Erev Rosh Hashanahsermon delivered by Rabbi Eli Freedman

In his new Netflix movie, Between Two Ferns, Zach Galifianakis asks Paul Rudd if he is a ‘practicing Jew.’ Without missing a beat, Rudd responds, “I’m not a practicing Jew… I perfected it!”

Funny, but not true. None of us have perfected it. This is the central message of the High Holy Days – none of us are perfect and we all have the opportunity to discover our best selves.

I got an early start to this soul searching while working at our Union for Reform Judaism’s Camp Harlam. There, they use unique mindfulness tools rooted in the teachings of mussar to help each camper and staff find the path to their best selves.

Mussar is a concrete practice that gives instructions on how to live a meaningful and ethical life that arose under the leadership of Rabbi Israel Salanter in 19th-century Lithuania. Salanter believed that through prayer and meditation, study, journaling, and group conversations, we all hold the power to better ourselves. Using these traditional teachings and updated practices, Rabbi Maderer will be leading a mussarcohort this year.

At camp, they practice mussar by giving out tikkun middot bracelets. Tikkun, which many know from the phrase Tikkun Olam, means repair. And middot, are character traits. Tikkun middot is the spiritual practice of inward turning and intentionality in order to better ourselves.

Using classic positive reinforcement pedagogy, staff and counselors give out bracelets to the campers when they see them exhibiting a positive character trait, a middah. The whole community is transformed by these bracelets. Campers are excited to be their best selves and get bracelets. At the same time, counselors are pushed to be more mindful – they have to look for and notice when campers are living out the middot.

The camp leadership chose specific middotfor the staff and campers to focus on over the course of summer. The seven middot at Camp Harlam are: Simchah/Finding Joy, Acharayut/Thinking About Others, Nitzachon/Perseverance, Rachamim/Compassion, Bitachon/Confidence, Tiferet/Finding Inner Beauty, and Binah/Seeking Meaning.

Tonight I want to focus on three of these middot: rachamim, nitzachon, and binah. 

It was the 9th inning. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs were getting absolutely pummelled by the visiting Pawtucket Red Sox. The only people still at the game were a handful of loyal fans and about 150 kids from camp.

A foul ball came flying into the campers section and they all ran to try to catch it. A young man reached up and plucked the ball out of the air with little effort. It happened to be one of our campers birthday that day, and the campers made this known. They began chanting for the man to give the ball to the birthday boy:

IT’S HIS BIRTHDAY! GIVE HIM THE BALL! IT’S HIS BIRTHDAY! GIVE HIM THE BALL!

And so, with little fanfare, that’s what the young man did. He gave the boy the ball. And then, only a few minutes later, another foul came careening into the section. And as easily as before, the young man caught this one as well. Of course, a whole crew of kids ran over again, with puppy dog eyes, and the man didn’t hesitate, unprompted by any chanting, to give away his second caught foul ball.

My colleague, Rabbi Keren Gorban, saw all of this and within earshot of our campers, approached the man. She said, “At camp, we have a tradition of giving away these special bracelets when we see people acting with intention. You showed a lot of compassion just now and so I’d like to give you this ‘rachamim’ bracelet.”

The man smiled and thanked her and everyone went on their way. As the campers were leaving the ballpark, they noticed the young man, and they were overjoyed to see that he was wearing his bracelet!

This first middah, rachamim, which our foul ball catching mentsch exhibited so perfectly, is often translated as compassion. Like many of the middot, rachamim, is also a middah of God. On the High Holy Days, when we take the Torah from the ark, we sing the words, “Adonai, Adonai, El Rachum, v’Chanun…” El Rachum– God of Compassion. As we are created in the image of God,b’tzelem Elohim, we seek to emulate God’s rachamim, God’s compassion.

One of my favorite texts in the Talmud posits the hypothetical question, “What does God pray on Yom Kippur?”  The sages answer, that God says, “May it be My will that my attribute of rachamim/compassion outweigh My attribute of din/justice.” In this beautiful metaphor, the rabbis of the Talmud understood the power of compassion, and prayed for the hope that we, like God, could be merciful towards ourselves and others.Rachamimis giving people the benefit of the doubt. It is choosing compassion over being right.

