A sence of entitelment Sermon; By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

In this week’s torah portion—Korach, Moses and Aaron’s cousin, challenges them for the leadership of the people. He along with Dathan and Abiram stir up quite a hornet’s nest of protest. They along with 250 other leaders of the tribes gather against God’s chosen leadership to demand a share in leading the people. They feel entitled to be the leaders saying “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them and Adonai is in their midst. Why do you raise yourselves above God’s congregation?” (Numbers 16:3).

Korach asserts his equality with his cousins. He asserts that Moses and Aaron are no more qualified than they are to be the leaders. He feels entitled to the leadership role of the Israelites. And yet, he has forgotten that Aaron and Moses are qualified to be the leaders because God has chosen them specifically for their task!
Entitlement is not just a Biblical issue. Not only was it prevalent in Korach’s time it is certainly still with us today. Many people operate as if they are entitled to money, or privileges. Some feel that just because of whom they are that the rules just don’t apply to them. Some believe they deserve reward or access to power or can break the rules because after all the rules don’t apply to everyone! Wink Wink…. Some believe they have deserved special treatment because of where they live or how much they earn or even who they know. And we all know people like that!
Just look at the recent situation of Andrew Speaker, the young man who went off to be married in Greece knowing he had a very serious form of Tuberculosis. When the Center for Disease Control contacted him on his honeymoon in Italy and told him to stay put and get to a hospital in Europe—Speaker felt entitled to come home. He felt entitled to disregard the rules and regulation. After all he was an attorney. After all he didn’t “feel sick”. So instead he flew to Canada and came across the border in a car exposing hundreds of people to his contagion. That is nothing short of hubris and yes, my friends, entitlement. He felt entitled to disregard the law and welfare of others to meet his own needs. He didn’t want to be treated in Europe even though he would be exposing others to his dangerous strain of TB. He acted selfishly, childishly.
And our headlines are filled daily with nothing but the Queen of Entitlement these days—Paris Hilton. Her antics speak volumes on her sense of entitlement. She drives with a suspended license and drives again while intoxicated putting others at risk as well as herself. This is entitlement. She snubs the court and feels that rules shouldn’t apply to her. She shouldn’t have to serve her sentence. And of course her sense of entitlement and that of her family was that she shouldn’t have to serve in jail. Then the antics she has pulled during her confinement and the way others have bent to her tantrums are nothing short of sinful. Paris Hilton is selfish. She wants to find a way to make sure that the system doesn’t apply to her. And because of her celebrity others are ready to kowtow to her sense of entitlement.
There are many other examples in our world today of the prevailing sentiment that the rules don’t apply to some. It was the case with Enron executives who could cook the books and believe they had no responsibilities to their shareholders or their employees. Entitlement infects a whole generation of people who believe that they should get something for nothing—they are entitled to free music and free movies downloaded over the internet. Others feel that they are entitled just because they show up.
Many people today don’t want to work their way up from the bottom. They believe that they are entitled to start at the top.
The problem with such selfishness is that it eats away at the core of the soul and the core of society. If everyone is entitled then chaos reigns. Our own country was built not on the sense of entitlement but that with hard work one could transcend the class boundaries that constricted most everyone in Europe! Yet today there is a whole generation that believes they shouldn’t have to sully their hands with such hard work.
Jewish tradition and our mitzvot always try to help humanize us and help us reach for the holy. Our mitzvot try to help us overcome our natural tendencies toward selfishness and self-centeredness and encourage us to have concern for our family and community. Our tradition tries to teach us a healthy balance.
One of my favorite Hasidic teachings says that every person should carry two pieces of paper, one in your right hand pocket and the other in your left. On one of the pieces, you write the verse “I am but dust
and ashes” quoting both Job and Abraham. On the other piece, you write a very different verse “Bishvili nivra haolam” -For my sake the world was created which is from the Gemarah.
There are times indeed when we feel and act as if the whole world was created for our sake—but this must be balanced by the knowledge of our human frailty and most importantly our humility. This is the Jewish guard against a sense of entitlement.
Our tradition teaches us that giving tzedakah regularly helps us to understand our communal responsibilities. This too is an antidote to entitlement. It is a reminder that our money and monetary resources are not ours but given to us by God. Thus we are required to give tzedakah—not only when we are moved to give. Judaism doesn’t have a sense of noblesse oblige –all of us must give and live up to the responsibility to care for our community and one another. And even the poorest person in town must give a percentage in tzedakah. This principle guards against the mindset that one is entitled to communal support.
There are many more examples of how our tradition teaches us to reject a sense of entitlement and move towards a balance of caring for the self while caring for others. When we do so we bring a tikkun a repair to the brokenness of our world and often we bring hope to others.
“Times change but people don’t,” said Granny Weaver as she ate lunch with her neighbor Delia in a downtown café.
“What’s that Granny? “asked Delia.
“See that couple over there? We’re sharing the same waiter except they’re being so demanding that he barely has time for anyone else. Look how they turn their noses up at everything he brings them.”
“Maybe their order isn’t to their liking.”
“Nonsense,” Said Granny Weaver, “I used to wait tables back in my day. They’re just trying to berate him into giving them a free lunch. Somehow they feel entitled to it.”
Just then the manager walked over and stood next to the waiter. The couple seated at the table continues to complain. The manager took a check from the waiter and motioned for him to move on.
“See what I mean?” Granny said.
“Is there anything else I can get you?” the waiter asked with his eyes downcast as he placed the check on the table between Granny and Delia.
Granny Weaver snatched the check before Delia could even look at it and pulled several bills from her purse. She handed everything over to the waiter and said, “Keep the change, dear”.
“But ma’am, that’s---“
Granny grabbed the young man’s hand and squeezed it. She looked him in the eye and said, “I know the kind of afternoon you’re having. And you’ve earned every dime of this. So you go on now and don’t argue with an old lady.”
The waiter blushed as he thanked Granny and walked away.
“Granny, that was awfully generous of you,” said Delia.
“Did you ever notice how a sour encounter can dampen your entire day?” asked Granny. “I just wanted to remind that young man his efforts didn’t go unnoticed. Put a spark of hope back into his afternoon. After all, a dollar is a dollar. But a dose of good feeling is so much more.” (Adapted from the Other 90% Robert K. Cooper Crown Business.)
Granny understood that the entitlement of the couple destroyed more than the profits of the café for the lunch hour—their behavior, their selfishness diminished the spark of holiness and humanity in the waiter. Granny’s kindness and understanding restored in a young man his dignity and hope.
When we refuse to bow down to those who feel entitled we restore a bit of sanity to our world and when we act with humility rather than demanding special privilege (which all of us do at times) we repair the fabric of the holy in the world.
On this Shabbat let us commit together to sharing a renewed commitment to the values of Chesed, loving-kindness and humility—anavah—so that the balance of our world can be restored!

