1. Shabbat Shalom
2. Last Shabbat I asked our congregation to join with Conservative Jews all over the world to protest the Rotem Conversion bill. Thanks to all of you who sent the Prime Minister an e-mail. By Sunday Netanyahu had received 25,000 emails protesting the vote from Masorti and another 25,000 from the Federation website. By the end of the day, the Prime Minister had spoken up to kill the conversion bill and pledged to work to find a better solution for Russian Jews and for American Jews. There still is much that must be done, and we cannot let our guard down, but for now, the crisis is past.
3. It continues to amaze me that the members of Israel's K'nesset still don't understand Conservative Judaism and what we stand for. Our movement is constantly in the Israeli news and we lobby the K'nesset regularly. Other than the fact that the Orthodox factions run political parties, we don't seem to be able to get very far in letting lawmakers know who we are and what our issues in Israel are.
4. But maybe the problem is less about Israel and more about Conservative Judaism in America. How many of us here today could speak up about what our movement is and what we believe? What would we say, that we are “not Orthodox but not Reform”? That we are “in the middle” of the denominations? How many of us really understand the philosophy and significance of Conservative Judaism?
5. In this week's Parsha, Moses tells the People of Israel that he has given them a good law, that they should not add to it nor subtract from it, but they should follow all of its teachings. We can easily see why Moses would say this. These words, after all, were given to us by God. Who are we to change the law? What right do we have to amend the Torah? The Torah is filled with examples of disaster when God's words were not followed. Why should we add or subtract from them to suit our needs?
6. And yet, from the very moment that the Torah became the foundation of law for Judaism, Rabbis have been adding and subtracting to the laws of the Torah. Have you ever been married by a Rabbi? If so, all of the laws of marriage were additions to the Torah. There is no place in the Torah where it tells us how we are supposed to get married. Do you light candles on Shabbat? Shabbat and Festival candles are also not found in the Torah, They too were added later by the Rabbis. There is no place in the Torah that teaches us to pray three times a day, or that the morning service is required. Rosh Hashana is not found in the Torah. Neither is Purim or Hanukah. The format for a Blessing is not from the Torah. There is nothing about funeral services in the Torah. The Torah does not know from second day Yom Tov either. For that matter, the Torah tells us that we must not work on Shabbat, but it never says what its definition of work should be. The laws of working on Shabbat were all added to the law.
7. If you were a trained lawyer, you understand that as soon as a law code is written down, there will need to be changes. Laws have to be interpreted, so people can understand them. As situations change, the law has to change to fit new situations and new circumstances. Sometimes laws have to be amended. Sometimes there needs to be new laws. Sometimes laws must be removed from the books. A law code that does not change will quickly become useless, irrelevant and dead. A living law must be able to change.
8. Everyone knows that the Torah has 613 Mitzvot; 613 laws that make up the core of all that Judaism stands for. There are 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments. Or are there? Many of the Mitzvot deal with sacrifices. We don't sacrifice animals anymore so we don't pay any attention to these Mitzvot. Some of the Mitzvot have to do with the way Kohanim serve in the Temple. We don't have a Temple with Kohanim anymore so these Mitzvot no longer are valid. According the Hafetz Hayim, who died in 1933, there are only 77 positive Mitzvot that we follow and 194 negative Mitzvot. In addition there are 26 Mitzvot that only apply to Jews who live in Israel. That leaves us with only 297 Mitzvot. The rest have been removed from the law.
9. Given this understanding of the law, we can better understand what Conservative Judaism is all about. We do not believe that Jewish Law was fixed at any point in time. We do not believe that the Talmud, the Mishna Torah, The Shulchan Aruch nor the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch have fixed Jewish law for all time. The same forces that have always shaped Jewish Law still shape it. Torah and Halacha are like a growing tree. Sometimes there are limbs that die out and fall off, sometimes there are new branches and leaves that grow. It does not change all at once, like the Reform movement tries to do, but it grows organically, building on the roots and branches that have come before.
10. Conservative Judaism also says that there may not be uniformity about how or when the law changes. Different Jews have different opinions (imagine that!) and different Rabbis also do not agree (what a surprise!). Sometimes only time will tell which Rabbi or group of Rabbis were correct. So we rarely make definitive changes in the law. More often, we record the opinion of the Majority and the opinion of the Minority so future generations will see what we have done and can best decide what they should do for their time and circumstances. When a decision is needed, the Rabbi of that place, the Mara D'Atra, is given the duty to examine the laws as they exist and decide what would be the best course for the Jews in that community.
11. The participation of women in Jewish life is one area of change that we understand very well. An examination of the laws relating to the role of women in ritual life shows clearly that it does not reflect the words of Torah; nowhere in the Torah does it limit the role of women in Jewish rituals. Just read about Deborah, Miriam, Hannah and the matriarchs and you can see that they would not recognize the laws of Mechitza, Kol Isha and the prohibition of counting women in the Minyan. We know from our study that the laws relating to women were developed in relation to the realities of ancient societies. When those realities changed, when women started taking a more active role in secular society, there needed to be similar changes in religious law as well. A modern woman who fights discrimination in American society should not have to be told that she should accept discrimination in the religious world.
12. It is important to note that just because some laws have needed to change, it does not mean we have abandoned Halacha altogether. The laws of Kashrut still apply. We still can't eat lobster or ham. The laws of Shabbat still apply, we still must not write, pay bills or wash the car on Shabbat. We still have to eat Matzah on Pesach, build a Sukkah on Sukkot and fast on Tisha b'Av and Yom Kippur. We still have to be kind to strangers, heal the sick, feed the hungry and clothe those in need. We are still not permitted to murder, commit adultery, lie, steal or covet. We may need to change some laws, but we also have to uphold the rest of the tradition that does not change. Or as one Conservative Rabbi put it. “We can argue if sturgeon or swordfish have scales or not and if they are kosher or not, but that still does not make oysters and clams permitted.”
13. Every change is not a sign of Reform Judaism. Standing by the tradition does not make one Orthodox. There is Tradition and there is Change, and Conservative Jews believe in both. We believe that changes must support the other requirements of the Tradition.
14. Our flexibility allowed us to be Zionists long before Orthodox and Reform Jews accepted Zionism. Our commitment to tradition has enabled us to prevent a major break with world wide Judaism. Our insistence on scholarship has made our Rabbis and universities known all over the world. We strongly oppose religious fundamentalism and we are strong supporters of religious pluralism. We don't believe that we have the only path to God. We think that religion should not become political, neither in Israel nor in the United States.
15. Conservative Judaism believes that we are the descendants of the Rabbis in every age that molded the laws of the Torah to fit the needs of their generation. There is nothing to be ashamed of in Conservative Judaism. We should bear the title proudly. Those who speak loudest against us are the ones most frightened by the positions we take. We call ourselves Conservative Jews because we are committed to conserving our heritage, and that takes both Tradition and Change.
16. May our Torah always be our Tree of Life, as well as a Living Tree. May God bless us with the wisdom and courage to keep our faith growing and changing as we say...
Amen and Shabbat Shalom
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Devarim
1. Shabbat Shalom
2. This week, we will observe the great black fast of Tisha B'Av. It is not only the day we commemorate the destruction of the Temple, but the day we commemorate many disasters which befell our people at this time of the year. The Midrash traces the beginning of this infamous day as the date that the spies returned to our ancestors in the wilderness, telling them that the land was a good land but that the Canaanites were too strong for Israel to be able to defeat them. That night, says the Midrash, the people cried because they would never be able to enter the Promised Land. God was said to reply to their wailing, “If you cry tonight without reason, I will give you a reason to cry on this day.”