How can we be like God and live with more rachamim this next year? We all want to be better. We all want to be compassionate like the guy from the baseball game. But in our busy, hectic lives, we sometimes forget. At camp, this is why they have the bracelets. They are a mindfulness tool to help us be more intentional in our actions.

Mindfulness, intentionality, or kavana as we call it in Hebrew is at the core of our Jewish tradition. Throughout our High Holy Day liturgy, we come across the word, “zochreinu,” remember us, be mindful of us. In a special insertion in the amidah tonight, we asked God to remember us for a life of blessing. In this New Year, zochreinu, may we be mindful of ourselves and work to show more rachamim.

Our next middahis nitzachon/perseverance. I’ll begin with another story from camp. Shabbat is a big deal at camp. Each unit at camp is responsible for helping to lead services throughout the summer. Some campers make decorations for the chapel. Others write introductions to the prayers, while some read Torah.

One camper, Rachel, decided that she wanted to help lead some of the prayers on her guitar. I will be blunt; she was not very good at guitar. It took her a few minutes to find each chord and to change between them. The counselors working with her were incredibly patient but she was getting increasingly frustrated. Rachel couldn’t keep up with the tempo of the prayer and was ready to quit. I could see it in her face, she was flustered, angry, and exhausted. She threw down the guitar and said, “I can’t do it!” But then, to my surprise, she took a moment to herself, picked the guitar back up, and said, “OK, let’s try that Oseh Shalomagain!”

I went up to her after the session and gave her a nitzachon/perseverance bracelet. Rachel’s face lit up – I could see her confidence growing.

We find role models of nitzachon throughout our tradition. Abraham and Sarah persevered through years of infertility before having a child, the Israelites persevered through 400 years of Egyptian slavery before returning to the Promised Land, and the Jewish people have persevered in the face of anti-Semitism for the past 2,000 years.

We read in the Talmud (Menahot 53B), “Just as the olive yields oil only when it is pounded, so too our greatest potentials are yielded only under the pressure of adversity.” Or put more simply by Albert Einstein, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

Living a life of nitzachon means staying with our problems longer. It means pushing through until we reach the finish line. In our frenetic, highly distracting world, it is so easy to quickly move on to the next task without seeing something through. Nitzachon means being truly present in the moment and focusing on the task at hand until we reach the conclusion.

Looking back on your year, when did you exhibit nitzachon? Try to think about a specific time when you pushed through a challenge. How did you feel at that moment?

And now, look forward. How can we be better at nitzachon this next year? We all know the joy and satisfaction that comes with having accomplished something, we just need to be mindful, to zochreinu– remember for ourselves, in that moment of frustration or distraction that perseverance is worth it. In this New Year, zochreinu, may we be mindful of ourselves and work to show more nitzachon.

Our final middah is binah – seeking meaning. In the rabbinic book Pirkei Avot (4:1), Rabbi Ben Zoma writes, “Aizeh Hu Chacham? Who is wise? Halomed micol adam. One who learns from all people.”

In today’s highly polarized, social-media bubble world, it is so easy to write someone off because of their political beliefs, assuming that they have nothing to offer. However, Ben Zoma reminds us that quest for binah requires that we learn from all people and seek to understand all sides of a particular debate.

There is a story in the Talmud (Baba Metziah 84a) of two rabbis, Reish Lakish and Rabbi Yochanan who were chevurta, study partners. Sadly, Reish Lakish passes away and Rabbi Yochanan is left with a new study partner, Rabbi Elazar. Whenever Rabbi Yochanan presented a point, Rabbi Elazar would agree, saying here are 24 reasons why you are correct. Rabbi Yochanan became enraged and stormed off. Running after him, perplexed, Rabbi Elazar asked, “What did I do wrong?” Rabbi Yochana responds, “I don’t need you to tell me why I’m correct. What I loved about Reish Lakish was that for every point I raised, he would tell me 24 reasons why I’m wrong.”

