Yom Kippur Morning 5769 (2008)
October 9, 2008
“Stick to the Bible, Rabbi” — Politics and the Pulpit
Just over fifty years ago, on March 16, 1958, an extremist group calling itself the Confederate Underground dynamited the Jewish Community Center in Nashville, Tennessee. On a Sabbath evening shortly thereafter, Rabbi William B. Silverman of Nashville’s Congregation Ohabai Sholom, an outspoken advocate of school desegregation, delivered his response.
I chanced upon that sermon while sorting through the Rabbi’s personal papers, which had been left for me, as an obligation to the rabbi of my youth, to organize and then deliver to the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati. And seizing upon the opportunity, I have recently completed more than four years of research by heavily annotating the sermon with all of the background, historical information and several dozens of footnotes that clarify how the sermon stands as a primary source document in the story of the Civil Rights movement.
I want to share a small portion of that research with you for a moment, for along with the sermon, among the rabbi’s personal effects, I found many additional notes, letters, and recollections, including death threats that the Rabbi received as a result of his outspoken position on civil rights. I learned that on March 17, 1958, the day following the JCC bombing, the rabbi’s wife received a telephone call as follows: ‘This is Captain Gordon of the Confederate Underground. We have just dynamited the Jewish Community Center. Next will be the Temple and any other nigger-loving place. We are going to shoot down Federal Judge William Miller in cold blood and next your husband.’ [Judge Miller was the federal district judge who presided over school desegregation cases in Nashville.]
I am now quoting the Rabbi’s own memoirs:
“Terror by telephone persisted. Police converged upon The Temple and the Rabbi’s home. A dead pigeon was put in his mailbox with a note: ‘You will haul away the dead pigeon. Next dead pigeon will be the nigger-loving Rabbi.’ Police continued to guard the rabbi’s home as the threats multiplied. An anonymous call announced that the Temple would be dynamited that Friday evening and the caller urged the Jews to call off Worship Services. The rabbi insisted that services be held and an overflow crowd attended. Police surrounded the Temple.”
I’m still reading from the Rabbi’s own notes:
“Another telephone call to the rabbi stated: ‘We know that your oldest son goes to Hillsboro High School and gets out at 2:30. We know the bus he takes and his route home. Your youngest son goes to Palmer School. He gets out at 3 o’clock. Keep those kids at home, Jew-Rabbi. We won’t kill them. We’ll just maim them for life as a sign of what happens to nigger lovers.’”
Rabbi Silverman was sworn in as a deputy sheriff, purchased a snub-nosed .38 revolver, took daily target practice, and carrying a gun for the protection of his family, he took his children to school and picked them up. The notes conclude with the amazingly simple statement: “They never missed a day of school.”
In both the sermon he delivered following the bombing, and in his personal notes, Rabbi Silverman reveals how the pressures he was facing came not only from the racist segregationists, but from his own Temple members and leadership as well. “Stick to the Bible,” many were saying to him. “Don’t make waves.” In that historic sermon, he responded with extraordinary courage:
“Let me first speak for myself, as your Rabbi, and I believe that any spiritual leader who does not speak forth and lead his congregation on moral issues is not worthy of being the Rabbi of this or any other congregation, — and I speak clearly and without equivocation that all may understand… I FAVOR INTEGRATION — not only because I am a Jew, not only because my religious faith teaches that God is our universal Father, that all men are brothers, created in the divine image; that all men regardless of their faith or their race are endowed by God with equal rights. I FAVOR INTEGRATION – not only because of an Amos who asked in the name of God: ARE YE NOT AS THE CHILDREN OF THE ETHIOPIANS UNTO ME, O CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; not only because the Torah commands “JUSTICE, JUSTICE SHALL YE PURSUE” not only because of the religious heritage of Judaism that insists upon social justice for white and black, for brown, yellow and red – not only because I am a Jew, but because I am an American – and as an American I not only have the right, but the moral mandate to support the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the decision of the Supreme Court, and the laws of our nation.”
“Stick to the Bible.” Funny thing – I’ve heard that same sentiment expressed even here at Temple Emanu-El some 50 years later. Four years ago, still in the shadow of 9/11, and just over a year following the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I delivered a most difficult message regarding the handling of escalating terrorism against our nation, in which I criticized several of the past White House administrations. I received an angry letter of resignation from a long-time Temple member for my having taken, and I’ll quote: “a political stance on the Day of Atonement”.
Two years ago, following an astute High Holyday sermon given by Rabbi Kassoff, urging us to find ways of reducing carbon emissions as a response to the threat of global warming, I again received a resignation letter from a long-time member: “I’ll drive whatever gas-guzzling car I want to,” she said, “and if I want to hear about politics, I’ll go to the Unitarian Church.” I didn’t totally understand that remark, but thankfully, our local UU Church is doing wonderful work in the community, and perhaps she’s there today.
So putting aside for now the uncomfortable images of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s anti-American and racist preaching, that has informed, for the worse, the current debate on politics from the bima, what should be the role of the pulpit in the political discussions of our nation? That question is especially meaningful in an election year such as this. Only last week, a group of thirty-three ministers from around the country vowed to challenge to a federal IRS tax law that forbids houses of worship from endorsing the campaigns of political candidates. The standard goes back to the early 1950’s when an amendment to the tax code passed during President Johnson’s administration threatened the cancellation of tax-exempt status for organizations that support specific political aims.
“I’m going to talk about the un-biblical stands that Barack Obama takes. Nobody who follows the Bible can vote for him,” said the Rev. Wiley S. Drake of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park. “We may not be politically correct, but we are going to be biblically correct. We are going to vote for those who follow the Bible.”
