Category: Judaism
-
Does He or Doesn’t She? Some Thoughts about God, Me and the SuperBowl
This Friday night we celebrate a very special Shabbat. Although each Shabbat is special, certain Shabbats are singled out for particular meaning in the Jewish calendar. There is Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat leading to Passover, Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat where we sing of crossing the Reed Sea, to name but three of them. Friday, January 31st, we celebrate Shabbat Super Bowl.
Super Bowl Sunday is Feb 2nd 2014. Does God actually play a role in the Super bowl?
There is much debate in America as to whether God plays a role in the Super bowl. According to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, “half of American Sports fans say they believe God or a supernatural force is at play in the games they watch.” This includes 26% of Americans who pray directly to God to help their team, 25% of Americans who believe their team is cursed and approximately 19% of Americans who believe God is involved in who wins the game. This raises some very interesting questions: What is the nature of the God you believe in?
How do we understand God? What role does God play in our lives?
If a disaster looms, do we thank God that we were spared from the hurricane (even though the guys that were nailed were not quite so lucky)? If we get sick, do we pray for God to make us well?
I believe the adage “there are no atheists in foxholes.” When your life is at stake, you grab on to anything that might be a lifeline. And foxholes are metaphoric as well as literal. Each of us will face trials and tribulations in our lives. It is then that we need something to hold onto, an anchor, a rock a something that says we will survive this, because regardless of whether we want it or not, misfortune will surely strike. We do not control the event, but we can control how we get through it and how we carry on after it is over.
So where and how do you find God?
As I sought to answer this question, I found some incredible, astounding and sobering statistics: The Department for Veteran’s Affairs reports than an estimated 48,000 veterans are homeless or at risk for becoming homeless. As of the end of last year, the number of non-fatal casualties from Afghanistan and Iraq surpassed the grim milestone of one million. Over 270,000 brain injuries have been diagnosed including traumatic brain injuries and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. These are forbidding statistics. But there is an important point that is tragically lost in these statistics.
These are human beings who are suffering. They are not nameless things, but rather, they are people, people who feel sadness, pain and anguish. These are the people our prophets seek to protect when they call out to us. For far too long we have not felt a personal connection to these individual people. We have let the impersonal Government take care of the nameless masses. But it is for us, however, to look at them as our brothers and sisters, members of our American family. These are the distinct brave men and women like veteran ranger Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg who appeared at the State of the Union Address earlier this week. Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg served his country heroically with a valor and devotion that goes beyond the comprehension of most of us. And Cory Remsberg will spend the rest of his life dependent upon the love and support of all of us as he struggles to recover from devastating injuries.
We are taught, “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh.” We are all responsible for each other. This is the charge from our God to each and every one of us, that it is our sacred obligation to protect the vulnerable. We are commanded to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and safeguard the widow and the orphan. It is here that we can find our God. For when we reach out to another, God is in that sacred space.
We learn about God’s sacred space in this week’s Torah portion Terumah. Here are the intricate details of building God’s house in the Midbar. The Mishkan is a moveable structure that the Israelites carry with them on their travels through the Wilderness. And if we take this passage as metaphor, essentially we learn in this parshah that God is with us wherever we may go. God Himself teaches us one of the core messages of Torah. As we are taught to build the Ark of the Covenant, two Cherubim are placed on top of the Ark with facing each other with arms outstretched. And God then says, “Here I will meet with you.” (Ex 25:22). That, in other words, God is found in the place we come into relationship with each other.
So let me return to the original question, “Does God influence the Super Bowl?” “God Knows,” but I do not. I am sure that there is a facet of God that enjoys a good contest, revels in positive human competition, and even enjoys a good burger. Should we invite Him to the Tailgating party? Would that unduly influence the Almighty or perhaps might He just enjoy the sweet savor of something hot off the grill?
But the real question remains: “How can you find God’s presence in your daily life?” And the answer to that question might be that maybe God does indeed have the capacity to influence everything in our lives if only we reached out to others and opened ourselves up to the possibility.
Shabbat Shalom
-
Make it a “Day On”
As we prepare for this weekend’s commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I share the thoughts of a friend and colleague from the Main Line in Philadelphia:
This weekend, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. Even more, as we celebrate Dr. King’s legacy, and remember his teachings and challenges to us, we hopefully can embrace Todd Bernstein’s challenge to us (Todd is the founder of the Greater Philadelphia MLK Day of Service) to make Monday not a day off, but a day on–a day of service. We will commemorate Dr. King’s visions, dreams and hopes as we join with the members of Zion Baptist Church and Rev. Jim Pollard, and of Beth Am Israel and Rabbi David Ackerman, and our Unity Choir at services on Friday night at 8:00 pm and Sunday (note-Sunday services will also be at MLRT) at 11:00 am, and in two service opportunities on Monday-one at MLRT and one at Calvary Baptist Church.
