan was VERY wet.

Undismayed we continued on to Kiriyat Shmona for lunch. There we saw these Israeli soldiers eating at Burger King. The boarder with Lebanon is calm these days and Kiriyat Shmona seems to be thriving. But, one cannot get away from the knowledge that the top of the ridge over looking the town is the Lebanese border. It is a sobering reminder of the possibility of falling rockets and the blessing of hope of a town thriving during peace.

We continued on to some much needed shopping time at the Naot Shoe Factory and their outlet store where some serious purchasing occurred. G earned the title of best shopper with 5 pairs of shoes at an incredible price.

Finally it was off to Tzefat (Safed) where we went to a mystical synagogue and learned about Kabbalah as well as synagogue architecture. I went to see my friends at their shop, Canaan Gallery but missed them by just a few minutes.

On the way back to Ginosar, we talked about the experiences we have had with prayer and worship so far. There were lots of questions which led me to realize that we need to do a better job of educating our fellow travelers on each other's faith and worship traditions before Shabbat.

Finally back at the Kibbutz, I found a special treat. My first trip to Isarel was in 1971 on the Eisendrath International Exchange program (EIE). For six months 25+ teenagers came to Israel as exchange students. Through the magic of Facebook I found one of them lived not far from Ginosar so he and his wife met us at the Kibbutz. The hour and a half we spent together was too short especially since we hadn't seen each other since we left Israel 38 years ago this past December. While we are both gray, older and perhaps wiser, it was like we had always been in touch. Some of you may remember my story of going to a Moshav with a friend and meeting with the Rebbe of the Moshav. During our meeting a man burst in with a question of Kashrut and the Rebbe answered him. I tell the story often. Tonight I reunited with the friend with whom I went to the Moshav. What a treat and a pleasure.

Tomorrow we visit Kfar Nahum (Capernicum), the grave of Maimonides in Tiberias, the Church of the Ascension in Nazareth and then FINALLY we come to Jerusalem where we will enter the city by the route Abraham must have used on his way to Mount Moriah.

Shalom from Israel,

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

Shalom from Ginosar!

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

To Israel with Temple Beth Zion and Westminster Presbyterian Church

2010-01-16T13:06:00.006-07:00

Shabbat, January 15 - 16, 2010

Traveling to Israel with "first timers" is always fun and interesting and we "vatikim - old timers" are expected to help lead the way.

While there were a few glitches getting everyone checked in, we finally all boarded our flight in Buffalo for JFK where we waited for our flight. There were no glitches at JFK and El Al security was lighter than I expected.

Rev. Tom Yorty and I found similar ways of amusing ourselves while we waited for our El Al flight to Israel while others waited patiently or dozed.

Once on board, we settled in for the long flight. Most of us were seated near each other. A few were spread throughout the plane and got to know some of the other travelers (for better or worse).

It seems every trip I think I've lost someone only to find they are already on the bus. Last trip it was HS in Jaffa, this trip it was B and G who got their luggage, cleared customs and found our bus while the rest of us waited patiently inside the terminal for them. Finally the tour agent called the bus, found out they were there and off we went.

Our guide, Julie Baretz, was waiting for us, got the rest of us on the bus and we quickly left the airport for Tel Aviv. I could not believe my eyes. Because we landed so close to Shabbat, the roads were empty and we made it to our hotel in record time! We quickly checked in, dropped off our luggage, cleaned up and within 20 minutes were on our way to Beit Daniel, the Reform congregation in Tel Aviv for Kabblat Shabbat services.

The rabbi, Meir Azari, their cantor and the members could not have been more welcoming. We even found Buffalo connections! The president of the congregation and her husband had briefly lived in Buffalo and the daughter of one of our preschool teachers was at the service. She is part of a group of students studying here. She will finish this spring with a masters degree in management.

Following the service we went down to the oneg Shabbat where Rabbi Azari invited me to say a few words about TBZ and Buffalo and a few words it was. After 10 or sentences in Hebrew they said thank you and we went on with the blessings.

Back at the hotel, we gathered for Shabbat dinner. It was such a pleasure watching the "first-timers" marvel at the variety and deliciousness of the buffet. From vegans to carnivores we all found more than enough to eat and retired fully sated.

Breakfast was equally overwhelming. We gathered and shared stories of how early everyone had awakened. Who had walked the boardwalk at 4 AM and who went running at 6.

Julie and Yossi (our driver) met us promptly at 9:15 and we began the formal part of our tour. Heading south to Rehovot and the Ayalon Institute to see the underground ammunition factory at Kibbutz Hill where from 1947 - 48 a small group of young Israelis went 25 feet underground, everyday, to make bullets for the Israeli Army in the months leading up to the War for Independence. Their story is inspiring and heroic as they not only faced danger of discovery but also working in close quarters with tons of gun powder.

As we were leaving, A and W were picked up by some friends who used to live in Buffalo and went to their kibbutz to spend a wonderful Shabbat afternoon catching up, meeting their children and getting reacquainted. The rest of us boarded the bus and drove back north to Jaffa.

The wonderful part of this trip is that Temple Beth Zion and Westminster Presbyterian are sharing it. I can't remember all the times I've been to Jaffa (although the first was the most memorable as it was there I kissed a girl for the first time) and how many times I passed the house of Simon the Tanner. Yet this time was the first time I first noticed it. Our guide Julie is an expert in leading both Jewish and Christian tours. When we reached the house, she had Rev. Tom Yorty read the passage from the Book of Acts that refers to Simon the Tanner and his home. She then explained the significance of the place and the importance of the story in the shaping of Christianity and its divergence from Judaism. As a non-Christian, I was moved by the moment. As a Jew, my soul swelled. Here we stood at a pivotal place in the divergence of Judaism and Christianity as two congregations, now secure enough in who we are to be together without fear or self-consciousness.

After a brief tour of Neve Tzedek, the first neighborhood in Tel Aviv, it was back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon. At 6:30, we all gathered in the lobby and walked to a place where we had the city behind us and the crashing waves of the Mediterranean in front of us as we did Havdalah, the ceremony in which we end Shabbat and reenter the "ordinary" days of the week. As Tel Aviv came back to life, we reflected that while we will not have a week of Shabbat, our week will be anything but ordinary!

Tomorrow, Sunday, we begin with church services and then north to Ceasaria, Haifa and then to Kibbutz Ginosar where we will be based for the next two days.

I pray that your Shabbat was as meaningful and fulfilling as ours was here in Israel.

Shalom,

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld

We Are Everywhere!

2009-11-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

As a student at HUC I was always fascinated by the Chinese texts from the Kaifeng community in the Klau Library Rare Book Room. It exciting to see a Jewish population rediscover itself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edhtdoPukk0

Shemini Atzeret?

2009-10-04T08:34:00.005-06:00

Shemini Atseret has always been somewhat of an afterthought for me. Having grown up in a Reform congregation, or having been in Israel for the festival, it did not exist separately but rather as a poor step-sister to Simchat Torah and thus was never discussed or taught except as an extension of Sukkot. As I began to read in preparation to write on Shemini Atseret/Simchat Torah, for this Mekor Chayim, I found that even the best of scholars are unsure of what the word Atseret means.

The JPS Commentary on Leviticus 23:36 says: “Hebrew ‘atseret, “solemn gathering,” is a variation of ‘atsarah, a term that designates religious gatherings, such as public fasts. According to Deuteronomy 16:8, as well as the ritual legislation, the ‘atseret consistently comes at the conclusion of a prolonged celebration. This undoubtedly prompted the Septuagint to render it by Greek exodion, “finale, recessional.” Etymologically, this term derives from the verb ‘atsar, “to detain, restrain, confine,” and may refer to the fact that the people are kept together for an additional day.”

This explanation reflected what I was taught in my seminary classes: Shemini Atseret and the change in the Gevurot to “mashiv haruach u’morid hagashem” marked the end of Sukkot so that people could return to their homes after the pilgrimage to Yerushalayim before the start of the rains. Similarly we were taught that the other Atseret, the Biblical name for Shavuot marked the end of Pesach. This may be an interesting line of thought, but it is not particularly spiritually uplifting.

As I continued to read about Shemini Atseret, I found this passage from the Soncino translation of the Zohar, Chelek Gimmel amud 197a:

R. Abba discoursed on the passage beginning: ‘If thou know not, O thou fairest among women’, etc. (S.S. I, 8). ‘The Community of Israel’, he said, ‘is she that gathers in from all the camps above, and holds in all that she gathers, letting it escape only by drops like dew, because there is not sufficient faith below. For if She were to find faith as it is found in her, She would pour the light on every side without restraint, and they would give to her also gifts and presents without stint. But it is those of the lower world who restrain them and restrain her, and therefore she is called Azereth (the restrainer). Nevertheless, as a mother gives to her sons in secret and unbeknown, so she does with her children, Israel.”

Perhaps then Shemini Atseret, is like R. Abba’s “The Community of Israel”, the “Azereth”. It restrains, marking the end of Sukkot. It wants to pour its light of Torah upon us from all sides as we surround ourselves with the beginning and end of Torah on Simchat Torah. And even after the end of Sukkot, it gives us another little bit, an extra day’s worth of holiness, to “her children Israel” through this almost secret, hidden festival day.

Erev Yom Kippur

2009-09-30T13:05:00.003-06:00

I don’t know the reason why Rome fell. I don’t the reason why the Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the British Empire or even the Soviet Union fell. To be more precise, I don’t know the reasons they told themselves their great empires collapsed. What I do know is the reason we told ourselves as Jerusalem fell and the Temple was destroyed first by the Babylonians and then 650 years later by the Romans.

The year: 586 B.C.E. Imagine yourself sitting atop the roof of your home in Jerusalem watching as the Babylonian army breeches the city wall, sacks and loots first your home, and then God’s home, the sacred Temple built by Solomon. Gazing at the destruction about to engulf you a verse from Psalm 22:2 comes to mind: אֵלִי אֵלִי לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

See yourself now sitting in exile on the banks of the Tigris. The head of your community rises and expounds, echoing the message of the great Biblical prophets: “God did not forsake us, rather we caused the destruction of our Temple, we caused our own exile because we sinned. What were our sins: עבודה זרה, גלוי עריות, ושפיכות דמים - idolatry, sexual impropriety and the spilling of innocent blood.” And so you and your community make a vow: “If we are allowed to return from exile, reestablish our Temple and our lives, we will change our ways and teach our children to avoid these sins through which we brought destruction upon our heads.”

A few generations pass. Picture yourself looking down from above as you see your descendants return from exile, rebuild the Temple and reestablish Jewish life in Jerusalem and Israel. Look with pride at how your children’s children’s children seem to remember the lesson you taught and avoid those 3 great sins that brought destruction so many years before: idolatry, sexual impropriety and the spilling of innocent blood.

