The School Maus Ban

With Maus, the McMinn County Tennessee school board has highlighted issues beyond Anti-Semitism.

With the extraordinary rise in documented Anti-semitism, we rightly are sensitive to it. However, if we merely write off the TN School board as Anti-Semites, we miss some crucial things worthy of discussion. We must ask a fundamental question: Is this a matter of teaching about the Holocaust, or is this the right book to do so? Let us set aside the charge of anti-semitism and consider other reasons why Maus would be banned.

Let me give two examples from my own Jewish experience to help frame the matter:

I have regularly seen people ushering children from the sanctuary before the Yizkor liturgy in our services. And often, well-intended adults keep their children from funerals and unveilings.

The rationale common to these is that the adults thought it best for the welfare of the children to shield them from issues surrounding death. They deemed such experiences as emotionally unhealthy. Perhaps the people of Tennessee thought similarly.

Maus is an explicit graphic novel. The author, Art Spiegelman, does not hold back from exposing the horrors of the Holocaust. The scenes are brutal and sear themselves into the mind’s eye. Once seen, it is impossible to un-see it. Arguably, that was part of Maus’ intended purpose. Maus has been a challenging and controversial book on almost every level.   Bringing it to children should be careful, deliberate, and age-appropriate.

Parents try to shield their children, to protect them from the world’s harshness. The question for us to consider is whether such an approach serves a purpose?

Arguably, exposing our children to the world’s harsh realities is essential in helping them develop their understanding of the world in which we are preparing them to live.

We must also consider children’s developmental issues. We know that both the way we present materials to children and their capacity to absorb the lessons are critical components. Balancing these two is delicate, but ignoring them risks doing more harm to the psyche than good.

I understand the desire to protect children, particularly from the gruesomeness of evil. And the Holocaust is unspeakably, unimaginably evil. But if we pretend the horror did not happen, or if we sanitize it, erasing the brutality, we have likely made the case against evil no more compelling than the choice of school lunch.

We need to be vigilant in the fight against anti-semitism, and it would not be surprising to learn that anti-semitism motivated some people in the discussion surrounding Maus. But even with that, we cannot turn away from the critical conversation about what we teach our children, not as facts, but as values and how we do it without inflicting harm or destroying the humanity we are trying to nurture.

To Mom, Zichronah Livracha- a toast with Chocolate Milk

A small gathering of family said goodbye to the matriarch this past Sunday.  Adult children and wives, adult grandchildren, and a “bun in the oven.”  I was asked to officiate because that is what the family believed mom would have wanted.  They and their mother understood themselves in a humanist way, but they believed it was the appropriate honor for mom- to bury her Jewishly.  The boys never had a chance to have this conversation with her as she had dementia that ravaged her by the end.

I did my best to honor her and those who were trying to honor their mother by weaving rituals with stories that each family member was eager to share and reluctant to stop.  This beautiful family time ended by raising a glass of chocolate milk, mom’s favorite drink, toasting her life and the family that is her legacy.

As I was preparing to leave, the sons presented me with the replica Torah Scrolls given to each of them by the rabbi from their Bar Mitzvah.  They found them among the few possessions mom brought with her to the care facility.

May her life be for a blessing.

Between the Holy and Profane

I live between the Holy and Profane

a moving song that describes the space we find ourselves  A song that helps us understand the need for the sacred protective space that is Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom.

(The English lyrics are below the song.  )

Between the Sacred and the Profane

I live between the sacred and the profane
With the truth that rages within me
With a thousand habits
With every scar on my face
I go out again to scatter the words
Between reality and madness, it’s all coming back to me
The place from whence I came has no peace in it
And this journey is heavy and a little too much for me
I need to grow out of it and that’s it
To grow out of it and that’s it
I live between the sacred and the profane
Between the truth that rages within me
With a thousand habits
With all the fear upon my shoulders
I go out again to scatter the words
Between reality and madness, it’s all coming back to me
The place from whence I came has no peace in it
And this journey is heavy and a little too much for me
I need to grow out of it and that’s it, to grow out of it and that’s it
Please, keep me safe
So that my feet shall not fail
Between reality and madness, it’s all coming back to me
Even the place from whence I came has no peace in it
And this journey is heavy and a little too much for me
I need to grow out of it and that’s it
To grow out of it and that’s it
I live between the sacred and the profane

https://lyricstranslate.com

I’m Looking at the Man in the Mirror

Like so many, I am frustrated.  In large measure, I am frustrated with myself. It is me who needs the work.  Privilege, whiteness, racist and similar words or phrases can be jingoistic, masquerading in a cloak of empathy.   They really have no weight until I confront who I am with honesty and vulnerability.  I have struggled with what I can only describe as our own hypocrisy; far too often we preach and we teach, but we do not fully live the Jewish values we espouse.  How could this not be at the forefront of everything I do for as long as I have been doing it?  What took me so long, why now?  I think back at those interesting words at the beginning of Exodus: And God heard their cry and remembered the Covenant God made. What took God so long?  There were 400 years of suffering and oppression.  What took God so long?

