D'var Selicha - A Meditation on Authenticity

D’var Selicha 5772

Jonathan Blake

A story is told of the famed 5th-Century-BCE Greek sculptor, architect and painter named Phidias who was commissioned to make a statue for one of Athens’ temples.  The statue was to be set against a wall inside one of the rooms of the temple.  Phidias used only the best and most expensive tools for the task and gave exquisite attention to every inch of the statue.

An apprentice in his workshop asked the master, “I can understand why you work so hard on the front side of the statue, for that will be seen.  But why must you work so hard on the back?  After all, it will be up against a wall and no one will see it anyway.”  The artist answered, “The gods see everywhere.”

His answer should resonate with artists everywhere because real artists do not create in order to impress others but to express their innermost selves.  Therefore their art must be right, inside and out, comprehensively true to the artist’s vision, reflective of the artist’s innermost longings.

As it goes in the realm of Art so it goes in the realm of the Spirit.  Our spiritual pursuits must also be true to a vision; right, inside and out.  I offer you this reflection tonight, on the cusp of a new year, because it seems to me that one important spiritual aspiration that we might renew at this time of year is our ongoing quest to become our most authentic selves.  

Authenticity is commodity much in demand in our world; there is nothing more obnoxious than when we see others straining to present themselves as something they are not:  authors who invent quotes and even pseudo-biographical experiences in order to impress the reader and buy credibility with false credit; social climbers who cover up their own insecurities and unique charms by attaching themselves to the wealthy or powerful; politicians whose promises reflect what they think voters want to hear rather than their own core convictions; children who so crave fitting in that they betray their own happiness to be part of the crowd.  

And in our world, where anyone with Photoshop can smooth out every imperfection; where plastic surgery can mask the steady toll of time; where high school and college kids are often talked out of pursuing their dreams because they have to do something “practical” with their lives; is it any wonder that sightings of authenticity seem so rare and refreshing?

This past January, when we were interviewing candidates for the assistant rabbi job that would eventually go to Rabbi David Levy, I asked our Confirmation students, tenth graders, what qualities they would seek in our new rabbi.  I underscored that youth work would be a core component of this new rabbi’s portfolio and therefore I felt it important to invite their feedback into the process.  

One thoughtful and impassioned teenager implored me, “Please don’t focus on hiring someone cool.  Hire a rabbi who is real.  Kids are tired of adults thinking that what we want in our teachers, spiritual leaders, and role models, is someone cool and hip so that we’ll be impressed by them.  What kids really want, and really need, is someone real--true to him or herself and his or her beliefs.”  In that moment, I wanted to hire this student to be our next rabbi -- so wise and true did her words ring.

A favorite midrash, a Rabbinic lesson, asks a question about a peculiar feature of the Holy Ark whose construction is described in the Book of Exodus.  Moses receives instructions from God to have an Ark built of cedar wood, and then to have the Ark inlaid and overlaid with gold.  The overlaying we can understand as everyone could see it; but inside, where no one but God could know, why inlay the entire thing with precious gold?

From this detail the Rabbis deduced an important principle:  “Whosoever wishes to be considered a disciple of the wise has to be the same kind of person, inside and out.  One cannot be impressive and ostentatious in piety when people are looking and a scoundrel when no one else will know.”

Selichot--the word means “forgiveness”--prompts us to approach the people in our lives whom we may have hurt with our words, our ways, or our failure to act or speak, our inattentiveness.  

As we go about this difficult spiritual work we’d be wise to remember what our Sages teach, that there are two types of divisiveness:  between one person and another, and between a person and him or herself. 

Divisiveness between two people is easy to comprehend.   Of internal divisiveness, a state of conflict with oneself, the Rabbis use this phrase: “Echad B’Peh, Echad B’Lev,” that is, the mouth is saying one thing, but the heart is saying something else.”  

One Chasidic Master, Reb Yisrael, who founded the Modzitz dynasty, taught that when a person is not at one with oneself, when one’s speech betrays one’s true feelings, this internal divisiveness inevitably leads to discord with other people -- hence my astute teenage student’s harsh assessment of people who try to be cool instead of trying to be real.  

Put positively, one should strive to be “tocho k’varo,” with inner self and outer self in concord with each other.

In other words, authentic.

There is another word in the English language whose  meaning may point to the same idea and takes us back to where we started, the world of art and sculpture in particular.  

The word is “sincere.”  A folk tradition links the word sincere to two Latin words, “sine” and “cera” which means without wax.  When artists were commissioned to produce a work of sculpture, those who were honest would use pure marble.  Fraudulent practitioners would use good material in front where people could see but inferior material in the back and then patch the holes with wax--a shortcut often exposed by the first hot and sunny day.  

For this reason when a work was completed, the artist would attest to the quality of his work by signing that it had been done sine cera – that is, without wax -- sincerely.

The Chasidic Rebbe Zusya, who is celebrated for his emotional introspection and heartfelt piety, is credited with the quintessential teaching for the Yamim Noraim.  I imagine you have heard it countless times but  listen to his words again.  

“When I reach the next world,” said Zusya, “God will not ask me, ‘Why were you not Moses?’  The question will be, ‘Why were you not Zusya?’”

It’s all about authenticity.  Why are you not the person you were meant to be?  Why are you not the most you that you could be?

As we prepare to enter the new year, I hope each of us will take some time to consider the following two questions and respond privately as a kind of spiritual exercise that will help us enter this new year in a state of wholeness and peace.   - JEB

I am my most authentic self when I am:

1. __________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________

These things get in the way of my own most authentic self:

1. __________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________

Re'eh - Guest Blogger congregant Steve Siegel

Dear Friends,

Shavua tov!  

Here is a transcript of remarks delivered to the congregation on Friday evening by our congregant and Torah Study Maven Steve Siegel.