A more generations pass and you again look down to check in on your descendants. There you see your, well who knows how many greats, grandchild sitting on top of a roof, just like the one you sat on, watching the Roman army breech the city wall, sack and loot first her home, and then God’s home, the sacred Temple built by the returning exiles from Babylonia. As she sits gazing at the destruction about to engulf her that same verse from Psalm 22:2 comes to her mind: אֵלִי אֵלִי לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Confusion envelops her mind. How could this be? We heeded the warning of our ancestors and have, for the most part, avoided the 3 great sins.

See your descendant sitting in exile on the banks of the Tiber. The head of her community rises and expounds, echoing the message of the great Biblical prophets: “God did not forsake us, rather we caused the destruction of our Temple, we caused our own exile because we sinned. What was our sin? Yes we avoided the sins of our ancestors but we have our own single sin equivalent to all 3 of theirs: שנאת חנם - Baseless hatred, hatred for the sake of hatred, hate with no thought of the cost or consequences of that hate.”

How do I know these were the reasons we told ourselves about the two destructions of Jerusalem and our exiles? Because our Talmudic and Medieval rabbis continued to teach them to us! In the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yoma - the tractate discussing this great and awesome day of Yom Kippur - we are taught: “But why was the Second Temple destroyed as they studied Torah, followed the Mitzvot and did Gemilut Chasadim - Acts of Loving Kindness? Because within it was שנאת חנם. This teaches us that שנאת חנם is the equivalent of all three sins (that caused the destruction of the First Temple) - idolatry, sexual impropriety and the spilling of innocent blood.”

The ancient Rabbis not only proclaimed שנאת חנם to be the cause of the destruction of the Second Temple, they told us how שנאת חנם spread. Tractate Taanit teaches: “And the second interpretation of the language of retort, hints at the sin of the Second Temple שנאת חנם, which comes from lashon hara - malicious speech.” The great Rabbi Judah Lowe of Prague in his compilation of ethical laws from the Talmud, Netzach Yisrael wrote: “And thus they said that שנאת חנם is equivalent to the 3 sins (for which the First Temple was destroyed) for שנאת חנם defiles and causes chaos within the entire human soul. But the 3 sins only defile one part of the soul each while שנאת חנם defiles the whole soul in its entirety, because the essence of the human soul is wholeness, it is singular and all of the strength of life that exists. Hatred tears the soul apart and this is against the essence of the soul.” He continues: “All of Israel was like a single person when there was one altar... By means of שנאת חנם and hateful language, the city and the Second Temple were destroyed.Using hateful language, splits and destroys unity.”

Each year, multiple organizations beseech rabbis to speak to their particular issue on Yom Kippur. They know that this night, more of you will hear our words than any other single occasion during the year. This year, advocates for health care reform, ending the wars, ending hunger, GLBT rights, and a plethora of other causes have sent me mail: postal service mail, email and voice mail literally begging me to speak on their behalf. But as I considered each, one theme kept coming back to me - שנאת חנם.

Many have called for a return to civility in our public discourse but I believe that the issue is deeper. We have devolved into a culture of hate. Politicians, preachers and commentators not only vehemently express their disdain for positions other than their own, they call upon their listeners and followers to hate those with whom they disagree.

It is easy to find their words. A quick Google search produced Rush Limbaugh calling for a reinstitution of segregated buses, a Baptist pastor expressing his hatred for President Obama, encouraging his congregation to take loaded weapons to the President’s appearances and saying that killing the President would not be murder or even a sin, two sitting governors, a gubernatorial candidate and several state legislatures calling for secession from the United States (an issue I thought was settled with the blood of over 700,000 Americans spilled in the Civil War) plus thousands of other hits about our supposedly respected leaders promoting the hatred and demonization of others. We are a country that allows free speech and I am glad we do. But, as we all know, our words can heal or hurt, cause our souls to soar to the heavens or draw us into the depths of evil.

In ancient times, we committed the sin of שנאת חנם by using language to debase and divide, not build up and unify, and thus were the Romans able to take advantage of our divisiveness to conquer and condemn us to exile.

The Rabbis, who valued debate and disagreement so much they respectfully include even losing positons in their literature, understood that sowing hatred was inherently different. They knew that after true debate and disagreement, once a decision was made, all came together to support it. Once they even punished the head of the great Sanhedrin for publicly humiliating another Rabbi who had disagreed with him. We are taught in Tractate Berachot: “ Rabban Gamaliel remained sitting and expounding and R. Joshua remained standing, until all the people there began to shout and say, Stop! and he stopped. They then said: How long is he [Rabban Gamaliel] to go on insulting him [R. Joshua]? Come, let us depose him! ” And depose him they did.

So what are we to do? It is incumbent upon each of us to stand up and call out the haters and promoters of hate for what they are, in fact we are commanded in tomorrow afternoon’s Torah portion to do so! Lev. 19:17-18; “You shall not hate your neighbor in your heart... You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your neighbor as yourself: I am Adonai.” It is also incumbent upon us to follow the law just a few verses earlier: “You shall not go up and down as a slanderer among your people; nor shall you stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds; I am Adonai.” Our Rabbis equated שנאת חנם with the spilling of innocent blood, with murder, and where blood is being spilled, we cannot stand idly by.

This past Friday, members of Westboro Baptist Church came to Park Slope in Brooklyn to stage one of their hate filled protests in front of tour sister Congregation Beth Elohim. Westboro is located in Topeka, Kansas and its pastor, Fred Phelps, and members travel the country protesting at the funerals of patriots, prominent people, the victims of disaster like our neighbors on Flight 3407, soldiers killed in Iraq and Afganistan claiming that these heroes, our honored dead, are burning in hell because God killed them and was punishing them for the sin of America tolerating Gays, Lesbians and Jews.

During the protest, church members held up signs saying “The Jews killed Jesus” “God Hates Israel” and “Anti-Christ Obama”. Members of Beth Elohim gathered in front of the synagogue as their Rabbi, Andy Bachman, blew the shofar. The sound of the Shofar drowned out the hate filled shouts of Phelps and his congregants. The sound of the Shofar calls up so much in our being - it is a call for freedom for all, a hope for the coming of Messianic times and this past Friday in Park Slope, a call for us to stand up against those who promote שנאת חנם with their words and deeds.

The choice is ours: Will we allow the haters to go unchallenged and risk the breech of our walls and the destruction of all that we hold as sacred? Or will we hearken to the sound of the Shofar and work to keep those who preach and practice שנאת חנם from destroying us all?

The choice is ours.

Rosh Hashanah Evening Sermon - How to Pray

2009-09-21T06:02:00.005-06:00

I have spent the past several months looking for the perfect, inviting, captivating, exciting, interesting, and engaging opening for the sermon, all to no avail. And so I’ll begin with a seemingly obvious and easy question; “why are we here”. Or to put it another way “what do we want to hear?”

There is that beautiful passage in our prayer books: “each of us enters this synagogue with a different need...” But the answer to most of the needs listed; gratitude and joy, sorrow, healing, support, frustration, understanding, and warmth can be found in many places. Why then do we come to the synagogue, this place of worship, each year on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur like swallows returning to Capestrano?

Could it be as it says in the prayer “ some spirits hunger?” Our souls hunger, and if so his this the place we feed them with our prayer? We listen to music, hear and read words passed down through the centuries. But as we sit and listen to the music and the words of the prayers, as we sing and read aloud melodies and words both familiar and strange, are we praying? What does it even mean to pray? How does one pray when the words are are not ours? How does one pray ideas and theologies blatantly at odds with what we believe or want to believe?

Our liturgy on these Days of Awe includes what may be the most theologically challenging of all our prayers, the U’netaneh Tokef. “Let us declare the sacred power of this day... On Rosh Hashanah it is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed: who shall live and who shall die... who by fire and who by water, wo by sword and who by beast; who shall be poor and who shall be rich; who shall be humbled and who exalted...” For the Yom Kippur afternoon I will lead an in depth examination of this prayer. But for now, suffice it to say that even if what I have always taught is true, that prayer should be seen as poetry to be interpreted, not prose merely to be accepted, the U’netaneh Tokef’s image of God sitting in heaven and writing our fate in the Book of Life challenges our sense of the world. Our experience teaches us that the world does not work this way. The righteous do not live longer and better than those who stray from the path God laid out for us. The good die as young or old as the wicked. Some of the kindest amongst us possess the least and the meanest possess the most.

So again I ask: “Why do we use words we do not understand and concepts we do not accept as truth?” If the prayers do not touch our soul, where does the responsibility lie? In ourselves? In the leaders of the service? In the prayers themselves?

In a recent article in the Journal of Reform Judaism, Rabbi Joel Mosberger wrote: “the challenge in our lives is to find ways to put our whole selves into the prayer experience whether that is as a part of ritualized communal prayer or daily as we go about our lives.” Rabbi Mosberger sets for us a challenging goal, but how do we accomplish it?

Perhaps the words of our great medeaval philosopher Bachya Ibn Pakuda can help us find the path: “The words of prayers,” he says, “are like the husk covering the grain, and reflection on their meaning is like the kernel. Prayer itself is like the body, and reflecting on its meaning is like the spirit. If we merely utter the words of prayers while thinking about matters other than prayer, it is like a body without a spirit, a husk without a kernel, the body is present but the mind is absent.”

From this we can see that the way to meaningful prayer lies not emotion alone, but rather in thought. As we know, the only person who can truly focus your mind is you yourself. The Talmudic rabbis taught that we are to pray with Kavanah - intention. And while we usually define intention as an emotional process, for the Talmudic rabbis, like for the mystics of Jewish, Christian and eastern traditions, intention encompasses clearing one’s mind of all else other than the prayer we are praying and through contemplation, active thinking, finding meaning in the words we read and hear.

As I have said from this bema before, much of my personal spirituality is embodied in the sounds and rhythms of the prayers and the music. As Mary Travers, aleha l’shalom, sang: “music speaks louder than words.” But in reality, our liturgical music serves merely as a conduit allowing the words to infuse our minds like an IV facilitates medicine entering our bodies.

If we do not connect with the words, perhaps it is our focus that is askew. Dr. Max Arzt of blessed memory used to tell this story: “A group of tourists were going through the Louvre making superficial comments like: ‘what do you think of this one’ or ‘this one is nice’. The guards at the Louvre are not everyday run of the mill guards. Guarding the Louvre is not their job or their career it is their passion. One of them finally said to the tourists: ‘I think that you should know that these paintings have been here for a long time. They are no longer on trial. Instead, they judge the people who come to look at them.’”

The same is true with our prayers. The Hebrew word for prayer, tefillah, actually means judgement. And the verb to pray, l’hitpaleil, means to judge oneself. Thus we find the entire task of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the Hebrew word for prayer. As we pray, we examine where we have been and how we have behaved. This gives us the foundation to determine for ourselves, how we, not God sitting on a throne writing in an actual book, will write ourselves into the book of life and deeds through our actions and our thoughts.