The rabbis of the Talmud are the perfect example of binah.They challenge one another to see different perspectives. In this New Year, zochreinu, may we be mindful of ourselves and work to show more binah.

I’ll end with one last story. I was leading a session at camp on Israel. At the end of the program, I asked for feedback. Brendan, who normally did not speak up much, immediately raised his hand. He said, “I don’t normally pay much attention but I did today and I learned a lot.”

I gave Brendan a binah/seeking meaning, bracelet. His response was priceless; as I was walking away, I heard him say to his friend, in excitement, “this is the hardest one to get!”

I thought to myself, “I guess that really depends, Brendan.” For some, showing compassion, rachamin, may be the hardest bracelet to get. For others, nitzachon, perseverance, may be their stumbling block. Clearly for Brendan, a lively 13 year old, who has a hard time paying attention during formal instruction, binah – seeking meaning, was his greatest challenge.

Take a moment and think to yourself; if you had to choose from these three middot: rachamim (compassion), nitzachon (perseverance), or binah (seeking meaning), which would be your greatest challenge? Which middah needs the most attention, the most improvement in your life? If you choose to work one of these in the coming year, which would it be?

So here’s my New Years challenge to all of us. In the camp model, the bracelets are given out in a form of positive reinforcement. For our purposes, I want us to think about these middotas aspirational challenges. Tonight, Erev Rosh Hashanah makes the beginning of the Yamim Noraim– the Ten Days of Awe – a period to look inward, reflect on the past year, and contemplate how we want to improve in the coming year.  I want all of us to choose one of these middot– rachamim (compassion), nitzachon (perseverance), or binah (seeking meaning) – to work on over the next ten days and beyond.

As Rabbi Maderer likes to joke when teaching mussar, it’s much more fun figuring out which one of these middot your friends need to work on, but this work is personal and introspective – how do you want to be a better person in this coming year?

We have a gift for each of you to help with this inner soul work.  So I totally wanted to pull an Oprah joke and be like:

EVERYONE LOOK UNDER YOUR SEATS!

YOU GET A BRACELET! YOU GET A BRACELET!

But then I realized that as fun as that would be, there is a major flaw in the Oprah method. We shouldn’t all get the same bracelets because we each need to decide for ourselves which middah we need to work on; that’s half the work. So instead, as you leave the sanctuary tonight, you will see bins filled with bracelets for you take with you. There are three bracelets for you to choose from: rachamim (compassion), nitzachon (perseverance), or binah (seeking meaning).

The choice is up to you. Although there are various middot we can all work on every day of the year, commit to working on one of these middot over the next 10 days. We can all, always, strive to be better people. What are you going to work on this year?

My hope is that these bracelets act like a string tied around your finger; a little reminder over the next ten days and beyond to seek meaning, to persevere, or to show compassion.

In a few moments when we rise for Avinu Malkeinu, we will once again ask God tozochreinu– remember us, be mindful of us. Just as God is mindful of us, so too, zochreinu, may we be mindful of ourselves in this New Year.

Ken Y’hi Ratzon/May this be God’s Will. Shanah Tovah.

Delivered by Rabbi Jill Maderer, Rosh Hashanah morning. 

Why are we here?  Why are we here as individuals and as a community?  Generations ago, one of our prophets, Elijah, is called to answer that question.

Immersed in a spiritual quest, and frightened by a broken world, Elijah crawls into a cave where he spends the night.  That’s when the word of God comes to him:  God asks: “Why are you here, Elijah?”  Trembling with fear, Elijah replies:

“I despair that we have forsaken Your covenant, And torn down Your altars. I am alone.”

Rings true today. This Rosh Hashanah, we too, stand at the mouth of the cave, saying in our own words:
“I despair that we have forgotten to listen, to live, to love.
That we have torn down human dignity.
I yearn to commit to something greater than myself, something sacred.”

We too tremble in fear.  Frightened by the many things that make ourselves, and our world, broken.

