What Happens After We Die? Yizkor Sermon by Rabbi Denise L. Eger, October 13, 2005
As we come to this hour of Yizkor, of remembrance, our thoughts and memories turn to our loved ones who have died. We take time out of our holy day observance to mark our loss, to share thoughts of them and yes, shed a tear or two as well.
For some of us this Yizkor hour re-opens the pain that a recent death inflicted. Especially if our loved one died in this past year—reaching this High Holy Day Season without them is a distinct marker in our mourning. For others of us this Yizkor service is but one of many that has passed since we stood at their grave or cried out upon hearing the news of their death. But in some ways this Yizkor service helps us mourn and grieve and to once again go on with life.
It might be a brother or sister that we mourn today. Perhaps a parent passed this year. Or perhaps it was a lover, a spouse's memory that brings a tear to our eyes this day.
Our Yizkor service and our willingness to stand and recite the kaddish prayer affirms our connection to them and strengthens us in the process. By reciting Kaddish this afternoon together, we shall build a bridge to their souls.
The Yizkor service helps us redeem the souls of our departed. Through our recitation of the Kaddish prayer and through our acts of tzedakah in the departed's memory, we can bring honor to those who have died. We can through the way we commit to live our lives—in the highest ethical plane—bring their souls into the highest communion with God and with us.
Yom Kippur Day is a day of mourning. We are mourning the death of our old selves even as we are engaged in the birth of a new self. And we are mourning the deaths of our loved ones who added to our lives and shaped us even as we shaped them. But this Yizkor service is also entwined with the notion that the new self we hope to take from here today—a cleansed self, a pure self, a sin-free self will live in this new year in a manner that will uphold the values that they held dear, that made them proud of us.
Even as we shed a tear for a parent or partner, child or grandparent we wonder where they are? What happens to them after they die? Where have they gone? And what does Judaism think about death?
Our tradition has many layers of thought on this subject as you might imagine.
First and foremost is that we believe in the soul. We Jews call it neshama or nefesh, but we possess a soul. Holy Sacred Energy that gives human beings their essence. And it was God who breathed that soul into us—as God breathed the first breath into the first human being at the Garden of Eden. So within us in a bit of the divine—It doesn't make us God but each person, made already in the image of God has within them some glowing remnant of the Divine. And we call that the soul. We believe the Soul is eternal. It doesn't die. Only our bodies die. We wear out. We get sick. Our bodies break down. But our souls do not.
Thus when we die, we only bury the house of the soul—the body. But the essence, the holy essence of humanity—the soul, returns to God. According to the Talmud (Yoma 20b), The soul leaves the body "with a cry that reverberates from one end of the world to the other." Our recitation of the kaddish prayer helps to release the soul, calm it and help it on it journey to return to God. This is the redemption of the soul that we spoke about earlier.
Now in truth there are some among us who believe that when we die—all of us dies. That's it. Nothing. The rationalists of Judaism put their emphasis instead on this life. They believe there are no such thing as an eternal soul, no eternal world and no world to come. The only remnants of our lives after we die are the snippets of memory in a friend or loved one, or the feeling of love we survivors feel in our hearts.
There are others, the mystics who believe that not only is the soul eternal but that through a process called gilgul hanefesh, the cycle of the soul, that there is reincarnation. The mystics and some kabbalist held views that said that our soul was seeking in each life to reach a higher plane of connection to God. Each successive life enabled our soul a stronger bond with the Divine. Living the principal of d'vekut—or clinging to God is the ultimate desire of the Jew in this interpretation and with each successive incarnation we are growing closer to God.
The Rabbis of the Talmud viewed death as a moment of transformation. It says in Pirkei Avot (4:21 ) "Rabbi Jacob says: This world is like a anteroom before the world to come; prepare yourself in the anteroom that you may enter into the banquet hall." The rabbis saw our lives here on earth as preparation for the goodness and holiness and yes glory of the olam ha-bah—the world to come. And so the mitzvot we do here purify our souls for the next world, which they didn't define so well. But unlike other religious traditions who emphasize the next world and the next life over and above this life, Judaism has always been grounded in life—chayim – life in this world. This is illustrated by Talmud (Avot de Rabbi Natan, ch. 31) That new life is so important that if you are engaged in the act of planting a new tree and you are told that the Messiah had come, first plant the tree then go out to greet the Messiah. This teaches us that life on this earth is even more important than greeting the Messiah who will bring the world to come—the Olam Habah to us. Chayim-life -this life is the main emphasis in our tradition. Even as the rabbis recognized the inevitability of death for everyone.
Thus while hoping in the world to come, as Jews, we don't over emphasize it. Life matters and how we live life is one of the most important principles of Judaism Through our acts of lovingkindness, justice, equality, compassion, love, and blessing, through our observance of our responsibilities as Jews, we make this world a more perfect place. Even our observance of this Yizkor service, and our recitation of Kaddish helps perfect the world. For our tears—humanize the world and us. Dante, writes in The Inferno, that "the punishment of the dammed is the inability to cry." But our tears and our prayers remind us of our vulnerability and remind us of our need for God and each other to turn to in times of tzoris, of difficulty. The Talmud teaches (Baba Metzia 59B): "Even when all the gates are closed, the gates of tears remain forever open." These are the gates of heavens and repentance. Our memories of our loved ones this Yizkor service and the tears we shed for them—keep the gate open for us.
So today—as we prepare our hearts for Kaddish. We remember our loved ones, pray for their souls and ours. And we shall remember to recite Kaddish now and throughout the year. Because our Kaddish prayer keeps us connected to our loved ones though they reside now in the world to come. The kaddish prayer helps us communicate with them. The Kaddish prayer paints a vision of a time when the olam ha-bah—the glory, beauty, holiness of the world to come will merge with the olam hazeh—this world and we will all be able to taste of a world perfected and redeemed; a world that is healed of its pain and trouble. The Kaddish paints the true hope of the Jewish people; of the world truly at peace—peace from above—and in our hearts.
May our kaddish prayer this afternoon—help bring peace to us, eternal peace to those who have died, but ultimately peace to the whole world.
Stand and be counted for a Progressive Israel, Yom Kippur Morning Sermon by Rabbi Denise L. Eger, October 13, 2005
Shana Tovah
This year I am asking you to stand up and be counted. Stand up and be counted for Israel.
As you know this has been a difficult few years for the Jewish homeland. The layers of pain surrounding the intifada have spilled over too many times into violence and death. The suicide bombings, the clashes of armies, the deteriorating diplomatic relationships have taken their toll on Israeli society.
And in particular these last couple of months as Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip have been a very difficult time. It has been difficult to see Israeli soldiers have to remove Israeli citizens from their homes of more than 30 years. Israel removed more than 9,000 Israelis from 25 Israeli towns and villages in West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
It has been difficult to see Israeli citizens near rioting against Israeli Defense Forces – Jew against Jew. It has been difficult to watch whole towns demolished even if it was for the sake of peace. It has been difficult in Israel as neighbor to neighbor - the country was divided between blue and orange factions—those of us who supported disengagement in blue and those who opposed disengagement in orange. Israeli society is already so highly fragmented—religious and secular, Jew and Arab, Ashkenazi and Sephardi-- that this division just added to her sense of brokenness.
It has been difficult to watch the continued attacks against Israeli citizens by terrorists even as Israel has withdrawn completely from Gaza –as Hamas speaking out of both sides of their mouth—say they will stop their violence and rocket launching antics, but continue to shoot Kassam rockets on the town of Sderot while blaming Israel for an explosion on their own streets that was caused by their own mishandling of weaponry.