Warmest wishes,

Rabbi Jonathan Blake

FRIDAY RE'EH  AUGUST 17,2012

WHEN RABBI BLAKE  ASKED ME TO SPEAK TONIGHT, I TOLD HIM  THAT THE LAST TIME I GAVE A TALK ON THIS PARASHAH  TEN YEARS AGO, THERE WAS AN ENORMOUS RAIN AND ELECTRICAL STORM IN SCARSDALE.  WHEN WE MET THAT FRIDAY NIGHT  THERE WAS NO ELECTRICITY, SO THERE WAS NO AIR CONDITIONING, AND  NO LIGHT IN THIS BUILDING. THE ROOM WAS VERY DARK AND VERY VERY WARM.  WAS GOD TRYING TO SEND ME A MESSAGE ABOUT MY D'VOR TORAH????  

BUT RABBI BLAKE, BRAVE SOUL, WAS WILLING TO RISK GOD'S WRATH ONCE AGAIN....AND SO HERE I AM TONIGHT.

THIS  WEEK'S PARASHAH, RE'EH, IS IN THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.  DEUTERONOMY CONTAINS 34 CHAPTERS, AND IS  MOSES'  SPEECH TO THE ISRAELITES AS THEY ARE ABOUT TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND. THE SPEECH CONTAINS INSTRUCTIONS AND ADMONITIONS AS MOSES LAYS OUT THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES TO GOD. 

DEUTERONOMY IS A LONG SPEECH.  MOSES SUMMARIZES THE OTHER FOUR  BOOKS OF TORAH AND RESTATES THE LAWS, RULES, AND  PRECEPTS THAT GOD EXPECTS THE ISRAELITES TO FOLLOW.  

RE'EH, THE FOURTH OF ELEVEN PARSHIOT IN DEUTERONOMY,CONTAINS A SMALL PORTION OF THESE LAWS. BUT, IT IS A POWERFUL PARASHAH BECAUSE  IT CONTAINS WITHIN IT ALL THE  MEANS BY WHICH TO BE A HOLY PEOPLE.  

RE'EH MEANS 'TO SEE' .  MOSES WANTS THE ISRAELITES 'TO SEE' OR MORE APTLY ' TO FORSEE' OR 'EXPECT' THAT THEIR CONDUCT IN THE PROMISED LAND WILL DETERMINE WHETHER THEY WILL BE BLESSED OR CURSED. THE ISRAELITES HAVE IMPORTANT LIFE ALTERING CHOICES TO MAKE. CHOICES THAT WILL ELEVATE THEM SPIRITUALLY ON THE ONE HAND, OR CHOICES THAT WILL DIMINISH THEM ON THE OTHER. 

MOSES IS VERY EXPLICIT AND SPECIFIC IN THIS PARASHAH AS HE LISTS THEIR SPIRITUAL RESPONSIBILITIES.

FIRST,  THE ISRAELITES  MUST REJECT WORSHIP AT THE SITES OF THE CANAANITE PEOPLE. THE ISRAELITES  ARE TO WORSHIP IN THE SPECIFIC PLACE THAT GOD WILL DESIGNATE. THE ISRAELITES MUST CHOOSE ADONAI OVER ALL OTHER GODS. THIS INSTRUCTION IS THE BASIS FOR THE BUILDING OF THE FIRST TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM.

SECOND,  THEY MUST ADHERE TO REGULATIONS FOR SLAUGHTERING AND EATING MEAT.  MOSES CLARIFIES WHICH ANIMALS ARE PERMITTED AND WHICH ARE FORBIDDEN. THE ISRAELITES MUST BE RESPECTFUL OF AN ANIMAL'S LIFE AND SLAUGHTER ACCORDINGLY. ISRAELITES MUST CHOOSE ADONAI'S FOODS . THIS INSTRUCTION FORMS THE BASIS FOR KASHRUT.

THIRD, MOSES SETS FORTH THE RULES FOR CARE OF THE LEVITES, THE STRANGER, THE FATHERLESS, THE WIDOW, AND THE NEEDY. THE ISRAELITES  MUST CHOOSE GENEROSITY OVER SELFISHNESS. THIS INSTRUCTION IS THE BASIS FOR A CARING SOCIETY AND  MANY MITZVOT.

FOURTH, MOSES  REVIEWS THE THREE PILGRIMAGE FESTIVALS OF PASSOVER, SHAVUOT AND SUKKOT. THE ISRAELITES MUST CHOOSE TO FOLLOW GOD'S INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMMUNITY WORSHIP TO BE BLESSED.

THESE AND OTHER UNIQUELY JEWISH PRACTICES ALLUDED TO IN RE'EH FORM THE BASIS OF JUDAISM.  MOSES IS EMPHATIC IN HIS SPEECH.  THE ISRAELITES HAVE IMPORTANT CHOICES TO MAKE. THEY MUST "FORSEE" THAT STRAYING TO THE WRONG  CHOICES AND  ADOPTING THE PRACTICES OF THE TRIBES OF CANAAN  WOULD INVOKE GOD'S WRATH AND  CURSES WOULD FOLLOW.

TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE AND PURPOSE OF THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY,  WE NEED TO REMEMBER THE HISTORICAL BACK STORY.  DEUTERONOMY WAS  WRITTEN  IN THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM OF JUDAH DURING THE REIGN OF KING JOSIAH IN THE YEAR 622 BCE.  BY THIS TIME ONLY 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 12 TRIBES EXISTED.  THE OTHER 10 TRIBES HAD BEEN ANNIHALATED 100 YEARS BEFORE BY THE ASSYRIANS. OVER THE CENTURIES, THE PEOPLE HAD BEEN ASSIMILATED AND WERE OBSERVING THE CANAANITE PAGAN RITES. JOSIAH WAS TROUBLED BY THE PEOPLE'S IGNORANCE OF THE JEWISH PRACTICES OF THEIR FOREFATHERS.