I am frightened by the personal challenges that so many of us encounter: isolation, addiction, bullying, mental illness. …By abundant daily tasks, but scarce time to reflect, to express thanks, to grieve for loss and disappointment, to connect, to understand different perspectives.

I am frightened by anti-Semitism, still in the year of mourning for our Jewish brothers and sisters in Pittsburgh.  And I am frightened by anti-Zionist advocates for BDS against Israel, because I support the rights of Jews, and the rights of Palestinians to a Two-State Solution.

I am frightened by school shooters, and by the role of guns in domestic violence, in suicide, and in under-served communities.   I am frightened by white supremacy, homophobia, immigration injustice.  I am frightened by abuses of power.  And I am frightened by lawmakers, who seek to restrict my reproductive rights.  I am frightened by my own habits—as I daily contribute to climate change.  And I am frightened by the gap between my values and my actions.

Yet, I know I am not alone.  Because I am here with you.  When we face despair, we may be tempted to crawl into the cave.

But what does God say to Elijah?

“Come out, and stand on the mountain before the Eternal One.”  God says it to Elijah, and I believe, in our own understanding of God or consciousness or inner-life, we hear it too– God calls to us:  “Come out, and stand on the mountain before the Eternal One.” 

With courage, bring your fullest self – your love and your doubt, your vulnerability and your hope. Come out, and stand on the mountain before the Eternal One.

With resilience, never give up on returning to your best self — Come out, and stand on the mountain before the Eternal One.

With love, discover the possibility of human connection — Come out, and stand on the mountain before the Eternal One.

The cave is not an option.  Stand with each other. Stand in My presence.

That is why we are here.  As the sound of the shofarcalls us, at this holy time of the new year, that is why the synagogue is here.  And all year long, that is why our congregation is here: To stand together—amid brokenness—to stand together on the mountain before the Eternal One.

Elijah is frightened.  But the Hebrew word for frightened can also mean “to see.”  Elijah is frightened.  Or Elijah sees.  We are frightened.  Or, we see.

This community is where we shine a light, and help each other see what we need to see.  Where we illuminate something of the wholeness and holiness, that resides in each of us.  Where we catch each other when we stumble, and join hands to walk the path towards renewal.  Where we grapple with the meaning of tradition, and its relevance for our lives.  Where we deepen our journeys, listen to others’ stories, and we draw strength from sharing them with one another. Where we make sacred sense of our world, and of our place in it. We need each other, in order to come out of the cave, and stand on the mountain before the Eternal One.  That’s why we are here.

Elijah says: “I am alone.” Some days, you may feel it too.  But no—we are not alone. This year, our leadership chose to see, that our reality calls for an expanded vision for our congregation. Our new vision statement, declares that we are not alone, and inspires us to commit to each other, in these 4 core principles: Immersed in Jewish time, guided by enduring values, compelled to moral action, we create profound connections.

We are here, to together, be immersed in Jewish time.  Sustained by the sacred rhythms of the Jewish year, living in the framework of Jewish ritual, teaches us to gather as a community, to bring our authentic selves, as we walk with each other, through the joys and sorrows of our lives.

I recently officiated at a funeral here in this sanctuary.  There, I saw a congregant who I did not realize was connected to the woman we were mourning.  So I asked him: how do you know her or the bereaved family? He replied, “I did not know her well, but for every High Holy Day service we sat in the same neighborhood of pews.  So year after year as we gathered for the holidays, we became acquainted.  When I learned of her death I wanted to be present for her family.”

I was so touched by his choice to be there, and by his reason—this is what we do for one another in our Jewish community. The congregational condolence emails have become important, because they help us to strip away barriers and to care for each other.

Jewish ritual unites us for moments of comfort, and also of joy—moments of the lifecycle, and also of the Jewish calendar.  Every person who shows up, to dance on Simchat Torah, or to pray and sing and breathe on Shabbatwhen our community gathers weekly—every person there elevates the joy for the next person.

In order to fully celebrate our tradition’s holy moments—to be immersed in Jewish time— we commit to something greater than ourselves, something sacred.

We are not alone.