Prayer, our minds evaluating ourselves and finding meaning in the word can be, and in this age often is, one of the hardest things we can do. Oh, if we are in crisis prayer becomes easy. But because we, who so value intellect and thought, focus instead on the emotionality of prayer, we build ourselves a barrier that is too high and too wide and block ourselves from truly praying. We set ourselves up to believe that prayer must provide us with an emotional high to be considered meaningful. Rather, meaningful prayer must lead us to a finding of the self.

Twelve years ago, in 1997, I took my first online Judaic studies course. The topic, prayer. The instructors, Rabbi Reuven and Barbara Sutnick taught in that class: “‘We live in an age when it is not fashionable to pray’ observes Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin in his book To Pray As A Jew. Perhaps we are too spiritually ‘arrogant’ to pray; for prayer requires a measure of awe and modesty and a sense of gratitude for what we have in life. Could it be that modern men and women have been so successful in building a wall of sophisticated civilization around themselves that they attribute all that they see to their own efficacy and power? Perhaps there are those who DO appreciate the power of the natural world yet choose not to pray because they have difficulty believing in the existence of a God to listen to prayers.” They go on to write: “everybody has SOME NOTION of what prayer is AND EVERYBODY HAS DIFFICULTY WITH PRAYER.”

The Sutnicks are correct. Each of us has difficulty with prayer at some time or other, at some level or other. A difficult prayer like the U’netaneh Tokef or a seemingly straight forward statement like the Shema can stymie our best efforts to pray with “all of our mind, all of our strength and all of our soul.”

Further, most of us have never been taught how to pray! We’ve sat through services. We’ve learned the words in religious school. We’ve even prayed our own spontaneous prayers. But, how to pray with intention, challenging our minds and the recesses of our souls is at least as difficult as the hardest subjects we studied in school. Yet, we haven’t taught or been taught how to pray. That is our failure and our responsibility as the religious and educational leaders of this congregation. And while our individuality demands personalized lessons in praying, that is no excuse for why before this evening, we really haven’t spoken of how to pray.

My friend and colleague, Rabbi Norman Hirsch of Seattle, taught me how to pray. In each service, whether leader or congregant, whether alone or as part of a minyan, Rabbi Hirsch finds a sentence, a phrase, a word and like the Kabbalists, the Jewish mystics, he focuses his mind on understanding it fully. His mood, his recent and life long experiences, that is his soul, inspires which sentence, phrase or word speaks to him that day. But his mind finds the meaning. Perhaps then, while we find ease and comfort in our method of praying with everyone on the same page at the same time, the orthodox custom of each person praying at his or her own pace as Rabbi Hirsch does, is more conducive to praying with kavanah, with focused minds.

To this day, I never know going into a service what prayer my soul will send to my mind. If I try to predict what it will be, I am inevitably wrong. The unknown, this unpredictability constitutes the wonder and awe of a praying experience.

The early Chasidic masters understood what the Sutnicks describe as the difficulty of prayer. From the Baal Shem Tov through the first three generations of Chasidic Rebbes we learn story after story about just how hard it is for people to pray. They tell of uneducated Jews whose prayers consisted of reciting the aleph bet with the confidence that God would take the letters and put them in the proper order. I love the story of the boy whose prayer of playing the flute on Yom Kippur being recognized as the most meaningful prayer in the shul, because it was the only way he knew to pray and the music came from his soul.

Further, the Chasidic Masters tell of the times their minds were not able to handle the intellectual part of prayer. Even the greatest of Rebbes knew that at times, like the rest of us, all he could do was sing a niggun, dance a few steps, listen in silence to the rhythm of the Hebrew, or pray from his feelings. Professor David Ariel in his book Spiritual Judaism: Restoring Heart & Soul to Jewish Life expresses it thus: “If the words of the prayer book, someone else’s words, are not adequate, we can find our own words. Even if we sit or stand silent in the synagogue while everyone around us is reading, reciting, or chanting, the thing that truly matters is what we experience in our privacy.”

So please do not hear that I do not value the emotional component of prayer. As I look out at the congregation at each service, I see the emotion, the experience of privacy most especially during Kaddish. Few people ever take the time to read the English translation of the Kaddish let alone think about its meaning. It is the sound and rhythm of the words, it is the strength of being part of a congregation that moves each person We on the Bema also have the privilege of seeing in front of us at each service, the heart of the prayers expressed through beautiful movement; from bodies swaying with the music to out and out soulful dance.

So this year, let us accept this challengeduring these Days of Awe. do not rush. Stop and think about a prayer without worrying that the rest of the service passes you by. If your mind won’t or can’t engage, only then let the words or music infuse your heart and impact your soul. As Rabbi Larry Kushner says: “Prayer is like the hokey pokey. We have to put our whole selves in.”

May the words of our mouths and the thoughts of our hearts be acceptable to you O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Health Care Reform - Debate or Fanaticism

2009-08-26T18:20:00.002-06:00

It is almost like group hysteria. A barrage of misinformation and hate spewed instead of rational debate. Regardless of how one feels about a particular health care proposal, we have to deal in facts not fanaticism.

Here is one article to help with the discussion.

5 Myths About Health Care Around the World

The Forward - August 28, 2009

2009-08-25T13:29:00.005-06:00

There are three interesting articles in this weeks Forward. Two of them deal with Siddurim (prayerbooks) and how they reflect our Judaism.

The other is a fascinating article entitled: Your Father is Dead and My Pot Roast is Ruined: Reflections on the Torah of "Six Feet Under". What drew me to the article was the title (I was a major fan of "Six Feet Under". However, as I read it, the author Noach Dzmura helped me understand that the requests I receive from more and more families concerning the funerals of their loved ones, may seem odd on the surface. In reality come from a deep place of trying to respect and honor their beloved dead thus fulfilling our Jewish value of Kavod Hamet - honoring the dead.

Chautauqua Reflections - 2010

2009-08-13T18:23:00.007-06:00

Written August 14, 2009

This, my 9th summer in residence at the Chautauqua Institution has felt very different, even awkward to me and I have struggled to figure out the reasons. My first thought was that Michele joined me here for the first week instead of our norm which would be my second week here. As most people who know me will attest, I do not do well with change in patterns. I believe another part of the difference is due to my having to make 3 round trips back home to Buffalo. And of course, the death of a good friend contributed as well. Other possibilities are out there but I believe they are minor.

This morning Anna Deavere Smith spoke on creativity. For those of you who are not familiar with her performances, she is perhaps best known for her work as the National Security Advisor on "West Wing" and now stars in the series "Nurse Jackie". She postulated that we we are taught that we need peaceful, supportive settings to foster our creativity as well as good mentors. Yet, in reality, we are most creative when we are not comfortable, when we feel in a place of vulnerability, are alone and feel a lack of safety.

This year, Chautauqua has been for me a place of non-comfort, or even ill-ease. Perhaps that is why for the first time in many years, I am well ahead on my preparation for my High Holy Day sermons.

Discomfort, though, is a relative term. It seems obscene to even consider not being at peace and serene here. I have always had some of these feelings here, but this year they seem to be deeper.

When I look around at the homogeny of the faces, I feel as I did when I attended my first pro ball game in a major West Coast city. Having grown up in Cleveland, the faces in the stadium seemingly represented every race and nation. At that game on the West Coast, everyone looked like me. It was odd. That same sense infuses me here.

It also exists here on a deeper level. A colleague whom I first met outside of Chautauqua is here. A former military chaplain, he is now the pastor of a church here on the grounds. The Chautauquan Daily (the Institution's daily paper) listed him as teaching a course on Christian views on violence. Given his experience as a Chaplain, I felt that it would be a different perspective than what I normally hear here at Chautauqua. His presentation was masterful. He was able to present an honest overview of Christian tradition, which like all religious traditions has inspired violence internally and externally. It was masterful because it was honest, complete and yet did not alienate the majority of the listeners for whom, based on the comments and questions, pacifism is not only the ideal but seems heroic. When even a hint of dissent from another listener began to peek through, the other listeners were quick to decry the dissent and at times even actively condemn those who might hold a different view. And while I agreed with much of what the listeners were saying, the room became so stifling to me that I could not bring myself to return for more sessions.

As I wrote above, I don't deal well with changes in patterns, however, too much sameness wears on me as well.

On the other hand, as I write this I sit on the UCC porch listening to the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra play beautifully. The air is not too warm and what could be more serene. Shabbat services were filled with spirit and peace. The M family, as always, has provided a home for me here. Seeing their grandchildren growing and maturing, their mother celebrating a 98th birthday and the fulfillment of one of their dreams for Chautauqua come true, warms my heart. The time Michele was here was warm and connected. So I do feel blessed, not only here but in my life as a whole. Even the ill-ease I have felt in my time here is a blessing through the inspiration it has brought to the surface.

My Commentary on Parashat Pinchas for United Jewish Communities

2009-06-27T10:09:00.002-06:00

Our Parsha this week begins (Numbers 25:10 - 13):

God spoke to Moses, saying, “Pinchas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his passion (Keena) for Me, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My passion (Keenati). Say, therefore, ‘I grant him My pact of Peace (Brit Shalom). It shall be for him and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he took impassioned (Keena) action for his God, thus making expiation for the Israelites.’”

We remember from the end of last week’s Parsha that Pinchas' passion led him to kill the Israelite Zimri who was flaunting his relationship with the Midianite Cozbi in front of the Tent of Meeting. This occurs just after God ordered the killing of the Israelite men who had been led astray to worship Baal Peor by some Moabite women.

We often refer to Pinchas' passion as zealousness and our text has God rewarding Pinchas for taking up God's passion/anger at the idolatry of the Israelites. In this sense Pinchas acted from his understanding that at our essence we are created in the image of God and thus we must act "godly". If God ordered the killing of the Israelite men for idolatry, Pinchas could kill Zimri and Cozbi.

We are not comfortable with zealousness, especially religious zealousness. Everyday we read of killing and oppression "in God's name." While our rabbis expected halachic observance and loyalty to God, they too understood the danger of religious zealousness to the human soul.

God's promise to Pinchas that the priesthood would flow from his line comes to fruition at the end of the book of Joshua as he takes over the office of the High Priest from his father Eleazar. He serves in that role throughout the book of Judges and held office following the victory of Jepthah. Jepthah promised to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his home upon his return from victorious battle. We know it was his daughter that came out to greet him and ends up as the sacrifice. In Bereishit Rabbah 60:3 the rabbis condemn Jepthah for his lack of foresight and his arrogance. He could have approached the High Priest, our very same Pinchas, and asked him to annul his vow but instead said: "Am I, the chief of Israel's leaders, to go to Pinchas!". Of course, as High Priest, Pinchas could have gone to Jepthah and offered to annul the vow. They write: "Pinchas, however, said: He needs me, and I am to go to him! Moreover, I am a High Priest and the son of a High Priest; shall I then go to an ignoramus?" The rabbis go on to say that it was at that moment of refusal to act in mercy that God withdraws from Pinchas and Jepthah is condemned to die a horrible death. Of course, Jepthah's daughter, who both Pinchas and Jepthah see as being so insignificant she remains nameless in the text, is the one sacrificed.