We view the withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza as a victory for peace. Even Ariel Sharon the prime minister of Israel with whom I have rarely agreed with politically—stated in his address to the UN this past month: "as someone whose path of life led him to be a fighter and commander in all Israel's wars, we reach out today to our Palestinian neighbors in a call for reconciliation and compromise to end the bloody conflict, and embark on the path which leads to peace and understanding between our peoples. I view this as my calling and my primary mission for the coming years. (15 September 2005). This is Israel's official position.
But many leaders of the Palestinians view the withdrawal from Gaza as the signal that the intifada has been effective. Mohammed Dahlan, former chief of security for the PA and the chief liaison for the withdrawal stated: "The withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is a victory for the Palestinian people's will. ... The Israeli withdrawal is a victory for us and we must celebrate it. Hizbullah turned Israel's retreat from southern Lebanon into victory. The withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip and some West Bank settlements is one of the most important achievements of the intifada." (Feb, 2004). Independent monitors of Palestinian Media show (Independent Media Review Analysis (IMRA.org) n a report prepared by Barabara Cook and Itmar Marcus that regardless of whether it is Hamas, Islamic Jihad or the official word from the Palestinian Authority the message is consistent concerning the withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. The four points that consistently appear in statements are according to their report:
1.Terror ("resistance") has proven itself the most effective tool to force political concessions from Israel .
2. Terror can work either independently or as part of a cycle with diplomacy: "The gun sows and diplomacy reaps" theory.
3. Palestinians see Israel retreating to the 1949 Armistice lines as the complete and unconditional acceptance of PA demands, and as an historical precedent that will be repeated in all other areas of dispute: the West Bank, Jerusalem and refugees
4.Terror will be renewed if Israel does not leave the West Bank and Jerusalem and accept PA demands on refugees. This is a uniform message across the political spectrum."
So while Israel has left the Gaza Strip—the future for peace remains clouded. But Israel will continue to move forward as we pray the Palestinians will as well.
So on this Yom Kippur as we watch from afar our hearts are connected to our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael—the Land of our ancestors—Israel.
But even as Israel is threatened from without—other threats from within knock heavily at Israel's door. Just as democracy here in our own country is under attack from Religious fundamentalists so too in Israel democracy is in jeopardy. Except that the religious fundamentalists that would undo Israeli society are not the Christian right wing—but our very own- Jewish fundamentalists. At every turn they continue to wield their political power to undermine democracy in favor of theocracy. Especially in areas of personal status—marriage, conversion, birth, and death, they exercise enormous and near complete control. The Orthodox rabbinate has a stranglehold on who can marry, who can officiate, and who is really a Jew. They can even thwart a funeral if they think the person wasn't ‘Really'Jewish and they have done so.
In the last year, in a bid to diminish non-Orthodox rabbis ability to perform conversions outside of Israel (they already don't allow non-Orthodox rabbis to perform conversions in Israel) —they demanded that any convert who wants to make aliyah—move to Israel - must be a practicing Jews for more than year post conversion and prove it—to be accepted as actually Jewish in the land of Israel.
Could you all pass a similar test? Can you prove your observance level? Do you have access to your parent's ketubah—Jewish wedding document? If you ever want to make aliyah—you will need to prove you are Jewish and more than you—you will need to prove your mother is really Jewish and a ketubah is acceptable proof. Do you know where your bar mitzvah certificate really is?
The Right wing religious fundamentalists in Israel continue to deny women the ability to initiate a divorce. While all Israelis when they graduate from high school must serve in the Israel Defense Forces, Orthodox yeshiva students continue to refuse national military duty even while the government financially supports their schools and grants scholarships for them to complete their studies.
These are but several examples of the threats to Israeli society that come from our own co-religionists.
But each of you can stand up and do something for Israel. And you can do something for democracy in Israel. You can do something to help progressive Judaism thrive in Israel that holds values that we hold. Progressive Judaism values democracy, while honoring our spiritual tradition. Progressive Judaism in Israel that demands equality for men and women and does so in their institutions. It welcomes gay men and lesbians, honors pluralism, and diversity. It works for peace between Israel's diverse cultures. You can help shape the nature of the state of Israel by two simple acts. You can do so by becoming a member of ARZA the Reform Zionist of America and then secondly registering and then voting for ARZA in the World Zionist Congress election.
The 35th World Zionist Congress - known to many as 'The Parliament of the Jewish People' -- will meet in Jerusalem in 2006 to debate critical political, religious, and educational issues affecting the Jewish people and to allocate funding for many important causes at this crucial time in Israel's history. You can participate in this process by voting for delegates to the Congress in the most open, democratic election in the American Jewish community. Your vote –for ARZA- the Association of Reform Zionists of America—will help deliver funding and clout to religiously progressive and liberal Jewish institutions.
The 145-member American delegation is second in size only to Israel's. Americans' diverse opinions will significantly affect the final decisions of the entire Congress, which includes representatives from more than 40 countries. American Jews who are at least 18 years of age and accept The Jerusalem Program are eligible to participate in these elections.
The Jerusalem program states that. "Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, brought about the establishment of the State of Israel, and views a Jewish, Zionist, democratic and secure State of Israel to be the expression of the common responsibility of the Jewish people for its continuity and future:
We do accept that premise, that Israel ought to be a democratic and secure and that we, American Jews have a stake in that future.
The WZO Congress will help determine both policy and funding for the quasi –governmental agency in Israel known as the Jewish Agency-or Sakhnut. The Agency is involved heavily in Jewish Education and Identity not only in Israel but worldwide. It focuses on Zionist education, helping Jews make aliyah and the process of absorption as well as development of towns and villages. The Jewish Agency has a huge annual budget, which comes in part from Jewish Federation, and United Jewish Appeal dollars and is over $350 million dollars annually. Where these dollars go—is determined in large part by the World Zionist Congress Elections. Will they fund exclusively Orthodox schools? Or will there be room for Conservative and Reform Institutions in Israel? Will they fund scholarships for Orthodox male Yeshiva students solely? Or will there be funds for women students to study Jewish life? Will it help develop new towns inside the green line that has room for Conservative and Reform Synagogues and schools or only plans for Orthodox institutions?
You can have a say in this. -- So here is the first way you can stand up for Israel. You can register to vote in the World Zionist Elections, which are held every four years. So how do you register and vote? There are two ways—you can mail in an envelope like this one—they are available at the table in the lobby. Fill it out, enclose $7 either by personal check or by credit card to help defray the costs of the election and mail it. Or you can register online at www.votereformjudaism.org. Then when you receive your ballot in the mail or email depending on your preference—sometime between Nov. 15 and Feb. 15 you will have the chance to vote—There are many groups that will be vying for your vote—Hadassah is one, The American Zionist Movement AZM might be one, and of course our own progressive Zionist Organization—ARZA_-The Association of Reform Zionists of America. In the last election –2002 we had the largest percentage of delegates –42%. And teamed up with the Conservative movement – we were able to direct significant funds and influence to progressive Jewish institutions in the land of Israel. Institutions that allow women to study Torah and encourage it, institutions that work for peace between Israel and her neighbors, institutions that train Reform and Conservative Israeli rabbis. Institutions that create educational curricula that encourage pluralism and democracy rather than theocracy —thereby strengthen its prospects to maintain a strong, democratic and yes, pluralistic society there.
But this can only happen if you register to vote.
