Blogging Elul Day 16: Change

"This is an hour of change." So begins the poem by Leah Goldberg, one that we read in our siddur, Mishkan T'fillah. For forty years now, it's been clear that the Jewish People has been at a tipping point, a nexus of change. More than just the pendulum shifts we've experienced before (from acceptance to oppression, peoplehood to religion, etc.), we are in the midst of a total redefinition of what it means to be a Jew.

And the truth is, no one has the answer as to what it all will mean. However, this book  , American Post-Judaism, by Shaul Magid, offers a controversial and radical exploration of where the future is going. Reviewed by Rabbi Jack Riemer (himself an excellent thinker on the topic of transitions, and thanks to Peter Grumbacher for pointing it out), the book suggests that

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish Renewal movement will survive.

Now, Magid, himself a friend of the Renewal movement, has banged on this drum before, and there is always a question of agenda with such books. HOWEVER, as my teacher David Aaron reminded us, sometimes it's not about the answers, it's about the questions. We are in the midst of change, and it's increasingly clear that these changes are not about tactics (how to raise money, how to support Israel, how to get people to join synagogues, etc.) or even strategy (how can the synagogue best serve the needs of Millennials) but cultural and generational.The question, then, becomes not how we harness the change or resist the change, but how we embrace the change. Or, as Leah Goldberg would put it: shall we turn back, my brother, my sister, or cross over?

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and even post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish renewal movement will survive. - See more at: http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/american-post-judaism-offers-bold-predictions-that-may-very-well-come-true/#sthash.yzXuiToL.dpuf

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and even post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish renewal movement will survive. - See more at: http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/american-post-judaism-offers-bold-predictions-that-may-very-well-come-true/#sthash.yzXuiToL.dpuf

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and even post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish renewal movement will survive. - See more at: http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/american-post-judaism-offers-bold-predictions-that-may-very-well-come-true/#sthash.yzXuiToL.dpuf

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and even post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish renewal movement will survive. - See more at: http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/american-post-judaism-offers-bold-predictions-that-may-very-well-come-true/#sthash.yzXuiToL.dpuf

Blogging Elul Day 15: Learn

Some students of the Baal Shem Tov came to him one day with a question. "Every year we travel here to learn from you. Nothing could make us stop doing that. But we have learned of a man in our own town who claims to be a tzaddik, a righteous one. If he is genuine, we would love to profit from his wisdom. But how will we know if he is a fake?"

The Baal Shem Tov looked at his earnest hasidim. "You must test him by asking him a question." He paused. "You have had difficulty with stray thoughts during prayer?"

"Yes!" The hasidim answered eagerly. "We try to think only of our holy intentions as we pray, but other thoughts come into our minds. We have tried many methods not to be troubled by them."


"Good," said the Baal Shem Tov. "Ask him the way to stop such thoughts from entering your minds." The Baal Shem Tov smiled. "If he has an answer, he is a fake." 

Blogging Elul Day 14: Remembering and Rituals

“Judaism is a dynamic, evolving tradition, one continuously sculpted by its loving practitioners. Jews keep Judaism alive through inventing new rituals-moving, fulfilling, and authentically Jewish rituals” 

“Rituals establish new communities and sustain existing ones; 

• They give us things to do and ways of being that help us to give sense and order to life; They carry us through changes and crises in life that might otherwise be unendurable; They coordinate our expectations of what we think is going to happen and how we are supposed to react;
• They create boundaries and necessary separations;• They create bonds and links between people that can transcend time and space;
• They allow us to recognize, experience, and be sustained through life's great joys and sorrows, and all the hard-to-categorize emotions in between;
• They allow us to remember, to mark time, to synchronize our psyches with natural cycles;
• They confirm a sacred presence in the world, and move us to live in ways that are more moral and more righteous.”“The rituals of Judaism encompass all those preparatory acts that come before the main event: inviting guests, the shopping, the trying on, and the kneading and chopping. Likewise, the rituals include the events that come after: cleaning up, writing down memories, and assembling photographs in an album.”“Listen to Jews interrogate each other. We do not typically ask, "Do you believe in God with all your heart and all your soul and all your might?" We will not ask, "Do you remember that God rested on the Sabbath day by keeping it holy?" Rather, we inquire about the materiality of enacted beliefs and habits of conviction: "Do you drive a car on Shabbat? Carry keys? In your house, do you separate your meat and milk dishes in different cabinets and have two sinks? Do you cover your head, wear a wig, put on tefillin, hang a mezuzah on your door, sleep in separate beds (to observe the laws of family purity), eat uncooked foods (like salad) at nonkosher restaurants, light menorahs, spin dreidels?" The objects tell the story.” 