We are here, too, together. Be guided by enduring values.  The timeless wisdom of our tradition inspires our intentional quest for truth, and helps us to narrow the gap between our values and our actions.

Many of you have shared a concern with me.  When someone asks how you are doing, you respond: “Busy. Crazy. The very pace of my day spirals out of control.”  You are not alone.

Maybe we aren’t over-committed.  We’re under-committed, but to so many things.  Constantly fragmented, our attention is not whole.  Do you ever enter your password on the microwave?  A few weeks ago, I took my daughter to the doctor and when we arrived, I realized I had forgotten my cell phone!  How could I sit in a waiting room without my phone?  Before my child was called in, she advised me: do what you tell meto do with waiting time – meditate.  (I guess she listens).  She was right—Sometimes I need someone to say:  Just be in one place.

Tradition has much wisdom to teach us about consciousness.  At Mt. Sinai, God says to Moses: “Come up to the mountain and be there.”  Sounds redundant.  If he ascends the mountain, where else would he be?  But maybe the Torahunderstands the extra effort it takes, just to be present.  Moses: Be where you are.  Maderer: Be where you are.  You, too?  Not easy, but when we strive together, to be present, we have a better chance of living that value. When in Jewish community we study Torah, struggle with its message and with competing priorities, when we carve out space for contemplation, we nourish each other’s pathways to enduring values—like intention, loving-kindness, human dignity.

In order to be guided by our enduring values — we commit to something greater than ourselves, something sacred.

We are not alone.

We are here, too, together. Be compelled to moral action.  In a broken world, we commit to be a voice of conscience and to engage in the work of social justice.

In 1790, President George Washington responded to a letter from the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island.  In his response, Washington writes: “All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship… For happily the Government of the United States…gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance…”

On display at the National Museum of American Jewish History, his letter’s mandate does not come easy.

Picture yourself standing on Independence Mall, just south of Market Street.  The museum with the letter, to your left.  What is just across the grass, from the place where Washington’s “bigotry no sanction” letter lives?  The excavated slave quarters of the very same George Washington.  That grass on which you stand—that space in between, is the struggle—the complex tension between inclusion and degradation, within one man. The ideals are not achieved easily, even for him.

And the principles are not achieved easily, when it comes to us.

For me, that space, where some of us stood last month on Tisha B’Av, rallying for immigration justice, that space between “to bigotry no sanction” and, the slave quarters, that is holy ground because it tells the story of the truth of our nation and the truth of our humanity— that any one of us can fall into the trap of demonizing the other, that we are on a spiritual quest to determine who we seek to be, that we have always struggled for righteousness—in our country, in our community, in our very self.

We turn to the people we trust – those we trust for their challenging honesty, for their common values, and for their shared commitment to repair this world. That struggle for moral clarity happens together.

In order to pursue moral action— we commit to something greater than ourselves, something sacred.

We are not alone.

We are here to together create profound connections.  With vulnerability and trust, courage and hope, we see one another and we feel seen. We enter the synagogue to lift each other on our journeys—to celebrate, to learn, to laugh, to heal, to challenge ourselves, and to connect with others about the deepest questions of our lives.

To create profound connections we commit to something greater than ourselves, something sacred.

All of those generations ago at the mouth of the cave, Elijah says: “I am alone.” Some days, we feel it too.  But no—you are not alone. Immersed in Jewish time, guided by enduring values, compelled to moral action, we create profound connections.

Like Elijah, trembling we say: “I despair that we have forgotten to listen, to live, to love, That we have torn down human dignity. I yearn to commit to something greater than myself, something sacred.”

And God’s calling is clear: The cave is not an option.  Stand with each other. Stand in My presence.

“Come out,” God calls, “and stand on the mountain before the Eternal One.”

Make we make it so.

L’shanah tovah.

 

(Attribution: “Do you ever enter your password on the microwave?” from Homiletics Online, reprinted in Rabbi Edwin Goldberg’s Saying No and Letting Go.)