JOSIAH USED THE MESSAGE OF DEUTERONOMY TO REINSTITUTE THE COVENANT, ELIMINATE IDOLATRY, CENTRALIZE THE RELIGION IN JERUSALEM AND RAISE THE LEVEL OF HOLINESS IN HIS KINGDOM. JOSIAH USED DEUTERONOMY AND THE PROMINENCE OF MOSES TO CONVEY THE MESSAGE TO THE POPULACE.

SO, JUXTAPOSING BLESSINGS AND CURSES WAS A POWERFUL TOOL TO EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE COVENANT.   

THE CURSES ARE MEANT TO FRIGHTEN THE ISRAELITES AWAY FROM THEIR PAGAN PRACTICES. "SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NORTHERN TRIBES? STRAYING FROM THE COVENANT WILL CAUSE ANNIHILATION FOR YOU JUST AS IT DID FOR OUR BRETHREN OF THE NORTHERN TRIBES". JOSIAH USED DEUTERONOMY TO COMPELL HIS PEOPLE TO MAKE TESHUVAH. 

IN DEUTERONOMY,  MANY CURSES ARE LISTED THAT MOSES SAYS THE ISRAELITES SHOUD "EXPECT" WILL BEFALL THEM IF THEY DON'T ABIDE THE COVENANT.  "CURSED SHALL YOU BE IN THE CITY AND THE COUNTRY; 

CURSED SHALL BE YOUR BASKET AND YOUR  KNEADING BOWL;

CURSED SHALL BE THE ISSUE OF YOUR WOMB AND THE PRODUCE OF YOUR SOIL, THE CALVING OF YOUR HERD AND THE LAMBING OF YOUR FLOCK.   ETC ETC." 

THE LIST OF CURSES IS COVERED IN  53 VERSES, EACH MORE FRIGHTENING THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE. THE CURSES THREATEN THE HEALTH AND WEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY AND EACH FAMILY AND EACH PERSON WITHIN. KING JOSIAH BRINGS THE PEOPLE BACK TO WORSHIPPING ADONAI.

IN TODAY'S WORLD, THE CURSES ARE STILL READ IN SYNAGOGUE  ON A  SATURDAY MORNING. THE PERSON READING THEM IS CALLED  TO THE TORAH  NOT BY NAME BUT BY THE DESIGNATION  'HE OR SHE WHO WISHES' AND THE CURSES ARE READ IN A LOW VOICE AND WITHOUT INTERRUPTION.  THE FEAR OF THE CURSES PREVAILS TODAY AND THE DESIRE TO BE BLESSED IS AS STRONG AS IN ANCIENT TIMES.

SO, HOW CAN A PERSON IN TODAY'S WORLD BE BLESSED? IT IS SIMPLE.  TORAH TEACHES THAT WE WILL BE BLESSED BY THE PERFORMANCE OF MITZVOT.  EACH OF US HAS THE FREE WILL TO CHOOSE  TO SIT HOME OR CHOOSE TO DO A MITZVAH ACCORDING TO  THE TALENTS THAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN.

BECAUSE OF THE SIZE OF OUR COUNTRY AND THE WAYS OF OUR GOVERNMENT AND THE COMPLICATIONS OF OUR WORLD, AN INDIVIDUAL WANTING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE CAN PERCEIVE HIS OR HER ROLE AS INSIGNIFICANT. BUT, RE'EH TELLS US THAT WE MUST 'SEE, FORSEE, AND EXPECT' THAT SMALL AND GREAT GOOD DEEDS COME TOGETHER TO COLLECTIVELY RAISE US ALL TO A HOLY PLACE. IF ONE INDIVIDUAL OR ONE INSTITUTION CAN CHOOSE A NICHE, THEN A PATH IS CREATED TO DO A MITZVAH.  IT IS SAID THAT THE REWARD FOR A MITZVAH IS THE MITZVAH ITSELF.  MITZVOT BEGET MITZVOT AND A PERSON OR PEOPLES IS THEREFORE BLESSED.

WRT SUPPORTS A PROGRAM CALLED "AMAZING AFTERNOONS".  IT IS AN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM STARTED TEN YEARS AGO  ON THE SOUTHSIDE OF MT VERNON TO PROVIDE CARE  AND INSTRUCTION FOR 120 DISADVANTAGED  CHILDREN IN  THE EDWARD WILLIAMS  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL. ITS DIRECTOR, MARY FIGUEROA, RUNS THE PROGRAM WITH LOVING KINDNESS. THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN ADOPTED AS A MITZVAH PROJECT BY WRT TEENAGERS. IT HAS ALSO BECOME A CLUB AT SCARSDALE H.S. WHICH PROVIDES VOLUNTEERS EACH YEAR TO HELP CHILDREN WITH THEIR HOME WORK.

I CHOSE TO BECOME A PART OF THIS PROGRAM NINE YEARS AGO. I GREW UP IN MT VERNON IN THE 1940S AND 1950S.  I GRADUATED FROM A.B. DAVIS HS IN 1954 AND  HAVE A LOT OF AFFECTION FOR THAT CITY. I AM STILL IN TOUCH WITH MANY OF MY HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATES OF 60 YEARS AGO. MT VERNON AND THE PEOPLE I GREW UP WITH, STUDIED WITH, PLAYED WITH, AND LEARNED FROM ALL SHAPED MY FUTURE. I AM APPRECIATIVE OF THEIR INFLUENCES ON ME. SO I KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THE INFLUENCES OF OTHERS CAN BE ON A CHILD'S CHOICES.

I WAS IN ATTENDANCE AT A WRT FRIDAY NIGHT SERVICE NINE YEARS AGO WHEN RABBI JACOBS MADE A REQUEST FOR VOLUNTEERS TO HELP WITH "AMAZING AFTERNOONS". IT BECAME AN EASY CHOICE FOR ME TO RAISE MY HAND AND STEP FORWARD.  I HAVE BEEN  SUPERVISING A CHESS CLASS AND A BASKETBALL CLASS EVER SINCE.  