A second way you can stand up for Israel is to become a member of ARZA/ World Union. The Association of Reform Zionist and the World Union for Progressive Judaism builds Liberal Jewish communities in Israel and worldwide. They make progressive Jewish resources available from Haifa to Moscow to Sydney Australia. The help train the next generation of European and Australian and Israeli liberal rabbis. They support a network of more than 30 Reform and Reconstructionist congregations in Israel that is helping transform Israeli society. Israelis are finally beginning to realize that there is more than just one way to be Jewish. Reform synagogues in Israel are bursting at the seams. They don't have enough room in their kindergartens. They don't have enough staff to handle the volume of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs ceremonies. They are being bombarded to come teach a Judaism that is relevant in the public schools in Israel. The rabbis of the Israeli Reform Movement are performing hundreds and hundreds of wedding ceremonies for Israeli couples—even though they cannot legally perform the wedding. Couples fly to Cyprus to have the legal part done and then come home and have a religious ceremony that is meaningful, egalitarian, and speaks to them.
Two weeks ago we hosted Rabbi Maya Leibovic, Israel's first native born woman rabbi. She spoke eloquently about how her congregation outside of Jerusalem has grown. Not with ex-pat Americans who made Aliyah—but with native born Israelis who have been seeking a place of community and peace and modernity in a country that has been so at war.
You can be a part of this revolution for equality and justice in Israel by standing for and joining the Association of Reform Zionists-ARZA. You can help build up a different kind of Judaism within Israel—One that is spiritual, meaningful, liberal, and seeking peace. ARZA Information is on the table in our lobby.
And finally the third way you can stand up for Israel—is come to Israel. Join me in the Holy Land for two weeks this coming February and see for yourself progressive Judaism at work. Meet our friends at the Gay and Lesbian community in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Spend Shabbat with our friend Rabbi Maya Leibovich and the Reform Congregation in Mevasseret Zion outside of Jerusalem and see for yourself— a progressive, Reform congregation helping Israelis create a strong spiritual identity for themselves. Walk in the footsteps of our ancestors—ancient and modern. Visit Your Land of Israel with me. Stand up for Israel with your presence.
Israel is close to our hearts not just at this season but all the time.
But unless we are engaged with Israel—she will continue to be threatened not only from without but from within. Israel needs our voices, our votes, our support, our caring and our presence. I hope you'll join with me this New Year in making Israel part of your Jewish experience.
May peace descend upon Israel and her neighbors in this New Year and help us God, to support and nurture an Israel that is open democratic, pluralistic and egalitarian. Then will Eretz Yisrael fulfill the true promise of the covenant—to be a holy Land, a Promised land.
The Courage of Kol Nidre, Kol Nidre Sermon by Rabbi Denise L. Eger, October 12, 2005
Tonight we gather with solemn dignity. We gather with a bit of trepidation as the haunting strains of the Kol Nidre Prayer help to purify our souls and cleanse us of our transgressions this night. But it is good to be with one another. It is good and affirming to see one another again.
Kol Nidre is unlike any other worship experience, unlike any other time we Jews gather together. Most of the time we Jews give thanks for being together. We say –Hine mah tov umanayim—How good and pleasant it is to be together. But tonight our service began differently. We invoked the power of the heavenly court to give permission for us to pray with those who have sinned, those who have transgressed. No one person is pointed out—but we begin from a different premise than we usually do. We don't begin with joy—simcha tonight. We begin this night with unease, with anxiety, with questions. Will our pleas be heard? Will our entreaties be accepted? Will we have enough courage to follow through with our commitments that we make tonight?
All of us have erred. All of us have transgressed and sinned. And tonight we come to confess, to atone, and to renew our souls for the New Year. We come together to get a dose of courage and hope from one another and from God.
The poignant tones of the Kol Nidre prayer capture us and carry us to another place. But the words of the Kol Nidre prayer make little sense. It is a jumble of tenses and it is hard to know whether we are seeking release from our vows of last year or release from one's we haven't made as of yet. Kol Nidre means—All Vows. But it is a paradox. This text has confounded the greatest rabbinic scholars. From Orthodox to Reform –Talmudic scholars and rabbis have tried to excise the Kol Nidre prayer from the service on Yom Kippur Eve precisely because the text, the words make little sense. They have tried to purge it because Jewish law and custom places great emphasis on vows and keeping one's word. We even have an entire tractate of the Talmud dedicated to the topic of Vows - Nedarim and how to make them, how to keep them and when they can be annulled or void.
And yet despite the conflicting message, this prayer remains the most beloved of our people. Time and again throughout the years, the Jews have demanded from their rabbis and scholars that the Kol Nidre be sung and reinstated when they have tried to omit it from the evening.
Clearly there is something primal and mystical about this night—and the special prayer-Kol Nidre that gives it its name.
One reason that I believe we keep the Kol Nidre prayer intact although its logic defies us is that this entire night is a time between time; a place between worlds. The mystics taught us that this night when heaven and earth co-mingle is a dangerous time. The veil, which separates the Divine realm from the human realm, can be easily pierced. Our prayers flow toward God more easily tonight than at any other time. One reason is the melody of the Kol Nidre prayer. As the great scholar A.Z. Idelsohn put it. " The melody tries to give expression to the emotions of the Jew as he approaches God... In the first part of the tune he expresses his contrition and plea for forgiveness. In the second part he voices his hope in the mercy of God and finishes the third part with strong confidence that God will pardon him and inscribe him in the Book of Life."
Our Kol Nidre prayer, its very melody—helps us move from fear to faith, from anxiety to confidence. The music of Kol Nidre gives us courage to believe that God hears our story, accepts our prayers and gives us the courage to transform our souls for the New Year.
And so to be a part of this evening takes true courage. For any time we come into contact with the heavenly realm—we risk death. We risk not being able to return to our world. We risk a change.
And Yom Kippur is all about change. Changing who we are. Changing our old self into the people we want to become and that God wants us to become. Yom Kippur is about renewing our souls and spirits and choosing goodness and blessing for the year ahead. That is why tomorrow morning in our Torah service we will read the passage that reminds us –"Choose life that you and your offspring shall live. (Deut. 30:19) " Because tonight in this eerie time between worlds, between the Divine reality and our reality, between heaven and earth, there is the possibility that we might not live. We might not be inscribed in the Book of Life. We might have to remove a piece of ourselves. We might not really face the depths of our errors. We might not come out whole again. We might not really make teshuvah—repentance.
And so coming here takes courage. It takes courage to admit our wrongs. It takes courage to admit our errors. It takes courage to face the truth about ourselves that we screwed up big time in this last year. It takes courage to face the people we love and say I am sorry—I am so sorry for hurting you—for words that rake over the skin like hot coals. It takes courage to face the people we harmed and say I am sorry for my actions that didn't take you into account.
And it takes courage to make the changes in our behaviors that will truly matter.
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin tells the story in his Book of Jewish Values A Day to Day Guide to Ethical Living "I know a man who seldom acknowledges his errors. Whenever something bad happens to him, he invariably claims that it is either due to bad luck or is someone else's fault. Of all the people I knew, says Telushkin, he was the one for whom I felt least optimistic about the future. Since he was never to blame for any of the bad things that happened to him, there was nothing he could do to improve his increasingly unhappy life. He could only hope that he would stop having bad luck, and that other people would stop treating him unfairly or getting him into trouble."
This man had no courage and didn't seek it out. But tonight we have to find the strength to stop blaming others for our own errors. And this takes a tremendous amount of self-discipline and courage to accept responsibility for our actions.
Many people engage in all kinds of self-destructive behaviors. We drink too much, eat too much, and use too many drugs. We know better and yet time and again, we feel powerless to do anything but keep ourselves in the realm of adversity. We engage in all kinds of risky behaviors and relationships that will bring our lives and ourselves to the brink of ruin.
But tonight our tradition gives us a second chance. Kol Nidre is here to help you change. Help you choose better. Help you face your fears with a community that will support you. Kol Nidre is here to help you make teshuvah, to start anew with a clean slate. Kol Nidre is here to give you the courage to try it a different way in the New Year.
