tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755588526570836522024-03-13T11:48:07.057-05:00Pulpit PerspectivesMy Observations as a Congregational RabbiRabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17725713055067879858noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-25265010803281419722016-07-04T10:55:00.002-05:002016-07-04T10:55:52.368-05:00Who is hearkening to this tune? Who is gobbling down this meat?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PLg9AzNkLnw/V3p_04d6h2I/AAAAAAAAAnQ/83XqYBYe0RMtwkrWY4JbmHg-Hem29ZVKwCLcB/s1600/Screen_Shot_2%2BTrump%2BTweet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PLg9AzNkLnw/V3p_04d6h2I/AAAAAAAAAnQ/83XqYBYe0RMtwkrWY4JbmHg-Hem29ZVKwCLcB/s320/Screen_Shot_2%2BTrump%2BTweet.png" width="237" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unbelievable!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Anti-Semitic images have come to the campaign!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I thought, among our nation's leaders or would-be leaders, that we were past the use of anti-Jewish bias and symbolism, but it appears that someone in the Trump campaign didn't get that memo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At this time I do not believe that the candidate himself, or any of his staff, are overtly anti-Semitic. But this Tweet that Trump sent out this past weekend, coinciding with the passing of one of the Jewish icons of combating anti-Semitism Elie Weisel, is like a juicy piece of red meat tossed out to those in our nation who live in the world of right-wing hate groups. </span><span style="font-size: large;">I know the metaphor that many use is a "dog whistle", but the current example is far too overt and unsubtle than a signal sent at high, unfathomable frequencies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If reports are true are that this image originates on a white supremacist web page, this compounds the problem, in that it becomes obvious that someone in the Trump campaign is hoping to lure those who resonate with that point of view to their candidate. And the longer that the candidate stays silent on this matter and refrains from taking action against the individual who disseminated this image, the more one needs to question the motives of the candidate, and his ability to lead our nation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One's personal integrity, and that of a Presidential campaign, should be above all of this.</span></div>
Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-34993145478299435692016-06-14T17:37:00.000-05:002016-06-14T17:37:03.044-05:00Orlando Memoriam and Action Plan<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is a letter I sent to my synagogue community yesterday about the horrendous events that occurred in Orlando this past weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dear Temple Beth El Family,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am heartbroken over the senseless loss of life that has
occurred at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. I am also angered by the overt and
ongoing prejudice that this act represents.
Together with all Americans of good will, I am moved to ask you to join
me in standing up to hatred and bigotry wherever we find it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This grim and horrible terrorist attack on an LGBTQ nightclub
in Orlando leaves me shocked and stunned, and we as a nation must acknowledge
the tremendous pain that we feel: as individuals mourning with families who
have lost loved ones and as a nation again brutally wounded by anti-LGBTQ
violence. And at the same time, we are again perplexed as to why we cannot find
an answer to the scourge of gun violence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We must support members of the LGBTQ community, across the
nation, in our city, and in our congregation. At a time when they hoped to observe
and celebrate Pride Month, they confront grief. At a moment when the LGBTQ
community is emerging from the fearful shadows of prejudice, they face
disaster. We must let them know that we support them against homophobia,
racism, and the fear of the stranger. Like our ancestors who wandered through
the desert, we, too, sometimes wander through the wilderness, trying to
discover the way toward social harmony and tolerance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let us begin to take strength in the teachings of our
tradition, that each of us are made in the image of the Divine, and therefore
each of us deserves respect, dignity, and honor. Then we can respond as people
who decry such violence and prejudice, and do what must be done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Further, let us respond by offering more than prayers and
thoughts. Let us pledge to stand up and speak out against racism and homophobia
wherever it appears: whether at work, in our families, in letters to the
editor, and in any other place where we observe those afflictions. This is how
we begin to make our stand for anyone who suffers from the hate and fear of
others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Please call or write me
if you have any questions or concerns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Faithfully,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rabbi Jonathan Biatch</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-60224805079293042802016-06-05T21:55:00.002-05:002016-07-27T16:38:06.269-05:00Thank You, Donald Trump<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(The following message represents my opinion </span>only, and in no way reflects the synagogue for which I work, nor any non-profit organization with which I am affiliated.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you, Donald Trump.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, though some have expressed great concern over the