Rabbi Joachim Prinz, himself a refugee from Germany (my parents were members of his congregation in Newark, NJ), introduced Dr. King before he delivered his now famous I Have a Dream Speech on August 28, 1963. His words seem as relevant and moving today as then. He said: “When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned many things. The most important thing I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence…. America must not become a nation of onlookers. America must not remain silent.”
I look forward to being with you for this wonderful weekend of prayer, music, fellowship and service.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Straus
-
The American Studies Association Needs to Learn Some American Values | TIME.com
Insight on the ASA’s obscene and sad decision by Rabbi David Wolpe published by Time magazine
The American Studies Association Needs to Learn Some American Values | TIME.com.
-
Hannukah, Maccabees, Soviet Jewry, Freedom. We remember.
On the eve of Hanukkah thoughts turn to the meaning we glean from the ritual and what we remember, particularly the cause of freedom and what is necessary to achieve it. As we recall the Maccabees, I think of the words of acclaimed anthropologist Margaret Meade who once said, “Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Many of us remember to that momentous time on December 6, 1987 when a quarter of a million people came together on the National Mall to protest during Premier Mikhael Gorbachev’s visit to Washington demanding that he “let my people go,” and grant the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel. But before 250,000 people could gather and speak with one voice, people needed to galvanize them. In fact it was on May 1, 1964, outside the Russian Legation to the United Nations in Manhattan, that the first mass public rally to support Soviet Jewry was held. This was the original committed core that started the process, and as they say, the rest is history. Those Soviet Jews that wanted to were eventually granted the right to make aliyah and go to live as Jews in the Land of Israel.
We celebrate those brave souls who risked their personal safety to stand for the ideal of freedom that is embodied in Judaism. We rightfully pay tribute to those who stood up and spoke to power there knowing free speech did not exist in that place, that such speech came at a great price. Those of us here in the United States were encouraged and energized by their voices and we joined ours to theirs. The cry for freedom grew louder and louder until it could no longer be ignored. The doors opened and the great exodus of the twentieth century began; the Jews of the Soviet Union came home.
We saw the power of the word defeat the mighty. We can and should celebrate this modern miracle. But the past is only prologue. For not all the Jews left. What of those that remained behind? They could have been forgotten as our attention focused on the new Olim and we reveled in our accomplishment. But that small committed group continues to make its voice heard and the Jews of the Former Soviet Union have also entered into a new era.
The Jews of the FSU are actively reconnecting with their Judaism that others had tried to take away two generations ago. With the help of outside groups such as the JDC there is a Jewish revival happening. It is not the whispers of Jews practicing their faith behind closed doors, but Jews being and doing Jewish in the open. To visit major urban centers in the FSU, Synagogues that had been shuttered or once repurposed as things like warehouses are now open for business as places of worship. We saw with amazement not only synagogues but also day schools and Jewish Community Centers. And even more remarkable, not only Chabad is there, but so are other streams of Judaism. An organic Judaism is taking hold as Jews rediscover and reconnect to their past, themselves, and their future.
The work is far from over. Rabbi Tarfon tells us in Pirkei Avot that “You are not duty bound to finish the work, but neither can you desist from it.” Judaism’s rise in the FSU, from near extinction to flourishing, is nascent. It remains our sacred obligation to use our power and influence to nurture Jews around the world seeking to connect with our sacred wisdom. We are there to open the doors and welcome our brothers and sisters to join Klal Yisrael. Our true tribute to those who have done so much for the cause of freedom is to continue the work that they started and help the next generation of Jews.
-
I will not let you go until you have blessed me.
In the dark solitude of night Jacob wrestles with an unidentified man until dawn, but would not let him go, even after he appears to vanquish his opponent. Although the text says it was a man, the figure is mysterious and might have been an angel of God or possibly a demon from Jacob’s psyche.
This remarkable story speaks to how we might make something good come from the troublesome or even the tragic event; for Jacob would not let go until he received a blessing. Instead of fleeing, as Jacob has in the past, Jacob only grapples with it. Acknowledging this event is now a part of him, Jacob holds on. Jacob emerges from the scuffle physically injured, forever changed. But he still insists that something good comes of the encounter a blessing.
So many of us confront tragedy in our lives. And despite the pain and the suffering tragedy causes, people often turn it in order to make something good as a result. For example, the founders of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, MADD, were able to take the unspeakable horror of losing their children and create a crusade to save the children of others. Veronique Pozner, recently named as one of the Forward 50, lost her 6-year-old son Noah in Newtown and transformed her personal tragedy and grief into a rallying cry for gun control legislation in Connecticut.