Ken Yehi Ratzon

Harvey Milk and Gay Pride Sermon; By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Shabbat Shalom

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the six day war. In June of 1967 Israel stunned the world with its lightening ability to hold back and neutralize and defeat the combined Arab armies of Syria, Jordan and Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudia Arabia. On June 5 1967 all of its air force but 12 planes left to pre-emptively strike the Egyptian air force destroying it on the ground. From June 5-7 the Israeli army fought an extensive campaign in the Sinai desert and Gaza where Egyptian forces had been massing over the course of the last several months. Israel took advantage though of the lack of coordination between Egyptian troops, Israelis complete air superiority and the lightening speed of the advance made the Egyptians run. On the front of the West Bank, Jordan was reluctant to enter the war but they did so attacking Jerusalem and trying to reach toward Tel Aviv. Israeli forces fought back and by June 6 Israeli forces were in place and fought back encircling Jerusalem with paratroopers at the Battle of Ammunition Hill and on June 7 Israeli forces marched into the Old City capturing the Temple Mount for the first time in 2000 years! The battle for at the Northern border took longest –by June 9 and 10th Israeli forces had pushed back the Syrian troops to the plateau of the Golan Heights. The ceasefire was signed on June 10. Israel had captured all of Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. Tiny Israel had the sheer tenacity and will to fight for its survival against the Arab forces who were building up their armies to attack and push Israel into the sea.