THIS PAST YEAR, MY WIFE FRAN CREATED A LITERACY AND STORYTELLING PROGRAM  FOR KIDS IN GRADES 1 THRU 4. SHE WAS JOINED BY SEVEN OTHER WRT VOLUNTEERS.  WE HAVE TAKEN OUR PERSONAL SKILLS TO A PLACE WHERE THEY CAN BE SHARED BY OTHERS. THERE ARE MANY OTHER WRT VOLUNTEERS WHO CONTRIBUTE TOO. A DANCE PROGRAM, A MUSIC PROGRAM, AFTER SCHOOL HOMEWORK HELP. ALL OFFERED BY WRT ADULT VOLUNTEERS.

WRT'S WOMEN OF REFORM JUDAISM RAISED MONEY FOR HEALTHY SNACKS LAST YEAR. AND MANY OF THOSE SAME WOMEN VOLUNTEER FOOD AND BOOKS AND TOYS AND TIME. SO MANY WRT CHILDREN AND ADULTS GIVE OF THEIR TIME AND MONEY TO "HELP THE STRANGER" AS RE'EH COMMANDS US. WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH MORE OF THE KIDS THIS YEAR. MITZVOT HAVE BEGOTTEN MITZVOT.

WE SEE EVIDENCE OF CHOICES EVERY DAY IN OUR LIVES.  WE CAN CHOOSE TO BE GOOD CITIZENS, TO WORK PRODUCTIVELY, TO SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS, TO NURTURE THE NEXT GENERATION, TO BE PRESENT FOR OUR PARENTS AS THEY AGE, TO BE CHARITABLE, TO BE ATTENTIVE TO THE ACTIONS OF OUR LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS, AND TO CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.

EVERYONE, WHETHER AN INDIVIDUAL, CORPORATE ENTITY, RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION  OR GOVERNMENT, CAN TAKE THE CHARGE THAT RE'EH TELL US TO TAKE.  WE SHOULD EXPECT

TO MAKE CHOICES, TO DO THE RIGHT THING, SO WE MAY SEE THE WAY TO MAKING A BETTER WORLD.  WE CALL THIS "TIKKUN OLAM", REPAIRING THE WORLD. TIKKUN OLAM  IS THE BLESSING.   MITZVOT BEGET MITZVOT AND A BETTER WORLD.   MAY WE ALL DEVELOP RE'EH, A VISION OF A BETTER FUTURE.    

AMEN!

"Do Not Inquire": A Reflection on Parashat Re'eh

This week's portion, Re'eh, cautions against investigating the practices of pagan religions:

"...Do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did those nations worship their gods?  I too will follow those practices'" (Deut. 12:30).  The fear, of course, is that intellectual inquiry, even if well-meaning, for instance, for the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, will nevertheless lead to seduction by foreigners into Gentile ways... and ultimately, to the betrayal of the God of the Hebrews.

In his commentary to this passage, Plaut (1981 edition, p. 1425) has noted:  "This intellectual isolation led in time to a concept of non-Israelite and, later, non-Jewish religions that was not always in consonance with the facts....  In the history of nations such protectionism has often been the policy of religious as well as political orthodoxies.  Thus, the Inquisition proscribed certain books as dangerous to the Catholic faith...."

"Liberal Jews," Plaut continues, "... take a different view:  they consider the biblical law as no longer applicable in the modern context.  They affirm the independence of the human spirit and the freedom of intellectual inquiry.  To be sure, unlimited inquiry carries certain risks, but these are worth the price, for the freedom of knowledge is, for liberals, a requisite for a fully free human existence."

Friends:  I affirm these powerful words and underscore their importance for our intellectual and spiritual endeavor in this online forum.

Westchester Reform Temple is a community of 1,200 households comprised principally of Jews and a goodly number of Gentiles who have joined themselves to the mission of the Jewish People through bonds of family, friendship, and shared faith.  As a congregation, we take special pride in our pursuit of intellectual inquiry and the Reform Jewish outlook that Faith and Reason must go hand-in-hand.

As a Reform Jewish faith community, we categorically reject the parochial and even, at times, xenophobic outlook of some our ancestors and some of our present-day co-religionists who, like the authors of this part of Deuteronomy, have felt compelled to close their eyes, ears, hearts and minds to people of other religious traditions.

As a dramatic example:  what has transpired on our blog in recent days goes far beyond the rejection of intellectual inquiry.  In recent days, comments to this blog have crossed a line to what can only be called hate speech.  The original intent of this blog--to teach, study, and explore Torah and to engage in intellectual inquiry--has been sullied by comments demeaning Gentiles, non-Orthodox Jews, interfaith families, and--most egregiously--Muslims.  Our blog, intended to be safe place for all, has become a hostile environment which does not reflect the values of our congregational community.

I have, therefore, pulled a few of the most offensive recent comments from the blog because I believe that they can serve only to distance us from intellectual inquiry and the study of Torah and seduce us into a lowbrow volley of brickbats, vituperation, and ugly misrepresentations of Muslims and Arabs.

Let me be perfectly clear (because the irony of censoring comments in the context of remarks about open inquiry is not lost on me!):  In my view, there is nothing more idolatrous than using the sacred words of Torah to espouse or justify bigotry, and it will not be tolerated here.

Further: during the coming weeks and months, the purposes and implementation of our blog will be comprehensively evaluated.  To that end, your feedback about the following questions is warmly invited:

- What do we hope to achieve here?  What should be the goals and aspirations of our blog?

- Who should be writing the weekly comments?  We now have a robust clergy team of three rabbis and two cantors at WRT; we also have an exceptionally intellectually robust congregation and one possible future model for our blog envisions this online forum as an opportunity for lay members of the congregation to teach and learn.  We also have an opportunity to welcome "guest bloggers" to the site, for instance, WRT students studying abroad in Israel or in rabbinical school who could use this platform to share their views and their own special Torah.