3. It has always surprised me that many of the disasters that befell our people in ancient times on this day were attributed by our Sages to our own faults. We cried without reason, so God gave us a reason to cry. The first Temple was destroyed because of injustice, robbery and disrespect. The second Temple was destroyed by causeless hatred between Jews. To be sure, there are many troubles that we remember on this day that were not the fault of the Jewish People. We did not cause the Spanish Inquisition. We did not cause the Talmud to be burned in Europe. We did not cause blood libels, we did not poison wells and we did nothing to cause our people to be locked up in ghettos in Europe.
4. But the first three things that we commemorate on the fast of Tisha B'Av are disasters of our own making. The way we treated each other brought destruction to our nation and to our people. We often have to admit that sometimes, we are our own worst enemy. Our own cleverness and deceptions often backfire into disasters for our people.
5. If you don't have a computer, you may not know that as Tisha B'Av approaches this year, we may yet have reason to cry again on this day. A disaster that once again will be brought about by our own people. Just a few weeks ago, I spoke about how the Haredim, the ultra-Orthodox in Israel are trying to force their own brand of Judaism on everyone, no matter if they believe in this extreme form of Judaism or not. This week may yet see the next disaster for Israel, one that Israel will bring upon herself.
6. Late last year, Member of Knesset, David Rotem drafted a bill for consideration by Israel's Parliament that he hoped would help the Russian immigrants to Israel, who have been in limbo for decades, once and for all, resolve the issues of their Jewish status. They pay taxes in Israel, they serve in Israel's army. They are an important part of Israel's economy. But they have questionable ancestry to the Haredim of the Chief Rabbinate so they need to be converted to resolve these questions. There are tens of thousands of Russian Jews who are waiting for the Rabbinical Courts to formally convert them. Only a thousand a year ever get to the courts and this past year, in a dispute with the court, the Chief Rabbis revoked thousands of conversions because they felt that these converts were not observant enough to have a valid conversion.
7. To resolve this, MK Rotem, a member of Yisrael Beiteinu, the party that represents Russian Jews, introduced legislation late last year that would open more courts, so that the process of conversion would go faster and more Russians would have their Jewish status confirmed. The problem with the bill was that it put the final decision back into the hands of the Chief Rabbinate, the place where all this trouble started! In addition, it would mean that anyone converted outside of the State of Israel, would no longer be considered Jewish if they were to immigrate to Israel. This was a great change in the Law of Return and it basically was directed at the Conservative and Reform movements. It said to us that our conversions were not considered to be valid and our converts were not welcome in Israel.
8. Our movement protested this change as did the Jewish Agency in Israel as well as the Federations of North America. David Rotem came to the United States to talk with our leadership and to see if there could be a compromise on the issue. We made many recommendations but when Rotem returned to Israel, he reintroduced the bill without any changes at all! He not only did not hear our concerns, he clearly did not care about our feelings either. Only when we protested again, did Prime Minister Netenyahu pull the bill from consideration and assured American leaders as well as the Jewish Agency, that the bill would not be introduced again until there were serious negotiations and compromises that would address our needs.
9. This past week, out of the blue, Rotem again introduced this bill, this time with an amendment added by the Shas party that would make all conversions pass through the Rabbinical courts of the Chief Rabbinate and be subject to their “halachic observance” tests to confirm the validity of the conversion. Instead of helping the Russian immigrants who have been waiting so long, this would make their wait longer and much less fruitful. Rotem it seems does not think that there are enough non-orthodox Jews to really make a difference to him and to Israel. The real nasty part of this, though, is when the bill came up in committee, there were not enough Orthodox votes to pass the bill on to the Knesset floor. But Likud, the party of the Prime Minister, walked out of the room before the vote. This left the Orthodox with a majority and they voted and passed the bill with the tacit consent of Likud and apparently the Prime Minister as well.
10. Word went out and in an hour, 500 e-mails were sent to Prime Minister Netenyahu. Within 24 hours he had 8000 e-mails protesting the bill. Conservative and Reform Jews are not the only ones outraged by this bill. Natan Sharansky, the founder of the Yisrael Beiteinu party and the current chairman of the Jewish Agency demanded that it be removed from consideration. The Federations of North America is sending thousands of their own messages to Netenyahu demanding that the bill be killed. The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, the Jewish Week and many other newspapers have denounced this political move to appease the Orthodox parties at the expense of the unity of world Jewry. Our representatives have met with the leaders of other parties, like Labor and Kadima and have received much support and promises of action. We also met with the leadership of Yisrael Beiteinu but they don't appear to care at all about our concerns and our anger.
11. Silent in all of this has been Prime Minister Netenyahu. Rabbi Steven Wernick, the Executive Director of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, our parent organization, wrote to us just two days ago, saying, “The primary focus of our efforts must be on Prime Minister Netenyahu. Because he is the leader of the government a clear and public statement by him in opposition to this bill is essential. His continuing to avoid a position amounts to tacit approval. Therefore all our efforts to contact him directly through key supporters and to email petitions and letters must continue through Wednesday evening.” Wednesday is the end of the current session of the Knesset. After that we will have time to do more to gather support to overcome this outrageous bill.
12. Rabbi Julie Schoenfield, the Executive Director of the Rabbinical Assembly wrote to Prime Minister Netenyahu and said, “Members of Knesset tell me this bill is too little too late. In Israel's free and open society where extremists have given Jewish religion a bad image, many young Israelis don't care whether a potential spouse is halakhically Jewish. The coercive ultra religious system is a total failure that spends tens of millions of NIS to yield only 1500 converts per year. Of those, 200 are Masorti, who receive no funding. The way to really "solve this problem," is to have options for multiple streams and for the indigenous Israeli expressions that will only flower in a non-coercive system.” In other words, the conversion courts are an expensive waste of time and money for the State of Israel; what Israel really needs is a system that is open to the many streams of Judaism that exist all over the world.
13. In the long term, we have a lot of work to do within the political system in Israel. Rabbi Wernick noted, “Teaching Israeli leaders about Diaspora Jewry, and about Conservative Judaism in particular, must be a long-term goal. I am shocked by how little so many of them know about us.” It is one thing to want to serve the Israeli constituents who elected these leaders into the Knesset. But these leaders must not forget the rest of world Jewry, Jews who protect and defend the Jewish State from political enemies that exist in countries all over the world. Jewish Senators and Members of Congress have expressed to the Prime Minister their shock over this bill which could make support for Israel much harder in the US Congress if Israel should disenfranchise Israel's supporters among non-orthodox Jews.
14. An editorial in the Jerusalem Post this week said, “ 'Occupation', Arab inequality, hateful infighting between secular and religious and even the gap between rich and poor in Israel have disenchanted many liberal Diaspora Jews, who feel that to blindly support Israel they must, as Peter Beinart recently put it, “check their liberalism at Zionism’s door.” Many are instead checking their Zionism. Now Rotem is offering another reason for Diaspora Jewry to feel estranged from the Jewish state.”
15. We all need to get involved in this affront to world Jewry and to Conservative/Masorti Judaism. What we are asking every Jews in America to do is to send an email to Prime Minister Netenyahu asking him to step in and kill this bill in the Knesset. If his party, Likud, does not support it, then it will be voted down. He appointed Natan Sharansky and the Jewish Agency to meet with Rotem and with world Jewish leadership to find a compromise on this bill. If it is to really help those who need it, these meetings should happen as soon as possible. The longer it waits, the more likely that Rotem will introduce the bill again, this time with even worse language.