Pinchas in his zealousness to act "Godly" began to think of himself as "god-like". He only remembered the part of God's blessing that "elevated" him to the office of High Priest. Pinchas allowed his zealousness and hubris to forget the other part of the gift from God - the Brit Shalom. As leaders in the Jewish community we need to remember that we carry an awesome (in its original sense) responsibility. We need to strive to reclaim the Brit Shalom by setting aside our self perception as being "god-like" and risk sacrificing those who count on us most. By rejecting being “god-like” for being godly, we ensure that all those in our community, from the lowest to the highest, also find their Brit Shalom with God.

Mah Nishtanah Hashanah Hazot - Why is this year different from all other years?

2009-04-12T17:01:00.005-06:00

Twenty-eight years ago, my fellow rabbinic students stood on the lawn of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and did the ritual of Birkat Hachamah - the Blessing of the Sun - a ritual Jews do every 28 years to mark the moment that, it is said, the sun is in the same position God placed it at creation. Twenty-eight years ago I did the ritual because it seemed unique, cool and the thing to do. This year I stood upon my deck as the sun rose reciting the blessing and surrounding readings with a different sense. This year I felt a sense of awe, appreciation and gratitude.

The difference? I knew that as soon as I completed the ceremony I was heading to the airport to fly to D.C. to have seder with friends and fly back the next morning. There I stood, living in freedom, able to stand outside and do a "strange" Jewish ceremony, then "jet set" to D.C. to celebrate Pesach our festival of freedom. Not only is it special to have the freedom to worship openly as a Jew or live in a time where technology enables me to travel hundreds of miles in an hour, but to be able to afford to travel to be with friends this year of all years is truly special a special gift.

I think that is why I not only did Birkat Hachamah with a deeper spirit but why I am counting the Omer for the first time ever. Counting the Omer always seemed to me to be an anachronism. First, we have calendars and do not need to pile up sheaves of wheat to remind us how many days are left before we celebrate Shavuot. Second, I've never grown wheat or lived anywhere I could grow winter wheat. Yet this year it I am finding a new sense of meaning in marking the passing of each day as we move toward celebrating the Revelation at Sinai.

Again, I believe counting the Omer for me is an expression of appreciation. While I have never subscribed to the thinking that in order to appreciate the good one needs to experience lack. However, it seems to me this year that focusing on our ancestors creating a way to mark time that uses one of their precious resources feels right. I also seem more conscious, more aware of the approach of Shavuot. I do not know what happened at Mount Sinai. I do not know if it even occurred. But the underlying sense of being in partnership with God and thanking God for allowing us to share in the bounty of the earth and find a path that leads us through our actions to a deeper sense of self and spirituality feels powerful this year.

Continental 3407, Susan Wehle and Jonah Dreskin z'l

2009-03-12T13:27:00.005-06:00

I was sitting at my desk at Broder when I got the call. Susan Wehle was on Continental flight 3407 which crashed the night before in Clarence Center. Rick Ellis, the executive director of Temple Beth Am called and asked if I would lead services at Temple Beth Am that evening because their rabbi, Irwin Tannenbaum, was out of state and unable to return until Saturday evening. I sat at my desk stunned and unable to comprehend the reality and depth of what Rick had told me. I began calling friends and colleagues in Buffalo asking their help and getting their ideas for the service.

That afternoon I went to Temple Beth a.m. to meet with Cantor Barbara Ostfeld Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein and members of Temple Beth Am to plan the service. We knew from the beginning that while we needed to remember Susan we needed to also remember that it was not her funeral nor was it a memorial service. We needed to remember it was Shabbat.

Thanks to the help of my colleagues and the support of my friends and family service that evening was profound. Following the service people did not want to be alone. They stayed in small groups or gathered together and went out as friends. Some of our friends gathered back at our home to talk about our feelings and to remember Susan. One of our friends brought a reporter from the New York Times who wanted to talk to us about what a close community Buffalo is and how we felt losing a colleague and friend, as well as the multiple connections we had with others on the flight. That evening proved to be cathartic for me.

The next morning I was on my way to TBZ when I got a call from another friend who said that the FBI was looking for a Jewish chaplain to come out to the crash site itself. I rearranged my schedule and shortly after noon arrived at the crash site. What I witnessed the Saturday and Sunday that I spent the crash site was inspiring, awesome, and humbling. Members of federal, state and local agencies and organizations, police and fire departments, aviation safety agencies and volunteers worked together in a manner that was cooperative and respectful. Everyone involved understood the magnitude of what they were doing and the need to preserve the dignity of the 50 who had died. Those who were working to recover the remains of the deceased did so in a manner which made me proud and which challenged me to remember to act in ways that would also bring honor to my community as well as the deceased.

Not once during the time I was at the site did I see people's egos or agendas get in the way. Everyone understood the task that was being asked of them. We were standing at the site, not only of destruction but, what was in reality the equivalent of a graveyard. Judaism teaches that the body of the dead once contained a holy soul, a spark of the divine. As such, even after death, when the soul has departed, we treat the body with the utmost respect and dignity. I can attest that everyone at the crash site not only met that obligation but exceeded it.

Over the next two weeks, the crash and the death of Cantor Wehle remained the topic of conversation in the community. Each of us in our own way spent time supporting and debriefing each other. Near the end of the second week the conversations began to lessen in frequency. That is when I began to feel the personal impact of what I had seen and participated in at the crash site. Thanks to the support of friends and my family especially Michele, Joel, Barbara and Steve, I was beginning to put in perspective the impact that crash and Susan’s death was having on me.

A week later however, it all came rushing back as we received word that Jonah Dreskin had died at the University at Buffalo. Jonah z'l was the son of Rabbi Billy and Cantor Ellen Dreskin. While I know and understand that the pain Jonah’s family was and is experiencing can only be overwhelming, the horror of his death at so young an age brought to the surface all the feelings I thought I had dealt with but still remained after the crash.

I do believe in the immortality of the soul and the peace of the afterlife. I believe that Jonah’s soul, Susan’s spirit, as well as the souls and spirits of all those who died on Continental flight 3407 are at peace. It is we who are left in this world who are not at peace. Perhaps all we can do is take a measure of comfort in knowing that they are at peace and focus on the warm glow of the memories they left behind and which we treasure.

May all their souls be bound up in the bond of eternal life may they and we always be at peace.

Support our Jewish Troops at Passover!

2009-03-04T07:19:00.003-07:00

I received the following email. I hope you all join me in this important effort.

Each year at Purim the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council asks your assistance as we reach out to help Jews serving in the military celebrate Passover. Supporting Jews in the military has been our mission since WW I, and this year it is as important as ever. Right now there are approximately 10,000 Jewish men and women on active duty. Some are not products of congregational life and some are the products of the Orthodox community but the vast majority are from liberal Jewish congregations. They are our congregational children and grand children. Many of them, especially those serving overseas, don't have access to Passover food products unless JWB sends it to them. Even those who receive Passover food from the military receive only 3 very basic "pouch" meals per day without the holiday foods we take for granted, things like gefilte fish, horseradish, macaroons, Passover candy and even egg matzo are just not part of the Defense Department inventory.

Please go to http://jcca.org/pdf/jwbbw.pdf to contribute to this effort to support our Jewish troops at Passover.

A Shanda on us all!

2009-03-02T06:59:00.005-07:00

I hate the word "tolerance" when it is used to speak about dealing with other groups unlike ourselves. We tolerate things we don't like. I barely tolerate going to the gym but I go because the alternative is worse. We tolerate a job we do not like because we need to support ourselves and our loved ones.

The Los Angeles based Simon Wiesenthal Center is going to build a Museum of Tolerance on a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. This demeans even the best possible meaning of tolerance. Are they asking the Muslim community of Jerusalem to "tolerate" the desecration of their cemetery so the Wiesenthal Center and its director can bulid a monument to themselves in the name of building good relations with others?

When a non-Jewish group in Europe tries to build on the site of a long abandoned Jewish cemetery, the Wiesenthal Center is among the first to protest the desecration and the building project. Now they plan to do the same. To me this act of desecration of sacred ground is the utmost act of hypocrisy. It is a shanda of the highest order for the whole Jewish community. Instead of restoring the Beth Jacob cemetery on Doat Street last summer, imagine our community's response if a NY court declared it abandoned and a group tried to build a Mosque on it! Our friend Norman Weinberg has dedicated innumerable hours to the restoration of Jewish cemeteries in Poland with great success and has brought much honor to our community and to Poland. The Wiesenthal Center, by its decision and action brings more shame and harm to our people than Bernie Madoff. They are desecrating not only this cemetery but everything their namesake and one of my personal heroes Simon Wiesenthal stood for.

Please take a moment to write to the Wiesenthal Center by going to their website: http://www.wiesenthal.com and clicking on the contact us link at the very bottom of the page.

Click here to read an article on the Museum from the Los Angeles Times.

Here is Rabbi Eric Yoffie's op-ed piece on the Museum.

The Central Conference of American Rabbis passed a resolution asking the Wiesenthal Center to move the location of the Museum.

Remarks at the Shabbat Service Remembering Susan Wehle, Temple Beth Am, Friday February 13, 2009

2009-02-17T13:14:00.003-07:00

כל העולם כולו, גשר צר מאד והעיקר לא לפחד בו
The world is but a narrow bridge - the essence is not to fear it.

These words, paraphrasing the great Chasidic Master Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav have been running through my head ever since Rick Ellis called me this morning with the news that Susan Wehle was on the plane that crashed last night.

When we heard the news of the crash last night before bed or this morning upon awakening, our minds - as is only natural - began to wonder if we knew anyone on the plane AND THEN if any Jews were on the plane. To hear that there was someone we knew so well, someone who touched each of us, and gave so much of herself to our community, shocked us, numbed us, rattled us to our very core.

For many here tonight, in the face of pain or death, it was Susan to whom we turned for comfort, for music, for a hug, for a kind word. And so we gather here tonight as a community, on Shabbat, to find a measure of Shabbat Shalom, of Shabbat healing, of Shabbat wholeness, of Shabbat peace.

We want to cry out “Why!?” But we know that is not the question. The question is how to live our lives to honor Susan’s memory.

כל העולם כולו, גשר צר מאד והעיקר לא לפחד בו
The world is but a narrow bridge - the essence is not to fear it.

Susan knew and we know the fragility and preciousness of life. Susan knew and taught us that a life lived in fear is a life unlived. We all walk that narrow bridge. Let us join hands and hold each other up. Let us begin to heal each other. Let us walk the narrow bridge together unafraid in the knowledge that our community helps carry us across in peace.