At the same time, a group called “Rabbis For Obama” has taken out advertisements endorsing their candidate through the influence of their rabbinical authority. In a significant break from longstanding policies and precedents, some three hundred Rabbis, among whom I count many friends, several teachers, and two or three of my precious mentors, have gone on record as urging the vote for Barak Obama. Frankly, I am most disappointed by my “Rabbis For Obama” colleagues because I believe that once we decide to publicly endorse any particular candidate, we immediately lose the ability to focus on the discussion of the varying and specific issues which should inform our voting.
Of course, these “Rabbis for Obama” are not alone in having endorsed a specific candidate. Rabbi Ira Flax, a retired Air Force Chaplain, publicly endorsed John McCain in delivering the closing benediction at the Republican National Convention. “Bless this land with prosperity,” entreated the Rabbi, “bless our people with health and our leaders with vision, and God bless John McCain, the next president of the United States.”
In contrast, listen to Rabbi David Saperstein, director of our Reform Movement’s acclaimed Religious Action Center, who delivered the invocation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on the night when Senator Obama received his party’s nomination. He likewise offered prayers in God’s name, but these were his words:
“As this election proceeds, may Your name be invoked only to inspire and unify our nation, but never to divide it. In that spirit, we ask Your blessing on all the leaders and public servants of our nation, of whatever political party, that they may lead wisely and, with civility, work together for the common good.”
Those who have heard me speak from this bima for the past 17 years, not only on High Holydays, but at several hundred Sabbath services and holiday gatherings, you know full well that the political issues of our day are always fair game for my sermonic messages and Divrei Torah. I believe, as did Rabbi Silverman during the civil rights era in the South, that the issues of contemporary dialogue should always be examined in our synagogues by the light of the ethical guidelines emerging from thousands of years of Jewish wisdom and experience.
And when it comes to specific issues, I have never been hesitant to express my own biases. I think that’s both fair and appropriate. Of course I have my own, personal political leanings. On matters of domestic policy and social justice, I tend to come out on the left, the liberal side of the politcal spectrum. On matters of foreign policy, my views are generally much more conservative. But I endorse Rabbi Saperstein’s essential guidelines for political involvement in our synagogues: (And I quote) “Issues, not individuals. Policies, not partisanship. Concerns, not candidates.”
Our Temple Brotherhood, for instance, provided a wonderful service to our entire community last year, when they sponsored a Candidates Forum one Sunday morning, inviting all of those vying for the recently vacated State Representative seat to address the congregation on their differing approaches to issues facing our community and our nation. In so doing, they helped enable all of our members to weigh their own priorities, and participate actively in the political process. Imagine how different the morning would have been had the Brotherhood decided to endorse a specific candidate, and then invite only him or her to address the gathering. And imagine even further had it been your rabbis endorsing the candidate, and then presenting our choice as a moral fait a complit!
I would be failing in my job as your Rabbi were I not to encourage and engage a respectful, balanced, well-considered analysis of contemporary issues, particularly from the perspective of our accumulated, Jewish wisdom. Not surprisingly, Jewish tradition offers us guidance on how to deliberate difficult issues. In the early days of the Talmud, there were no greater rivals than the Elders, Hillel and Shammai, and their attending schools of advocates, known as Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai – the Houses, or the Schools of Hillel and Shammai. As the laws, observances and ritual practices of post-biblical Judaism were in formation, Hillel and Shammai disagreed on almost every practice and principle. However, the Talmud refers to their arguments being “l’shem shamayim” , for the Sake of Heaven, and why? Because while they each held their own positions with integrity, they also made certain to present their opponent’s vews with fairness and respect. Hillel insisted: “Eilu v’eilu diverei elohim chayim” – Both opinions are words of the Living God!
In this election year, there are numerous issues to consider as our country moves forward, including, but not limited to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, National Security, the Iranian Nuclear Threat, Islamic extremism, Health Care Reform, judicial appointments, economic recovery and the national deficit, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, poverty and unemployment, social security, energy security, reproductive rights, access to education, and the list goes on.
In recent weeks, we’ve heard much about the need to “bring the country together again.” And national unity is important, but it is not so important as to sweep under the rug so many pivotal issues that divide us, and which need to be considered in the light of accumlated wisdom, insight, and experience. Civil discourse is woefully absent in our contemporary, political reality. Thoughtful conversation seems to have given way to name-calling, lies, distortions, and even vulgarity. Here, especially in this place, it is our sacred obligation to do better than that.
Hill and Shammi teach us how to do better. For if consider deeply the nature of our political landscape, we have to admit that those on both sides of the aisle generally share the same essential values, the most primary value being the love of our Republic and its precious democracy. Republicans and Democrats, Obama and McCain all care about security, advancing the cause of the poor, improving the education of our children, promoting civil rights, guaranteeing national security, and creating of jobs for the unemployed. Where we disagree, however, comes about because sometimes these values are in conflict, and we prioritize them differently, such as finding the balance between National Security and Civil Rights, between respect for private property verses taxation to help the needy; between a woman’s right to decide the fate of her own body, and the desire to protect the vulnerable.
But because we all care for the well-being of our nation, and wish to protect the fragile processes of civic democracy, political debate, especially in our spiritual domain, should avoid the sort of hate speech, personal attacks, fear and smear that are today all too typical of what goes for political dialogue. Instead, we should begin by asking questions of one another in order to understand the heirarchy values of the other side, and with both curiosity and respect, listen closely to what the others are saying.