16. If you are on the Temple Emeth email list, you should have gotten an email from us with a link to help you send a message to the Prime Minister. If you have email but are not on our list, go to our website, send your email address to our Administrator, Mariyln Mishkin and she will forward to you the link. It is important that you do this as soon as Shabbat is over. We need to let the Prime Minister know that there are hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world who are appalled by the Rotem conversion bill.
17. If you do not have email, or you do not have a computer, there is not enough time to send a letter. I suggest you go to the Library and ask to use the library computer and send your email from there. You can go to the Masorti website, www.Masorti.org and there is a link right at the top of their page. Click on the link and fill out the form so that your voice can join the thousands of others protesting this bill. There are cards in the Lobby with the web address of Masorti. If you don't know how to do this, just ask the people at the Library to help you find the site and find the link.
18. This will be another disaster connected to Tisha B'Av if we don't act to end this unnecessary bill that will cause a rift between American and Israeli Jews. The link between the United States and Israel must be strong and enduring. This bill will drive a wedge between Jews and make Israel's political connections to the rest of the world dangerously frayed. Call your children and grandchildren. This is important. If we can flood the Prime Minister's office with our protests, then this will be not a day of disaster but a new beginning as Israel will finally begin to understand the deep love we have for Israel that must not be neglected. All of our voices are needed. I ask you, on behalf of Jews all over the world, make your voice heard in Israel. Send your Email. Tell others to stand up and email Prime Minister Netenyahu. This week does not have to be the time of weeping and disaster. It can be the beginning of the redemption, the birth-pangs of the Messiah
19. The future of Israel and the fate of Israel truly rests in our hands. Speak up and let Israel know who we are and where we stand. May God be with us and with Israel in these days of danger and uncertainty and may we find reason to rejoice at this normally sad time of year … as we say AMEN AND SHABBAT SHALOM
2. This week, we will observe the great black fast of Tisha B'Av. It is not only the day we commemorate the destruction of the Temple, but the day we commemorate many disasters which befell our people at this time of the year. The Midrash traces the beginning of this infamous day as the date that the spies returned to our ancestors in the wilderness, telling them that the land was a good land but that the Canaanites were too strong for Israel to be able to defeat them. That night, says the Midrash, the people cried because they would never be able to enter the Promised Land. God was said to reply to their wailing, “If you cry tonight without reason, I will give you a reason to cry on this day.”
3. It has always surprised me that many of the disasters that befell our people in ancient times on this day were attributed by our Sages to our own faults. We cried without reason, so God gave us a reason to cry. The first Temple was destroyed because of injustice, robbery and disrespect. The second Temple was destroyed by causeless hatred between Jews. To be sure, there are many troubles that we remember on this day that were not the fault of the Jewish People. We did not cause the Spanish Inquisition. We did not cause the Talmud to be burned in Europe. We did not cause blood libels, we did not poison wells and we did nothing to cause our people to be locked up in ghettos in Europe.
4. But the first three things that we commemorate on the fast of Tisha B'Av are disasters of our own making. The way we treated each other brought destruction to our nation and to our people. We often have to admit that sometimes, we are our own worst enemy. Our own cleverness and deceptions often backfire into disasters for our people.
5. If you don't have a computer, you may not know that as Tisha B'Av approaches this year, we may yet have reason to cry again on this day. A disaster that once again will be brought about by our own people. Just a few weeks ago, I spoke about how the Haredim, the ultra-Orthodox in Israel are trying to force their own brand of Judaism on everyone, no matter if they believe in this extreme form of Judaism or not. This week may yet see the next disaster for Israel, one that Israel will bring upon herself.
6. Late last year, Member of Knesset, David Rotem drafted a bill for consideration by Israel's Parliament that he hoped would help the Russian immigrants to Israel, who have been in limbo for decades, once and for all, resolve the issues of their Jewish status. They pay taxes in Israel, they serve in Israel's army. They are an important part of Israel's economy. But they have questionable ancestry to the Haredim of the Chief Rabbinate so they need to be converted to resolve these questions. There are tens of thousands of Russian Jews who are waiting for the Rabbinical Courts to formally convert them. Only a thousand a year ever get to the courts and this past year, in a dispute with the court, the Chief Rabbis revoked thousands of conversions because they felt that these converts were not observant enough to have a valid conversion.
7. To resolve this, MK Rotem, a member of Yisrael Beiteinu, the party that represents Russian Jews, introduced legislation late last year that would open more courts, so that the process of conversion would go faster and more Russians would have their Jewish status confirmed. The problem with the bill was that it put the final decision back into the hands of the Chief Rabbinate, the place where all this trouble started! In addition, it would mean that anyone converted outside of the State of Israel, would no longer be considered Jewish if they were to immigrate to Israel. This was a great change in the Law of Return and it basically was directed at the Conservative and Reform movements. It said to us that our conversions were not considered to be valid and our converts were not welcome in Israel.
8. Our movement protested this change as did the Jewish Agency in Israel as well as the Federations of North America. David Rotem came to the United States to talk with our leadership and to see if there could be a compromise on the issue. We made many recommendations but when Rotem returned to Israel, he reintroduced the bill without any changes at all! He not only did not hear our concerns, he clearly did not care about our feelings either. Only when we protested again, did Prime Minister Netenyahu pull the bill from consideration and assured American leaders as well as the Jewish Agency, that the bill would not be introduced again until there were serious negotiations and compromises that would address our needs.
9. This past week, out of the blue, Rotem again introduced this bill, this time with an amendment added by the Shas party that would make all conversions pass through the Rabbinical courts of the Chief Rabbinate and be subject to their “halachic observance” tests to confirm the validity of the conversion. Instead of helping the Russian immigrants who have been waiting so long, this would make their wait longer and much less fruitful. Rotem it seems does not think that there are enough non-orthodox Jews to really make a difference to him and to Israel. The real nasty part of this, though, is when the bill came up in committee, there were not enough Orthodox votes to pass the bill on to the Knesset floor. But Likud, the party of the Prime Minister, walked out of the room before the vote. This left the Orthodox with a majority and they voted and passed the bill with the tacit consent of Likud and apparently the Prime Minister as well.
10. Word went out and in an hour, 500 e-mails were sent to Prime Minister Netenyahu. Within 24 hours he had 8000 e-mails protesting the bill. Conservative and Reform Jews are not the only ones outraged by this bill. Natan Sharansky, the founder of the Yisrael Beiteinu party and the current chairman of the Jewish Agency demanded that it be removed from consideration. The Federations of North America is sending thousands of their own messages to Netenyahu demanding that the bill be killed. The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, the Jewish Week and many other newspapers have denounced this political move to appease the Orthodox parties at the expense of the unity of world Jewry. Our representatives have met with the leaders of other parties, like Labor and Kadima and have received much support and promises of action. We also met with the leadership of Yisrael Beiteinu but they don't appear to care at all about our concerns and our anger.
11. Silent in all of this has been Prime Minister Netenyahu. Rabbi Steven Wernick, the Executive Director of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, our parent organization, wrote to us just two days ago, saying, “The primary focus of our efforts must be on Prime Minister Netenyahu. Because he is the leader of the government a clear and public statement by him in opposition to this bill is essential. His continuing to avoid a position amounts to tacit approval. Therefore all our efforts to contact him directly through key supporters and to email petitions and letters must continue through Wednesday evening.” Wednesday is the end of the current session of the Knesset. After that we will have time to do more to gather support to overcome this outrageous bill.