It does not assuage my guilt to take solace in the human time it took God.  Despite knowing I cannot change the past, I struggle with how I affect the future. This only adds to the frustration of knowing I have not done enough to bring us farther along.  And do I really believe in what I proclaim?

Do I have the fortitude and courage to look deep within and grapple with who I am and what I must do to change?  Only then will I be whole enough to join in the battle that our society and humanity as a whole must wage to create the world I profess to believe in.  Will I cross over or find contentment on this side in my narrow but for the most part comfortable space.

We have had opportunities before.  We have moved forward, slowly, haltingly, stumbling often one step forward and two steps back.  In actuality, we have lived with the opportunities to make change continuously.  What makes this moment different?  Will I be like Nachshon, wading deliberately into the unknown Sea of Reeds or be one of those longing for the land of Goshen, that narrow harsh place, whose evils are known but tempered by our thoughts of powerlessness?

Prescriptions are being bandied about. Some might be curative and others little more than a bandage.  Everywhere there are now lists of things proposing changes ostensibly serving to right society’s wrongs.  How could these lists be created so quickly?  Seeing these in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s murder makes me wonder if the answers been known all along. This would imply either the problem is not that complicated or we did not have the strength to enact these prescriptions. We need to ask ourselves which it is.   Or is the problem so deep and thorny as to render it all but impossible to unravel? And we have left the status quo because we are overwhelmed at the enormity of the issue.   At this moment in time are we willing to find out?  Will this time different from all of the other times?    Am I up to the challenge?

 

 

 

When you emerge, who will you be?

Behar-Bechukotai

by Yoram Raanan

Have you ever taken a vacation?

Usually, it is for one of two reasons:

To see or experience something new, or to Rest and relax (and of course some of us combine these). Both are ways to recharge to have a reset, time away from the normal and challenging tasks of work to engage in shavat v’yinafash, resting and refreshing both the body and the soul.

This week׳s Torah Portion Parsha Behar-Bechukotai talks about a reset- The Shmita -a reset of the land.  Every seven years we are supposed to stop tilling the soil to let the fields recharge and all people regardless of stature; resident, worker, and slave alike, even the animals, get to partake equally in what is there.

We let things lie dormant so they can be rejuvenated.

The land is recharged and also not uncoincidentally those who do the hard physical labor of farming are given a respite as well.  We do this for seven cycles of seven years and then in the 50th year is the Jubilee.  “And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom for slaves throughout the land for all who live on it. It shall be a Jubilee for you, and you shall return each man to his property, and you shall return each man to his family.”(Lev 25:10)

What might we learn from such a giant reset?

Our tradition recognizes that there are imbalances in the system- imbalances inherent in all systems.  Some people are more successful in acquiring things, in working skillfully or even artfully, some possess better business acumen, some are particularly adept in choosing the right parents perhaps.  And then, there are those not so skilled.  The Talmud extensively discusses the issue that  “Batar Anya Azla Aniyuta,” or  “poverty follows the poor” or that Poverty actually increases from being impoverished.

All societies naturally tend towards these proclivities,  and it is up to us, those who can make a difference, to make a change.  To reset society to align with our values and principles.  Another example of such a reset is commemorated at this time in our calendar.

As we mark the 34th day of our trek to Sinai the story of Shimon Bar Yochai is also worth noting.  A disciple of Rabbi Akiva, he and his son, Eleazar, fled to escape the Romans, living in a cave for 12 years.  He emerged but instead of re-joining his community, he was disgusted by a perceived lack of piety by the people.  Shimon’s eyes burned everything they saw to a cinder, field and man, alike.  God’s messenger, The Bat Kol, sent him back to the cave for another year and he emerged an enlightened man dedicated to righteous living and scholarship, redeeming Tiberias and possibly laying the groundwork for writing the seminal book of Jewish Mysticism, the Zohar.

This is the charge of this week’s Parsha- for each of us individually to rededicate ourselves to serving the needs of our people compassionately and deliberately, fully committed to the sacred cause of living Jewishly if we are willing to take up the challenge.