Now not everyone can do it, but if you are able to listen, like Hillel and Shammai, to the world view and perspectives of those with whom you disagree, it can be a deep and enlightening discussion, and a chance to discover the holiness in the viewpoints of the other side. Those are the moments when we truly are able to peek into, understand, and touch the very soul of another human being, because we learn how they order and understand the world they share with us. There truly does exist a spirituality of the political, and it is as real and essential as the holiness that comes from healing the sick, comforting the bereaved, rejoicing with bride and groom, and attending to the wellbeing of the needy.
“Stick to the Bible, Rabbi”. That’s exactly what we should all be doing, especially in our political conversations in this election year. Our sacred tradition insists, as Rabbi Silverman insisted by promoting the cause of civil rights and justice in the 1950’s, that as human beings created in God’s image, we are equal in worthiness, inherently unique, and ultimately precious. And that will continue to be the message emanating from this pulpit, even and especially as we consider the pressing, political issues of the day.
Finally, let us also bear in mind: Whoever wins this election, and whichever party’s heirarchy of values we may enjoy or suffer over the next four years, we cannot take for granted the absolute certainty that this coming January, 300 million American citizens will witness the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next. And whoever takes that oath of office, the most important job the next president will do, aside from any policies they support or oppose, is to uphold and defend the Constitution, a constitution created and written with the sole purpose of protecting and securing the basic human rights, which were first bestowed by God, upon all who are all created in that image of the Divine.
That’s what it really means to “Stick to the Bible.”
Kol Nidre 5769 (2008)
October 8, 2008
Don’t Say a Word. Don’t Say Anything.
“What’s the magic word?” my mother used to ask me, teaching me manners when I still a young boy.
She wanted me to say “Please” or maybe “Thank You”.
“Abracadabra,” I’d always respond, and not just to be a smart-alec… well, mostly just to be a smart-alec.
Did you know that Abracadabra is a Jewish word? It comes from the Aramaic, a sister dialect to Hebrew that our forbearers were speaking 2,000 years ago. The Aramaic words, Abra kedabra means “I will create as I will speak” And fans of the Harry Potter books will know the killing curse, Avada Kedavra, in which J.K. Rowling combined the Aramaic source of abracadabra with the Latin cadaver, a dead body. The lesson of the magic word, of course, is that words are powerful. Words can create, and words can kill, Our sages have been wary of the power of words since the earliest days of our people.
Never were words more powerfully employed than by the revered Rabbi Judah Loew, known as the Maharal of Prague. As legend recounts, in the year 1580, the Jews of Prague were accused by a fanatical Catholic priest of having killed a Christian child, and of then using his blood in their preparation of Passover Matzah. These so-called blood libel accusations were frequent in medieval Europe, and the Jews of the ghetto were often in danger of suffering a pogrom at the hands of an incited, vicious mob.
As the legend describes, Rabbi Loew received instructions through a prophetic dream as to the means by which the Jewish community might be saved from their enemies. The instructions were delivered as an alphabetical acrostic, “Ata Bra Golem Devuk Hachomer V’tigzar Zedim Chevel Torfe Yirsrael: “Make a Golem of clay and you will destroy the Jew-hating mob!” So Rabbi Loew took his son-in-law, a Kohen, and a student who was a Levi, and instructed them in the mystical secrets by which they would animate their creation.
After midnight, the three men went to Rabbi Loew’s house where they chanted the Chatzot, the midnight lament for Jerusalem, and in deepest devotion, they recited the appropriate Psalms. They then took out the Sefer Yezirah, the Book of Creation from which Rabbi Loew read several chapters aloud. Finally, they made their way to the outskirts of the city, to the banks of the River Moldau. There, they found a clay bed and at once set to work.
By torchlight and amid the chanting of Psalms, the work was undertaken with feverish haste. They formed out of clay the figure of a person, three meters in length. And the Golem lay before them with his face turned toward heaven.
The three men then stationed themselves at its feet, so that they could gaze fully into its face. It lay there like a dead body, without any movement. Then, Rabbi Loew instructed the Kohen to walk seven times around the clay body, from right to left, confiding to him the Tzirufim, the incantations which he was to recite while doing this.
When that was done, the clay body became red, like fire.
Then Rabbi Loew bade the Levite to walk the same number of times, from left to right, and taught him also the proper formulas. As he completed his task, the fire-redness was extinguished, and water flowed through the clay body; hair sprouted on its head, and nails appeared on the fingers and toes.
Then Rabbi Loew himself walked once around the figure, and inscribed in the clay forehead of the Golem the first, the middle, and the final letters of the Hebrew Aleph-bet (Aleph – Mem – Tov) , spelling the word “Emet” “Truth”. And, bowing to the East and the West, the South and the North, all three men recited together words taken from the Book of Genesis: “And he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (1)
The three elements, Fire, Water, and Air, brought it about that the fourth element, Earth, became living. The Golem opened his eyes and looked, astonished, around him. Rabbi Loew said to him: “Stand up!” And he stood up…
At midnight, three men had walked to the River. At daybreak, four men went homeward.
Words are powerful. We are taught that words can create, and that words can even kill. And on this night of Kol Nidre, the holiest eve of the Jewish year, we are cautioned about the power of our own words; cautioned to use them wisely; cautioned to use them sparingly.
Kol Nidre is a prayer about vows; promises we might utter tonight. For many years, of course, and in fact, for the better part of the 20th Century, the Kol Nidre was absent from our Reform High Holyday prayerbooks. But tonight, this haunting chant attracts to our house of worship many for whom other words and other melodies from throughout the ages carry little of its evocative power.