- When should the blog be updated?  Early in the week, when we can engage Parashat Ha-Shavua in anticipation of the coming Shabbat?  Or close to Shabbat itself, when the Friday evening speaker's remarks can be published?

I welcome your comments, and I offer these in the spirit of open inquiry and rejection of that which our community deems offensive and counter-productive.

Rav Berachot -- with many blessings,

Jonathan

Eikev D'var Torah by Troy Kirwin

Check out incoming UVA Freshman Troy Kirwin's fantastic d'var Torah from last Shabbat! Shavua Tov!

Troy Kirwin     August 10, 2012

College Send-Off D’var Torah

It’s been four long years.  Four challenging years.  There were certainly times when  my classmates and I felt as though there was no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel.  Constant exams, essays, projects, SAT prep- the list just goes on.  Yet they were also 4 exciting years, filled with success and learning.  Your Four years in high school are supposed to be the period in which you see yourself grow the most.  As we end one journey, we embark on what could be an even more daunting journey-four years of college.  
We stand poised to enter a future filled with uncertainty. The road before us is not set in stone by our parents.  It is waiting to be plotted out by us.  In some ways, college is like a proverbial bridge, connecting our current lives within the constraints of our parents’ homes to the point when we enter the real world for ourselves.  In the process we will stumble and fall, only to pick ourselves up again once more.  
This journey ahead of us shows several parallels to the journey that Moses led the Israelites on through the wilderness. They roamed 40 years through the unknown, battling trials and setbacks in order to start a new life for themselves.  Though our voyage may just be through a quad, a fraternity house or a crowded library and not a hostile desert, the point is still the same.  We are entering a new frontier.  Our way of life will change in more ways than one.  We will have to learn to live on our own, do our own laundry, make new friends and chart our own course.  

The most prominent way that our lives will change, however, is the fact that we are leaving what many refer to as the “Scarsdale bubble.”  As we all know, kids who grow up in Scarsdale live very sheltered lives, sometimes unaware of the reality of the outside world.  For those kids in Scarsdale who are Jewish, most grow up solely in environments where they are surrounded by other Jews.  Our school is predominantly Jewish, we go to camps that are mostly Jewish, we go on teen tours with other Jewish teens from the area, we go to religious school, and some of us even play what we dub “Jew Ball.”  Those teenagers around us who aren’t Jewish, are typically very accepting and respectful of the Jewish tradition because of their exposure to it.  But now, all of a sudden, we are at the point in our lives when we leave the bubble and face reality.    Many of my classmates made decisions about which school they wanted to attend based on the Jewish population at that college.  Maybe they were afraid to enter a world that didn’t resemble the bubble.  My mother’s friend told my mom that she did not want her son to go to school in the south because she was afraid of the way people might treat a Jewish boy from Scarsdale.  I also had a conversation with a friend of mine this past fall about what criteria we were looking for in a school.  I mentioned that I wanted to go somewhere unlike Scarsdale in order to experience a different side of life.  My friend told me that he would only go to school somewhere where there was a large Jewish population, and he suspected that most of his friends would eventually be Jewish.  

In this week’s torah portion, Parashat Eikev, Moses warns his fellow Israelites before entering the land of milk and honey about the importance of maintaining their devotion to God, Judaism and the commandments.  God will provide all that we need and love each and every one of us, Moses explains, just as he guided them to the promised land. Then, Moses cautions his companions.  He warns them that in this new land, there will be those who are non-believers in God and the Jewish tradition.  Trying to capture God’s wrath in his fiery speech, Moses tells the Israelites that God will deliver to them all those who fail to pray to the one true God, and that all the images of their alternative Gods should be put to the flames. The Israelites will even have to “annihilate” all those who question their Jewish ways, Moses warns.  

Though our journey into a new land lacks the theatrics of the Israelites’, there are some similarities that are worth noting.  For most of our lives, my classmates and I have never been in a position where we have had to defend our religion to those who have not been exposed to Judaism and who therefore challenge or even reject our religion either out of hostility or ignorance.  Living in the “Scarsdale bubble,” we have, sometimes intentionally, been protected from those who have negative opinions about Jews.  The question that lies at hand here is now that we are entering new schools where we as Jews go from the majority to the minority, will we still standup for our religion and our traditions against those who make disparaging remarks?