“Any culture that prefers tradition to innovation and experimentation has complex strategies to obscure the novelty of a borrowed ritual object. As Goodenough explains, "The most successful religious reformers have invariably insisted that they were bringing in nothing new, but rather were discovering the true meaning inherent from the first in the symbols of the religion they were reforming." 

 “In the Talmud, when the Rabbis contemplated ritual behaviors they were unsure of, they advised each other, "Puk hazei mai amnia davar." Look around, and see what the people are actually doing. Then legislate it.” 

“Jewish tradition does not prefer either the guardian of continuity or the agent of change. It embraces the tension of their intermingling. This flexibility is vividly reflected in the chant that accompanies the return of the Torah to the ark after it has been read. Help us to turn to you, and we shall return, Renew our lives as in the days of old. The words are both poignant and paradoxical, blurring the past and the future, and mingling nostalgia and prophecy. The course of action it proposes-simultaneous restoration and renewal-is logically impossible. Only divine cooperation, it seems, makes it plausible.” 

“With these insights in mind, we can acknowledge that our ancestors-the leaders and the populace whom we encounter in the Talmud-had the capacity for ritual agency. They were able to revisit their past practices in light of new realities and understandings; they were able to stay connected to formerly dear habits that had come to define their identities while finding ways to institute, justify, and sanctify the practices of their present community. They also had the capacity, through the oral teachings of the Talmud, to transmit a narrative form of their own, sustaining the ever-transforming and still-authentic practices of their time and projecting them into the future. In inheriting the Talmud, which documents our ancestors' conversations and debates concerning practices of Judaism that had been established before their own time, we inherit the possibility of experiencing holiness through evolving ritual.”

(All texts by Vanessa Ochs, Inventing Jewish Ritual). 

Blogging Elul Day 12: Trust (in God)?

From Chofetz Chaim: A Lesson A Day-

"In developing the quality of shmirat halashon [guarding one's speech], one must strive to forever strengthen himself in matters of bitachon, trust in God. Bitachon is a sacred and vital component of Divine service as a whole, and is crucial for proper observance of shmirat halashon.

"For example, let us suppose that someone does something to slight someone else's honor or affect his livelihood in some way. The victim's heart burns with a strong desire to make known the wrong done to him. He finds it difficult to quell this desire. Then, he begins to reflect upon the Sages' teaching that no one can affect that which has been Divinely ordained for his fellow be it a financial gain or mark of honor, even a hairsbreadth (Yoma 38a). His desire is quelled.

"David said, "Trust in [God] and do good, that you may dwell in the land and nourish [yourself] with faithfulness (Tehillim 37:3). David first exhorts us to trust in [God] and only then do good, for Divine trust is a solid foundation upon which any good endeavor should be established."

The idea of trusting another--never mind God--may seem quaint to us. We spend a lot of time trying to hide vulnerabilities, putting our best foot forward. But what would it mean for us to do as the Chofetz Chaim suggests? Would we be more able to do good, to see good in the world, if we had more Divine trust?

During Elul we recite words from Psalm 27: "Hope in Adonai, be strong and of good courage. Hope in Adonai." The word "kaveh" means 'hope', but would it be more accurate to say trust in God gives us the courage to trust each other?

Blogging Elul Day 13: Forgive

There was once a man who had desecrated the Sabbath against his will because his carriage had broken down, and although he walked and almost ran, he did not reach the town before the beginning of the holy hours. For this, young Rabbi Mikhal imposed a very harsh and long penance on him. The man tried to do as he had been told with all his strength, but he soon found his body could not endure it. He began to feel ill, and even his mind became affected. About this time he learned that the Ba’al Shem was traveling through this region and had stopped in a place nearby. He went to him, mustered his courage, and begged the master to rid him of the sin he had committed. “Carry a pound of candles to the House of Prayer,” said the Ba’al Shem, “and have them lit for the Sabbath. Let that be your penance.” The man thought the Tzaddik had not quite understood what he had told him and repeated his request most urgently. When the Ba’al Shem insisted on his incredibly mild dictum, the man told him how heavy a penance had been imposed on him. “You just do as I said,’ the master replied. “And tell Rabbi Mikhal to come to the city of Chvostov where I shall hold the coming Sabbath.” The man’s face had cleared. He took leave of the rabbi. On the way to Chvostov, a wheel broke on Rabbi Mikhal’s carriage and he had to continue on foot. Although he hurried all he could, it was dark when he entered the town, and when he crossed the Ba’al Shem’s threshold, he saw he had already risen, his hand on the cup, to say the blessing over the wine to introduce the day of rest. The master paused and said to Rabbi Mikhal who was standing before him numb and speechless: “Good Sabbath, my sinless friend! You had never tasted the sorrow of the sinner, your heart had never throbbed with his despair—and so it was easy for your hand to deal out penance.” From Martin Buber's Tales of the Hasidim