But the actual meaning of Kol Nidre is really quite problematic, for according to the literal wording, it is not merely a supplication for release from vows and promises we made in the past year yet were unable to fulfill. Rather, the prayer is a legal formula which looks ahead, to the year to come, and creates absolution in advance for vows we might utter, and renders them null and void from this night forward. Listen again to its words:
“All vows, promises, obligations and oaths wherewith we have vowed… from this Day of Atonement until the next Day of Atonement, they shall be absolved, released… they shall not have any power. Our vows shall not be vows; our oaths shall not be oaths.”
Perhaps you noticed that our Gates of Repentance creatively translates the Kol Nidre so as to soften the force of its potentially disheartening message by adding the words, “Should we after honest effort, find ourselves unable to fulfill our promises,” But the essence of Kol Nidre was hardly ignored by anti-semites through the ages, who cited this, our beloved Yom Kippur supplication, as evidence that Jews could not be trusted to serve as witnesses in court proceedings, or to certify legal documents, given their Yom Kippur declaration releasing them from the validity of vows they might utter during the coming year.
Even today, if you “Google” the words “Kol Nidre”, you will find yourself directed to some of the most vile and horrific screeds of Jew hatred and prejudice imaginable, some of which cite historical claims going back to the early 13th Century. So for more than 800 years, Jewish legal experts have had to make clear that the intent of the prayer has to do with vows made to God – not between one person and another. But in essence, Kol Nidre declares that this night you shall make no vows; no promises; no resolutions, no pledges. In other words, or to quote an old Elvis Costello song, “Don’t say a word. Don’t say anything.”
Surprising, is it not, for we often think of these High Holydays, and especially this night of Yom Kippur as precisely the time to change our ways, to imagine our future changed for the better in the aftermath of our honest soul-searching and atonement. In a manner even more profound than the secular New Year, is this not the time for making resolutions that we promise to keep, no matter what?
Kol Nidre says ‘no’. Don’t say a word; don’t say anything. Because for one thing, Judaism recognizes that words are powerful, and so our vows must be taken with the most extreme seriousness and caution. And for another thing, this night of all nights forces us to come to terms with our own, human weaknesses.
Our Yom Kippur prayers and Kol Nidre are consistent with how vehemently the rabbis of old opposed the practice of making vows. The Rabbis didn’t want us making vows AT ALL, because as life unfolds, things happen that we cannot control, and to assume that we will most certainly prevail against an uncertain future was considered downright chutzpadik. So the Talmud declares, “If one makes a vow, it is as if one has built a bama – an idolatrous alter, and if one fulfills that vow, it is as if one had sacrificed upon it.”
What is a vow? A vow is solemn promise to act a certain way in the future. Thinking more deeply, a vow is also a prediction, generally about our moral behavior. Vows are statements of who we are at the present moment, our current values, hopes and ideals, and transporting that self; willing that self into the future. When we make a vow, we promise that our future self will be identical with our present, ideal self.
But you might be thinking: What of our most cherished vows, our most sacred promises – which would be the idea of a marital vow? Well, in Jewish practice, there are no marital vows – no promises are made with our ritual formulae that might risk being broken in future days. Does this surprise you? Yes, it’s true – for those of you whose weddings I’ve officiated, we have a moment of “I Do” – Do you Mr. Groom, take her, Mrs. Bride to be your wife, promising to cherish and protect her, whether in good fortune or in adversity, and to seek together with her a life hallowed by the Jewish faith?” And my brides are generally asked the same question. And so far at least, everyone’s always said “Yes!”
But this is hardly a compulsory “till death do us part, so help me God!” In fact, there is no such thing as a “marital vow” in Jewish practice. As our lives go on, the unexpected often happens, and in fact, the unexpected ALWAYS happens, so one can’t be asked to make a binding vow for all time, even given the joyous moment’s most precious hopes. Instead of uttering a vow that might be broken someday, we sign a ketubah. The ketubah developed as a contractual obligation expressing the groom’s promised financial protection for his bride should, in some future time, the marriage be ended. Divorce was always seen as a sad possibility, even though our rabbis used to teach that when a man and woman divorce, the very altar of heaven sheds tears. And that is why we make no vows, even under the chuppah, so that at some future time, God forbid, one or the other partner would say “My vow was a vow, but I didn’t know THEN all that I know NOW.”
The reason we are moved to make vows tonight is the result of our High Holyday introspection. If we’ve been taking our liturgy seriously at all, and if we’ve been engaging in the depth and wisdom of the High Holyday season, perhaps we’ve also discovered some new clarity about who we are, and who we hope to become moving forward. But still, at its best, a vow is simply a hopeful prediction, and Kol Nidre reminds us that none of can really know the future, certainly not enough to risk our integrity by making an oath. For our word is truly our bond; we are held accountable for what we say.
A young athlete named Aquib Talib was the 20th pick in the NFL draft last year, and I’ve paid attention a bit because last January, he intercepted a pass that he ran back for a touchdown to help my alma mater, Kansas win the Orange Bowl. But the kid got himself in trouble pretty much right away for being late to an NFL Rookie Camp workout. When a reporter asked him later on if he was sorry for his infraction, Talib said yes, but was hesitant to promise that it would not happen ever again.
“I’m not Miss Cleo,” Talib said of the psychic hotline TV star. “I can’t predict the future. The plan is for it not to happen again, but I can’t predict the future. This time, I get fined, so I’ve got to try for it not to happen again.”