The answer will be different for each Jewish classmate of mine as we move forward, but I believe that the true answer results from how comfortable we are with our own Jewish identity.  This issue is something that we discussed a lot in my Post-Confirmation class here at WRT the last two years lead by Cantor Abramson and Nadav .  Your Jewish identity is whatever you believe makes you Jewish.  This could include your connection to God, your appreciation of the Jewish holidays, your eagerness to continue your Jewish education or possibly your commitment to doing mitzvot by helping out the greater community.  The more comfortable we are with our own Jewish identity the more likely it is that we will stand up for our religion.
Our family spends a lot of time at a country house in Litchfield County, Ct, an area with a miniscule Jewish population.  I have spent every summer of my life there and have made many great friends.  Through my years up there, I have learned from exposure what it is like to live outside the “Scarsdale bubble.”  First, I have witnessed the phrase “He/She is such a Jew” thrown around.  When I was younger, I did not have the confidence to say that I found that to be offensive but now I speak up for myself or whoever is the victim of the remark.  Also, at least on one occasion I have had someone say to me, “you know, you don’t seem or look Jewish.”  When they say this, they mean it in a way that, to them, is almost a compliment and in which the proper response in their view would be “Thank you.”  My conjecture is that through their ignorance to Judaism they only see a Jew as someone who wears a yarmulke  all the time, wears teffilin, or tsit tsit under their shirts.  Lastly, I have a couple friends from my summer home who are half Jewish, having had one Jewish and one non-Jewish parent.  By this measure I too, am half Jewish, though these friends of mine are either non-observant Jews or Christian whereas I have been raised exclusively in the Reform Jewish tradition.  Oddly enough, though I have been friends with each of these friends for most of my life, I only discovered that they were half Jewish in the last two or three years.  After hearing them speak about their Jewish heritage in conversation, I have determined that they are all almost embarrassed by their Jewish background.  Whenever someone learns that they are half-Jewish, they always specify that they don’t practice Judaism almost out of fear of what the other person might be thinking of them.  Two weeks ago, someone was in an argument with one of my half- Jewish friends and, in a belittling tone called him a “Jew.”  Later, when my friend was telling me this story, I told him that he should have stood up for himself and for his Jewish heritage.  It became evident to me that he was not comfortable doing that.  After reflecting on this event, I realized that part of the reason these friends of mine are too timid to confront those who think poorly about Jews is because they don’t have a strong connection to Judaism and have not formed their Jewish identity.  I, along with many of my classmates from high school who went to WRT, are lucky enough to have had the guidance of this temple in forming our Jewish identity.  
Just as Moses pleaded to the Israelites not to abandon their God or their teachings and to confront all those who denied the validity of their religion, I believe it is essential for my classmates and I to carry our connection to Judaism with us as we enter college.  We must be strong enough to take aim at those who mock our religion.  Most importantly, I hope that my Jewish classmates have all acquired the tools through religious school and other Jewish traditions to be able to educate those who are misinformed about what it means to be Judaism.  After all, misinformation is often the root of biases against unfamiliar cultures and religions.  I wish all of my classmates the best in their future endeavors and to enjoy the exciting journey ahead of us.  

Tisha B'Av

This past Saturday night, as a Reform Jewish community we held a service to observe Tisha B'Av, or the 9th of Av. The 9th of Av recalls a series of tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people over the millennia.  For more information about Tisha B'Av check out the articles at MyJewishLearning.com on Tisha B'Av.  

Our big challenge as articulated by Rabbi Blake, is how do we observe Tisha B'Av as Reform Jews? The destruction of the Temple marked for the Jewish people a radical shift in how they interacted with their tradition.   The Rabbinic reformation created a Judaism that was no longer tied to the Temple Cult, and for many Reform Jews today, they cannot even conceive of a world where the Temple operates as it did 2000 years ago.

My answer throughout the evening, and in my teaching was to consider the experience of national tragedy that Tisha B'Av represents.  Tisha B'Av represents those moments where our lives are radically changed and marred by severe tragedy. The book of Lamentations in our Tanach is an written lament that describes the tragedy that was experienced in a post 586 BCE world after the destruction of the first Temple.   Lamentations Rabbah was created to respond to the tragedy of the destruction of the second Temple in 70 CE.  By writing and expressing the pain of the tragedy in a public form, there is some catharsis and the possibility for hope.  

Therefore, I shared a variety of texts that described situations that merited a lament.   Those moments that as a people, as an individual, or as a smaller community there was a need to stop and reflect, and hopefully move forward after such intense pain.   The texts have been reproduced below to spark your own thoughts about experiences that merit lament.  Those experiences that are tragic, and yet have some kernel of hope that things might get better.    

Laments through the ages

The Hittite “Prayer of Kantuzilis” Circa 1350 BCE

Would that my god might now freely open his heart and soul to me and tell me my fault so that I might learn about it! . . . My god who was angry and rejected me—let the same god care for me again and grant me life! Would that my god who forsook me might take pity on me!. . . See! I, Kantuzilis, thy servant have asked for mercy and humbled myself.

Lamentations 5:21-22 circa 586 BCE

כא  הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ יְהוָה אֵלֶיךָ ונשוב (וְנָשׁוּבָה), חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם.	5:21 Turn to us Adonai, and we will return, renew us as in the days of old.
כב  כִּי אִם-מָאֹס מְאַסְתָּנוּ, קָצַפְתָּ עָלֵינוּ עַד-מְאֹד.  {ש}	5:22 Unless You have utterly rejected us And are exceedingly angry with us.

There is None to Comfort: Lamentations Rabba 1:26, (Buber, pp. 61-2), Soncino, p. 96 Circa 70 CE

אין לה מנחם. א"ר לוי כל מקום שנאמר אין הוה לה, ותהי שרי עקרה אין לה ולד )בראשית י“א:ל‘(, והוה לה, שנאמר וה' פקד את שרה )שם בראשית כ“א :א‘(, ודכוותיה ולחנה אין ילדים )ש"א שמואל א' א:ב‘(, והוה לה, שנאמר כי פקד ה' את חנה וגו' )שם שמואל א' ב‘:כ“א(, ודכוותיה ציון היא דורש אין לה )ירמיה ל‘:י“ח(, והוה לה, שנאמר ובא לציון גואל )ישעיה נ“ט:כ‘( ובא לציון גואל, אף כן את אומר אין לה מנחם, והוה לה, שנא' )ישעיהו נ"א:י“ב( אנכי אנכי הוא מנחמכם.

She has none to comfort her. Rabbi Levi said: Wherever it says, has none (אין לה), it indicates that there would be in the future.* [For instance], and Sarai was barren; she had no child; [Genesis 11:30] but she did have one later, as it is said, And Adonai remembered Sarah [ibid. 21:1]. Similarly, But Hannah had no children [I Samuel 1:2] she did have them later, as it is said, So Adonai remembered Hannah [ibid. 2:21]. Similarly, She is Zion, there is none that cares for her [Jeremiah 30:17]; but she will have one later, as it is said, And a redeemer will come to Zion [Isaiah 49:20]. In like manner you may say, She has none to comfort her; but she will have later, as it is said, I, even I, am He that comforts you. [Isaiah 51:12].



