OPEN THE ARK DOORS AND HELP THE JEWISH PEOPLE LIVE: By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

For thousands of years we Jews have held what was most precious and holy to us inside the Aron HaKodesh; inside the Holy Ark. In locales around the world, in arks ornate, in some places just simple boxes, we have lovingly and gently held the sacred words of Torah. These words have guided us, taught us, inspired us, frustrated us, confounded us, and but most importantly linked us from generation to generation -- L’dor v’dor. The Torah scrolls in these arks have provided a common language and framework for our People. The Torah has been the glue that has held us together as a people. Even when we argued with God, —the Torah and its stories, myths, teachings, history and laws have provided a unique bond with all Jews everywhere. The Torah has provided our unique bond with the Divine.

Even prior to the idea of a synagogue when the Holy Temple still stood in Jerusalem, in the Holy of Holies, the sacred inner ground of the Mishkan where only the High Priest, the Cohen Gadol could tread on Yom Kippur Day was a sacred box. The Ark of the Covenant was covered in gold with two cherubs on top. It, too, contained that which was most precious to us. In Solomon’s temple and in the portable Ohel Mo’ed-the Tent of Meeting, that ark, carried up from desert wanderings, held the Ten Commandments: The core of our tradition and indeed all of Western Civilization.
Etched in stone, the Ten Commandments gave life to our people and connection to our God. They provided and continue to provide a roadmap of civil living and religious connection. The Ten Commandments are our basic rules of engagement that provide social connection in a spiritual context. It is the foundation of our covenant with God and what helps to form as a People.
The Talmud (Berakot 8b) however teaches that there was also a second ark. This one contained the broken pieces of the first set of Ten Commandments, smashed by Moses upon seeing the Golden Calf and the sins of the Israelites.
Another section of the Talmud Baba Bathra 14b, teaches us instead that there was only one ark in side the Mishkan, but side by side within were the shattered pieces of the first and the whole pieces of the second Ten Commandments that reminded our new Israelite nation both of its sin and indeed of the forgiveness of God—who took us back in love and covenant. Certainly on this Kol Nidre night, when we come face to face with God, before our ark, and we confess our sins, let this aron, let this ark remind us that we too can be forgiven and taken in back in love and covenant by our God – no matter what commandments we have shattered or how we have been shattered. Our ark and what it contains helps us paste our lives together on this sacred day and throughout the year.
Like Ark of the Covenant and the Ark of the Shattered Pieces, our ark here holds our precious legacy. That legacy, our legacy is the Torah.
The Torah is called the Tree of Life, Etz Chaim because these words of Torah, these words of Torah give meaning and vibrancy to our existence. These scrolls remind us of our past and propel us to our future. In truth our Torah scrolls are a physical reminder of our link to Jews around the world. It is the powerful symbol of our connection. It is what we have in common.
This precious legacy is more than just something to look at. Our scrolls must be more than just admired from a distance as totem poles of a lost people. Our Torah scrolls must be used—taken out, held, rolled to the right portion and read, translated, chanted. Our Torah and its words must be taken out and examined, studied, struggled with to keep it vibrant. If our Torah scrolls are only objects seen from afar, or paraded around a couple of times a year then, we might as well keep them locked in the ark, hidden from view. Or like in the Temple days of old when the Ark of the covenant was never to be seen except by one Man, on One day a year, ultimately to be lost forever—as were the Ten Commandments and Ark of the Covenant lost when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem so long ago.
Tradition teaches us that the prophet Jeremiah was charged with removing the ark prior to the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Traditional stories tell that he took it across the Jordan River and hid it in cave on Mt. Nebo. Some say King Josiah buried it in a deep well or tunnel beneath the Temple Mount. While still others claim it is in Ethiopia or Egypt. But the Ark that contained our most precious legacy, the Ten Commandments broken and whole is certainly lost to us. Gone. Hidden or buried. But now it is only a vague memory of legend and lore. The Ark of the Covenant no longer binds us as a people.
On this Holy Night we must ask will our Torah go the same way. Will we be a people without our precious legacy? Can we find the unique voice of our people as embodied in the Torah if we no longer connect with it; no longer live it?
Truth is we don’t read the Torah or study it very much. We don’t share words of Torah with our family or friends. Unfortunately, the Torah is an icon for many rather than a guide for living Jewish lives. The torah to keep us together must be a living and breathing document that lives inside of you.
Truth is we are one of the most educated Jewish populations ever. More of us according to the National Jewish Population Survey have advanced degrees and post secondary educations. In the 20th century the Jewish emphasis on education was fulfilled through secular studies, rather than knowledge of our own Jewish texts. Our own Jewish educations are lacking. We can read and analyze the greatest literature in the world, from Shakespeare to Phillip Roth and yet, we have never read the greatest story ever told – the Tanach—Our Bible. This leads us down a path that puts our legacy in jeopardy. There are myriads of you who have studied the law—and practice as lawyers. Even more of you who went to law school and were trained in the law but whose primary work are in business or political science or teaching. But Jewish law? To many it seems obsolete and seems to have little claim upon our lives.