I see many people whose faith is so shattered and whose hopelessness and fear rule their lives. Often these are people who have walked away from our covenant. They have no sense of Shabbat. They have no sense of the holy in themselves or others. They desperately search for meaning—looking everywhere but right here at home—in the embrace of the Jewish people.
Tonight we can give one another the courage to change. By connecting to our people, our covenant with God, by reaching out to the responsibilities of tradition, you can open the door to a different way to be in the world. Tomorrow we are told in the Torah--"See I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity." (Deuteronomy 30:19). You are choosing life and prosperity by choosing to be here. And by continuing to choose this path tomorrow, next week, next month, you will be strengthening your character. You will be strengthening your storehouse of hope. You will let our covenant with God give you courage.
It is a choice every day how we live our lives. If we choose to live without hope, without direction, without higher purpose, by rejecting our covenantal responsibilities then indeed we choose a path that will be filled with difficulties. But if we choose wisely, choosing holiness, faith and yes, choosing our covenant, life can and I believe does unfold with purpose and meaning. And isn't that the point after all? To live a life of purpose, meaning and yes, ultimately holiness.
Kol Nidre is your chance. It is my chance. Kol Nidre is the opportunity to find the courage you have been lacking. And our congregation throughout the rest of the year is the place and community that can help you meet your commitments to yourself and others with courage. Coming together at Kol Ami for other moments of prayer and community as we do tonight can give you the opportunity to tell your story to God and to seek out the courage to live a life of purpose, meaning and holiness.
I conclude with this story:
When the great Chassidic master, the Baal Shem Tov died, his disciples gathered to distribute his worldly possessions. One was given his tefillin, and another, his shtender --his lectern. One his books and another his cup.
At the end of the line, there waited one faithful Chasid. But there was nothing of worldly value left, so he was given the master's stories, and charged with the responsibility of sharing them with the world.
The Chasid was dismayed. He would much rather have received something of tangible value. But he obeyed and set out into the world to share the stories. He didn't starve. But neither did he make much of a living. After all, Jews were poor. And how much could poor Jews give for even the most enchanting of tales?
So when word came to this him that there was a Jewish nobleman in a far off land who was prepared to offer a great fortune for stories of the Baal Shem Tov, he praised God for this blessing, and set off for the nobleman's estate. Arriving Erev Shabbos, he was welcomed with great warmth and escorted directly into the magnificent banquet hall. After dinner, the nobleman and his guests turned to the Chasid and begged him to grace the evening with a story of the Baal Shem.
At that moment, his mind went blank. Not one story could penetrate the fog. Not one anecdote, not one tale. In all the years of storytelling, this had never happened. Blushing with embarrassment and stammering in fear, he apologized. "No matter!" responded the gracious host; "you are no doubt exhausted from your journey. Perhaps tomorrow you will share your stories with us!"
But the same thing happened at Sabbath lunch and again at supper. Just as he was about to begin one of his favorite stories, his mind went blank.
Embarrassed, frustrated and fearing the nobleman's disappointment, the Chasid decided it best that he steal away. But as he slipped out of the palace that night, the nobleman met him at the door. "I beg your forgiveness sir," the startled Chasid pleaded. "I know hundred of tales of the Baal Shem and his miracles, I have recited them for years, but for some reason I can remember none of them."
"Not one?" begged the nobleman, suddenly quite bereft. "Can you remember not one moment of your master's life?"
Only one remains with me. Not a story exactly. But a vague memory of a time when I was young and first began to follow the Baal Shem Tov. I was with him on Shabbat. He was distant and gloomy but would tell none of us what was the matter. As soon as the Sabbath was over, he ordered us into his wagon and we began a long trip. By morning, we entered a town renown for its vicious hatred of Jews. And this was the worst of days to visit, for this was Easter Sunday. We entered the town and found that the entire Jewish quarter was boarded up. No one would open a door to take us in. Finally we found the way into the synagogue's attic.
In this town, there was a Bishop famous for his fierce hatred of the Jews. On Easter, the Bishop would preach to the town, whipping the Christians into a killing frenzy that was let loose on the poor Jews. On that Easter Sunday morning, the master ordered me to go to the Cathedral, of all places, to tell the Bishop that the holy Baal Shem was ready to see him. I protested. I trembled in fear. I had no courage. But the master was adamant, and so I went. The Christians looked at me in wonder as trembling; I ascended the pulpit to deliver the message. When I told the Bishop that the holy Baal Shem was ready to see him, he turned and accompanied me back to the synagogue.
I don't know what happened next. The master and the Bishop spent an hour or so in private conversation. Then the Bishop emerged and returned to his pulpit in the Cathedral. All I know is that there was no riot, no killing that year. The Bishop dispersed the crowd and declared the Jewish community under his personal protection. After that, I heard that he disappeared, and has never been seen again."
At that, the Chasid turned his gaze upon his host who was weeping. "Thank you,' he stammered. Composing himself, he explained. "I was that Bishop. I was the one who sent the mobs to kill and plunder the Jews of the town. But months before that Easter, I was haunted by strange dreams. I was told that on Easter, a holy stranger would come to release me from my nightmares. It was me you summoned to the Baal Shem.
In that hour, The Baal Shem Tov revealed to me my own secrets -- that I was born a Jew, but was stolen from my mother before I could know. I was raised in the monastery, raised to hate the Jews and spread that hate. But the dreams came, and in them were visions of the hell that awaited me. I pleaded with your master -- was there no way for me to repent these terrible sins? And he showed me my only chance; To study Torah and live as a Jew; To open my doors to the poor and the homeless, and use all my resources supporting the helpless and the abandoned. This I promised to do. But how can I know, I begged him, that my repentance has been accepted? And he told me: When one comes, one who can remember none of his own stories but tells you your own story. Only then will you know that your repentance is accepted and you are again one with God. Now I am free. Thank you my friend. Your courage to tell me my story has let me know God has forgiven as I have asked."
It took courage for the Chasid to admit he could not recall any stories. It took courage for the nobleman to admit that he had been the Bishop. It takes courage for each of us to admit our errors and sins. But just as in this story—repentance is accepted—so too on this night when we have heard the chanting of the Kol Nidre prayer—we are assured our true repentance is accepted. "Adonai has said, "I have forgiven as you have asked. Vayomer Adonai Slachti kidvarecha."
We pray this night for the courage to transform our lives and ourselves. We pray this night our repentance is accepted. We pray for Shomeir Yisrael, the Guardian of the people Israel to protect us and keep us even as we admit our wrongdoings. Guardian of Israel, Shomeir Yisrael, grant us Your forgiveness, your pardon. S'lach lanu, M'chal Lanu, Caper Lanu- And help us in this New Year live up to our responsibilities to our covenant with You.
May we go from strength to strength on this Yom Kippur and may we find the courage to make the changes in our lives that matter.
Love's Got Everything to do with It
Shana Tovah
In recent weeks we have seen the destructive power of nature, the ineffective response of government at every level and the amazing compassion of human beings to reach out to one another. The pure power unleashed by Hurricane Katrina and secondarily by Hurricane Rita was startling—entire cities along the Gulf Coast are gone. Water everywhere in Southern Louisiana. It's hard for us to imagine a city complety leveled. Many said Biloxi, Mississippi looked like Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb. These hurricanes have peeled away the ugly veil of deep poverty in our country. They have revealed a lack of caring about society's most vulnerable and that is shameful. It calls upon each of us at this New Year to demand better of our nation and ourselves.
Tonight I choose not to focus on the power of the destruction or the lackadaisical and confused efforts to evacuate the city of New Orleans and the mishandling of every aspect of subsequent evacuation and rescue of people once the flooding began there. Or the second flooding when levees broke again from Hurricane Rita. There have been articles and stories on the incompetence and lack of planning at every level.