Beliefs by Peter Steinfels New York Times, August 31, 2002

Where was God on Sept. 11 is an inevitable question because Sept. 11 was exceptional, something confronted. Collectively. It is a necessary and valuable question, however, because it asks about something unexceptional where was God yesterday and where is God today? - and too often confronted alone.
Contemporary religious thinkers are acutely aware that there can be no "good" answer about terrible situations just least-bad answers. The least-bad ones encompass more of one's whole experience of life than the others.
In the case of Sept. 11, not a few voices have answered that God was right in the midst of the horror, especially in the heroism and self-sacrifice.

A Lament for Baghdad by Rabbi David Levy, December 2011

My fatherland.   Cut off from me.   Torn by war. No Jews on the streets. A place that is defined by uncertainty. A place that the Jews left 60 years ago.    Why did they leave?  Why did they leave everything behind? Why did you hear calls for Jewish blood?   Some say, because of the new Israeli state.  Some say, because of the pogroms of 1941, the Farhoud.  Some say, the neighbors they had, for 2500 years suddenly became foreign to them.   Yet that place still remains a part of our memory.   That place, where Jews wrote the Talmud.  That place where Jews had been a partner in building a glorious society. That place between the two rivers. Gone was the partnership.  Gone into a century of uncertainty.    Gone are the happy Jews in a Muslim country.      Did my Great Grandfather not serve in the Turkish Army in World War I? Did my Grandfather not help build the railroad system throughout the country?   Did my Great Grandfather not invest in the Iraqi economy to help it grow? Where were these contributions when the Farhoud began? Where were the generations of Muslim and Jewish coexistence when the Moussad smuggled Jews to the fledgling Israeli state?  Where was our history, our pride in our country? We had hoped that this war would mark a turning point, that the American troops would change our city into a place which was tolerant and safe.   Chanukah candles were lit in Saddam’s palace.An American Iraqi Jewish JAG walked the streets of Baghdad, under armed guard, but could not wander on his own.  He experienced his family’s history with his own feet.

There is progress in Baghdad; there is hope for the future.   There is progress; there is free voting and free elections albeit marred by violence.  There is progress, US Troops have left.

But today only eight Jews remain.   Eight Jews in place of thousands.  The streets that my ancestors walked down, when will I be able to wander those streets? When will Baghdad be safe again? When will it be safe for me to visit one of my homes?

The Olympics

In response to the Olympics opening ceremony this past Friday, I made some remarks at Friday night services regarding what I have perceived to be a mistake that the Olympic committee is making by not recognizing the tragic murders of 40 years ago.


In Paris, on November 25th, 1892, Pierre de Coubertin stated, in his attempt to resurrect the Olympic Games: "That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally..."in the Olympic Games.

This utopian vision was a huge part of the 19th century.  The wonderful ideal that we could overcome humanity’s foibles, and enter a messianic age brought about by our own actions, without waiting for G-d to do it for us.   For the Jewish people this vision was manifest in the ideals of the Reform Movement and Zionism.  Each of these were amazing visions of what the world could be, and a belief in humanity’s capacity to create that world.   

This vision of a world perfected by humanity’s activities was shattered time and again, in each moment where humanity’s capacity for evil has been presented throughout the 20th century.  Tonight marks one of the moments where the olympic vision of collaboration and as a symbol for peace was broken. Tonight marks the 40th anniversary of the 11 Israeli athletes and one German police officer slain by terrorists in Munich in 1972.   This tragedy that marrs Coubertin’s olympic vision was not officially recognized by the olympic community by a moment of silence in today’s opening ceremony.  In an attempt to provide a tikkun, a repair, for their choice not to remember these fallen men and women, before the Kaddish this evening, we will take a moment to remember those that died in munich so tragically 40 years ago.


Growing up my Rabbi, Howard Herman of Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation, included every Jewish tragedy of the 20th century along with our regular Kaddish remembrance including the 11 Israeli olympiads. By making it our minhag, our custom to recall those that died in tragedy and al kiddush haShem, for the sanctification of G-d's name he reminded us week to week that the world we live in is not yet perfected, but is one that is marred by war and turmoil. However, it is out of that ideal of the 19th century, that we can perfect the world, that we as a Jewish community still strive to make our world closer to a world perfected. For while the 20th century has taught us that the ability to perfect our world is a challenge, and far from a reality, we remember the words of Pirkei Avot,
לא עליך כל המלאכה לגמור, ולא אתה בן חורין ליבטל

It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it (Pirkei Avot 2:21)

The work is hard, and the vision is vast, but we will continue to work towards a better world, in which those that have fallen will be remembered for their sacrifice.  

Parashat Matot-Masei

Below please find this week's d'var Torah by our congregant Vic Goldberg. 

Matot and Ma'sei,  this week's portions, deal with the end of the years in the wilderness,  and the things that God tells Moses to instruct the Israelite people, including "you shall take possession of the Promised Land and settle in it;"  "how to apportion it among yourselves", and the warning that "if you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land, those who you allow to remain will be stings in the eyes and thorns in the sides, and they shall harass you in the land in which you live."   Pretty powerful  narrative, with painful relevance today.   But one wonders what the Moabite narrative might have been;  they who were to be on the receiving end of this settlement. 

Conflicting narratives about Israel came to the forefront of my life about nine years ago.  I was completing  13 years as vice chairman of the Institute of International Education...best known for administering the Fulbright scholarships and 250 other international exchange programs, ....and  I wanted to do something in gratitude for how that opportunity had enriched my life.  The CEO there asked me what was important in my life, and Israel immediately came to mind. 

As a young American Jew in 1948, (I was 15 years old), I lived in Chicago next door to immigrants with numbers on their forearms, near a parochial school whose students thought I killed Christ, and I was totally drawn to  this new nation, a safe place for Jews which embodied the cultural and moral values with which I was raised.