My first response, as both a fan and Alum was to think: Hey, Kid – show some backbone, express some remorse and tell them that you’ll never do it again. But then I thought again about vows, and how whenever we make a vow, we’re only making a prediction. The young man was honest and he was correct – he can’t tell the future, and neither can we. All we can do is imagine who we would like to become, and keep working to achieve that vision.
Have you ever made a resolution, a vow, only to break it later? Of course you have – we all have. But think about why. When we break our vows, we sometimes feel a new clarity, and we say to ourselves: What could I have been thinking when I made that vow? But for the most part, that moment of clarity is an illusion. And we have to admit that it is an illusion, because we are almost always giving ourselves permission to give in to weakness.
If we were absolutely honest, we would say: My vow was a vow, and it was unmistakable. But I am weak. We would say before we made our vow: I am frail. I am not likely to keep my promises, not because I don’t intend NOW to keep them, but because I can honestly predict my future weakness. We should say, in the words of my friend, Rabbi Mordecai Finley: “My vows are shaky, but you can absolutely depend on my faults.”
The Chassidim describe how every night, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev examined in his heart what he had done on that day, and repented every flaw he discovered. He said: “Levi Yitzchak will never do this again.” Then he chided himself: “Levi Yitzchak said exactly the same thing yesterday!” And then he added: “Yesterday, Levi Yitzchak did not speak the truth, but he does speak the truth today.” However, he said the same thing day after day after day.
Of course, this is hardly but a Jewish problem limited to our High Holyday season. For non-Jews who focus on the secular calendar for their time of making resolutions, the results are hardly any better. Franklin Covey, a leading time management consulting firm polled some 15,000 of its customers after the first of January this past year, and found that the most popular resolutions continue to be hardly unique or exotic vows; just the typical and widespread promises to save more money, lose weight, to get more organized, or spend more time with family and friends. The firm also found that by the end of the month, a third of them had already broken their New Year’s resolutions, and in short order, barely a fifth remained on-track.
So if we aren’t to make vows tonight, what are we to do with what is hopefully a renewed sense of commitment and determination to become the best men and women we might be? I suggest that we utilize this Day of Atonement and the upcoming festive days as a time to envision the goals we might wish to achieve; to identify our best qualities and imagine them as ideals towards which to grow in the coming year. Don’t make a vow, but envision a goal towards which to work. Track your progress. Take small steps. Tell family and friends so that you have support along the way. And don’t get discouraged or give up if you take steps backwards. In fact, expect some failure or disappointment along the way.
A final thought about that Golem, animated by the power of words. In the 16th Century, stories emerged of how the Golem would protect the people of the ghetto in Prague. But when the threat of their enemies had passed, and the Golem’s size and strength threatened greater harm than good, Rabbi Loew rubbed away the first Hebrew letter from the Golem’s forehead – the aleph, leaving the letters Mem and Tov, spelling the word “mayt” , meaning “death.” The Golem reverted to an inert figure of clay, wrapped in a tallit, and was placed in the attic of the Altneuschul in Prague, where, as legend has it, the Golem lies to this very day.
Three hundred years later, a leading Rabbi thought about the legend of the Golem, and he remarked “Rabbi Loew of Prague created a golem, and this was a great wonder. But how much more wonderful it is to transform a corporeal human being into a mensch?”
Kol Nidre forces us to recognize that we can’t do everything we promise, and on Yom Kippur, God tells us “Salachti kidvarecha” – “I have forgiven in response to your words.” God knows who we are – our weakness does not separate us from God, but our striving itself draws us closer. A virtuous life isn’t some sort of box into which we try to fit ourselves into, but a vision towards which we aspire to reach. To recall the wonderful expression of playwright, Samuel Beckett: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Once it happened that two hunters hired a pilot and a light airplane to carry them deep into the forest, where they could seek out their big game with the greatest possibility of success. As he landed, the pilot warned the hunters, “I will return tomorrow, but remember, my plane only has the power to carry the three of us plus one, medium-sized animal.” But the hunt was successful beyond their expectations, and when the pilot returned the next day, the hunters crammed two large, prize moose into the passenger seats, stretching the carcasses across their laps.
The plane took off, and became airborne, but the weight of the animals proved too great. Try as he might, the pilot was unable to guide his craft over the top of a nearby mountain, and the plane fell crashing to the earth. Fortunately for the three men, the two moose carcasses cushioned their fall, and amid the destruction and the carnage, they somehow remained alive.
Climbing out of the wreckage, the first hunter asked, “Where are we?”
The second hunter looked around, surveying the crash site, and then he answered, “I think we’re about a mile further than last year.”
(1) Rabbi Israel Salanter.
Links 10/2/08
October 2, 2008
Rosh Hashanah Morning 5769 (2008)
October 1, 2008
The Biblical Prophets: Hearing Their Voice In Our Time
In his famous vision for a Messianic era, the Prophet, Isaiah, expresses the ultimate hope for a future time of peace, tranquility and love, extending even to the world of nature, when the various animal species, overcoming their instinctual, biological urges, would live side by side in total harmony.
“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the lion shall lie down with the calf…They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (1)
On the outskirts of Jerusalem you can visit the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens, also known as the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo that for more than sixty years has made its mission to maintain Biblical species and habitats. Back in its early days, or so the story goes, an American visitor to the Zoo was astonished to see the exhibit featuring a wolf and a lamb displayed together in a single cage. Above the cage hung Isaiah’s Messianic vision: “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” “How do you manage that?” asks the American tourist.