But instead as this New Year begins I choose to focus on the compassion and outpouring of love and caring demonstrated by people all across our country and indeed across the world. If love has the power to heal—then indeed we will heal as a country from this gravest of disasters. If love has been stirred in our hearts—then we will not and cannot ignore the poorest among us.
We have seen in these weeks not only an outpouring of tzedakah to care for the now thousands of homeless, but we have seen communities rise together to comfort those who had to flee as well as those who mourn. We have seen individuals open their homes to strangers; communities provide food, shelter and clothing. Students have been able to continue with their studies as universities across the country have opened the halls of academe. And all across our nation we have seen love in action. We have seen the power of God. We have seen the power of God in the caring arms of rescue workers and Red Cross volunteers. We have seen and felt the power of God at work through your hands.
I know many of you have made individual donation to some of the amazing organizations doing relief work including Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger headed by our temple member Dr. Eric Schockman. Mazon has done amazing work—more than just distributing money—but helping coordinate responses in the early days of the Katrina Disaster. I know many of you helped to bring clothing and food to our joint relief efforts with Metropolitan Community Church which filled more than 5 tracator trailer trucks with relief supplies that were delivered to Baton Rouge through the church and synagogue interfaith network there and also in Southern Mississippi. And our own Tzedakah Fund at Kol Ami—made up of the spare change you put into your tzedakah cans (like these) all year was able to make an initial distribution of $1000 on behalf of our temple in the first week of response. Additional monies from the Rabbi's Discretionary fund in the name of the congregation also was sent to Mazon and a second distribution from the Tzedakah fund has been sent as well to Habit to Humanity that will be helping to rebuild homes. My friends—these kinds of responses—to crisis, to suffering, to pain, --this is the power of God on display. God is working through us. For it is the power of love and caring.
Here is another story of the power of Gods' love.
Every day the woman would open her front door
and exclaim, "Barukh hashem. Praised be God."
Her next-door neighbor was a man who was an avowed
atheist. When he heard the woman praise God,
he would yell at her, "There is no God."
This went on for days and weeks. "Barukh hashem"
would be followed by
"There is no God."
As time went on, this poor woman ran out of money and
food. One day, she opened her front door and saw on the
doorstep a bag bulging with groceries. She bent down
and picked up the heavy bag. Then she looked up to the
heavens and exclaimed, "Barukh hashem. Praised be
God."
The atheist yelled at her. "There is no God. I bought
you those groceries."
The woman retorted, "Barukh hashem. Praised be God. God even made a devil like you buy me the groceries."
The Jewish perspective teaches us that the kindnesses we display, the generosity we show, the caring we demonstrate, that when we move beyond ourselves—we embody the Divine attribute of Love. When we do a Mitzvah—our commandment to care, to be responsible shows not just obedience, but love.
Tina Turner's question—What's love got to do with it? Comes to mind. What's love got to do with it? The answer different than the song -- is Love has got everything to do with it. God's love got everything to do with it. In our sanctuary on La Brea the word Love-Ahava-is one of the ten words—the ten values inscribed on the walls of sanctuary. Love alongside, blessing and holiness, joy and compassion are attributes of God.
These High Holy Days are about the power of love; the power of God's love for us and God's care for us—and for all humanity. We reflect that love in how we act in the world. How we live. How we love. How we reach out in concern and care for one another. And the love that we show to one another helps us to find God in the process.
A Chassidic Tale relates to us the following:
A merchant once came to Rabbi Meir Shalom, A son of Rabbi Yoshua Asher, and he complained bitterly of another merchant who had opened his shop right next door to him. "You seem to think, " said the tzaddik, "That it is your shop that supports you, and you are setting your heart upon it instead of on God, who is your support. But perhaps you do not know where God lives? It is written in the Torah: "Love your neighbor as yourself: I am Adonai. This means:" You shall want for your neighbor what he needs just as you do for yourself. And therein you will find God. (Buber, Late Masters, p. 235) By acting selflessly the merchant will invite God closer to his heart, home and life. By the power of caring –God is made real in not only his neighbors' life but his own.
On Rosh Hashanah we are reminded it is not only in the giving of something but the giving and caring for others that we find the Divine; that we are able to find God in our hearts and theirs.
This New Year calls us to task. It calls upon us to ask of ourselves, "What are the ways I show caring not just to those I love but to others? Do you complain and moan when something doesn't go your way? Do you whine when you feel wronged? Do you hold on to a grudge and let it eat away at your soul only to explode later on? Are you so caught up in getting ahead—that you won't pause to reach out to others? This New Year calls out to us to examine how indeed we express God's love to others. How do we embody the divine attribute of Love?
There was a time in our community –in the darkest days of AIDS when our lovers died within weeks or months of diagnosis—that our community, this community showed God's love in force. We fed and cared for our dying mates, our friends. We cooked meals, and changed linens. We held hands and were buddies. We walked dogs and ran errands. We extended our arms in an embrace of love that was selfless and devoted.
In truth some of us still do these things. We volunteer our time and efforts on behalf of others. Whether at Project Angel Food, or Project Chicken Soup. We at Kol Ami volunteer and pack food monthly for SOVA- the Kosher food pantry and the next opportunity to participate in showing God's love is Sunday Oct. 9. Many of us continue with these acts of chesed—lovingkindness.
But, in truth, we also have a bit of burnout. Our compassion meters run low. We gear up for a great crisis—like Katrina or the tsunami and we give for a while and then we say now its my turn—I've done for others—now its me first. We get tired trying and overwhelmed at the extent of the need. While others of us couldn't be bothered to care.
But showing God's love knows no time limit. Showing God's love is not just in the grand moments but in the small acts of caring and concern. Each week, each time we pray we say a prayer for healing for our friends and members who are ill, but how many of us show God's love by sending a card or a note to a fellow temple member who is on that list?
Do we show God's love and concern for others by welcoming a new person to our neighborhood? When we see the moving truck do we say welcome and introduce ourselves? When we see the depths of poverty in our own midst do we close our eyes and shy away or demand better solutions from our electeds and from ourselves?
Do we show love and concern for others when we second guess or play armchair quarterback dissecting every move of colleagues or co-workers? Or we berate and criticize every word, every action, and every motive of friends with suspicion. We would rather tear one another apart at first instinct and rather than see the world with a good eye—we are quick to judge.
Leah Golomb writes this true story: Her son one of a set of triplets was playing with his brothers in their room a few days before the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer—between Passover and Shavuot. The triplets were almost eight years old at the time and they had made bows and arrows out of twigs for the holiday and she had decided to let them play with them a few minutes before getting them to bed. Traditionally, Jews everywhere celebrate Lag B'Omer with picnics in the woods. On these outings it is customary for the kids to carry bows and arrows and pretend they're Bar Kochba's soldiers, waging mock battles against Israel's enemies.
One of the boys was showing his brothers how to shoot the bow in a safe manner, with the bow pointing down. As he was about to demonstrate this, one of the other boys banged into him, lifting his harm up and causing him to shoot the arrow. The arrow flew across the room at the very moment that the third boy Elishama, happened to turn around to face his brothers. The arrow struck him in the eye.
Filled with horror at this freak accident, she rushed Elishama to the hospital. He was immediately sent into emergency surgery to try to save his eye. But when the operation was over and the surgeon emerged –he came to tell the parents the news. It was not good. Elishama's vision in his left eye was destroyed.
The next day, as Elishama was recovering from surgery, he asked his mother, from his hospital bed, "Mama, What am I going to do now?"
She had been thinking carefully about what she could tell him and how to comfort him.