Blogging Elul Day 11: Count--Today is not Yesterday

Rabbi Yair D. Robinson

Congregation Beth Emeth

Parashat Ki Tetzei

8/16/13

A story of the Rashbatz, Rabbi Shmuel Betzalel Sheftel, as told by Yossy Gordon:

 In a small town in Russia lived a porter who made his living by transporting people and packages to and from the train station. The porter had a young son who assisted him with his work. Every morning the two would awaken very early, recite their morning prayers, eat breakfast, prepare the horse and wagon, and hit the road. During the summer months, when the sun often rose as early as 3:00 AM, the porter and his son awoke even earlier. 

A summer fast day arrived on the Jewish calendar. The porter roused his son at the usual time, and off to the synagogue they went. When they had finished praying, the porter informed his son that today there would be no eating due to the fast.

The day wore on. The son grew hungrier and hungrier. He began to ask his father incessantly when they would finally eat. Finally, the day ended and his hunger was satisfied.
“Ah, my son, have no fear,” replied the porter. “Today is not yesterday.”
Whenever the Rashbatz told this story, he would tap his listener on the shoulder, as if to exclaim, “Get up! Get up! Today is not yesterday!”

The following morning, the boy refused to budge when his father tried to wake him. With an air of indignation the boy told his father, “I do not want to get up, and I do not want to work. I am afraid that you will not let me eat anything today either!”

This past week I was visiting family and friends on Cape Cod. I love going back, seeing my son play on the same playground I grew up going to, seeing him and my dad enjoy each other’s company as only grandson and grandfather can. I love spending time with friends I’ve had for more than twenty years, friends with whom I share a fierce loyalty and love. But even as I sit in the pub with old buddies, or walk to the ice cream parlor with my parents, I’m under no illusions that I can recapture something of my past, nor would I want to.

Today is not yesterday. It may feel the same—we awake in the same place, go to the same daily tasks, see the same people, but it is a new day, with new possibilities, new opportunities,

But we encounter today as if it were yesterday, with yesterday’s defeats and triumphs, yesterday’s pains and successes, yesterday’s ignorance and learning.

Today is not yesterday. But to appreciate that, to truly embrace today, we must let go of yesterday. The good, and the bad.

Surely there are aspects of the past we want to hold onto—memories of loved ones, moments of joy shared. And there are memories we can’t let go of, the pain of the event seared into our brains seemingly indelibly, and one word takes us back to that place or time again.

This week, at the very end of our Torah reading, we are told to blot out the memory of Amalek for what they did to Israel as we left Egypt. How, without fear of God, they attacked the rearguard of our people—the slow, the sick, the old, the young—and while they should be blotted out, we should also always remember what they did.

Why? Not just because of the attack, or the brazenness of it, but because of the effect on the Jewish people. As we were leaving Egypt, we were full of hope and optimism, with a sense of purpose—we were God’s people now. But Amalek surprised Israel—korcha—a word the rabbis relate to ‘chill’. Amalek didn’t just do violence on Israel but on the dream of Israel, robbing us of our idealism, teaching us to see everyone as a possible Amalek.

Today is not the same as yesterday, and yet yesterday is our Amalek, robbing us of our confidence, our optimism, our faith. In his book Watchmen Alan Moore writes “Every day, the future looks a little bit darker. But the past... even the grimy parts of it... keep on getting brighter.”

Today is not the same as yesterday, and we must have the courage to let yesterday go. To remember it, to learn from it, but to embrace the new, the now, with all of ourselves, instead of trying to live back there. The past may seem brighter, the future murky, but we must live in the moment we are in now. Be present with those in our lives now. Serve our God now, full of hope and optimism, undaunted by the past.

The new year is coming—it’s coming sooner than we think. And it’s time to get up. Today is yesterday. Let us all get up! 

Blogging Elul Day 9: Hear

It is told of Rabbi Abraham Jacob of Sadgora, who said, “We can learn from everything. Everything was created to teach us something, and not just what God created. What people create also have something worthwhile to teach us.”

“What can we learn from a train?” a disciple challenged.

“That because of one second a person is likely to be late for everything.”

“And from the telegraph?”

“That from every word is counted and billed.”

“And the telephone?”

“They hear there what we say here.”

-From Martin Buber's Tales of the Hasidim