2009-01-05T07:29:00.003-07:00

I received the following press release today:

“Operation Tefillah, Torah & Troops” Gets Underway

As the members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) battle Hamas terrorists and Palestinian militants in Gaza, leading international Torah scholars have launched a worldwide effort aimed at providing them with spiritual support.

“Operation Tefillah, Torah & Troops,” which was launched by Rabbi Simcha HaCohen Kook, the Chief Rabbi of Rehovot, Israel, and the Bostoner Rebbe (Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz) of Har Nof, Israel, partners people from around the world with soldiers in the IDF. Each person who takes part in “Operation Tefillah, Torah & Troops” is paired with an Israeli soldier, and is responsible to say tefillot (prayers), learn Torah, and do special acts of chesed (kindness) on behalf of that solider.

Rabbi Kook and the Bostoner Rebbe noted that this concept is one that has been a part of the Jewish people for thousands of years. When Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) led the Jewish people to war with the nation of Midyon, for every person who went to battle, there was a designated person who was responsible for praying and learning for him. Throughout his reign, David HaMelech (King David) utilized this practice as well. During the war in Lebanon in the summer of 2006, more than 50,000 people worldwide participated in this initiative spearheaded by Rabbi Kook and the Bostoner Rebbe, and facilitated in North America by the National Council of Young Israel.

To participate in “Operation Tefillah, Torah & Troops” and receive the name of an Israeli soldier who needs your prayers, email the office of Rabbi Kook . To request the name of a soldier by phone or fax, call the National Council of Young Israel at 212-929-1525 x100, or send a fax to 212-727-9526. Members of the IDF who wish to have a “partner” praying for them are urged to e-mail the office of Rabbi Kook as well.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, noted that every tefillah that is said on behalf of a soldier will make a difference, regardless of where a person may be in religious observance.

“Each soldier that is putting his or her life on the line to defend the land of Israel and safeguard the Jewish nation deserves to have someone praying for their well being and safe return,” said Rabbi Lerner, “During my conversations with Rabbi Kook, he emphasized that every Jew is encouraged to participate in this critical endeavor and to pray for a soldier in a manner in which they feel comfortable, irrespective of their religious background.”

2008-12-22T07:46:00.002-07:00

Shalom TV - From their press release!

Our Jewish community now can enjoy an array of wonderful Jewish programs on Time Warner's FREE Video-On-Demand.

See Jewish Films; Children's Programs; Israel (News, Interviews, Travelogues); 92nd Street Y Presentations; Jewish Studies (Intro to Hebrew, Talmud, Kabbalah, Torah); Panel Discussions; Major Events; Leading Jewish Figures; Music & Entertainment.

To receive a weekly schedule of Shalom TV programming, please go to: www.shalomtv.com.

Shalom TV - American Jewry's National Cable Television Network - - can provide hours of viewing pleasure, pride in our Jewish heritage, and a broad perspective on Jewish life at no cost through:

Go to Channel 926 "Entertainment On Demand" and select Shalom TV

Available when you wnat it. Try it!

My Address to the Annual Meeting of the Buffalo Chapter of NFJC

2008-12-09T12:45:00.001-07:00

First, I want to thank, Don, Mary and Lana for honoring me in inviting me to be todays speaker at this NFJC annual meeting. My association with NCCJ goes back to 1981 when I was a young assistant rabbi in Memphis, Tennessee. Upon my arrival here, I reunited with NCCJ and am proud to have been board member during our local chapter’s transformation into the NFJC. As we look back over these past few years since that transformation, we see first, that the leadership, both volunteer and professional has remained strong, second, that they have ensured that NFJC is at least as respected a name as NCCJ was for so many years and of course third, the evolution into NFJC has led not only to an even stronger local chapter but has enabled us to be in a position of strength as we see our community face the challenges of a changing economy, racism and bigotry that continues, youth violence on the rise and a level of poverty that in large part is reflected in the unbelievably high unemployment numbers in the so called minority communities.

It would be easy to sit back and continue to live with our problems unchallenged. To whine (or as we Jews might say - shrei) about the seemingly unsolvable issues that face us. We, who can afford to actually be here today and actually afford to eat here anytime we choose, could easily shut ourselves off from the world just outside the doors of this hotel. Jewish law dictates that when one builds a synagogue, the sanctuary must have windows, not just to let in natural light, but more importantly to help us remember that we cannot shut ourselves away in prayer, we need to see the world and its problem to remind ourselves that prayer alone cannot fix this world, rather, only our actions and concrete deeds can morph the world that is into the world we would like to see. Even though this room is windowless, we remember how blessed those of us in this room really are.

But how do we confront and overcome these seemingly overwhelming issues that face us? I don’t know. That is why among so many reasons I am proud of America for electing Barak Obama president I am proud of us for electing someone who is smarter than the vast majority of us and someone who is surrounding himself with others smarter than most of us and even some who are smarter than he.

However sufficient intelligence, commitment, and even wisdom may be to fixing our world, at its core we need hope. Without hope, we remove trying from our options and we might as well go sit in the corner like a bowl of jello. To begin to repair the tears in the fabric of our society we have to have a hope that tells us we can do it, each of us because for all that they may be, God, the government, society or others are going to do it for us.

This year on Rosh Hashanah I put it this way:

We all know that we cannot wait for others, even God to fix our world. In the wake of Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike and now Kyle, this classic story embodies a renewed poignancy.

Once there was a pious man who had never sinned sitting in a rowboat in the middle of the lake. The boat springs a leak and begins to sink. And so the man begins to pray: “Sovereign of Mercy, I have been your loyal servant my whole life, please save me.” Just then another boat comes by and throws the man a life buoy. “Grab the rope and we will save you!” “No,” the man replied. “God will save me.”

Time passes and the water is up to his waist. “Ruler of all” he prays, “I have been your loyal servant my whole life, please save me.” Just then a helicopter came by and lowered a ladder. “Grab the ladder and climb up and we will save you!” “No,” the man replied. “God will save me.”

The rowboat continues to sink and the man is submerged up to his neck. And so he prays one more time: “You in whom I place all my trust, I have been your faithful servant. I have lived a life free of sin. I have resisted temptation after temptation. Please God, save me.” Another boat comes by and threw yet another buoy. “Please grab the buoy and we will take you to safety.” “No,” the man replied. “God will save me.”

At that moment, the boat sinks and the man drowns. Suddenly he finds himself before God and the throne of judgement. “God” he cries. All my life I served you and lived a pure life. In my time of need I called to you and you let me die. Why God? Why?”

God looks and the man and replies: “I gave you three chances. I sent two boats and a helicopter.”

Living a life of hope means asking for the wisdom and strength to do what we must to repair our Community. We cannot wait for others to do the work for us. ... We look to God for strength and inspiration, but we look to ourselves and each other to grab onto the rope, pull ourselves into the boat and row together.

In a very real sense, Don stood on the shoulders of those who came before him and he not only lifted us to a higher level with his words, but by getting each of us to grab onto the rope. I know, as do you that Mary will take us even farther and bringing us yet another step closer to the day we look forward to - to the day when NFJC closes its doors forever because we have closed the door on racism, bigotry and hatred.

Mary, on behalf of each one of us here I ask you to challenge us and tell you that each one of us will grab onto your rope and respond as Moses responded to God’s call to bring freedom to the Israelites of old - Hineini - Here I am, you can count on me.

The Benediction:

A story quoted in Gates of Prayer, the last Reform prayer-book.

Rabbi Chayim of Tsanz used to tell this parable: A person, wandering lost in the forest for several days, finally encountered another and called out: Friend, show me the way out of this forest!. The person replied: Friend, I too am lost. I can only tell you this: the ways I have tried lead nowhere; they have only led me astray. Take my hand and let us search for the way together. Rabbi Chayim would add: So it is with us. When we go our separate ways, we may go astray; let us join hands and look for the way together.

May we take each other’s hands and walk through the forest together.

2008-11-03T19:23:00.002-07:00

Here are the links to this week's Torah commentary on Lech L'cha from the URJ - The Union For Reform Judaism
http://urj.org/torah/

I write this the night before the 2008 elections. By 9:30 P.M. there have been 4 robocalls from local candidates each wanting to persuade me that they are the one "called" to take this leadership journey.

I only hope and pray that the winners really understand that;

1. Unlike Abraham, God did not call them to serve.
2. They work not for their own benefit and power but for ours
3. They have a responsibility to every citizen and not just those who "support" them

Rosh Hashanah Evening 5769 - Under the Mishkan

2008-10-22T07:11:00.002-06:00

This is our new Shabbat prayerbook, Mishkan T’fillah. The first Reform Movement prayerbook in over 25 years, we again have a prayerbook that unites the Reform Movement with a standard liturgy. Many people were involved in the creation of our in-house prayerbooks, Shabbat M’nucha and Shabbat Kedushah. Personally and as a congregation we owe them a great deal of thanks. Their creativity, spirituality and hard work brought worship at Temple Beth Zion into the late 20th/early 21st centuries.

We are also grateful to those who generously provided us with the means to acquire our copies of Mishkan T’fillah and to make sure that our upcoming B’nei Mitzvah students will each have their own copy from which to study and pray.

The title of the prayer-book, Mishkan T’fillah, translates to: Tabernacle or Dwelling Place of Prayer. Forty-two years ago, the membership of Temple Beth Zion built this sanctuary to be just that - a place where our TBZ extended family comes together to dwell in prayer - to focus on prayer - to understand that a congregation that prays together evolves into a community of caring.

As we wandered through the desert, there were several names for the sanctuary they built. HaMishkan - the dwelling place, the place where Moses and our ancestors experienced God; Mishkan Ha’eidut - the tabernacle of witness, a place of witnessing not only the presence of God but a court, a place to settle disputes; Ohel Mo’ed - the tent of coming together to meet God and learn the values that enable us to live together and the rules, the practical application of the values.

These names represent pieces of a puzzle that together define what it means to be a congregation, a community. For the ancient Israelites, the Mishkan literally and figuratively transformed our ancestral families into a holy nation.

What does it take to be a true community? Why did the Israelites believe that the Mishkan, the center of their community was the place where God dwelled and where Moses spoke with God? Two words - TRUST and HOPE. Trust that the motivation of those in our community, entrusted with our financial future, entrusted with our safety, entrusted with helping us teach our young and care for our elderly lies in a commitment to do what is good and right and does not violate our trust. Hope that when our trust is misplaced, we can still redeem our community and ourselves.