12. Rabbi Julie Schoenfield, the Executive Director of the Rabbinical Assembly wrote to Prime Minister Netenyahu and said, “Members of Knesset tell me this bill is too little too late. In Israel's free and open society where extremists have given Jewish religion a bad image, many young Israelis don't care whether a potential spouse is halakhically Jewish. The coercive ultra religious system is a total failure that spends tens of millions of NIS to yield only 1500 converts per year. Of those, 200 are Masorti, who receive no funding. The way to really "solve this problem," is to have options for multiple streams and for the indigenous Israeli expressions that will only flower in a non-coercive system.” In other words, the conversion courts are an expensive waste of time and money for the State of Israel; what Israel really needs is a system that is open to the many streams of Judaism that exist all over the world.
13. In the long term, we have a lot of work to do within the political system in Israel. Rabbi Wernick noted, “Teaching Israeli leaders about Diaspora Jewry, and about Conservative Judaism in particular, must be a long-term goal. I am shocked by how little so many of them know about us.” It is one thing to want to serve the Israeli constituents who elected these leaders into the Knesset. But these leaders must not forget the rest of world Jewry, Jews who protect and defend the Jewish State from political enemies that exist in countries all over the world. Jewish Senators and Members of Congress have expressed to the Prime Minister their shock over this bill which could make support for Israel much harder in the US Congress if Israel should disenfranchise Israel's supporters among non-orthodox Jews.
14. An editorial in the Jerusalem Post this week said, “ 'Occupation', Arab inequality, hateful infighting between secular and religious and even the gap between rich and poor in Israel have disenchanted many liberal Diaspora Jews, who feel that to blindly support Israel they must, as Peter Beinart recently put it, “check their liberalism at Zionism’s door.” Many are instead checking their Zionism. Now Rotem is offering another reason for Diaspora Jewry to feel estranged from the Jewish state.”
15. We all need to get involved in this affront to world Jewry and to Conservative/Masorti Judaism. What we are asking every Jews in America to do is to send an email to Prime Minister Netenyahu asking him to step in and kill this bill in the Knesset. If his party, Likud, does not support it, then it will be voted down. He appointed Natan Sharansky and the Jewish Agency to meet with Rotem and with world Jewish leadership to find a compromise on this bill. If it is to really help those who need it, these meetings should happen as soon as possible. The longer it waits, the more likely that Rotem will introduce the bill again, this time with even worse language.
16. If you are on the Temple Emeth email list, you should have gotten an email from us with a link to help you send a message to the Prime Minister. If you have email but are not on our list, go to our website, send your email address to our Administrator, Mariyln Mishkin and she will forward to you the link. It is important that you do this as soon as Shabbat is over. We need to let the Prime Minister know that there are hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world who are appalled by the Rotem conversion bill.
17. If you do not have email, or you do not have a computer, there is not enough time to send a letter. I suggest you go to the Library and ask to use the library computer and send your email from there. You can go to the Masorti website, www.Masorti.org and there is a link right at the top of their page. Click on the link and fill out the form so that your voice can join the thousands of others protesting this bill. There are cards in the Lobby with the web address of Masorti. If you don't know how to do this, just ask the people at the Library to help you find the site and find the link.
18. This will be another disaster connected to Tisha B'Av if we don't act to end this unnecessary bill that will cause a rift between American and Israeli Jews. The link between the United States and Israel must be strong and enduring. This bill will drive a wedge between Jews and make Israel's political connections to the rest of the world dangerously frayed. Call your children and grandchildren. This is important. If we can flood the Prime Minister's office with our protests, then this will be not a day of disaster but a new beginning as Israel will finally begin to understand the deep love we have for Israel that must not be neglected. All of our voices are needed. I ask you, on behalf of Jews all over the world, make your voice heard in Israel. Send your Email. Tell others to stand up and email Prime Minister Netenyahu. This week does not have to be the time of weeping and disaster. It can be the beginning of the redemption, the birth-pangs of the Messiah
19. The future of Israel and the fate of Israel truly rests in our hands. Speak up and let Israel know who we are and where we stand. May God be with us and with Israel in these days of danger and uncertainty and may we find reason to rejoice at this normally sad time of year … as we say AMEN AND SHABBAT SHALOM
Monday, July 12, 2010
Matot Masei
1. Shabbat Shalom
2. There was a time when vows were an important part of society - in the days long before DNA testing, security cameras and CSI. Sometimes, the only way a community could have some closure in a situation where there were no witnesses or when there was no other way to determine who was right in a dispute, the only course of action was to have one or both parties take a vow that they were telling the truth. These vows were enforced with penalties for taking such a vow when they were made knowing that the vow was a lie.
3. There is also another kind of vow. It is a promise that you make to yourself. It is a kind of New Year's Resolution on steroids. We make all kinds of promises to ourselves, to lose weight, to save money, to move to a better home, to get a better job, to give more to charity. Most of the time we either forget that we made the promise or we forget how really hard it is to keep these kinds of promises. A vow raises the stakes. It is a formal declaration to God that we are serious about making changes in our life and if we don't then God will have the right to send down a divine punishment for our being either too lazy or absent minded to keep what we promised.
4. In either case, there is this notion that our words should have power in our lives. What we say should be connected to what we do. A vow taken is a promise that must be fulfilled. Today this whole notion seems to be quaint and archaic. Words don't mean anything anymore. We see politicians make promises that we know the moment they make them that they will never be fulfilled. We view a steady stream of advertising that promises to remove our wrinkles, make our clothing cleaner and our teeth whiter. We don't believe any of that stuff but the promises keep coming. Now we have the internet where anyone can say the most outlandish things and there will not only be people who believe what is said, they will forward the lie to hundreds of their best friends. In our modern world, words can no longer be trusted. If you can't get the promise in writing, then it is not a real promise.
5. Yet, there are still people whose word is their bond. There are men and women who don't say much but when they do, everyone knows you can rely on them to do what they say. I don't know if anyone here remembers Congressman Sam Rayburn, the representative from Texas to Congress who died in 1961. He had a reputation for following through on the promises he made. In fact, one day, a reporter noted that Rayburn never wrote down what he was promising the people in his district. The reporter asked the Congressman, “How do you remember all the things you promise people?” Rayburn replied, “If what you promise is the right thing to do, you don't have to worry about forgetting them.”
6. There is one area, however, where vows still play an important role in society. Wedding vows still carry a great deal of weight and power in society. When a couple promise to love and care for each other, that vow is an open ended commitment for sexual fidelity and unconditional support. In just a few more weeks, my youngest son will exchange vows with a woman he met in high school. My son may be young and idealistic, but he and his fiance are going into this relationship with their eyes open and their feet on the ground. They know exactly why they want to do this and they have every intention to being true to their promise.
7. Our society seems to not care anymore about the vow of being married. Fiction, movies, and gossip magazines feed us a steady stream of steamy affairs, philandering and exotic flings. If a space alien were to read almost any work of fiction or news, he would come to the conclusion that most married couples are not faithful to their wedding vows. It used to be that we would at least punish the politicians who could not be faithful to their wives, but today, that does not seem to be an issue. Former presidential candidate John Edwards was not vilified by the press by his unfaithfulness, but because the wife he was cheating on was battling cancer and he was, to say the least, not very supportive in her time of need.