 

 

We all know the old expression, “Two Jews, three opinions!” A cute, funny line, but rooted in a fundamental philosophy that is paramount to our tradition. From our very beginnings, Judaism has been a religion that encourages dialogue and debates l’shem shamayim(for the sake of heaven).Jacob wrestled with a divine being and was renamed Israel – one who struggles with the Divine.In our Yom Kippur morning Torahportion, Nitzavim, we are taught, “the Torahis not in Heaven… it is in our hearts,”for us to interpret and disagree over! And the rabbis of the Talmud provide one of the greatest examples of discourse, constantly pushing each other and questioning.

In this spirit, we are excited to engage with Israel this fall in three distinct learning opportunities, beginning with two very different perspectives.

On Sunday morning, September 22, Asaf Romirowsky, PhD, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, will present the topic, BDS and Antisemitism: What’s Happening in Academia & on American College Campuses? (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions).

OnTuesday evening, Nov 5, Rabbi Emeritus Bill Kuhn will lead our book club, ReadRS, in a discussion of acclaimed American-Israeli author Daniel Gordis’ book, We Stand Divided.

Then, on Wednesday evening, November 6, we will hear from Rebecca Strober, the daughter of one of our past presidents, and new congregant, Nathan Hersh. Both Becca and Nathan are IDF (Israeli Defence Force) veterans and part of a group called Breaking the Silence, which records testimonies from the perspectives of the soldiers about the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories.

Finally, we will have the opportunity, to dig deepon various views of Israel during a scholar-in-residence weekend with Reform Zionism thought leader, and a past president of the URJ, Rabbi Eric Yoffie on November 15-17. In three distinct sessions, Rabbi Yoffie will explore our commitment to Israel, help us understand the issues around religious freedom, and lift up some of the political challenges Israel faces as well.

We look forward to engaging with you in these important conversations.
________________

1 See Pirkei Avot 5:17
2 Genesis 32:22–32
3 Deuteronomy 30:12

 

 

 

Rabbi Eli Freedman’s sermon from Friday, September 6

Tzedek, Tzedek, Tirdof– Justice, Justice, You Shall Pursue. This week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, literally meaning “judges” is filled with talk of justice.

Justice in our judicial system. We read in our Torah, “You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just.” We are also taught that at least two witnesses are needed to convict someone – one witness is not enough.

Justice for our rulers. Kings are commanded to always have the Torah by their side as they rule as a constant moral reminder. They are commanded not to amass wealth and there is even an emoluments clause in this week’s portion!

Justice for those accused of manslaughter. The Israelites are commanded to create sanctuary cities where someone accused of accidental murder can flee to escape potential revenge

Justice in warfare. Understanding that war was a reality, the people are commanded to act ethically when engaging in combat with an enemy.

And lastly, we find in this week’s portion environmental justice:

When you besiege a city a long time, you shall not destroy the fruit trees thereof by wielding an ax against them. You may eat of them but you shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field a person that it can run from you? Only the trees of which you know that they are not trees for food, them you may destroy and cut down that you may build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you until it falls. (Deut. 20:19-20)

These verses, which command us not to cut down fruit trees while besieging a city, are the basis for a rabbinic statute called, bal tashchit– the prohibition against waste and unnecessary destruction. The rabbis expanded the ruling from not unnecessarily destroying fruit trees to so much more.

The 12th century sage, Rambam writes, “Whoever breaks vessels, or tears garments, or destroys a building, or clogs a well, or does away with food in a destructive manner violates the negative mitzvah of bal tashchit.”

Rambam also gives specific examples like not burying a person in expensive clothing or wasting oil in lamps on shabbat. My personal favorite is the ruling that one should not drink wine when beer is available. The reasoning behind this commandment stems from the fact that beer requires much less resources (labor, water, land, time) than wine to produce.

Bal tashchitis also at the heart of our environmental crisis today; the fires raging in the Amazon, more frequent and intense hurricanes, and polluted drinking water. All of these catastrophes are the product of humans failing to follow the commandment of bal tashchit, unnecessarily wasting our natural resources.