An Eastern European story: A farmer with serious financial problems bought a mule from another farmer for $100. The seller agreed to deliver the mule the next day. However, on the next day the seller drove up and said, "Sorry, but I have some bad news: The mule died."
"Well, then, just give me my money back," said the buyer.
"Can't do that. I spent it already," the seller replied.
"OK, then. Just unload the mule," said the buyer.
The seller inquired, "What are you going to do with a dead mule?"
"I'm going to raffle him off."
The incredulous seller said, "You can't raffle off a dead mule!"
"Sure I can. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."
A month later, the two met and the farmer who sold the dead mule asked the buyer, "Whatever happened with that dead mule?"
"I raffled him off just like I said I would. I sold 500 tickets at $2 a piece and made a profit of $898."
"Didn't anyone complain?" the incredulous seller asked.
The smug buyer replied, “Just the guy who won, so I gave him his two dollars back."

This story is obviously illustrative of what we have learned the past several weeks, that those we trusted with our financial futures often simply raffled off dead mules. (I know I have learned more about the workings of credit markets, stock markets, investment markets and insurance markets than I ever thought possible.) But this tale teaches a deeper lesson. Once we someone betrays our trust, it becomes easier for us to betray the trust of others.

In Leviticus, God commands us to act in holiness is by using honest weights and measures, paying people when their wages are due and not oppressing those who need to borrow funds to survive. Clearly, the trust in our economic systems has caused a rip in the Mishkan of our community.

This year our Mishkan has also been rent open by breeches by those entrusted with our safety. We have seen a Governor fall and threats to our country’s safety ignored while those whom we trust to protect us worry about shoe laces while not inspecting cargo containers and assault weapon and armor piercing bullets remain legal on our streets. Part of the tear was sewn closed by miscarriages of justice in our community undone and reopened by news of new exonerating evidence being ignored by others.

Our trust in the commitment of our schools to put our children's’ education first and for our seniors to be protected was severely damaged by self serving avarice. Resources poorly allocated. Personal ego thrusting aside fairness and equity.

These past months, this past year could leave us cynical and misanthropic. But as Jews, especially at this time of year, we know that we have the ability to commit ourselves to changing our world, repairing the defects that have been inflicted upon our Mishkan.

For we Jews are experts in hope! Not the generalized hope of which both Senators McCain and Obama speak. But rather, for us hope consists of the knowledge that our communal Teshuvah consists of more than feeling bad about our active and passive failings. Teshuvah is the expression of our hope that we CAN change ourselves and our world. For us hope motivates us to not only hem the ragged edges and sew the holes in our Mishkan, in our community but make it stronger and sturdier, working to ensure the Mishkan will never again be damaged.

The use of the first person plural used in our High Holy Day liturgy of responsibility for the problems in our world reinforces our understanding of the truth that sin in our community only exists because WE allow it to continue. As Jews Rabbi Tarphon’s teaching of 1800 years ago underlies our hope and our responsibility to reach out and change the world: “It is not incumbent upon you to finish the work but neither are you exempt from it!” It is incumbent on each of us, infused with a measure of hope, to work for the day when we and the whole world realize that we rise and fall together. Our true teshuvah and deep belief in hope infuse within each of us the knowledge that our success does not come from stepping on the backs of others but rather from understanding that even when, maybe especially when it looks the bleakest, we all work to repair the Mishkan together.

We all know that we cannot wait for others, even God to fix our world. In the wake of Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike and now Kyle, this classic story embodies a renewed poignancy.

Once there was a pious man who had never sinned sitting in a rowboat in the middle of the lake. The boat springs a leak and begins to sink. And so the man begins to pray: “Sovereign of Mercy, I have been your loyal servant my whole life, please save me.” Just then another boat comes by and throws the man a life buoy. “Grab the rope and we will save you!” “No,” the man replied. “God will save me.”

Time passes and the water is up to his waist. “Ruler of all” he prays, “I have been your loyal servant my whole life, please save me.” Just then a helicopter came by and lowered a ladder. “Grab the ladder and climb up and we will save you!” “No,” the man replied. “God will save me.”

The rowboat continues to sink and the man is submerged up to his neck. And so he prays one more time: “You in whom I place all my trust, I have been your faithful servant. I have lived a life free of sin. I have resisted temptation after temptation. Please God, save me.” Another boat comes by and threw yet another buoy. “Please grab the buoy and we will take you to safety.” “No,” the man replied. “God will save me.”

At that moment, the boat sinks and the man drowns. Suddenly he finds himself before God and the throne of judgement. “God” he cries. All my life I served you and lived a pure life. In my time of need I called to you and you let me die. Why God? Why?”

God looks and the man and replies: “I gave you three chances. I sent two boats and a helicopter.”

Living a life of hope means asking for the wisdom and strength to do what we must to repair our Mishkan. We cannot wait for others to do the work for us. Our Jewish communal values of , אל תפרוש את עצמך מן הציבור - Do not separate oneself from the community, צדקה, גמילות חסדים and of course תקווה demand we to work to repair our Mishkan through our votes, our participation and our dollars. We look to God for strength and inspiration, but we look to ourselves and each other to grab onto the rope, pull ourselves into the boat and row together.

A story quoted in Gates of Prayer, the last Reform prayer-book, that I have not found in Mishkan T’fillah:

Rabbi Chayim of Tsanz used to tell this parable: A man, wandering lost in the forest for several days, finally encountered another. He called out: Brother, show me the way out of this forest!. The man replied: Brother, I too am lost. I can only tell you this: the ways I have tried lead nowhere; they have only led me astray. Take my hand and let us search for the way together. Rabbi Chayim would add: So iti s with us. When we go our separate ways, we may go astray; let us join hands and look for the way together.

May we take each other’s hands and walk through the forest together.

Kein Y’hi Ratzon - So may it be God’s will.

Shanah Tovah.

Rosh Hashanah Morning 5769 - Connecting with God - Connecting With Each Other Facebook – “Sefer” Panim Yafot

2008-10-21T21:28:00.002-06:00

Inspired by a sermon by Rabbi Arthur Lavinsky, Temple Beth El, Phoenix, Arizona

I recently found that while my comprehension of Hebrew conversation remains good, through lack of regular use my Hebrew speaking level had deteriorated to an elementary school level. So I signed up for a conversational Hebrew class on e-teacher. Every Sunday afternoon I turn on my web cam and have a conversational Hebrew lesson with a teacher in Haifa. If I miss a class, I simply go to the website and watch the recording of the class, do the work and sign in the next week.

One of the words I learned this past week סקר means survey. And as we all know, the secret to learning a language is to use it, I am going to conduct a quick 6 question ,סקר survey. Please answer by raising your hands: Be honest.

1. Who has a love/hate relationship with his or her cell phone? You can’t live without it but
you want to leave it at the bottom of Lake Erie so you can have some peace and quiet?
2. Who remembers thinking that calling someone and getting an answering machine instead
of a person was annoying?
3. Of those, who now grumbles when you call someone and they do not have voice mail or
an answering machine?
4. Who communicates by using text messaging and instant messaging?
5. Who has more than one email address?
6. Who gets more spam than real email?

All of these marvelous technologies help us communicate on a business or personal level and have the downside of tethering us to them. The siren call of the ring (or vibration) of a cell phone, the signal that we have voicemail, the popping up of text and instant messages lure us off our course and into the raging waters of their demand to be answered. God forbid our need to answer these siren calls do not literally lure us off course and into oncoming traffic.

About a year ago, I realized that email and IM had run their course and our young people, high school, college and post college refocused their communication through social networking sites. So up went my MySpace page and a few months later, my facebook page. Through these sites I have not only connected with many of our young people, but to my great surprise, many adults as well! In fact, by paying attention to what people put on their page and tell the entire network, I learn more than I have ever known about not only what is happening in our congregational family but the people, issues, ideas and activities they most value.

Surprisingly, I find facebook reinforcing some of the lessons of these Days of Awe.

We are a community:
Rabbi Arthur Lavinsky of Beth El Congregation in Phoenix reminded me of the following teaching of Pirke Avot. He writes:

“we should greet all human beings “Bsever Panim Yafot” – with a cheerful face.“ He goes on to change the phrase slightly: “In 2008 many people greet one another “B’SEFER Panim Yafot” – literally “a book of cheerful faces”, in other words – FACEBOOK.”

Not every face on facebook is cheerful but I have to admit, I see more happiness, cheer and pure enjoyment among people in the virtual world of facebook than I do in this tangible world of our. Browsing through the pages of my facebook friends, (what is a friend is a topic for another time) I find pictures of people smiling, people playing, people doing what they enjoy most. Kids and adults, young and old, write about the happenings of their lives and what I read is overwhelmingly positive! It is the opposite of every Jewish stereotype! I love it because it seems as though everyone tries to follow my favorite commandment - Thou Shalt Not Whine. It is as if facebook is the polar opposite of most blogs: Positive and affirming not negative and disparaging.

Even more exciting to me is just how positively and supportive people react to each other’s happiness. Comments ranging from: “Your kids look adorable!” to “Awesome” make up other people’s responses to the happiness of their friends. It is as if facebook is the virtual embodiment of the Rabbi’s dictum from Pirkei Avot: “מצווה גוררת מצווה” “One mitzvah begets another mitzvah.” Appreciation and happiness beget appreciation and happiness.

Don’t get me wrong, facebook is not גן עדן, utopia on earth. The Messiah does not walk among us and perfection does not reign. One can find unhappiness and discontent in three distinct areas:

Politics:
Politics on facebook parallels politics in the real world and everyone feels compelled to share her or his views.

Changes that the owners of facebook try to make to the site:
Think of someone coming into your home and rearranging your kitchen or your furniture because they like it better.

IMPORTANT life issues:
Here we see that we definitely do not live in גן עדן. Real people lose real jobs. Real people face real illnesses. Real people confront the serious real problems of life. On facebook no one has to ask: “How are you?” and receive a perfunctory “Fine” in response. Perhaps because of the virtual nature of the environment and people do not really “see” each other face to face, thus putting up a comment about a challenge facing you is easier and it seems as though people respond in a totally supportive manner. Perhaps the virtual world enables us to tear down the facades we put up for each other. Sincere messages of caring, empathy, sympathy and support pass through the ether at the speed of light finally alighting on the recipient’s page and lifting a bit of the burden off his or her heart.

Biblically Rosh Hashanah is called יום הזכרון - the Day of Remembrance. Torah does not tell us what we should try to remember. facebook also helps us accomplish this major task. We can look back at our own page and the pages of others to reinforce our understanding of the positive impact we have made on others and they have made on us.

Through a colleagues facebook site, I found the son of the senior rabbi I worked with in Memphis. From that connection, one of his childhood friends found and wrote me. As an assistant rabbi I helped train him for his Bar Mitzvah in 1982 (I’ll let you do the math) Needless to say he was not one of my best students. In fact, I would have given good odds that Judaism would not be a major part of his life. Yet, here is a piece of what he wrote me:

“We're in Canada -- my wife grew up here and we met on JDate while I was living in Virginia, but traveling every month for work to where she lived.
My wife, by the way, is a professional Jew. Her parents are survivors whose first language is Yiddish. She teaches and translates Yiddish, and she taught for 15-odd years at the Jewish day school here. This summer she left the school to take over all of the Holocaust education and memorial programs run by the local Federation and Jewish Community Center.