That tenacity, the sheer determination to fight for what you believe in, to fight for your life, your well being, your very survival is something that has been a Jewish hallmark throughout our history.
Tonight we also celebrate Gay and Lesbian Pride Shabbat. In doing so we acknowledge the struggle for equality and freedom that gay people everywhere continue to engage in world wide. Although we are blessed to live in West Hollywood and Los Angeles where we have an amazing sense of connectedness, freedom and equality there are still many areas where we are not yet free. Compared to many places in the world—we, Gay and Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people live in a utopian world here—where gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender folks can more openly live without fear of death or imprisonment. Where we can make our families—have or adopt children if we wish, even share many of the responsibilities and privileges of married life if we choose to… But in many, in fact in most places in the world, sexual minorities live in deep closets of fear, imprisoned in reality or by the hatred that surrounds them. It often takes extraordinary determination and will to live and to fight for equality.
So tonight we give thanks to God who created us as we are and we give thanks that we live in a place of such freedoms to live and be who we are.
But that freedom to live and be who we are didn’t just happen. The struggle for equality even though it is a righteous struggle—did not happen over night. Nor did it happen just by chance. There were and are many risk takers who work tirelessly for gay and lesbian freedom. There have been powerful fighters and organizers who have defied the odds and fought back the armies of hatred. In small ways and large there have been individuals who have made an incredible difference in the gay and lesbian community. Remember the organized gay and lesbian community isn’t that old. The pride festivities this weekend commemorate –the Stonewall riots of New York in June of 1969. But there are earlier gatherings and earlier moments of gay history—and Los Angeles has been a key city in the formation of those organizations and groups that gave early shape to the struggle for gay freedom—Among those early organizations prior to Stonewall were the One Institute, the Mattachine society and Metropolitan Community Church!
But there were and are individuals who have helped to make that happen. Harvey Milk was indeed someone who helped to shape our gay community. He was the third openly gay elected official in the entire United States. He was elected as a supervisor in San Francisco’s 5th district—the Castro in 1977 after two previous unsuccessful bids for election. Harvey Milk a Jew, born in New York –served in the Navy and following living in Dallas and New York he worked both on Wall Street and in the theatre as an Assistant Director. He was involved in directing the plays—Jesus Christ Superstar and Lenny about the comedian Lenny Bruce. He moved to San Francisco with is partner, Scott in 1972 opening a camera store in the Castro and becoming active as a community leader. He founded the local gay business Alliance in the Castro and often interacted with government agencies.
Once elected Milk, who called himself the Mayor of Castro Street, had a term of only 11 months before he was assassinated with Mayor George Moscone by a fellow supervisor Dan White on November 27, 1978. Milk in his short term on the board of Supervisors in San Francisco enacted a gay rights bill as well as helped to defeat the statewide Proposition 6 the Briggs initiative which would have allowed openly gay men and lesbians who were teachers to be fired based on their sexuality. Milk was a populist and believed that Cities had an obligation to help its population. He was elected with the help of some of the city’s toughest unions which surprised many in San Francisco. At a time when Conservatives like Dan White wanted to reduce city services, Milk opposed this. Harvey Milk had that Jewish streak of tenacity and will and determination that fought for equality, justice and freedom. Not unlike the Israeli army of 1967, Milk pushed back at those who would do harm to the gay and lesbian community.
White was convicted of only of manslaughter in the assassination of Milk and Moscone. Even though he crawled through a window to avoid metal detectors on the day of the murders, carrying loads of bullets alongside his gun, White claimed it wasn’t premeditated. Who can forget Diane Feinstein’s tearful announcement about the murders? White was only sentenced to seven years. Many believed that anti-gay attitudes of the jury contributed to the lighter sentence. During the trial his defense made a bizarre claim that he was so depressed that he ate lots of junk food such as Twinkies and Coke and this contributed to his basic diminished capacity. This became known as the Twinkie Defense.
Later in his life after he had been paroled he admitted that his murder of Milk and Moscone was premeditated and that he additionally wanted to murder that day Willie Brown of the State Assembly and another fellow supervisor Carol Silver
Harvey Milk was an amazing organizer, and a martyr of our gay community. He used to say "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door." How prophetic he was—because of his example –many have gone on to politics and to a larger commitment to GLBT equality not just in our own state but around the world.
Tonight here in our own temple –we recognize our Past President Loren Ostrow who is receiving the Harvey Milk Award from Christopher Street West, Pride 2007. We know Loren’s many accomplishments here in our own temple—serving on the board, Serving as president during the dedication of our building. Loren serves presently in his second go-round as chair of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center and serves on the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, currently as its Treasurer but also having been National Chair person!
Like Harvey Milk, Loren has contributed to building our community and has always emphasized the importance of people. His generosity and kindness are so evident in everything he does. He has brought to our congregation a steady hand and to our larger LA and National GLBT organizations talented leadership and extraordinary vision. We join tonight Loren in saluting your many accomplishments and in particular this one.
You have ensured that our community thrives—its mental, physical and spiritual well being is guarded and enriched because of your dedication, devotion and service to the community. You have been a wonderful leader and guide to us all of humility and determination, conviction and passion. You have ensured that our community organizations at every level, national, state and local thrive! You have used your grace, humor, leadership and tenacity to build up our glbt community.
We are so proud of your accomplishments and say TODAH RABBAH—thank you for your willingness to open closet doors, and bring light and healing to our community and equality at every turn.
The night of the assassination of Milk and Moscone there was a spontaneous candlelight march through the streets of San Francisco—It was at this march that Holly Near—famous folk singer and feminist wrote her ballad—“We are gentle, angry people.” This became an anthem for the gay rights movement in a way that “We Shall Overcome” became a signature of the African-American Civil rights movement. Her words, we are gentle angry people—singing for our lives—has united not just gay people everywhere—but reaches across, the boundaries of class, ethnicity and color to freedom loving people who are ready to work for justice and equality. This weekend amidst the parade and festivities—let us not forget the work and life of Harvey Milk or the outstanding dedication of Loren Ostrow who has built communities with his hands! Freedom is not complete until everyone is free—and all can partake in the equality. This weekend we need to renew ourselves so that all may be free and equal and can celebrate their dignity and humanity with strength and joy and blessing.

Ken Yehi Ratzon.