8. Our parsha teaches that our words have to mean something. Our words have power and that power is a special gift from God. Just as God spoke words and through the power of speech the world was created, so too our words have the power to make our world a better place. Words can bring peace between two feuding friends or two warring countries. Words can call attention to the beauty and majesty of our world. Words can overcome feelings of depression or despair and bring out feelings of affection and love. Words, expressed in prayer and meditation can help us to understand our importance in the universe that God created.
9. Rabban Gamliel, one of the great sages of the Talmud, had a servant, a wise man named Tavi. One day Rabban Gamliel sent Tavi into the market place and asked him to bring back the greatest delicacy he could find in the shuk. Tavi returned that evening with a tongue. He told his master, “A kind tongue is one of the sweetest things in all the world.” The next day, Rabban Gamliel sent Tavi back to the market to find the worst food he could imagine. Tavi returned that evening with a tongue. Rabban Gamliel said to Tavi, “I thought you said that a tongue was the best food in the shuk?” Tavi replied, “When a tongue is good, there is nothing better, but when a tongue is bad, there is nothing worse.”
10. The power of words does cut both ways. We can use our words to build up, or we can use our words to tear down. Words can make things clear, or they can make our lives more confused. Words can help us aspire to greatness, or cut us down and destroy all hope. For this reason Judaism is very concerned that words be used constructively; we must use our words in a responsible manner so that we are not the cause of harm to someone else. As parents we know that our words can inspire our children to achieve great things but if we are mean and cruel, the best we can hope for is that therapy, healing words, will help restore their self esteem.
11. What applies to parents also applies to every aspect of our lives. Are we respectful with our words when we address clerks in a store or when we order a meal at a restaurant? Sometimes we are judged not by the way we treat our friends but by the way we address strangers. There are some who think that if they don't complain, yell and demand in a store, then they will not get the best price. Sometimes this is true, but remember also, that bullying a sales associate in a department store or the wait staff at a restaurant will only cause resentment and anger in the very people you need to help you with your purchases. I was once told that it is very important to speak in a nice tone with those who check in your baggage at the airport. It is not unknown for travelers who give the counter staff a hard time to discover that their luggage has been diverted to a destination far from where they want it to be. I don't know if it true or not but I can say that it always pays to be nice.
12. Finally, what applies to strangers applies even more to those that we love. Not being true to wedding vows is always a quick way to end a marriage. But speaking to our spouse either in anger or in a degrading manner probably is even more destructive to a good relationship. Nobody likes to be badgered or shamed in public. And yet, refraining from harsh speech in a marriage is not enough, we need to also add words of affection, tenderness and love. I know a story of a woman who complained to her husband that he never told her “I love you”. He looked up from his newspaper and replied, “I told you I loved you when we got married, if it changes, I will let you know.” This clearly is a man that needs to invest more words in his relationship.
13. The law of this country tells us that if something is important, if there is money involved, or if services are required, it is best to write it down and sign a contract. Contracts should be read carefully and if there are passages that are not understood, then we should get them clarified before we commit ourselves by signing our names. It is advisable to consult an attorney before signing any contract for anything important. We should not rely on words when the stakes are very high.
14. But if we decide to live our lives where our word is our bond, no matter if it is for our benefit or for something that could hurt us financially or personally, then we will raise our lives to a higher standard and we will find that our friends and neighbors will have the greatest respect for us. I recently spoke to a family after the death of their father. The son, who worked many years in his father's business, said with a great deal of pride, “I never saw my father treat a customer or a vender harshly. He was always honest and fair.” There are few words we could add to a eulogy more honorable than these.
15. The Rabbis of the Talmud did not like vows. In every age, Rabbis advised Jews to be honest in all their words so that taking a vow would not be necessary. The Sages advised us to make a commitment and stick with it, without swearing in the name of God. We should not need a vow to remain committed to our words, we should be careful about what we say and about what we promise and always follow through on our word.
16. If we can make our words stand for something in the rest of our life, then our words of prayer on Shabbat will mean even more. If we use our words to make the world a better place, then our words of prayer will help us lift our lives and our hearts to even greater heights. Our siddur constantly reminds us that God promised Abraham that God would redeem Abraham's descendants from slavery and bring them to the land God promised the patriarch. As God fulfilled God's promise to us and to our ancestors, so too we should be sure to fulfill all the words that we speak, in the marketplace and in our synagogue. Let us use our words to make our world a kinder, honest and better world. A world in which our words bring us honor and bring honor to God as we say,
AMEN AND SHABBAT SHALOM
2. There was a time when vows were an important part of society - in the days long before DNA testing, security cameras and CSI. Sometimes, the only way a community could have some closure in a situation where there were no witnesses or when there was no other way to determine who was right in a dispute, the only course of action was to have one or both parties take a vow that they were telling the truth. These vows were enforced with penalties for taking such a vow when they were made knowing that the vow was a lie.
3. There is also another kind of vow. It is a promise that you make to yourself. It is a kind of New Year's Resolution on steroids. We make all kinds of promises to ourselves, to lose weight, to save money, to move to a better home, to get a better job, to give more to charity. Most of the time we either forget that we made the promise or we forget how really hard it is to keep these kinds of promises. A vow raises the stakes. It is a formal declaration to God that we are serious about making changes in our life and if we don't then God will have the right to send down a divine punishment for our being either too lazy or absent minded to keep what we promised.
4. In either case, there is this notion that our words should have power in our lives. What we say should be connected to what we do. A vow taken is a promise that must be fulfilled. Today this whole notion seems to be quaint and archaic. Words don't mean anything anymore. We see politicians make promises that we know the moment they make them that they will never be fulfilled. We view a steady stream of advertising that promises to remove our wrinkles, make our clothing cleaner and our teeth whiter. We don't believe any of that stuff but the promises keep coming. Now we have the internet where anyone can say the most outlandish things and there will not only be people who believe what is said, they will forward the lie to hundreds of their best friends. In our modern world, words can no longer be trusted. If you can't get the promise in writing, then it is not a real promise.
5. Yet, there are still people whose word is their bond. There are men and women who don't say much but when they do, everyone knows you can rely on them to do what they say. I don't know if anyone here remembers Congressman Sam Rayburn, the representative from Texas to Congress who died in 1961. He had a reputation for following through on the promises he made. In fact, one day, a reporter noted that Rayburn never wrote down what he was promising the people in his district. The reporter asked the Congressman, “How do you remember all the things you promise people?” Rayburn replied, “If what you promise is the right thing to do, you don't have to worry about forgetting them.”
6. There is one area, however, where vows still play an important role in society. Wedding vows still carry a great deal of weight and power in society. When a couple promise to love and care for each other, that vow is an open ended commitment for sexual fidelity and unconditional support. In just a few more weeks, my youngest son will exchange vows with a woman he met in high school. My son may be young and idealistic, but he and his fiance are going into this relationship with their eyes open and their feet on the ground. They know exactly why they want to do this and they have every intention to being true to their promise.
7. Our society seems to not care anymore about the vow of being married. Fiction, movies, and gossip magazines feed us a steady stream of steamy affairs, philandering and exotic flings. If a space alien were to read almost any work of fiction or news, he would come to the conclusion that most married couples are not faithful to their wedding vows. It used to be that we would at least punish the politicians who could not be faithful to their wives, but today, that does not seem to be an issue. Former presidential candidate John Edwards was not vilified by the press by his unfaithfulness, but because the wife he was cheating on was battling cancer and he was, to say the least, not very supportive in her time of need.