Lessons 2: Honestly, we have changed.
Since moving to Buffalo, I have been fascinated by the death notices in the Buffalo News. One thing in particular draws my attention: the pictures people choose to put in the death notice of a loved one. In a recent obituary of a woman with 14 great-grandchildren, yes that is 14 great-grandchildren, I found the picture of a woman who looked to be in her 20’s. Here too I find that those who use facebook understand another of the meanings of these High Holy Days - we all change. Other than a few people who use a piece of art work to represent themselves, the pictures of people you find on facebook are of who they are today - and it is not always flattering.

Judaism teaches us that life embodies change and that who we are today, as individuals and as a community, is built upon a foundation years in the making. During these Days of Awe, we do not just look back at the past year for specific acts to celebrate or rue, but to find the path to repentance, to be able to change our behaviors and lives for the better, we need to look farther back and see that significant change means knowing the path we took to today AND accepting the image we see in the mirror, the photograph, or our soul cannot be turned back like flipping pages on a calendar. A facebook picture of who we are today symbolizes an acceptance of our current reality and that brings us to the point where our journey to a better future begins. Each line, each gray hair, each missing hair, each extra pound tangibly represent our life’s journey. We can cover the reality up with make-up, dye, transplants and well tailored clothing, but we only fool ourselves into thinking that we, and those around us, do not know the reality.

Most of us know the story of God telling Abraham and Sarah that a 90 year old Sarah would conceive a son with a 99 year old Abraham. Sarah’s reaction - she looked at the reality of her age and the wrinkled face of her husband and laughed at the absurdity of the thought. Perhaps the ancient Rabbis picked this story as the traditional portion for first day Rosh Hashanah to teach us that even if we accept who we are and how we got there, the possibility to change our lives still exists. We have to see ourselves in our true present state - show the world and ourselves a current picture as it were - in order to bring about a seemingly miraculous positive change.

People tend to minimize, facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites as only being virtual networks comprised of people who rarely if ever see each other and whose relationship consists of the thinnest thread of connection, being members of the same social networking site. Being Jewish, I do not. For Jews, community consists of a network of people crossing time and space whose only connection consists of claiming the identity of being a part of the same faith.

At the beginning of each month, we recite a blessing: May God gather us from the four corners of the earth, Israel all being friends.

Sounds like a Messianic promise. Jews not only feeling connected to one another, but being friends? Please God, soon and in our days! It is almost happening over the next 10 days. Here in our congregation, in congregations around the world praying for each other’s well-being. Sharing in dissimilar practices all connected by name and intent. Perhaps we those days are closer than we think.

Ok, is he serious? Does he really believe facebook exemplifies the lessons of Rosh Hashanah? Let’s review:

1. Commitment to put forward a better face to the world. - Check
2. Commitment to be supportive of members of our community in need. - Check
3. Commitment to honestly face ourselves and honestly present ourselves to the world. - Check
4. Commitment to connect more closely to others in our community. - Check

Sounds like Rosh Hashanah to me.

Shanah Tovah.

The Relativity of Time - Yom Kippur 5769

2008-10-21T20:42:00.002-06:00

Inspired by a sermon by Rabbi Gerald L. Zelizer, Congregation Neve Shalom, Metuchen, New Jersey, and the teachings of Rabbi Harold Kushner and Rabbi Joseph Soloveichik z”l

Remember being 6 or 7 or 8 years old and you are playing a game? You shoot the ball, miss and cry out those immortal “Do over!”?

Just like when we were young, every now and then we find ourselves in that same place: “Do over!” The difference between then and now: we know that calling out “Do over!” not only does not work, it does not go over very well, except perhaps on the golf course.

Rabbi Harold Kushner teaches that this year, at 2 a.m. on Sunday November 2nd, we do get a kind of do over. Daylight savings time comes to an end and we reset our clocks back to 1 a.m.. Once a year, every year, it is as if we get to relive one hour! I remember as a child wanting to stay up with the television on and the TV Guide open to see what would happen as 2 a.m. magically became 1 a.m.. Would they begin a movie over again? Would they replay the 1 a.m. show a second time? Unfortunately, each year I would fall asleep long before time reversed itself. Now, year after year, I tell myself that I can “catch up on my sleep” with this magical extra hour, but of course, I just stay up later.

Most of us sleep through this so called extra hour, this do over time and yet don’t most of us have some time, an hour in our lives that we would like to do over? A word spoken in anger? A stranger in need passed by when we could have stopped and helped? A note of kindness or of friendship or of condolence or of thanks not sent? Yet each year we sleep through this blessed extra hour.

A lesson taught to me by Rabbi Gerald L. Zelizer of Congregation Neve Shalom, Metuchen, New Jersey. He writes:

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik was for many years the Dean of modern Orthodox Judaism. In one of his essays he explains Teshuvah this way: In all other civilizations time flows from yesterday to today to tomorrow. The past shapes the present, and the present shapes the future. Cause and effect. Something happened yesterday or last year or ten years ago and because of that something will happen today, and that something today will cause something to happen tomorrow. The past determines the future.

But in Judaism instructs Rabbi Soloveitchik, it is the future that redefines the meaning of the past. Was something a tragedy, or was it a spur to growth? Was something a mistake or was it a learning experience? We cannot answer these questions today by examining what happened in the past. The answer does not only depend on what happened in the past. The answer is impacted by what we choose tomorrow and even today. Sigmund Freud taught us that we are shaped by the past, by our childhood experiences. Rabbi Soloveitchik teaches the opposite. The past is reshaped by our choices now and tomorrow.

In this observation by Rabbi Soloveitchik as taught by Rabbi Zelizer we see the essence of Yom Kippur, the essence of our season of repentance. In reality, no one gets a “do over”, as it were. Only in science fiction can we go back in time and actually change our past. In how many episodes of Star Trek did we learn the lesson, change the past, change the present, change the future? How Jewish is that!
Yet, while we cannot actually change the past from the present, what we do with the past is reshaped by what we do THIS day. The ability to reshape the past my friends, what we take from this time of teshuvah, this time of repentance, enables us to bring immensely positive changes to our world, or to diminish the world and all that dwell therein. As it we read in the u’netaneh tokef - “Let us declare the sacred power of this day: it is awesom and full of dread.

Those of us who remember 31 years ago, November 19, 1977 to be precise, understand this power. On that day we held our breath as Anwar Sadat taught us a great lesson when his plane landed in Israel. We held our breath that no harm would befall him. We held our breath to hear his words. Would his message be one of an outstretched hand of peace or would it be an outstretched hand of empty promises? In one of the bravest acts of Teshuvah, Sadat brought his message. He said:

I come to you today on solid ground to shape a new life and to establish peace....
No one could have ever conceived that the president of the biggest Arab state, which bears the heaviest burden and the main responsibility pertaining to the cause of war and peace in the Middle East, should declare his readiness to go to the land of the adversary while we were still in a state of war.
We all still bear the consequences of four fierce wars waged within 30 years. All this at the time when the families of the 1973 October war are still mourning under the cruel pain of bereavement of father, son, husband and brother.
But to be absolutely frank with you, I took this decision after long thought, knowing that it constitutes a great risk, for God Almighty has made it my fate to assume responsibility on behalf of the Egyptian people, to share in the responsibility of the Arab nation, the main duty of which, dictated by responsibility, is to exploit all and every means in a bid to save my Egyptian Arab people and the pan-Arab nation from the horrors of new suffering and destructive wars, the dimensions of which are foreseen only by God Himself.
After long thinking, I was convinced that the obligation of responsibility before God and before the people make it incumbent upon me that I should go to the far corners of the world, even to Jerusalem to address members of the Knesset and acquaint them with all the facts surging in me, then I would let you decide for yourselves....

Sadat’s coming to Israel embodied Soloveichik’s teaching. Sadat chose to reshape a past filled with war, hate, pain and death into a possibile future of peace. One year, 11 months later, those who instead of being willing to choose a different future chose to remain in the pain of the past. They murdered Sadat. But it was too late. A vision of Egyptian-Israeli peace, with all its promise and problems, became the new reality of the present.

We face this same choice each year on Yom Kippur and in fact everyday. Our choice most certainly does not hold the fate of peoples as did Sadat’s. Yet for us, each opportunity for Teshuvah, for reshaping the past, contains the seeds of healing our piece of the world.

Returning to un’taneh tokef, could it be that when it says: “who shall live and who shall die” its deeper meaning is: who will stay dead by living in a world shaped by the past or who will awaken to a new life by reshaping the past by choosing to create a new reality of the future? As we examine our past on this day, do we look at our past to dwell on the pain we inflicted on us or the pain we inflicted on others, or do we look at the past and ask the questions Rabbi Soloveichik posed: “Was something a tragedy, or was it a spur to growth? Was something a mistake or was it a learning experience?” On Yom Kippur Teshuvah means seeing the past as a spur to growth and a learning experience AND THEN committing to do the work to change ourselves, and to change our world for the better.

Each fall, we move our clocks back, a symbol hope for we are blessed with the opportunity to look back, seeing the past with fresh eyes and choosing an understanding of the future that leads to both personal and momentous change. Each spring, daylight savings time returns and we move our clocks ahead an hour and say that we lose an hour. It strikes me as odd that we lose an hour to save time. To me, losing that hour symbolizes giving up the hope for positive change. It saves time to skip the hour of reflection, the reviewing of the past, the reshaping of our tragedy into a lesson and commitment to choose to grow. Losing an hour to save time limits us, reinforcing the belief that our past shapes us and our actions into the present, dictates our future and keeps us stuck holding onto the pain we caused and the pain we received.

My choice, and I hope yours too, treasure this extra hour of reflection, choose to reshape the past through our Teshuvah today. Choose to commitment to a better world for tomorrow.

Kein y’hi ratzon.

Sarah Palin, Church and the Jews

2008-10-06T21:07:00.003-06:00

While Governor Palin has come to the synagogue in Anchorage on at least 2 occasions I received the following email today from Shalom TV:

" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2008

PALIN MUST EXPLAIN ANTI-SEMITIC STANCE OF HER CHURCH

Call of McCain's co-chair on "Jewish Outreach" has been missed or ignored by both the secular and Jewish media
October 7, 2008 (Fort Lee, NJ) -- In a Shalom TV editorial, Rabbi Mark S. Golub, president of American Jewry's national cable television network, expressed his concern that both the Jewish and secular media has not asked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to clarify her position on the intrinsic religious integrity of Judaism and the Jewish People.