And for those of us who have Jewish children, there are many who do nothing to give their children a Jewish spiritual and educational foundation. How will the next generation of Jews be made? How will the Torah in the ark be made relevant if at all if our children do not learn and we ourselves remain ignorant of what we believe, what we stand for and what it means to be Jewish except in some vague general way? If the Torah symbolized the heritage handed down to us—from generation to generation—will it stop with us?
Robert Putnam, a Harvard sociologist in his book entitled Bowling Alone, (2000), documents his argument that American adults have distanced themselves from one another in the past three decades and people have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and community. Putnam contends that the social glue that once connected Americans in previous generations has decayed and thus imposed a tremendous impoverishment of our lives. He writes: ‘Television, two-career families, suburban sprawl, generational changes in values--these and other factors in American society have meant that fewer and fewer of us find that the League of Women Voters, or the United Way, or the Shriners, or the monthly bridge club, or even a Sunday picnic with friends fits the way we have come to live. Our growing social-capital deficit threatens educational performance, safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection, democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and even our health and happiness.”
So too among American Jews according to sociologist Stephen Cohen who is a research professor of Jewish social policy at the Hebrew Union College and Jack Wertheimer provost and professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Cohen said in a lecture I attended this summer at the Hartman Institute that he is “alarmed at the systematic decline of relationships between Jews. Younger Jews are less tied to older Jews.” He has documented that fewer Jews live in Jewish neighborhoods, the number of Jews with Jewish friends is declining, and that social relations among Jews is less thick. We are less connected. Less bound as a people
All of this comes at a price to our people. Membership in Jewish organizations has fallen 20% and attachment to Israel has fallen off extraordinarily. In fact Cohen has documented this phenomenon especially among 20 and 30 somethings. He has even created an acronym to describe it. He calls it the ABCD problem. Jews are A) Alienated from Judaism and its institutions. Many Jews believe that B) Judaism is Bland, routine, the same not diverse. C) It is coercive: many Jews feel that the community has an agenda for them rather than listening to what they want and that Israel is obsolete. D) Judaism and its institution are divisive-it divides Jews from Jews as well as non-Jews.
What he concludes then is that in the long run ethnicity is not enough. Israel is not enough. Memories of the Holocaust are not enough to bind us as a people.
And while Cohen and Wertheimer’s study focused on Jews in their 20’s and 30’s I would dare say that some of us in our 40’s, 50’s 60’s and beyond feel the same way. At times alienated and that worship doesn’t touch us and we can’t make hide nor hair of being Jewish in this world let alone have it be relevant.
So what can? What can we do as a community to find a way to bind ourselves to one another? Will we just be individuals on individual journeys? Or is there a way to be a people once again? Do we risk losing… losing ourselves –just as the ark of the covenant and the Ten Commandments were lost so many generations ago? Or is there away that we can return to a renewed and reinvigorated sense of Peoplehood and be accepted in love and forgiveness for who we are?
Tonight provides a bit of an answer. On Kol Nidre we Jews, even the most disaffected of us come home for a Jewish shot in the soul! We come here looking for meaning and inspiration in a world of tohu v’vohu---chaos and void. We come here once a year looking to connect to one another and to Jews around the world who like us, seek out our People on this night. We come here to meet God and our history, to seek forgiveness and connection, to stand before the ark and hold that precious legacy close. We hear the ancient sounds and feel comforted. We meet Jews of many ages and see hope. On one night a year we take Stephen Cohen’s ABCD theory and smash it like an Abraham smashing the idols in his father’s shop. For one night a year we are not alienated, our Judaism not Bland, No one coerces you to be here and we are not divisive—not Jew fighting Jew—but rather Jews around the world whether in Hong Kong or the Hamptons are doing the same thing.
There is a certain incredible uplift that comes from being part of this extraordinary people on this night. We are tied together in a profound way by actually living the words of our torah and reaffirming our core values. That what you are doing tonight
But one night a year won’t make a people. One night a year won’t keep us whole. Instead it will be just a memory. One night a year is not enough to sustain us—not enough to sustain us spiritually or intellectually or as a Jewish people. Torah must be with us beyond tonight. The covenant must become real to us beyond these few hours together