8. Our parsha teaches that our words have to mean something. Our words have power and that power is a special gift from God. Just as God spoke words and through the power of speech the world was created, so too our words have the power to make our world a better place. Words can bring peace between two feuding friends or two warring countries. Words can call attention to the beauty and majesty of our world. Words can overcome feelings of depression or despair and bring out feelings of affection and love. Words, expressed in prayer and meditation can help us to understand our importance in the universe that God created.
9. Rabban Gamliel, one of the great sages of the Talmud, had a servant, a wise man named Tavi. One day Rabban Gamliel sent Tavi into the market place and asked him to bring back the greatest delicacy he could find in the shuk. Tavi returned that evening with a tongue. He told his master, “A kind tongue is one of the sweetest things in all the world.” The next day, Rabban Gamliel sent Tavi back to the market to find the worst food he could imagine. Tavi returned that evening with a tongue. Rabban Gamliel said to Tavi, “I thought you said that a tongue was the best food in the shuk?” Tavi replied, “When a tongue is good, there is nothing better, but when a tongue is bad, there is nothing worse.”
10. The power of words does cut both ways. We can use our words to build up, or we can use our words to tear down. Words can make things clear, or they can make our lives more confused. Words can help us aspire to greatness, or cut us down and destroy all hope. For this reason Judaism is very concerned that words be used constructively; we must use our words in a responsible manner so that we are not the cause of harm to someone else. As parents we know that our words can inspire our children to achieve great things but if we are mean and cruel, the best we can hope for is that therapy, healing words, will help restore their self esteem.
11. What applies to parents also applies to every aspect of our lives. Are we respectful with our words when we address clerks in a store or when we order a meal at a restaurant? Sometimes we are judged not by the way we treat our friends but by the way we address strangers. There are some who think that if they don't complain, yell and demand in a store, then they will not get the best price. Sometimes this is true, but remember also, that bullying a sales associate in a department store or the wait staff at a restaurant will only cause resentment and anger in the very people you need to help you with your purchases. I was once told that it is very important to speak in a nice tone with those who check in your baggage at the airport. It is not unknown for travelers who give the counter staff a hard time to discover that their luggage has been diverted to a destination far from where they want it to be. I don't know if it true or not but I can say that it always pays to be nice.
12. Finally, what applies to strangers applies even more to those that we love. Not being true to wedding vows is always a quick way to end a marriage. But speaking to our spouse either in anger or in a degrading manner probably is even more destructive to a good relationship. Nobody likes to be badgered or shamed in public. And yet, refraining from harsh speech in a marriage is not enough, we need to also add words of affection, tenderness and love. I know a story of a woman who complained to her husband that he never told her “I love you”. He looked up from his newspaper and replied, “I told you I loved you when we got married, if it changes, I will let you know.” This clearly is a man that needs to invest more words in his relationship.
13. The law of this country tells us that if something is important, if there is money involved, or if services are required, it is best to write it down and sign a contract. Contracts should be read carefully and if there are passages that are not understood, then we should get them clarified before we commit ourselves by signing our names. It is advisable to consult an attorney before signing any contract for anything important. We should not rely on words when the stakes are very high.
14. But if we decide to live our lives where our word is our bond, no matter if it is for our benefit or for something that could hurt us financially or personally, then we will raise our lives to a higher standard and we will find that our friends and neighbors will have the greatest respect for us. I recently spoke to a family after the death of their father. The son, who worked many years in his father's business, said with a great deal of pride, “I never saw my father treat a customer or a vender harshly. He was always honest and fair.” There are few words we could add to a eulogy more honorable than these.
15. The Rabbis of the Talmud did not like vows. In every age, Rabbis advised Jews to be honest in all their words so that taking a vow would not be necessary. The Sages advised us to make a commitment and stick with it, without swearing in the name of God. We should not need a vow to remain committed to our words, we should be careful about what we say and about what we promise and always follow through on our word.
16. If we can make our words stand for something in the rest of our life, then our words of prayer on Shabbat will mean even more. If we use our words to make the world a better place, then our words of prayer will help us lift our lives and our hearts to even greater heights. Our siddur constantly reminds us that God promised Abraham that God would redeem Abraham's descendants from slavery and bring them to the land God promised the patriarch. As God fulfilled God's promise to us and to our ancestors, so too we should be sure to fulfill all the words that we speak, in the marketplace and in our synagogue. Let us use our words to make our world a kinder, honest and better world. A world in which our words bring us honor and bring honor to God as we say,
AMEN AND SHABBAT SHALOM
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Pinchas
SHABBAT SHALOM
In this week's parsha, Pinchas, who zealously killed to defend God's honor, is not to be prosecuted for his act of murder. While Moses and the other leaders where wringing their hands wondering what they were going to do, Pinchas put an end to the idolatry, killed the couple who had flagrantly brought sexual immorality into the precincts of the Mishkan and ended the plague that had threatened the entire People of Israel.
The Rabbis are quick to note that without the intervention of God, Pinchas would have been guilty of capital murder. Orderly society cannot have zealots running around killing people in their religious fervor. In the Haftara that is read for today when it is NOT the first of the three weeks, Elijah the prophet has the same problem. He was zealous for God and had killed 400 priests of the idol Baal. Queen Jezebel, who worshipped Baal, was not happy and ordered Elijah to be executed. Elijah fled and after some adventures, ended up on Mt Sinai, angry that he had been zealous for God and now everyone wanted to kill him. He too wants the “brit shalom” the same exemption that Pinchas received for his zealotry.
When I was a little boy, our Rabbi had a hard time explaining to our class what Pinchas had done wrong. It was not the pagan sexuality that made my Rabbi uncomfortable; it was trying to explain why Pinchas was not a hero. In the face of all that was happening, only Pinchas took matters into his own hands. Like all the heroes in the movies, Pinchas didn't wait for permission to do what he did. We children could see him holding his javelin as the two offending people entered the Mishkan and saying to them like Clint Eastwood, “Go ahead, Make my day!”
Today, we live in a world where these kinds of fundamentalist zealots carry bombs and seek to perform acts of mass destruction. Islamic zealots have been known to cut off the hands of thieves, kill women suspected of dishonoring their families and engage in wanton acts of destruction against other infidels and heretics to the faith. Christianity is also full of zealots, who shoot abortion providers to save the lives of unborn children. They defy the law that keeps the Ten Commandments off of the walls of our courtrooms, and those that keep religion out of our public schools. They even protest science textbooks that teach evolution over the Bible's account of the creation of the world.
These threats from Christian and Muslim zealots, in my opinion, do not pose anywhere near the danger to Judaism as Jewish zealots. I have watched in horror over the last year as Israel has been rocked by scandal after scandal by those who would call themselves the most righteous Jews in the world. Over the years I have spoken out against their version of Judaism that has no place for anyone who is less religious than their community. I have been accused of Orthodox bashing, of not being fair to those who have a more observant lifestyle then I do. Who am I, they ask, to questions the motives of these super observant Jews/ what harm results from their zealotry?
This past year there has been much harm caused by these, self proclaimed “Haredi” Jews. Their actions now threaten the very existence of the State of Israel. Each day brings another outrageous action that undermines Israel's government and pushes aside basic democratic principles. These Jews have come a long way from throwing stones at those who would drive in their neighborhood on Shabbat. Now they are willing to travel all over Israel, and all over the United States as well, to demand from everyone else, compliance with the way they view the world.