“It’s simple,” responded the zookeeper. “Every day, we replace the lamb!”
Comedian, Woody Allen’s take on Isaiah? “The lion and the calf shall lie down together. But the calf won’t get much sleep!”
From its inception, our Reform Movement looked to the Biblical prophets more than any other of our traditional sources for inspiration and direction. My great-grandfather, Harry Silverman, exemplified that time in our history. In fact, he was confirmed at the same Reform Temple in Kansas City where I, too, was confirmed some eighty years later, and like many Reform Jews of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, his religious and spiritual life was largely guided by the inspiration of the biblical prophets. Grandpa Harry used to claim that the prophet, Micah told him all that he needed to know in order to live a proper, Jewish life: “Do Justice. Love Mercy. And walk humbly with your God.” (2)
Over the past two or three decades, however, as Reform Jews have taken a renewed interest in many Jewish ritual practices that had been discarded in earlier generations, and as the impulse toward social action began to take a back seat to our pursuit of personal, spiritual elevation, the identification of Reform Judaism with the prophetic word began to waver. I hope that, as our movement continues to reinvent itself and move forward in the diverse areas of worship, study, and observance, that we will recover some of that identification with Prophetic Judaism which was so meaningful to our forbearers. And that is one reason why I chose the Prophets as the topic for our autumn semester’s Continuing Education seminar.
Just who were the prophets? Bursting forth on the stage of Israelite history in the 9th century BCE, they did nothing less than change social conscience and morality forever. Over the course of some 300 years, they left an impact unique not only in the history of Judaism, but for humankind in general.
Who were the prophets? The prophets were not men who told the future; they were men who told the truth,(3) and they told the truth to a Jewish nation and leadership that were most reluctant to hear it. To utilize a contemporary expression, they were the first who would speak truth to power.
We think of the prophet, Nathan’s confrontation with the mighty and powerful King David, whose secret lusting had driven him to send an innocent man to his death.(4) And we shudder at the bravery of Elijah, who stood utterly alone against the power and command of King Ahab and his Queen, Jezebel, who had replaced the worship of Israel’s God with the adoration of foreign deities, Baal and Ashera.(5) The era of the Prophets brought us the enduring and passionate messages from men such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, Amos and Hosea, Micah, Ezekiel, and more. In fact, their legacy comprises more than half of our Biblical, Holy Scriptures.
What, then, were the essential messages of Israel’s prophets?
First and foremost, they waged a war against idolatry, the idolatry which had always surrounded the monotheistic enterprise of the Israelite nation, and which in their own time, still threatened to overwhelm it. Idolatrous practices infiltrated Jewish life long after Israel had been established. The Bible is clear that even in the days of King Solomon, the builder of our first Temple in Jerusalem, houses of worship were also built to pagan deities to satisfy the idolatrous ways of his foreign wives. So we read in the Book of Kings:
“King Solomon loved many foreign women…Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Phoenician and Hittite women, and in hishold age, his wives turned away Solomon’s heart after other gods. Solomon followed Ashtoret the goddess of the Phoenicians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites… He built a shrine for Chemosh the abomination of Moab on the hill near Jerusalem, and one for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.” (6)
Given the testimony of the Bible, describing how some of the Kings of Israel offered their own children as sacrifices to pagan gods, we know that the battle against such practices was neither quick nor decisive. Jeremiah speaking in God’s name, testifies that:
“The children of Judah have done evil in my sight… They have built the high places… to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not…” (7)
The war against idolatry was only the first front in the prophetic battle for the soul of the Jewish people. The prophets also recognized the widespread moral corruption of the upper classes within Israelite society, and called them to account for the oppression of the poor and vulnerable. So Isaiah cries out:
“Woe unto those who write unrighteous decrees, to subvert the cause of the poor, to rob of their rights the needy of My people; that widows may be their spoil, and fatherless children their plunder!” (8)
The Prophets insisted that the welfare of the entire nation was inescapably connected to the morality of individual citizens, and they decried the callousness of the wealthy and powerful.
So, too, declares Micah:
“Ah, those who plan iniquity and design evil on their beds; when morning dawns they do it, for they have the power. They covet fields, and seize them; Houses, and take them away. They defraud men of their homes, and people of their land.” (9)
Finally, even though the prophets never imagined a cessation of the priestly, sacrificial cults that expressed the Jewish religious practices of their day, they insisted that ritual without morality was empty; that sacrificial services must always be subordinate to social conscience. The prophet, Amos called out:
“I loathe, I spurn your festivals, I am not appeased by your solemn assemblies… Spare Me the sound of your hymns, and let Me not hear the music of your lutes. But let justice well up like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream! ” (10)
Sadly, the prophets were quite correct in their envisioning a time when the destruction of the nations of Judah and Israel would be the end result of having abandoned their covenant with the One God. Indeed, the day would come when their worst fears would come to pass, first in the North, at the hands of the Assyrians, and then the Southern Kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem, overwhelmed by the Babylonian armies. The Babylonian exile would be the final testimony to the prophetic vision of looming catastrophe. But then, their messages would turn from chastisement to comfort, from potential doom to certain hope in the future restoration of the Israelite nation.
But do the prophets still have something to tell us today? After all, we certainly no longer worship statues made of stone, or bring sacrifices before wooden altars or sacred, arboreal pillars. Neither are we helpless servants of a powerful monarchy which exploits the poor and vulnerable to the detriment of the entire society. And who would argue in our own day that the intricacies of Jewish, legal and ritual practice would permit the ignorance of social justice?