No single one of us is going to solve our climate crisis but we can all make a difference. As it says in Pirkei Avot (and on my tallit), “Lo alecha hamlacha ligmor, v’lo atah ben chorin l’hivatel mimena– It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”

By following some of the same basic laws of bal tashchit that our ancient rabbis laid out, we can each do our part to combat global climate change. In this month of Elul, as we approach the New Year, a time of reflection, renewal, turning, I encourage all of us to try to become better at bal tashchit. A few ideas:

1. Eat less meat (especially red meat)
2. Don’t waste food
3. Consider getting solar panels on your home
4. Buy less stuff
5. Bike/carpool/take public transportation

The congregation has also initiated some work in this area. Beginning with an internal audit of our own waste and environmental impact, we hope to embody the values of bal tashchitin all aspects of our building and community.

This week’s Torah portion,Shoftim,and much of the book of Deuteronomy speak about justice. Often, justice is written about in conditional terms. If you follow the commandments, then good things will happen to you and if you don’t, well… good luck!

This conditional theology has always been difficult for me and I imagine many of you, as all too often we see the righteous suffer while the wicked are rewarded. But, if we read the conditional justice of Deuteronomy in communal terms, the theology becomes less problematic. If we as a society continue to overuse our natural resources, pollute our planet, and show no regard for future generations, then we, the human race, will suffer.

However, if we follow the commandments of bal tashchit, if we each find small ways to reduce our waste, consumption, and carbon footprint, we have the collective power to bring true justice to our planet and all of creation.

Ken Y’hi Ratzon. May This Be God’s Will

Shabbat Shalom.

 

This Shabbat, for our benediction, Rabbi Maderer offered these words written by her colleague Rabbi Michael Adam Latz:

To whom am I loyal?
To God.
To my beloved family.
To children everywhere.
To my congregation.Continue reading

By Rabbi Eli Freedman

In the spirit of lifting up women’s voices, I want to begin with the words of Rabbi Elaine Zecher of Temple Israel in Boston. She writes, “Women have been wronged.Children have been wronged as well. No one is left untouched in the destructive legislation concerning abortions—especially, of course, women’s bodies, which have been viewed as the property of government.” Rabbi Zecher then goes on to quote this week’s portion, Behar, with the words: “Do not wrong one another, but fear your God; for I the Eternal am your God.”

We consider the specific command “not to wrong another” in light of legislation in Alabama, Missouri, Ohio, Georgia, and elsewhere that has robbed women and those who love them of their own agency and, preemptively, in some states, indicted them as potential murderers. Although these heinous behaviors of lawmakers reflect a sinister strategy to get to the Supreme Court, they have trampled human dignity and decency on the way.

Continue reading

by Rabbi Jill Maderer

I am so grateful to serve a congregation that cares not only about its immediate needs, but also about the broader Jewish community. All of our clergy work on initiatives beyond our walls. Such work nourishes us in our professional growth, contributes to the greater good of American Judaism, and offers us the opportunity for regional and national impact.

For instance, Cantor Frankel recently shared in the May Bulletin about her upcoming role as an officer on the Board of the American Conference of Cantors. Rabbi Freedman most recently joined the Board of Interfaith Family and continues his involvement in POWER and local and global multi-faith work, and I am concluding my term on the Board of the Jewish Federation and also service on the Board of Interfaith Philadelphia and on the Central Conference of American Rabbis Task Force on the Experience of Women in the Rabbinate.

I have taken on a new short-term role, and I have an idea about how some of you might like to be involved. This December, I will lead the Friday evening Shabbat service at the Biennial convention of the leadership of the Union for Reform Judaism. I am excited for the opportunity, and I enthusiastically invite you to consider joining me in Chicago for the 5,000-person convention of Reform Jews.

The large number of participants means this service is quite a production, so I am already planning the service. Presently, I am studying readings, poetry, and commentary I might like to incorporate into the service. I am focusing on readings that highlight relationships, connection, intimacy, and authenticity. Here is where I would like to invite your involvement. As I collect the commentaries, I would love to study them with you! I am so curious to know what you would find inspiring.