His mother took his hand and said to him very gently, "God created everyone with two eyes—one to see the world with a good eye, and one to see the world with a bad eye. Right now God has given you the privilege to be able to see the world with only a good eye."
Elishama considered this for a moment. Then he said, "Boy I'm sure glad the
arrow didn't hit my other eye."
Like Elishama we can see the world with our good eye or our bad eye. We can blame and push people away. Or we can see the world with a good eye—bringing hope to our days and God's love into the world.
At the beginning of these High Holy Days we have the opportunity to change our lives. We have the chance to change the way we act, the way we relate to others, and to restore caring as the modus operandi of our being. We can break old habits- and where our urban lives reinforce solitary endeavors, we can push back and invite God's love to help us create communities of support and concern. We can break the bonds of our isolationism, and learn to be engaged with our neighbors and friends—learn to care and perhaps value going out of our way. We can deepen our compassion meters by doling out God's love.
During Rosh Hashanah we are supposed to deeply examine our behavior in the past year. Throughout these Ten Days of Awe, we Jews are to look inside at our hopes and dreams, our disappointments and grief, our sins and errors and the way we handle them in the world. The High Holy Days has a message that we can become the person we truly want to be. But those changes must come out of a basis of love and of caring for ourselves and for others and God.
A young rabbi complained to the Rabbi of Rizhin: "During the hours when I devote myself to my studies and prayer I feel life and light, but the moment I stop studying it is all gone. What shall I do?"
The Rabbi of Rizhin replied: "It is the same as when a person walks through the woods on a dark night, and for a time another person joins her, lantern in hand, but at the crossroads they part, and the first must grope her way on alone in the dark again. But if a person carries her own light with them, she need not be afraid of any darkness.
In these difficult days each of us needs safe place in this world where terrorist's no longer threaten, storms cannot swirl, where war is no longer waged—each of us need a place of peace and comfort and light and a place where we feel and share God's love.
The High Holy Days are here to help us carry our own light with us; The light of God's love. Tonight we begin the process of building inside of ourselves the fiery flame of faith and love. And through out our worship together during this holy day season—we are to bring out that inner light and learn to share with others. We will be fueled for a year of caring and bringing hope to our family and friends. Our prayers, our repentance and our tzedakah and yes, our attitude kindles the light and flame that we implant inside our souls here tonight.
Throughout these High Holy Days—we will have a chance to write our story—in the Book of Life- to inscribe our hopes, our dreams, and our visions for ourselves and the world for the New Year. We can approach that task with fear and dread, pessimism and contempt—seeing it through our bad eye—or with hope in our hearts and light in our souls—seeing it through our good eye. The difference is faith. Faith in God and in yourself.
Rabbi Nachman once said to Rabbi Nathan of Nemerov "You have faith but you have no faith in yourself" The main lesson here is that you must have faith in yourself. You must believe that you are precious in God's eyes. The fact that every single individual is important to God is a measure of God's goodness and God's love. (Sichot HaRan 140 as quoted p. 170, in The Light Beyond by Areyeh Kaplan.)
So write your story in the Book of Life this Rosh Hashanah. Write it as a story of caring and love for yourself and for others. Write it as a story of renewal and hope. Write your story in the book of life. Then will you be inscribed for a year of goodness, and blessing, a year of caring, a year of hope and a year of feeling God's love and giving out God's love to others.
Shana Tovah u'metukah.
The Creation of the world and Intelligent Design
Today on Rosh Hashanah we celebrate the creation of our world. According to Jewish tradition today is 5766 years since God created the world. The Rabbi's teach us that Rosh Hashanah is Hayom Harat Olam -- that today is the birthday of the world. R. David Abudraham (14th century Spain), drawing on Job 3:2, sees Rosh Hashanah as being identical to the day of its birth. Other places in the Talmud state that the first of Tishrei—which is today, Rosh Hashanah—the thought of the world came into the mind of God.
In either case, whether creation was actually begun on Rosh Hashanah with the creation of light or was conceived on Rosh Hashanah and begun at a later time, we Jews as a matter of religious faith and principal believe that God created the universe—and each time we say a bracha, a blessing—Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Haolam—Praised are You Adonai, Source of the Universe—we assert God's role in creation. Our prayers in the daily worship that we recited this morning—call God –Yotzer Or- The One who created Light. Woven throughout our belief system is the idea that God created our world, our reality, and we human beings were created by God to be partners in this venture together.
As we pray and sing together on this Rosh Hashanah morning we also encounter a teaching from the rabbis (Midrash Vayikra Rabba 29:1), that says—today is not the anniversary of the beginning of creation—rather Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the Neshama, the soul of human life. This view states that we start counting our 5700-plus years from the creation of the soul of Adam, the primordial human being, which according to Genesis was created on the sixth day of creation.
So this day in our calendar according to some rabbinic interpretations is that Rosh Hashanah comes six days after the initial moment of creation—when God said, "Let there be light." Rosh Hashanah in this view is the beginning of the creation of human history—rather than all creation. As it says in Rosh Hashanah 27a in the Talmud, the first day of Tishrei is "the beginning of your deeds."
But our calendar says it is 5766 years since the beginning of creation. The rabbis came to that figure many centuries ago by counting up the generations and ages of the characters in the Bible. They didn't know from Darwin, evolution or radioactive carbon dating.
The ages of the universe, our galaxy, the solar system, and Earth however, can be estimated using modern scientific methods. Over the past few decades, measurements (of the Hubble expansion) have led to the estimated ages for the universe of between 7 billion and 20 billion years, with the most recent and best measurements within the range of 10 billion to 15 billion years. According to the National Academy of Science the best estimates of Earth's age are obtained by calculating the time required for development lead isotopes in Earth's oldest lead ores. These estimates yield 4.54 billion years as the age of Earth and of meteorites, and hence of the solar system.
So we live on the one hand with the scientific and on the other hand with our faith system. Judaism has always been willing to assert that we don't know the actually length of the day as described in the Genesis story—for we have other places in our Torah that tell us a single year is but a moment in the eye of God. Many Jewish scholars readily acknowledge that the first six "days" of creation are not necessarily 24-hour days ( 24-hour day would be certainly meaningless until the creation of the sun on the fourth "day" of the story). And so we Jews could understand the language of our Creation stories in Genesis are metaphor and myth rather than a literal reading of how exactly the world was made.
But today in America there is a movement afoot to redefine science and the origins of our world through a different lens. Perhaps you have heard of the debate surrounding the idea of intelligent design. Even President Bush has recently weighed in on the debate calling for the inclusion of Intelligent Design theory in the classroom.
Intelligent Design is a so-called scientific theory that tries to debunk evolution at every turn. Intelligent Design advocates not only push to have their purported theories published in respectable scientific journals, but have had some success in getting school boards to rewrite science curricula to include questions and doubts about evolution, scientific theories as well as the promotion of the concept of Intelligent Design.
What is the theory of Intelligent Design? It is nothing more than what we used to call creationism, dressed up in pseudo-scientific language. Based on the writings of Professors Michael Behe, an Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University and William Dembski, associate research professor in the conceptual foundations of science at Baylor University, Intelligent design or (ID) refers to their theory that intelligent causes are responsible for the origin of the universe and of life in all its diversity. Advocates of ID maintain that their theory is scientific and provides empirical proof for the existence of either God or superintelligent aliens. They believe that design is empirically detectable in nature and in living systems. And they have tried to create mathematical formulas to show their proofs. They claim that intelligent design should be taught in the science classroom because it is an alternative to the scientific theory of natural selection.
At every turn they undermine the notion of evolution and push the idea that even if you don't buy the whole Intelligent Design theory that at least the controversy should be taught about. And they have been successful in their attempts to change the curriculum in several states, including Ohio and Georgia and at present the states Kansas, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Missouri are deciding whether or not to include intelligent design "theory" in their statewide science curriculum through committee and even court cases!