As Reform Jews, who have long identified ourselves as inheritors of the biblical, prophetic tradition, what then can we honestly learn from their ancient claims? Do the prophets still speak to us today? Is there still value in recalling their campaigns; in hearing their admonishments, in repeating aloud their poetic inspirations spoken in the name of God?
To find our answer, let us first consider the prophetic chastisements against anyone who would dare to believe that the careful performance of religious rituals might somehow render them off the hook from moral trespasses. They conjure for contemporary minds stories of corporate scandals led by observant Jews, even rabbis. We recall sordid episodes of pedophile priests, and evangelical ministers whose mega-churches and media empires cover up reprehensible personal practices. Could it be to them, as well as to the arrogant priesthood of ancient Israel that Isaiah declared in the name of God:
“Your new moons and your appointed feasts fill Me with loathing; They are a burden to Me, I cannot endure them. And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you’ though you pray at length, I will not listen. Your hands are stained with crime – Wash yourselves clean; put your evil doings away from My sight. Cease to do evil; learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow.” (11)
For American Jews, these verses ring especially powerful in recalling the recent scandal in Postville, Iowa, and Agriprocessors, the largest producer of kosher meat in the country. Only six months ago, government officials raided this meatpacking plant, and arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants. Agriprocessors was accused of hiring scores of undocumented workers, paying them far below minimum wage; withholding health benefits and threatening arrest and deportation if they complained; violating child labor laws and worker safety laws, as well as various other criminal trespasses.
Agriprocessors provides much of the kosher meat to their fervently Orthodox clientele, and even in the aftermath of the revelations, these religious authorities were hesitant to withdraw their certification ofkashrut so long as the letter of the halachic processes had been adhered to.
Under pressure from the liberal Jewish movements and a steadily growing number of concerned, Orthodox Jews as well, many ultra-religious authorities finally agreed to reconsider the kashrut of Agriprocessors products. In recent weeks, our own Reform rabbinate, which has been historically quite hesitant to issue proclamations in the realm of kashrut and dietary standards, joined with the Conservative movement in adopting a principle known as “Heksher Tzedek” – meaning Certification of Justice. This new seal of approval will be applied only to food certified as kosher according to our traditional, Jewish dietary laws, and would also confirm that the producer has met certain and decent standards for just wages and employee safety.
Yes, the prophetic message still rings true for us that ritual practice without social justice fails to satisfy the principles and purpose of Jewish, religious life
“Cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed.”
The second message of the prophets was the strong condemnation of the corruption among the wealthy elite who formed the upper classes of Israelite society. They observed the insidious cases of bribery, greed and even fraud, and they insisted that individual morality was absolutely linked to the wellbeing of society as a whole. They were right in their time – is that message still meaningful today?
That answer is almost too clear today, as our nation plunges into a time of economic turmoil, and as we enter a time of widespread uncertainty. What was, but a few short months ago, referred to as the “sub-prime lending collapse” soon ballooned into the “Credit Crisis”, and in days to come is certain to become the “700 Billion Dollar Bailout.” We may be facing the most severe economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. And whatever the cost to the ordinary American taxpayer, let’s not forget that our children will pay an even greater price generations from now. Another $700 billion or more will now be added to the National Debt, which had just been raised by $800 billion dollars this past summer.
As an aside, I think it appropriate to note that as nearly $700 billion dollars are soon to be allocated to bail out elite, Wall Street executives, just last year, President Bush vetoed an increase of $7 billion dollars in health care spending for the poor, telling us that the country couldn’t afford it!
“For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath],” declares the prophet, Amos. “They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. ” (12)
Because this is an election year, political candidates, as in this past weekend’s Presidential Debate, have been quick to point the finger of blame at one another, whether it be the Republican White House or the Democratic Congress. I think there is plenty of blame to go around. In the past decade, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spent almost $200 million on campaign donations and lobbying to Congress. This past year, Fannie gave the legal maximum of $10,000 to both Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and to Republican House Whip, Roy Blunt,(13) neither of whom are facing significant re-election campaigns, but who have continued to stand in the way of any meaningful regulation that would certainly have limited the devastating impact of the lending houses’ collapse.
But even given Washington’s near-total capitulation, and even recognizing the contemptible behavior of so many of the large Investment Banking CEO’s — their indefensible multi-million dollar salaries and outrageous benefit packages, their incessant lying to both Congress and their own shareholders, and their arrogant disregard for the consequences of their personal excesses – nonetheless, responsibility for the financial crisis we face for the foreseeable future must at the same time be placed at the hands of the individual bankers and low-level mortgage brokers who saw the opportunity for a quick dollar to be made, and who jumped at it, generally at the expense of the poor, the hopeful, and desperate.
“They covet fields, and seize them; Houses, and take them away. They defraud men of their homes, and people of their land.”
Take for instance any one of many thousands of cases, where a mortgage broker convinced low to middle income families to get into some exotic, risky new mortgage, like those popular, last-ditch opportunities called a “NINA”, standing for “No Income, No Asset”. How could a broker possibly approve a quarter-million dollar loan for someone with no verifiable income and no ascertainable assets? Because they knew that in short order, they could sell the mortgage to a larger firm, which would then, perhaps, divide it into various pieces, or tranches, later to be re-assembled as a highly rated, mortgage backed security, or CDO. And by then, the victims of opportunistic brokers were rendered both anonymous and invisible.