Now here I was in 2004, having watched nothing but strife in the Middle East for all my adult life, wondering what if anything could bring peace to this Jewish Homeland I had cherished all my life.  Clearly political leadership  had failed, ..... and maybe only work at the grassroots level could form the basis of lasting peace down the road. 

And so, I envisioned a Middle East Peace Prize.  To win it you had to have two people, one Jewish Israeli and one Arab Muslim, working together at the grass roots.  I joked that we should have called it the Don Quixote IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East, since there was a serious possibility that we would be unable to find a Jewish Israeli and an Arab Muslim working together for peace….one of whom had had a connection to an international exchange program in which IIE was involved.  But we have done so, with no shortage of candidates, for 8 years running.

The winners of the first prize in 2005 dealt directly with this issue of conflicting narratives.  Dan Bar On and Sami Adwan were both college professors, Dan at Ben Gurion University and Sami at Bethlehem University.  They had constructed a middle school history textbook for four historical periods: the Balfour declaration, the 1948 war, the Yom Kippur War and the first Intifada.  On the left hand side of each page was the Israeli narrative, on the right was the Arab narrative, and the middle was composed of the blank lines of a workbook.  To develop the textbook they sometimes had to meet  across checkpoints; and to train 10 Israeli and 10 Palestinian teachers, they eventually had to fly them to Crete for joint sessions.  To this day, neither the Israeli Ministry of Education nor the Palestinian Ministry of Education have approved this textbook.  But with the book's intervening historical periods now complete,  it is being used at the University level, and so the work is not in vain.

The 2006 Prize went to an all Israeli team, one Jewish, one Muslim, that established an Arab Israeli Community Center In Jaffa.

The 2007 Prize to a team that established the first intregrated school in Israel, with student enrollment and faculty, each balanced 50/50  and with Jewish and Muslim Co-Directors. They have since expanded to three schools.

2008 to founders of a bereavement group called Parents Circle: a Jew who lost his daughter to a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, and a Palestinian whose brother was released from an Israeli prison... beaten so badly that he died shortly thereafter.

2009 to the founders of a Young Professionals Alliance between Israeli Jews and Palestinians. 

2010 to a former member of an elite IDF army unit and a self described Palestinian intifada fighter who formed a group called Combatants for Peace.

2011 to two women working in Be'er Sheva for the civil rights of Bedouins.

and 2012 to two Israelis, one Jewish, one Muslim each heading an organization devoted to civil rights within Israel, who file joint briefs to the Israeli Supreme Court on civil rights issues involving women, Muslims, gays, ...and Jews striving to live their lives unrestricted by Haredeem and other Orthodox forces.

My wife Pat and I go to Israel each year to present the prize and each year are in awe of what the winners have done.  These absolutely heroic people have internalized scripture which is quite different from this week's portion:   Leviticus 19:18, "love thy neighbor as thyself."  More to the point, from Rabbi Hillel: "What is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow man. That is the whole Torah.  All the rest is commentary: go and learn it."

In some years, the winning teams have been composed of one Palestinian and one Israeli.  In other years, both winners have been Israeli citizens.   Where both have been Israeli citizens, the work has been focused on civil rights, and it strongly evokes the civil rights struggles in the United States in the last half of the 20^th century. 

I remember as a boy on a trip to the American South seeing the water fountains and bathrooms with signs designating “white only.”  I remember the tumultuous years in which African Americans fought to get the legal right to vote; and the continuing battle for equal educational and economic opportunity. 

I also remember the active role many American Jews played in those historical efforts.  And well we should have!  Having for centuries been the victim of discrimination, it was, and is, only proper that we help others to be freed from it.  That lesson sometimes seems lost in the Israel of today, but I think that same positive progress can happen there.  And it will require very similar effort.  It will require action ....by citizens who are conscious of the disconnnect between their moral heritage and the realities of their society,… and who are willing to get out of their comfort zone and use all the tools at their disposal to pressure their government and their society for change.  All in all, however, In this area of Israeli civil rights, I am somewhat optimistic. 

In the area of finding peace with the Palestinians, however, my optimism has pretty much vanished.  In past years, the necessity and inevitability of a two-state solution seemed to be a given.  But on our trip last month, the secular Israeli liberals seemed dispirited, an increasingly powerless portion of society, ....with Mr. Netanyahu focusing on disputes with the religious parties over military service.   And a week ago, the report of a Netanyahu-appointed commission recommending that all the illegal settlements should be declared legal, could presage a disastrous turn away from the two-state solution, .....which has been the cornerstone of hope for those who seek long term peace in the Middle East.....the only solution that will allow a state that is both Jewish and democratic.

I believe that failure to establish a separate Palestinian state will still leave us with a Jewish state, ....but given birth rates of the Palestinians and the Orthodox Jews, not one that is democratic.  We cringe at the term "apartheid," but that is pretty descriptive of what will be, and what will happen. 

I don't think the Israeli government has really digested the lessons of the Arab Spring, or the ramifications of Palestinians adopting, ....not arms which the IDF could crush, ....but massive Martin Luther King-type peaceful protests.  Nor the kind of international sanctions that forced well-intentioned employers like Ford and IBM, who were hiring and promoting blacks and coloreds,.... to leave South Africa, when major pension funds threatened divestiture of their stock.  Failure to achieve a two-state solution will be very bad for Israel, for the United States, and for Jews in general.

Living alongside others has been a challenge from even before biblical times.  And sometimes whole societies have vanished.  Things don't necessarily work out okay in the end.  We're still in a wilderness, and narratives remain to be written.  But it's the Middle East;  and it's full of tribal lunatics; and the Israelis and the Palestinians continue to take turns missing opportunities for peace. I  still believe that grass roots efforts between Arabs and Jews are the best chance to one day force rational change.  I just fear that time is running out.  I hope and pray Israeli's are up to the task of peace, for it means their survival.  It will break my heart if they aren’t.