We are forever changed as a result of the harsh tests in our lives. For Jacob, his hip was damaged and his name changed to always reflect that the event had irrevocably altered him. Nothing will bring the lost children back to their mothers. Noah will never return to Veronique, but she celebrates his brief life, by working to create a better world. May we all find the strength to do so.
~Thoughts on Vayishlach
-
The need for connection runs deep
Toledot, last week’s Torah portion, holds one of the most poignant moments in the entire Tanakh for me. The story of Esau before his father is heart wrenching. We know that Esau sold his birthright to his brother for a bowl of stew and that Jacob completed the deed by deceiving his father into giving him the blessing. But I cannot help but feel a profound empathy for Esau’s anguish.
There Esau stands, this strong brute of a man, sobbing before his father beseeching him: Is there nothing left for me? Can I not also have your blessing? This is more than a demand for his portion of the family wealth. This is the yearning human need to belong. There is the deep heartfelt desire to believe that there is love enough in his father’s heart to share a blessing, a hope an aspiration for something that is Esau’s inheritance from his father. The best Isaac could muster was that Esau would be free of his brother’s dominance only when Esau moved away. And so an estrangement began so brutal in its nature, that Jacob fled and when the brothers next meet twenty years later, Jacob still fears for his life.
When our father died, my brother and sister and I respectfully shared the material possessions that remained. My brother took a desk that he always loved and I took the vanity mirror that sat on my dad’s dresser since he was a boy. But I think the blessing that my father left my brother was his knowledge that he was dad’s primary caregiver and their bond grew very strong and close. For me it was the knowledge that this new path I embarked upon into the rabbinate was a source of pride and admiration. These are the truly valuable legacies that will remain with us.
May we always find that our inner wellspring of love and compassion is never exhausted. May we always have something to give to those seeking our love and support, even when it is challenging. May we learn from Isaac that there is a better and more empathetic way to embrace another.
-
Enduring Life lessons come from how we live- A message from Nitzavim
If you could choose your last words or final deeds, what would they be?
In Nitzavim, the portion we are about to read, Moses uses his final moments to share his parting thoughts with us– the final words that will linger in the hearts and minds of those there after he is gone.
Choose life. It is here. It is now. But the truth of it is, we really do not know for how long. As we read in the Unataneh Tokef prayer, death comes in many forms, and we have been rather creative in coming up with a list. We can only hope and pray for life and health. But deep down, we all know that inevitable end of our physical life lurks waiting.
I have had occasion to be with a family who knew death was coming. The mother had some months to prepare; her cancer would not be stopped. I was with a family where the death of the father was completely unexpected. A massive coronary took him in the middle of is regular bike ride with his wife.
Perhaps you might think that the first instance is easier. You know it is coming, you can say goodbye, settle your affairs; prepare those you will leave behind. Whereas when someone is taken in a moment, there is and no time at all. It is abrupt and harsh.
The truth is that no matter how you might try to prepare, it is merely an intellectual exercise. Emotionally the pain of loss is just as jarring and real in the moment it comes. So if we do not know the how or the when of it, you might be wondering if what I am talking about isn’t itself just an intellectual exercise. How is it possible to plan when we don’t know how to measure what is left in days or in years?
We have the opportunity to impart our final words through both words and deeds every single day. Truth be told, we do not share our final message in the final moments of our lives. That is not the time. It is hard to think clearly, if you wrote it down, you likely you left it in your desk in another room, or your glasses are upstairs, so you cannot read your notes anyway!
There is a Midrash about Jacob on his deathbed, surrounded by his children, wondering if he left them with the truly important lessons. They responded with “Shema Israel, Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai echad” Hear oh Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one. Given that Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, an alternative translation might be:
“Dad, you taught us your lesson well and we heard you.”
I met an extraordinary man during an overnight rotation working as a hospital chaplain. I went to Jim’s room intending to console a grieving family. But consolation was not going to happen. Jim was an organ donor and the Gift of Life team was preparing to bring life to several people who would benefit from Jim’s heart, lungs, liver and even his corneas. The people at Jim’s bedside were celebrating the man who continued to live and embody the ideals that made him beloved even after he was gone.
Similarly, the funeral for our friend on his bike was a celebration of his life. Each eulogy lovingly shared the joy of being counted as a friend. And the woman, who had the time to prepare; that was my mom. And I try to live by her values that still live inside me.
Moses is about to tell us, “Lo BaShamiyim hi!” It is not in the heavens, or someplace else out of reach, like your desk drawer. We revere Moses not for his parting words alone, but for the gifts he gave us throughout his life. And likewise for us, it is in the things we say and do everyday that makes the difference and endures as our legacy.
Moses words still ring true; Not only is it completely within our grasp, it starts the moment we decide it to be so. Let that time be now. Take the hand of the person sitting next to you, whether it is someone you know or a complete stranger. Take their hand for just a moment, look at them and smile, and together let us listen to the words of Nitzavim.