The idea that an organism's complexity is evidence for the existence of a cosmic designer was advanced centuries before Charles Darwin. Its best-known exponent was English theologian William Paley, creator of the famous watchmaker analogy. As the editors of Natural History magazine explain, "If we find a pocket watch in a field, as Paley wrote in 1802, we immediately infer that it was produced not by natural processes acting blindly but by a designing human intellect. Likewise, he reasoned, the natural world contains abundant evidence of a supernatural creator. The argument from design, as it is known, prevailed as an explanation of the natural world until the publication of the Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859. The weight of the evidence that Darwin had patiently gathered swiftly convinced scientists that evolution by natural selection better explained life's complexity and diversity. "I cannot possibly believe," wrote Darwin in 1868, "that a false theory would explain so many classes of facts.""
As Rabbi Nancy Meyers writes, "This same theory of design by an intelligent being was at the heart of the famous Scopes trial in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee. It was at this trial where the Bible was pitted against science. A biology teacher, John Scopes, was on trial for illegally teaching the theory of evolution. On the 7th day of the court case, defense attorney Clarence Darrow called William Jennings Bryan to the witness stand as an expert on the Bible. Bryan, a three times Democratic presidential candidate was the prosecuting attorney. Darrow grilled Bryan about stories in the Bible such as a whale swallowing Jonah, Joshua making the sun stand still, Noah and the great flood, and the creation according to Genesis. Bryan initially argued that, "everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there," but finally conceded that the words of the Bible should not always be taken literally. In response to Darrow's relentless questions as to whether the six days of creation, as described in Genesis, were twenty-four hour days, Bryan conceded, "My impression is that they were periods.""
This famous trial helped to put an end to using the Bible in place of accepted scientific ideas or so we thought. But again it rears its head in a different form. Today the Intelligent Design movement continues to grow. Funded by the Discovery Institute, whose money primarily comes from right wing fundamentalist circles, intelligent design proponents strike out on many levels. More sophisticated than the creationist of old they use modern techniques including public relations campaigns to advance their cause. And when they can't use science to actually prove their theories, they try to use process to at least get a hearing of their gospel.
The problem we Jews should have with intelligent design is not that we reject a notion of the Creator or God as designer indeed this is our belief that we celebrate today but we should reject Intelligent Design Theory because this idea is being taught first as science and secondarily in the public school classroom.
The theory of Intelligent Design is not a scientific theory. Dembski and Behe and others can dress it up all they want with complex language and quasi-mathematical equations—but at the end of the day they are engaging in theology not science. Their argument of irreducible complexity basically states that life and the origins of life are just too complex for us to understand. Like generations of philosophers and theologians before them they cannot prove the existence of God nor can they prove evolution wrong. For the idea of God is about faith. And being the one the screams the loudest at a public hearing, workshops and school board committee meetings just doesn't make it so. When President Bush signed "The No Child Left Behind Act" which was his Education Reform Bill, it mandated States and local school board revamp much of their learning goals and curriculum. This has given the ID advocates their foot in the door to demand changes in the science standards. They have utilized this process to attack the teaching of evolution in a forceful way and demand that Intelligent Design theory be elevated along side Darwin as science.
But their demands do not a scientific theory make. Intelligent design cannot scientifically be proven and thus I believe they have no place in the science classrooms of our children.
Secondarily as Jews we should be concerned because any time theology enters into the public sector we have to ask whose theology will be taught? Will it be Jewish? Or will it be someone else's? Our public schools must maintain a clear separation of church and state. This principle embedded in our Constitution has been our Jewish community's most important gift in America and has helped our people thrive. We have not had to contend with a state religion and we shouldn't have to in the science classroom either. If intelligent design makes it way into our children's classrooms as a "scientific theory" it will amount to our teachers being asked to teach theology. Let's not go down the path of deciding whose theology our schools will advance. You can be sure it won't be the Jewish one.
The truth is that since the Supreme Court of the United States in 1987 struck down a Louisiana law that mandated teaching 'creation science' in schools because the premise of the research was based on biblical texts, the Christian fundamentalists have been seeking a way to regroup. As intelligent design does not draw directly from biblical sources, Christian fundamentalist groups have seized on it as a possible way to force creationism back into the classroom.
Why is this important you ask? Isn't this just another small fringe group of fundamentalists attacking the mainstream? While the Intelligent Design movement is small—it is very well funded. Even though nine out of ten scientists when polled reject intelligent design theory as science, ID proponents are waging battle on university campuses, and in the classrooms of our children. Will our children grow up being able to distinguish fact from fiction? Will they be able to recognize science from theology? Will they be able to judge for themselves? And will your tax dollars be used to promote a religious theology masquerading as science?
The minds of our children are at stake. And ultimately the future and direction of our country. Will we be a nation who is grounded in learning and opportunity that teaches critical thinking? Or will we be a society that simply believes literally in everything we read—with no nuance and no metaphor and no symbolic language—just as the fundamentalist read their bible. Children learn what we teach them. And then children grow up and become adults. So even if you don't have children—this movement ought to give you pause for concern.
It certainly gives me pause.
Even today on Rosh Hashanah as we celebrate the creation of the world—we celebrate our faith and our beliefs. But we don't try to masquerade those beliefs and that faith as science. I do believe with all my heart that God created the universe. I also understand the process of evolution and have learned and seen how science has proven it's more than just a theory or educated guess. And I am confident that our rendering of the Bible and science on the origins of our world are not in conflict. We read our Torah with many layers. We peel away each slice, each thin layer to reveal deeper and deeper meaning.
We shall teach this approach to our children but we shall teach them this not in the halls of their science class as scientific inquiry but here in the context of our synagogue. We would not foster our religion upon others; they should not foster theirs upon us.
But most importantly as we celebrate this Rosh Hashanah, the birthday of the world, we do so with the knowledge that as we read Torah—we read it not literally, but with an eye to its humor, its pathos, its metaphor and symbol, and its weaving of myth and history to explain the origins of life and human beings and most importantly we view the Bible and our Torah as our collective experience of the Divine in our world.
That is what we celebrate together. That is our belief. Let us share that belief with our children in our homes and in synagogue. For they will learn what we teach them.
Ken Yehi Ratzon.
Shabbat Shalom and let me take this opportunity to wish you a Happy
New Year.
As we observe this last Shabbat of 5765 together—our hearts are heavy as the fires burn around us. Our world has taken a beating—hurricanes and floods in the gulf coast, fires here in Los Angeles, war in Iraq rages and more and more American soldiers give their life along with thousands of Iraqi civilians, and the latest report from the UCLA Anderson Business school—that the real estate market is poised for a down turn. In another words—the real estate bubble may be close to bursting. This would surely bring economic ruin to many.
And of course our Governor yesterday had an opportunity to bring equality and justice to the GLBT community. For the first time ever a legislative body—the California Legislature passed a bill that would finally end discrimination to gay men and lesbians by allowing marriage. And Arnold just couldn't rise above politics and expediency. He vetoed our equality. He vetoed fairness. He vetoed justice. He acted not just politically to calm his right wing flank—but when you subvert the rights of those who are discriminated against in society—he acted immorally.
All in all I am glad to have a New Year around the corner—because this one—5765 is ending on a difficult note.
But with all the storms, fires, wars, economic crises, and justice perversion that abound it feels as if we are reading from one of the most powerful prayers of the High Holy Day liturgy
During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we will recite the Unetaneh Tokef prayer. It is also one of the most difficult to understand and make sense of.
I know you are familiar with many passages in this prayer...