I have more examples of this than I can use in one sermon. Intel, the world’s largest manufacturer of computer chips has a major manufacturing plant in Israel. They have been the foundation of Israel's computer industry for many years. The Haredim, however, did not like the fact that the plant was open on Shabbat. They massed in the parking lot of the plant and tried to break inside to force the plant to close for Shabbat. They dared the government of Israel to try and stop them.
The city of Jerusalem, to solve its traffic problems, opened a parking lot in the city. The Haredim shut down traffic and the lot for weeks because they thought it should not be open on Shabbat. They created an ugly riot beating up peaceful protesters at Jerusalem's first Gay Pride parade. They have entered Reform and Masorti congregations in Jerusalem and tried to “kidnap” the Torah scrolls so that women and non-observant men would not handle them. There have been Reform and Conservative synagogues that have been firebombed. So far, the police have no suspects.
In Beersheva, a woman was standing at a bus stop when a Haredi man started staring at her. Pushing himself into her face, he demanded to know what the marks on her arms were from. She backed away, saying it was none of his business, but he kept getting in her face demanding to know what the marks were from. Finally she said they were from the tephillin that she wore for prayer that morning. Spiting obscenities, he began to beat the young woman who was only saved because the bus finally arrived. To this day nobody has been arrested for the assault.
Women praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, standing in the women's section near the stones of the Kotel, put on tallitot and men from the other side of the mechitza began to throw chairs at them. They created such a riot that the police had to remove the women for their own protection.
There are tens of thousands of Russian immigrants to Judaism in Israel who are not Jewish enough for these Haredi leaders. For ten years now they have blocked these Russian Jews from affirming their Judaism and from converting to Judaism to remove whatever question there may be about their past. In the Soviet Union, they were Jewish enough to be persecuted and arrested, but in Israel, they are persecuted because they are not Jewish enough.
In this country, these self proclaimed guardians of the faith have taken control of the Young Israel congregations. They are threatening a synagogue in Syracuse, NY with closing the shul, taking their Torahs and taking control of the congregational assets because they dared to elect a woman to be president of the synagogue. The national leadership of Young Israel, in disregard for Jewish law that permits women some role in Jewish life, will now no longer allow women to serve as president, they can not hold services for women only and they cannot read from the megilla. The Talmud may permit this but these zealots say it is forbidden.
In Hewlett, NY, in the Five Towns area, an orthodox congregation invited, as guest speaker, Sarah Hurwits, a Graduate of Avi Weiss's seminary in Riverdale, NY and the first orthodox holder of the title “Rabbah” (instead of Rabbi). A Haredi Rabbi wrote in the local secular newspaper that this speech was a disgrace to Judaism and to “real” Torah scholars and that the Jewish community would have something new to cry about this Tisha B'Av. The Rabbi of the congregation that invited Rabbah Hurwits, noted that in a time when Israel was being assaulted physically and politically, this was completely out of line. We cry on Tisha B'Av because sinat hinam, baseless hatred between Jews, brought about the destruction of the Temple, and now we see that same hatred will destroy us again.
This week, there were riots again in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Haredi parents wanted to segregate their children from Sephardic Jews who are not as observant as the Asheknazic Jews. The Israel Supreme Court ruled that this kind of discrimination and segregation is not permitted. The parents then took their children out of school lest they be “corrupted” by the Sephardic children. The Supreme Court ordered the children to go back to school. The parents refused and the court ordered the parents to be arrested. Riots broke out to prevent the arrests. The Haredi called the Israeli police stormtroopers and Nazis for obeying the court and the Haredi claimed that they did not follow Israeli law, but only the Law of God and Torah.
My all time Hutzpa Award goes to the Haredim of Spring Valley, NY who took money from the state of New York to provide affordable public transportation for those who lived in Spring Valley who needed to commute to jobs in New York City. These buses were provided to the town using taxpayer money. The town, run by Satmer Hasidim, then ruled that women could only sit in the back of the bus. The women took the city to court and the courts ruled that public buses could not have segregated seating, not for anyone. The latest headline from just last May said, “Hasidim fear a gentile company could take over the line and might run routes on Saturdays, fail to separate men and women riders, and stop giving discounts to yeshiva students. Can you imagine that? A bus line that takes government funds should be run for the sake of all those who use the bus, and not just the Haredi?
What was the reward of Pinchas for his zealotry? Moses and God make him and his children priests for all time. They don't get to remain zealots, they have to become part of the establishment and learn to live by the rules. What is Elijah's reward for his zealotry? Elijah, to the end can't understand what is wrong with being a zealot, so God forces Elijah into retirement and the duty of ending idolatry is left to his successor, Elisha.
The Haredi claim that it was an act of zealotry for Baruch Goldstein to kill unarmed Muslims in prayer at the Cave of Machpayla. They claim it was an act of zealotry when Amir murdered Yizchak Rabin in Tel Aviv. Until these zealots understand that if they can not be a part of the rule of law and order, then they will suffer arrest and marginalization in the Jewish world. Israel needs to stop coddling these Jews, to stop slapping them on the wrist and letting them go home, to stop treating them like children who are just being children, and insist that they be held responsible for their actions. Their Rabbis must be arrested when they incite violence and those who riot should be held accountable for the damage they do. Until there is equal justice for the zealot and the non zealot, these outrageous acts will only get worse.
Israel does not need this kind of distraction when our very existence is in danger. But with the steady stream of Israelis leaving the state because of Haredim complicating their lives and the refusal of Americans to make Aliyah to Israel because the Haredim want proof that they are Jewish, this kind of zealotry will undermine all that we have hoped a Jewish State would be. It is time, once and for all, for all Jews to denounce this kind of zealotry, and for Israel to insist that they obey the rule of law.
May God protect us all, not only from religious harassment by gentiles, but may God protect us from religious harassment by Jewish zealots as well. May we soon know not only peace for Israel, but peace in Israel as well. As we say.... Amen and Shabbat Shalom.
In this week's parsha, Pinchas, who zealously killed to defend God's honor, is not to be prosecuted for his act of murder. While Moses and the other leaders where wringing their hands wondering what they were going to do, Pinchas put an end to the idolatry, killed the couple who had flagrantly brought sexual immorality into the precincts of the Mishkan and ended the plague that had threatened the entire People of Israel.
The Rabbis are quick to note that without the intervention of God, Pinchas would have been guilty of capital murder. Orderly society cannot have zealots running around killing people in their religious fervor. In the Haftara that is read for today when it is NOT the first of the three weeks, Elijah the prophet has the same problem. He was zealous for God and had killed 400 priests of the idol Baal. Queen Jezebel, who worshipped Baal, was not happy and ordered Elijah to be executed. Elijah fled and after some adventures, ended up on Mt Sinai, angry that he had been zealous for God and now everyone wanted to kill him. He too wants the “brit shalom” the same exemption that Pinchas received for his zealotry.
When I was a little boy, our Rabbi had a hard time explaining to our class what Pinchas had done wrong. It was not the pagan sexuality that made my Rabbi uncomfortable; it was trying to explain why Pinchas was not a hero. In the face of all that was happening, only Pinchas took matters into his own hands. Like all the heroes in the movies, Pinchas didn't wait for permission to do what he did. We children could see him holding his javelin as the two offending people entered the Mishkan and saying to them like Clint Eastwood, “Go ahead, Make my day!”