So often we end up on the search for meaning in many other corners. And yet in our own corner of the world, we forget to look. It is not just for one night a year but for many nights. Our own tradition has a way to frame and re-frame the world so that meaning and spirituality will infuse your being. But to do so, you have to encounter it. You have to meet it. You have to explore and study it. You have to chew on it. You have to take the Torah scrolls from the ark and actually read what is inside. You have to argue with it as our ancestors did. It is not some pabulum that requires blind faith. But a thoughtful spiritual Judaism requires your intellect as well as your heart.
Just as the V’ahavta prayer tells, You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with your mind!
But too often many of us just walk away if we find something that bothers us.
This summer was a powerful experience for me. Being in Israel is special indeed surrounded by the Jewish people bringing new life to an ancient land. Even if we have a different take on being Jewish being together in Israel deepens and enriches the Jewish people. Being in Israel where every stone, every corner speaks of our history and makes it come alive. Being there, even in the midst of the war, brought home to me the fragility of our people and the threats from without that constantly knock at our door.
But the threat from within is perhaps even greater. What we do to ourselves as a people—by ignoring our traditions, ignoring our life blood of study and engagement in Jewish thinking, by shutting the door and walking away. I think poses a greater threat.
That is why this year I am inviting you to become engaged. Engaged in Judaism. Engaged in living Torah. Make this year the one that your search for meaning begins by opening the doors to the aron HaKodesh—the doors of the holy ark to discover the divine splendor of Judaism and the deep an abiding connection in the legacy of our Torah. Tonight on Kol Nidre make one small promise to the Jewish people and to yourself. Make this your year you do something to connect yourself and your soul to the souls of our people through Jewish learning and study. Take the torah out and open its scroll.
Make this the year you do something to help the Jewish people survive. Make this the year you help strengthen our people. Make this the year you begin to develop and redevelop yourself Jewishly. Make this the year that you invite the Holy Divine One back into your life. Make this the year you help to take the bland and help us spice up and flavor a new Jewish reality with your presence, your thoughts and your gifts and strengths to the Jewish people.
Pirke Avot teaches us Al tifros min hatzibbur – do not separate yourself from the community. Judaism cannot be lived in isolation. We don’t do Jewish by ourselves—it takes a community—a group of people engaged—concerned for one another to make it so. If you are involved already invite someone who isn’t to join with you. If you are someone who is hesitant about joining, scared about commitments this is the year to open your heart. For being part of a community, part of a people is to be open to them and dare to risk.
One way to be engaged in Torah is to come to a class—once a month is not too invasive we have several to choose from—Judaism 101, What does the rest of the Bible say, Downtown study Circle, Reader’s salon, or our scholar in residence in February. Come to pray and meditate—there are services and experiences for every schedule. Come eat in the sukkah or read a Jewish book together. Come to be Jewish more than one day a year. Help feed the hungry together at Sova with us. Say Kaddish for a loved one. Bring your gifts and talents to the Jewish people. Come hear Jewish music at one of our concerts, Come see Jewish art in our galleries. Come make a friend. Or better yet, come play your music, lift your voice with ours, and bring your art to share! Torah means Torah in the largest sense—not just the scroll itself but the breadth of Jewish learning and experience. Torah is not just the dry, didactic learning of religious school but exploring a living vibrant heritage from every angle . Come be part of something that will repair the damage done by the weakened social capital of our day. Take your Judaism out of hiding—and help the Jewish people live.
For our future is you and in you. The Jewish people need you.
It has been taught: Rabbi Simon ben Yohai says: Come and see how beloved are Israel before God. For in every place to which they were exiled the Shechinah [God's presence] went with them.
They were exiled to Egypt and the Shechinah was with them, as it says, "Did I surely reveal myself unto the house of your father when they were in Egypt. (I Samuel 2:27)." They were exiled to Babylon, and the Shechinah was with them, as it says, "For your
sake I was sent to Babylon. (Isaiah 43:14)"
And so, when they will be redeemed in the future, the Shechinah will be with them, as it says, "Then Adonai God will return [with] your captivity. (Deuteronomy 30:3)" It does not say here veheshiv [and God shall bring back] but veshav [and God shall return].

This teaches us that the Holy One, blessed Be, will return with them from the places

of exile. (B. Avodah Zarah 29a)

God is with us wherever we are. That Divine Spirit, Source

of Being, the Shechinah goes where we go—the Shekinah dwells

where we dwell and indeed with us in our exile. But oh how

sweet and wonderful it will be when we are no longer in exile from

ourselves. When the Jewish people will live with strength, not

threatened from without or within. When we will re-invest in our

connection to our people and our Torah that has and still can unify

us as a people. When we engage as a people—reaching

out to carry the ark of our tradition, our values And our life to a

place of sacred ground. Tonight we feel it. Let us carry this deep

connection into the New Year and beyond. So that the Jewish

people will still live. Let our generation keep it alive so that we too

can pass it L’Dor

vador—from generation to generation—and together we will say—

AM YISRAEL CHAI. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL LIVES.

Ken Yehi Ratzon.

Posted by Lee at October 4, 2006 11:58 AM