I plan to study the prayers and commentaries that I am considering for the service, along with parts of that week’s Torah portion, at our regular Torah Study session on Saturday, June 8 from 9:15-10:30am. I hope you will join the conversation!

by Rabbi Jill Maderer

I write this having just returned from the annual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). There, I moderated a panel about important work that is now taking place to combat anti-Semitism. This work was unknown to most of my colleagues, and I thought it may be unknown to you as well. So I would like to share with you what I learned.

The panel was comprised of Amy Spitalnick and Roberta Kaplan. On Shabbat, August 12, 2017, hundreds of Nazis or White Supremacists descended on Charlottesville. Amy and Roberta are the people who are suing the Nazis.

Amy Spitalnick is the Executive Director of Integrity First for America, an organization which holds accountable those who threaten the principles of our democracy. Integrity First is funding and supporting the Sines v. Kessler lawsuit filed by a coalition of Charlottesville community members against the Nazis responsible for the violence. Previously, Amy served as senior policy advisor and communications director to the New York Attorney General, and as advisor and spokesperson for the New York City mayor.

Roberta Kaplan, or Robbie, the founding partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink, is a commercial and civil rights litigator, and an expert in cutting-edge areas of law. Robbie’s work is “Where Were You When” kind of work. Where were you when the Supreme Court ruled for Robbie’s client Edie Windsor and for marriage equality? I remember where I was. Where were you when the witness of #MeToo became the fighting words of #TimesUp? When Robbie co-founded the Times Up Legal Defense Fund? I remember where I was. Where were you when… the racists, the anti-Semites, chanted “Blood and soil” and then actually shed blood in Charlottesville? I remember where I was.

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Anyone remember the song, “Come Out and Play,” also known as, “Keep ‘Em Separated,” by the 90’s alternative band, Offspring. The story goes that inspiration for the “keep ’em separated” lyric actually came from frontman, Dexter Holland’s, experience in a laboratory cooling flasks full of hot liquids. He placed them too close together, realizing after he messed up the experiment that he needed to, “keep ‘em separated.”

If there is one thing you should know about this week’s portion, the entire book of Leviticus, and really the whole mindset of the ancient Israelite priests, the authors of Leviticus, it is, “keep ‘em separated.”

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by Rabbi Maderer

This article originally appeared in the March issue of the Rodeph Shalom Bulletin.

Last month, I expressed here, and in a sermon, my gratitude about my extended family’s trip to Israel. Several things made it deeply meaningful. I have an almost life-long relationship with Israel, having begun my visits as a child. In preparation, I read from Rabbi Larry Hoffman’s book about spiritual pilgrimage to Israel. My children were moved to journal every night we were there, and for a progressive lens, my family traveled with the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA). The ARZA-led experience was important to me because it meant a critically thinking guide whose approach would feed my passion for Reform Zionism. Last month, I shared with you one critical aspect of Reform Zionism– that we need to own our place in Israel, our place at the Western Wall/Kotel, and our authentic place in Judaism.

This month, I would like to share another critical aspect of Reform Zionism. Much like Reform Judaism is devoted to cultivating a meaningful Jewish community and also caring for the other, Reform Zionism is devoted to the love for and support of the Jewish homeland and also caring for the other. Support for a Two-State Solution indicates the commitment to a home for two different peoples–both Jews and Palestinians. Too often, leadership voices and the media express polarizing views, as if we may only advocate for the Jews or for the Palestinians, as if human beings may care either for our own or for the other. I believe this is the false choice of those on the right who won’t speak of hard truths about the occupied territories to be spoken, and of those on the left who neglect to be transparent that Boycott Divestment Sanctions does not seek to make Israel a fairer place, it seeks to eliminate Israel. In a state established in the wake of the Holocaust and where over a million Jewish refugees expelled from Arab countries landed, in a state where security is so different that my hotels had bomb shelters but no chain locks on the room doors, and in a state that has occupied territories of other peoples, I cannot see how either the far right or the far left can alone lift up the truth.

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