Today, we live in a world where these kinds of fundamentalist zealots carry bombs and seek to perform acts of mass destruction. Islamic zealots have been known to cut off the hands of thieves, kill women suspected of dishonoring their families and engage in wanton acts of destruction against other infidels and heretics to the faith. Christianity is also full of zealots, who shoot abortion providers to save the lives of unborn children. They defy the law that keeps the Ten Commandments off of the walls of our courtrooms, and those that keep religion out of our public schools. They even protest science textbooks that teach evolution over the Bible's account of the creation of the world.
These threats from Christian and Muslim zealots, in my opinion, do not pose anywhere near the danger to Judaism as Jewish zealots. I have watched in horror over the last year as Israel has been rocked by scandal after scandal by those who would call themselves the most righteous Jews in the world. Over the years I have spoken out against their version of Judaism that has no place for anyone who is less religious than their community. I have been accused of Orthodox bashing, of not being fair to those who have a more observant lifestyle then I do. Who am I, they ask, to questions the motives of these super observant Jews/ what harm results from their zealotry?
This past year there has been much harm caused by these, self proclaimed “Haredi” Jews. Their actions now threaten the very existence of the State of Israel. Each day brings another outrageous action that undermines Israel's government and pushes aside basic democratic principles. These Jews have come a long way from throwing stones at those who would drive in their neighborhood on Shabbat. Now they are willing to travel all over Israel, and all over the United States as well, to demand from everyone else, compliance with the way they view the world.
I have more examples of this than I can use in one sermon. Intel, the world’s largest manufacturer of computer chips has a major manufacturing plant in Israel. They have been the foundation of Israel's computer industry for many years. The Haredim, however, did not like the fact that the plant was open on Shabbat. They massed in the parking lot of the plant and tried to break inside to force the plant to close for Shabbat. They dared the government of Israel to try and stop them.
The city of Jerusalem, to solve its traffic problems, opened a parking lot in the city. The Haredim shut down traffic and the lot for weeks because they thought it should not be open on Shabbat. They created an ugly riot beating up peaceful protesters at Jerusalem's first Gay Pride parade. They have entered Reform and Masorti congregations in Jerusalem and tried to “kidnap” the Torah scrolls so that women and non-observant men would not handle them. There have been Reform and Conservative synagogues that have been firebombed. So far, the police have no suspects.
In Beersheva, a woman was standing at a bus stop when a Haredi man started staring at her. Pushing himself into her face, he demanded to know what the marks on her arms were from. She backed away, saying it was none of his business, but he kept getting in her face demanding to know what the marks were from. Finally she said they were from the tephillin that she wore for prayer that morning. Spiting obscenities, he began to beat the young woman who was only saved because the bus finally arrived. To this day nobody has been arrested for the assault.
Women praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, standing in the women's section near the stones of the Kotel, put on tallitot and men from the other side of the mechitza began to throw chairs at them. They created such a riot that the police had to remove the women for their own protection.
There are tens of thousands of Russian immigrants to Judaism in Israel who are not Jewish enough for these Haredi leaders. For ten years now they have blocked these Russian Jews from affirming their Judaism and from converting to Judaism to remove whatever question there may be about their past. In the Soviet Union, they were Jewish enough to be persecuted and arrested, but in Israel, they are persecuted because they are not Jewish enough.
In this country, these self proclaimed guardians of the faith have taken control of the Young Israel congregations. They are threatening a synagogue in Syracuse, NY with closing the shul, taking their Torahs and taking control of the congregational assets because they dared to elect a woman to be president of the synagogue. The national leadership of Young Israel, in disregard for Jewish law that permits women some role in Jewish life, will now no longer allow women to serve as president, they can not hold services for women only and they cannot read from the megilla. The Talmud may permit this but these zealots say it is forbidden.
In Hewlett, NY, in the Five Towns area, an orthodox congregation invited, as guest speaker, Sarah Hurwits, a Graduate of Avi Weiss's seminary in Riverdale, NY and the first orthodox holder of the title “Rabbah” (instead of Rabbi). A Haredi Rabbi wrote in the local secular newspaper that this speech was a disgrace to Judaism and to “real” Torah scholars and that the Jewish community would have something new to cry about this Tisha B'Av. The Rabbi of the congregation that invited Rabbah Hurwits, noted that in a time when Israel was being assaulted physically and politically, this was completely out of line. We cry on Tisha B'Av because sinat hinam, baseless hatred between Jews, brought about the destruction of the Temple, and now we see that same hatred will destroy us again.
This week, there were riots again in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Haredi parents wanted to segregate their children from Sephardic Jews who are not as observant as the Asheknazic Jews. The Israel Supreme Court ruled that this kind of discrimination and segregation is not permitted. The parents then took their children out of school lest they be “corrupted” by the Sephardic children. The Supreme Court ordered the children to go back to school. The parents refused and the court ordered the parents to be arrested. Riots broke out to prevent the arrests. The Haredi called the Israeli police stormtroopers and Nazis for obeying the court and the Haredi claimed that they did not follow Israeli law, but only the Law of God and Torah.
My all time Hutzpa Award goes to the Haredim of Spring Valley, NY who took money from the state of New York to provide affordable public transportation for those who lived in Spring Valley who needed to commute to jobs in New York City. These buses were provided to the town using taxpayer money. The town, run by Satmer Hasidim, then ruled that women could only sit in the back of the bus. The women took the city to court and the courts ruled that public buses could not have segregated seating, not for anyone. The latest headline from just last May said, “Hasidim fear a gentile company could take over the line and might run routes on Saturdays, fail to separate men and women riders, and stop giving discounts to yeshiva students. Can you imagine that? A bus line that takes government funds should be run for the sake of all those who use the bus, and not just the Haredi?
What was the reward of Pinchas for his zealotry? Moses and God make him and his children priests for all time. They don't get to remain zealots, they have to become part of the establishment and learn to live by the rules. What is Elijah's reward for his zealotry? Elijah, to the end can't understand what is wrong with being a zealot, so God forces Elijah into retirement and the duty of ending idolatry is left to his successor, Elisha.
The Haredi claim that it was an act of zealotry for Baruch Goldstein to kill unarmed Muslims in prayer at the Cave of Machpayla. They claim it was an act of zealotry when Amir murdered Yizchak Rabin in Tel Aviv. Until these zealots understand that if they can not be a part of the rule of law and order, then they will suffer arrest and marginalization in the Jewish world. Israel needs to stop coddling these Jews, to stop slapping them on the wrist and letting them go home, to stop treating them like children who are just being children, and insist that they be held responsible for their actions. Their Rabbis must be arrested when they incite violence and those who riot should be held accountable for the damage they do. Until there is equal justice for the zealot and the non zealot, these outrageous acts will only get worse.
Israel does not need this kind of distraction when our very existence is in danger. But with the steady stream of Israelis leaving the state because of Haredim complicating their lives and the refusal of Americans to make Aliyah to Israel because the Haredim want proof that they are Jewish, this kind of zealotry will undermine all that we have hoped a Jewish State would be. It is time, once and for all, for all Jews to denounce this kind of zealotry, and for Israel to insist that they obey the rule of law.
May God protect us all, not only from religious harassment by gentiles, but may God protect us from religious harassment by Jewish zealots as well. May we soon know not only peace for Israel, but peace in Israel as well. As we say.... Amen and Shabbat Shalom.
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