On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is decided, how many shall pass on and how many be created, who shall live and who shall die, who when their time comes and who before or after their time, who by fire and who by water, who by the sword and who by wild beasts, who by famine and who by drought, who by earthquake and who by epidemic...
And of course the prayer continues through a litany of calamities, tragedies and horrors.... To end with the words—Uteshuvah, utefillah utzedakah, Repentance prayer and charity avert the severity of the decree
At face value it is hard not to read this prayer literally. As we enter the New Year we are keenly aware that there are those who are not with us tonight who just last year prayed together with us. We have experienced many natural disasters—some within the last month. And with the tragedies that befall us, cancers, other illnesses, job losses that interrupt our day to day experiences—many of us ask where is God? Why did God bring this about?
But the Unetaneh Tokef prayer—is more than just a series of questions that imply God's power to manipulate our lives at every whim.
If we look closely at the Unetaneh Tokef prayer we will see that there are six traditional main ideas to the prayer as enumerated by Rabbi David Golinkin .
1. God and the heavenly court judge all living creatures on Yom Hadin the day of judgment"
We understand this as Rosh Hashanah from the Torah
2. "one by one' kol ba'ey olam , all who enter the world, pass before God kivinumeron , like a cohort of soldiers being counted, or like a shepherd counting his sheep and God decrees their destiny."
In other words—God is personal—and takes an interest in human beings enough to take account of us.
3. "On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed who shall live and who shall die, who by fire and who by water, who by earthquake and who by plague"
We all know that bad things happen in the course of life.
4."but repentance, prayer and tzedakah "avert the severe decree"".
Jewish tradition teaches there are coping mechanisms for the things that happen
5. " God wants the sinner to repent."
6. "Humans' origin is but dust and his end is dust, but God is the ever-living Sovereign".
In other words we believe that God is eternal.
Adding to the difficulty of the theology and not withstanding the modern difficulties with some of the theological interpretations, this prayer has strange origins. Traditionally, this prayer is said to have been composed by Rabbi Amnon of Mainz who lived just prior to the Crusades. The story as told in "A Translation of the Rabbi Amnon of Mainz Narrative
by Prof. Ivan Marcus" is as follows:
Rabbi Amnon of Mainz was one of the great men of his generation. He was handsome, wealthy, and well esteemed. The local ruler, the Archbishop of Mainz, kept insisting that he abandon his faith. He repeatedly refused. Finally, he said he needed three days to consider the matter. But once he left his presence, he felt enormous remorse, since he had let it be believed that he would even consider abandoning his faith. When he was sent for, he refused to go, so he was brought against his will to the bishop who demanded to know why he had not come on his own. Amnon told him why and said, "I shall pronounce my own sentence. Let the tongue that spoke and lied to you, be cut off." The archbishop refused and said, "No, the tongue I shall not cut off, for it spoke well. But the feet that did not come to me at the time you set I shall lop off, and I shall torment the rest of your body as well. This was done. His hands and legs were severed.
Rosh Ha-Shanah arrived. Rabbi Amnon asked his relatives to carry him to the synagogue just as he was and to lay him down near the bima. And it came to pass, as the cantor came to recite the Kedushah, the "Sanctification," Rabbi Amnon said to him, "Stop: Let me sanctify the great name of God." And he cried out in a loud voice, "uvchen l'cha taaleh kedushah, -- May our sanctification ascend to you!" at which point he spontaneously composed and chanted the Unetaneh Tokef. When he concluded it, his own end came, and he vanished from the earth before the eyes of all.
This gruesome story is the background of our difficult prayer.
But recent research shows that this story isn't the actual origin of this prayer. Not only is there no record of a Rabbi Amnon in Germany at this time—earlier versions of this prayer were found in a very ancient Genizah fragment from the late eighth century, 200-300 years before Rabbi Amnon was supposed to have composed the poem!
Other scholarly evidence points to the fact that this prayer/poem –a piyyut in Hebrew- is similar to a Christian poem called the "Hymn of Romanus upon Christ's Reappearance" which was written by a Jew who converted to Christianity in either the sixth or eight century. It shares a number of themes, motifs, and word patterns with this Christian hymn including trembling angels, God taking account the souls of people, the blasts of the horn, books being opened etc. No wonder we have such difficulty with this prayer—it is reminiscent of Christian theology!
But the origins of the Unetaneh tokef prayer while perhaps explaining the difficult language and theology still don't help us understand how we ought to approach the words today –in our own context. After all it is part of our received tradition.
The prayers' climax is the last section. It reminds of us of the 3 important ways we have to add our actions and our voice to the mix of God's plans and God's questions.
Repentance, Prayer, and Charity—help us change the decree. Through our attitude, our truly changing heart and mind we can learn to make the difference in how we respond to all of the difficult moments—be it death of a loved one or hurricane, fire or economic downturn. Through prayer—we give voice to our concerns and our worries and we strengthen our faith in God. Through Prayer we change the energy of the universe to vibrate favorably towards righteousness and hope. And finally through Tzedakah we bring justice and healing and yes, often bring about the repair of lives, tikkun. We can't bring someone back from the dead through either of these methods—but we can ease the pain, and create more than just monuments to the deceased—we can do good in their name.
Golikin quotes Rabbi Marc Saperstein, a Reform rabbi and a scholar, who dealt with this problem in an article published in 1981. "He points out that the standard translation of the problematic sentence is not accurate and that the poet changed the wording of the Yerushalmi. The Yerushalmi says: Sheloshah devarim mevatlin et hagezeirah – "three things annul the evil decree", whereas the poem says that three things ma'avirin et ro'a hagezeirah – "make the evil of the decree pass"" or as we say averts the severity of the decree."
This is a very different understanding of the unetaneh tokef— If we use the translation as in the Jerusalem Talumd as proposed by Rabbi Sapperstein the three acts we can engage in –Repentance, Prayer and Charity don't just avert any decree--- they annul it". In other words, we have the power to overrule God.
This is in a long line of Jewish understanding that we Jews can and do change God's mind. We have example after example of it, in the relationship between Abraham and God, Moses and God, even Joshua. Our prophets, Isaiah, and Jeremiah challenged the status quo of their time. We have a long tradition of struggle and of change. We argue and we wrestle with God. We actively try to argue our case and those of others. God wants us to speak up on behalf of others as well as ourselves.
Rabbi Saperstein explains further:
" Death, sickness, impoverishment, tragic as they may be, are not identical with evil. They do bear a potential for truly evil consequences. They can poison, embitter, fill us with self-pity, destroy a marriage, blind us to the needs of others, turn us away from God. But the evil consequences of even the most fearsome decree are not inevitable. If penitence, prayer and charity cannot change the external reality, if they cannot arrest the malignant cancer, they can indeed ensure that the evil potential in that reality will not become actual and enduring, but will pass. They can enable us to transcend the evil of the decree."
In fact one way we might understand the Hebrew of the ma-avirin et roa gezerah —is that the Hebrew word Maavirin—comes from the words avar—it means to cross over or to transcend and so these three mechanism—repentance, prayer, and charity help us transcend the tragedies that happen in our lives. They are tools for us to overcome difficult times. They help us move beyond our self—our wallowing in self-pity and help us transcend our own pain.
So as the world around us seems so painful, so difficult; As the hills behind us burn, and the Gulf Coast tries to rebuild after the devastation. We pray that this New Year will be one that helps us transcend our fears and the difficulties of our world. We pray that our teshuvah—our repentance is accepted and real. That we commit to changing our negativity. We pray that we might be strengthened by one another, comforted by one another, and lifted up on the wings of song and prayer. And we pray that in this New Year our gifts of tzedakah help us move beyond ourselves to repair the world. AMEN.