When this health emergency is past, will you emerge hardened from the cave? Or will you emerge from this quarantine open and deeper in touch with the values that are there to guide you?  Or, will you figuratively burn what you see to the ground by turning a blind eye towards the deep injustices and needs that exist, or instead, will you choose to engage in pursuing righteousness and Jewish values, treating the people with Tzedek and compassion?

Which path will you choose?

May you choose to walk the Jewish path

Cain Yehi Ratzon,

 

 

 

 

The Priestly Blessing- A message of hope deliberately placed

 

Naso by Yoram Raanan

The Priestly Blessing is a message of hope in a troubled world.  We have long wondered about the Priestly Blessing being placed in Parshat Naso.  Many have posited it was out of place, belonging instead in Leviticus (9:22) when Aaron is told to bless the people.  But I believe it is placed here purposefully as a message of assurance,  to make sure we understand how important we are to each other and to the Almighty.

Naso contains a census of the Tribe of Gershon, the extraordinary stories of the Sotah, a test for the unfaithful wife, and the issues surrounding the intense vows of becoming a Nazirite. And only then do we read the Priestly Blessing;  The three-line expansive blessing upon each of us that God protects us, is kind to us, and grants peace to us.  It is actually the perfect response to the perplexing and difficult issues that preceded.

We are told we count. That was central in the previous Parsha, BeMidbar, and reiterated as the census to count the Gershonites.   But then we are confronted with the Sotah and the Nazirite, as if to ask are there times when we do not count.  We all struggle with life.  We seek God’s blessings, we seek meaning, we seek good things, namely peace and a good life.  But we find ourselves going off the rails.  When this happens are we cut off from God’s blessing?

The Sotah is about accusations of infidelity.  But in the absence of anything but circumstantial evidence, the magical test is administered by the Priest.  The gravitas of this must be overwhelming.  But even if a woman survived the test, would her husband fully welcome her home, without harboring some suspicions.  Would trust ever be restored fully?  Would others in the community maintain lingering doubts, rumors, and stories placing an indelible stain on the woman’s reputation?

Someone taking the vow of a Nazirite  may do it for lofty purpose, but based on our understanding of the things that motivate such action, we see the wisdom of Gersonides’ analysis that, A person takes such a vow to silence the unhealthy turmoil inside a person arising from a physical desire that might lead one to sin.  Does the person who needed to take the Nazirite vow feel rejuvenated or reborn when the vow is complete?  Does the thing that required such focus continue to linger in their souls?  Such impulses can extend beyond lust to other impulses that can plague us emotionally or spiritually.

The Priestly Blessing is deliberately and thoughtfully placed here to say we struggle and we continue to struggle.  It comes at us from all angles.  It is part of being human in a world that is often fraught and difficult.  Each of us has a struggle, a demon, a bad action, a feeling of inadequacy.  It is part of who we are as human beings.

The Priestly Blessing is a wish for wholeness, a wish for Peace in an unpeaceful world.  The Priestly Blessing is a wish for Peace; it is our yearning that these struggles do not mire us in a life that feels dark or hopeless.  It is the profound hope that God is there to love and protect us even when we feel we have strayed so far away that we are beyond the reach of even the Almighty’s loving protective wings of peace.

Hope remains.  God is there.  We are not alone.

May the Almighty Bless you and Protect you.

May the Almighty deal kindly and graciously with you.

May the Almighty bestow Divine favor upon you, granting you wholeness and peace.

Shabbat Shalom.

 

 

Rabbi David Levin is a second career rabbi.  Trained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Rabbi Levin’s rabbinate focuses on outreach to seekers of meaning, bringing Jewish Wisdom to their life journey.  Rabbi Levin’s work is trans-denominational, embracing and drawing knowledge from all aspects of Judaism. He is a member of the CCAR (Reform Rabbinical Association), OHALA (Renewal Rabbinical Association), NAJC (Neshama, Association of Jewish Chaplains), a Fellow of Rabbis Without Borders, serves on the regional board of NIF (New Israel Fund), and is a volunteer on the Disaster Spiritual Care Team of the American Red Cross.

Rabbi Levin currently teaches The Ethical Will Re-Imagined, as well as Mussar at the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, Introduction to Judaism for the URJ, “Kavod v’Nichum, Understanding Jewish end-of-life rituals”, and the acclaimed series “L’Chaim, Jewish Wisdom for the End of Life Journey” with two esteemed rabbinic colleagues. Rabbi Levin officiates in complex lifecycle events including non-traditional burial and work with interfaith couples.   Rabbi David leads interfaith trips to Israel through the CLAL Stand and See project.  Rabbi Levin is the organizer of Death Café of Greater Philadelphia