I spoke recently with a staff member of the Massachusetts Housing and Community Development Commission, who described to me how many cases come down to a story like this, involving a family I’ll call Lawrence. The initial loan papers indicated Lawrence’s base salary as $16,000 per month. It was a number created out of the world of fiction, rather than even the realm of possibility. So rather than the nearly $200,000 which the loan officer claimed as Lawrence’s potential (and therefore, “presumed” income), Lawrence had never actually made more than $40,000 a year. Anxious to share in the American Dream of home ownership, and often perplexed by the financial terminology and processes, men such as Lawrence simply went along with the broker’s creative documents. But soon he found himself in a house he would never be able to afford — defaulted and foreclosed before having made even a single payment! And while Lawrence was losing his home and his savings, the mortgage broker took home, on that particular deal, $18,500 in commissions.
“They have sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.”
Do the prophets still speak to us today? Indeed they do, for we see clearly, yet again, how the greed and corruption of individuals can bring disaster to an entire nation. And we would be reminded at the same time that the goodness, compassion, justice and generosity of individual men and women are likewise the key to the well-being of our communities, our nation, and even the world itself.
Finally, if we think about the most fundamental message of the biblical prophets, it would be their relentless battle against the encroachment of idolatry, and the pagan practices of the surrounding nations of the ancient Near East. Surely, though, idolatry has been banished, and the war is over and won? Have we still the need for reading and learning from the ancient prophetic campaign against idolatry?
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot touch, feet, but cannot walk; Those who fashion them, all who trust in them, shall become like them.” (14)
Aside from being woefully misguided, what really was the problem with idolatry that so consumed the prophets? It was not simply about the foolish belief that the product of human sculptural arts could possess real meaning or power of any sort.
“Those who fashion them shall become like them.” That’s the passage that hits the nail on the head! The problem wasn’t only with the idols themselves, but with the makers of the idols, who by worshipping the work of their own hands, came to see themselves as powerful, even god-like. Idolatry was, at its core, a worship of the Self, and that is certainly not a malady from which we are nowadays immune. (15)
We live in a time of the supremacy of Self. Is it merely coincidence that the most-watched television show in our nation is “American Idol”? And I suggest that it is precisely the elevation of Self, of one’s own desires and wants, that ultimately leads to circumstances such as kosher giant, Agriprocessors’ exploitation of indigent workers, and likewise to the stampeding over poor families, many now left homeless by suspiciously imprudent financial guidance.
So yes, the prophets’ incessant war against idolatry speaks to us still today. For at the heart of idolatry was the worship of self, and a system of belief that human beings could cajole the gods in order to have their own selfish needs provided. Adoring of self, idolatry made demands on the gods. The prophets, however, taught it is God who makes demands of us.
Idolatry tries to manipulate the gods. The prophets called us to serve God.
Idolatry sought to change the natural world in accordance with the will of men. The prophets wanted to change men and women in fulfillment of the Will of God.
Do the prophets speak to us today? Without question. For although times have changed, and society is more complex, and the media of communication could not be more different, people – no, people haven’t changed. Men and women today are the same as people were in the days of our Biblical past, with the same inclinations, motivations, shortcomings and needs and hopes.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, whose own life work reflected something of a modern day Amos or Isaiah, said: “The spirit of the prophet, the message of the prophet, is very much alive. It’s a kind of men who combine very deep love and very powerful dissent, painful rebuke, with unwavering hope.”
And that vision of hope is likewise a prophetic message that yet speaks to us today! Yes, the nations of Israel and Judah would fall, but only to be renewed and reinvigorated in a return that would be more glorious than the past. So the prophet, who began with a message of doom, also brings consolation, promise and the hope of reconciliation.
From the vision of Isaiah: “How welcome on the mountain are the footsteps of the herald announcing happiness, heralding good fortune, announcing victory… For the Lord will comfort His people…” (16)
From the prophet, Joel: “The Lord declared: I will grant you the new grain, the new wine, and the new oil, and you shall have them in abundance… O Children of Zion, be glad, Rejoice in the Lord your God.”(17)
And from the fiery, Amos: “In that day, I will set up again the fallen booth of David: I will mend its breaches and set up its ruins anew…. They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine; They shall till gardens and eat their fruits. And I will plant them upon their soil, nevermore to be uprooted from the soil I have given them, says the Lord your God.” (18)
In fact, the prophet, Zacharia coined a new term when he called us “Asirei ha-tikvah” – “prisoners of hope.” (19) And you here today, who may be in a time of pain, or suffering loss, or fear for an uncertain future, the prophets speak to you as well, urging you to embrace hope in the future as both a promise from God and a sacred inheritance.
May their words and their passion inspire us today as they inspired the generations of Jews who went before us, with the confidence and determination to work for that day when the lamb, dwelling with the wolf, will not need to be replaced day after day after day.
“For they shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
(1) Isaiah 11:6,7,9.
(2) Micah 6:8
(3) As per A.J. Heschel in The Prohets. An Introduction.
(4) II Samuel, Chapter 11ff.
(5) 1 Kings Chapter 18ff.
(6) I Kings 11:1ff.
(7) Jeremiah 7:30-31.
(8) Isaiah 10:1-2.
(9) Micah 2:1-2.
(10) Amos 5:21ff.
(11) Isaiah 1:14-17.
(12) Amos 2:6-7.
(13) According to Investor’s Business Daily website.
(14) Psalms 115:4-8
(15) This insight comes from Norman Podhoretz, The Prophets. Who They Were. What They Are.
(16) Isaiah 52:7ff.
(17) Joel Chapter 3
(18) Amos 9:11ff.
(19) Zachariah 9:12.