Golub points out that Governor Palin is a participating member of The Wasilla Bible Church whose pastor publicly preaches the need to convert Jews to Christianity. More specifically, Governor Palin was in attendance when the visiting executive director of Jews for Jesus preached that Palestinian terrorism which murders and maims Israeli civilians is God's punishment of the Jews for not accepting Jesus. Governor Palin's pastor followed this sermon with a collection for Jews for Jesus and prayed that God would make their work of bringing Jews to Jesus successful.

The call for Governor Palin to clarify her own stand on whether Jews need to be converted to Christianity deserves prompt media attention since it comes from an official member of the John McCain presidential campaign, Fred Zeidman, who serves as the McCain campaign co-chair for "Jewish Outreach."

In an interview on Shalom TV, Zeidman stated that Governor Palin not only owes an explanation of her views to the American Jewish community, but also owes an explanation to the American community at large--in the same way that Senator Barack Obama owed the American people an explanation of his affiliation with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and the Trinity United Church of Christ.

For Golub, the lack of a Jewish follow-up to Zeidman's call raises serious questions. Are American Jews reluctant to make an issue over possible anti-Semitic church movements? Are American Jews resigned to a double standard that would condemn anti-white bigotry but not anti-Semitism?

And for Golub, the issue goes far beyond the Jewish community alone.

"It may well be that Governor Palin does not share the views of her church, her pastor, or the executive director of Jews for Jesus," said Golub from his New Jersey office. "But Jews in particular, and all Americans who care about church-state separation and religious tolerance in the United States, have a right to ask Governor Palin to clarify where she stands on the need to convert Jews. In America, one would not expect any public official to view any religious group--not Muslims, not Jews, not Christians--as a community of lost souls that must be converted. Yet this is the view of Governor Palin's pastor and church community, and if the governor does share her pastor's perspective on Jews--or on any other non-Christian group in America--one may wonder how her views might effect her public policy decisions were she to be elected in November." ...

Shalom TV, Inc. | P.O. Box 1989 | Fort Lee | NJ | 07024"

Given that Governor Palin has been taking Senator Obama to task about his church and pastor, isn't only fair that she respond to the same level of charges against her?

The reality is that neither should be held responsible for the words of their pastors, not to mention, religious tests for holding elected office are illeagal on the national level and in all 50 states.

S & L Redux

2008-09-19T13:20:00.007-06:00

There was an blurb by John Sparks in the September 22, 2008 issue of Newsweek about a new book: Slackonomics: Generation X in the Age of Creative Destruction by Lisa Chamberlain.(http://www.newsweek.com/id/158585) It says:

Not only have those born between the baby boomers and the boomers' kids had to struggle to make themselves felt as a cultural force, they've also got stuck on the wrong side of every big economic trend in the past 30 years. Stagflation of the 1970s meant their parents couldn't afford to indulge them as children. Graduation from college during the "jobless recovery" of the '90s got many careers off on the wrong foot. Boomer-driven bubbles pushed homeownership out of reach just as Xers were looking to settle down.

As a baby boomer (albeit from the tail end of the "boom"), I too have experienced all of the above except for the homeownership bubble although that was made up for by the rampant inflation of the Ford and Carter years, the first oil crisis (I remember swearing that I would never pay more than $0.75/gallon) and the S & L scandals. Even the "jobless recovery" was a factor in my life as I looked to move to a new position in the late 90's and many people did not think of it as a recovery so the number of open rabbinic positions declined. So as I look around me at this latest economic nadir, on the one hand it seems familiar. Large banks failing. American banks and car companies looking for bailouts. On the other hand, it is clear that deregulation, and a seeming return to laissez faire economic policies combined with many unlearned lessons from the 1920's, 70's, 80's and 90's have combined to make this economic "event" much more pronounced.

One intro course in economics at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) certainly does not make me an economic expert and I do not claim to have pat, easy or complex solutions. However, growing up living on the economic edge and years of working with social service and government agencies dealing with poverty and homelessness give me an appreciation of the consequences of our current economic situation and the impact we will see it have on individuals and communities. Thus I am confused by the administration's plan to bailout the financial institutions, including foreign ones (where are their governments) but not directly help individuals on the brink of homelessness and the edge of bankruptcy. I also do not understand where we are going to get the $700 billion to pay for the program. Borrow more from China and the Arab Emirates?

My recent trip back to Anchorage reinforced the disparity in our society. As a whole, Alaska is in the midst of another boom cycle. Oil prices are high. The State is flush with money. Real estate has risen with the national trends. In 6 years the house we sold in Anchorage was sold again for 2.5 times what we sold it for. The list goes on and on.

(דבר אחר - An aside: I remember in the "bust" that followed the Alaska boom of the late 70's early 80's bumper stickers appeared on cars: "God, please let there be one more boom. This time I promise I won't p%^$ it away." I wonder how many people are keeping that promise.)

Yet, I was told that one of our members went to the Food Bank to help out and saw that the shelves were bare. The question is: Was it because so many people needed food that they emptied the shelves or was it because their donations are down because people are feeling less secure and therefore contributing less and the the governments have fewer resources to make up the difference or some combination of the two?

Since Buffalo missed out on the boom of the 90's and early 2000's and regularly ranks as one of the 5 poorest cities in America, when a bust comes there isn't far for us to fall. The impact on the real estate market in Western New York is minuscule compared to the rest of the United States. These large economic trends impact on Western New York in direct ways because of indirect problems. Since New York State relies so heavily on tax revenues generated by the various parts of the financial sector, in times like these when income is down State aid also must decrease due to the lack of funds.

However, the rise in people's anxiety about their financial future, losing their homes, job security, retirement security, the reliability of their insurance companies is in itself a problem. The less secure we feel, the less we support others whose situations are actually worse than our own. But this is the time when we must find ways to support them.

After 9/11 President Bush told us that the best thing we could do as Americans was to go out and spend money to support an economy suffering from the fallout of the terrorist attacks. Buy more goods. Buy homes and if you already own a home buy a bigger one... And the financial institutions let us by lending us the money. Forget how easy it is to get a new credit card. Upon moving to Buffalo I was shocked at how much money banks were willing to let us borrow to buy a home! What kind of fools would lend that much money to people earning what we earned? Now we know.

I keep hearing talk about how if people are carrying too much debt or bought homes for more than they could afford it is their own fault. Granted, borrowers carry a large share of the responsibility for the situaitons in which they now find themselves. But those who extended the credit to them also bear a large share of the responsibility. I have no MBA or a degree in finance yet, I know that if I were to loan out money it would well secured. Residential real estate found itself sucked into the vortex of a vicious cycle. The higher and faster prices rose, the more money one could easily borrow to buy a home which created a bigger demand for homes which drove prices higher...

Exodus 22 teaches us:

24 If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, do not act toward them as a creditor; exact no interest from them. 25 If you take your neighbor’s garment in pledge, you must return it to him before the sun sets; 26it is his only clothing, the sole covering for his skin. In what else shall he sleep? Therefore, if he cries out to Me, I will pay heed, for I am compassionate.

Leviticus 25 echoes this:

35 If your kinsman, being in straits, comes under your authority, and you hold him as though a resident alien, let him live by your side: 36 do not exact from him advance or accrued interest, but fear your God. Let him live by your side as your kinsman. 37 Do not lend him your money at advance interest, or give him your food at accrued interest.

And Proverbs 28:

8 He who increases his wealth by loans at discountor interest
Amasses it for one who is generous to the poor.

(Biblical translations from: JPS HEBREW-ENGLISH TANAKH THE TRADITIONAL HEBREW TEXT AND THE NEW JPS TRANSLATION-electronic version of Second Edition)

The texts seem clear to me. It lender has the responsibility for consequences of the loans s/he makes. One can take advantage of borrowers and therefore should suffer a negative consequence, or, one can get a bigger return by making loans that help people sustain themselves.

To quote the great Yogi Berra: "This is like deja vu all over again." And I would add: "Only worse."

Back to the future

2008-09-13T18:44:00.006-06:00

Here I sit again in Anchorage. This time I came back to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the congregation. The current Rabbi, Michael Oblath, my predecessor here, Lester Polonsky, and their recent interim Rabbi, Fred Wenger are all here for the festivities. Many of the living past presidents and some former residents along with the current members of the congregation are all here to celebrate as well.

Before Shabbat evening services the organizing committee set out three notebooks containing the congregation's history. Just out of curiosity, I have been keeping an eye on how many people have flipped through them. To my surprise, they have sat largely untouched.

For me, observances like these provide opportunities to reflect and learn the past which then gives us insight on the present and the foundation to build toward the future. My teacher Dr. Eugene Mihaly, z"l, used the phrase "our moorings and our reach" to describe this process. Like a ship we are moored in our past. It grounds us, teaches us and hopefully inspires us but does not tie us down. Rather, our past provides the steady base upon which we stand as we reach out in the present to create the future.

Mashal (A story) - A new rabbi comes to a community and finds the community split over whether or not to stand for the Shema. Each side lobbies the rabbi to back its position. The rabbi, being wise, (Aren't all rabbis in these stories wise?) sought out the most senior member of the congregation to determine the origin of the dispute. This member tells him that the congregation fights this fight because it has always fought this fight. It is part of the congregation's identity.

Knowing the past enables us to see the system in place. Once we know how the system developed to its present state, we begin to see the path to moving the system, in this case the congregation, forward.

In reality though, there are "many pasts". That is different people experienced the past differently and remember it even more differently. Therefore, it is important to learn as many different views of the history of the congregation as we can.

Another lesson from this weekend is that people may not change but they do move on. People are often creatures of habit. We like continuity and often find change, no matter how positive, disconcerting or alienating. But as it has been said, change is the one constant in the universe. As we grow, or at least as we age, our primary interests change and we move on to places that fulfill that new place. And as we know nature hates a vacuum, our movement from the center allows space for others who now find themselves where we were to fill our former place. However, even when our primary interest moves on, a part of us remains connected to where we came from, to our moorings and when we pass near those places, we are drawn to them and seem to want to feel the warmth and welcome our moorings provided us in days gone by. When we find that the tides of time have change the moorings we remember, we can feel lost or ill at ease. At those times we need to see with fresh eyes the beauty that those who followed us have added to where we once were and bask in the glow of knowing that we added to the foundation upon which they now stand and build. We can share our stories with them but we need to listen and hear theirs as well.

Over the weekend many people reflected on why they feel they "are Congregation Beth Sholom." Reflecting on what first drew me to CBS I see it is still there today and is stronger than ever. CBS is a place that empowers and allows it diverse membership to explore, develop and determine its life. CBS is a congregation of doers who desire to be self-sufficient and loved for that quality. If more congregations had that same desire, Judaism would be much stronger and more vibrant.

The last lesson for this post: Congregations are more alike than they are different. As I look at Temple Beth Zion and look back at Congregation Beth Sholom the same people are in both places. The actual people are obviously different but in each place someone fills each role. As we move to new places, it behooves us to use the lessons we learned about how best to deal with each person and their role to move more easily through our new home.