candidacy of Donald Trump for President, I think Mr. Trump deserves our
gratitude for many lessons he has taught us in the past twelve months or so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you, Mr. Trump, for helping expose how much more progress
our country needs to eradicate racial, religious, and ethnic intolerance. We
thought we had advanced in the struggle against hatred, bigotry, and
xenophobia. After all, since the moment, 90 years ago when the United States once
decided to close its borders to large waves of immigrants, our nation nonetheless
found ways to welcome the stranger and increase its acceptance of religious,
ethnic, and foreign minorities. Seeing the mindless anger and passions among
the people whom you have incited at your rallies with anti-Muslim and
anti-Mexican speech, however, has demonstrated that nativist and xenophobic passions
still rule the hearts and minds of many Americans, and that our work in the
realm of tolerance is nowhere near complete.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And thank you, Mr. Trump, for bringing forth the same prejudicial
emotions about Native Americans as well. We see your audiences decrying those
who proudly possess Native American ancestry, and it is recalled to us how the
struggle for rights of this beleaguered minority must be continued.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for reminding us that gender equality in America is
still a goal to be achieved. Your sexist
insinuations, your degrading of women, your betrayal of the notion of a truly egalitarian society, your willingness to accept women earning 20% less than
men, your willingness to endorse the sexual objectification of women: all these
have moved many in this country to rededicate their efforts to bring equality
to our land.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for helping us remember the reasons our nation
finally entered, fought, and won the second World War. World War II was, in part, a struggle against
authoritarianism, which we sought to overthrow.
You know, as messy as democracy may be, we adopted it as our nation’s
system of government 240 years ago. Since then, our country has fought against fascism
many times, and thanks to your authoritarian rhetoric and dictatorial approach in
your public demeanor and your campaign, you remind us once again of the values
that led us to choose to be ruled in democratic ways, and to follow the rule of law.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for encouraging us to advocate for increased voter registration, convenient and early voting, and ‘getting out the vote’ efforts on election day. By erecting virtual and real roadblocks to
polling places, you and fellow extremists across the nation have energized
Americans to widen the voter rolls and bring disenfranchised people to the polls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Between now and election day, I feel confident that there
will be many ways to offer our gratitude to you for enlivening our passions and
bringing people together to engage in social justice and social action
activities. I am sure we’ll will thank you many times for impressing upon us
the preciousness of democracy, the need for citizen involvement, and the
preciousness of all of Earth’s children, not simply the ones who look like you.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(The preceding message represents my opinion </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">only</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">, and in no way reflects the synagogue for which I work, nor any non-profit organization with which I am affiliated.)</span></span></div>
Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-46136773783001291112016-03-18T15:49:00.001-05:002016-03-18T15:49:46.510-05:00The New Jewish Angle in the Presidential Campaign<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You knew it had
to come to this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has invited, as it does every
four years, all the presidential candidates to speak at its national convention
next week. Among them is Donald Trump,
who has accepted the invitation. And
thankfully, among many of my rabbinic colleagues, there is a plan for a protest
at that appearance. You can see some of
the angst through their words at this website:
</span><a href="http://www.cometogetheragainsthate.com/#!press-1/emvb4"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">www.cometogetheragainsthate.com/#!press-1/emvb4</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">.
The Reform movement has also been thinking about what to do, and you can
see their thinking <a href="http://view.mail.rj.org/?j=fea016727761067c74&m=fe9315707361057572&ls=fe231776716c047d7d1d76&l=fefd167574660c&s=fe5d1271736101797513&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe5a10757360077f701c&r=0">by clicking here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is usual for
presidential candidates to present their pro-Israel bona fides to this group,
and for Aipac implicitly to say to candidates that a pro-Israel position could
garner them Jewish monetary support and votes in the campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But this is
clearly not a normal election year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The leading GOP
candidate has unbelievably gained strength among his followers through the hateful
use of racist, misogynist, and derogatory language against the press and anyone
whom he does not like. He has bombasted
his way toward his party’s nomination mainly on the backs of Mexicans, Muslims,
and women. And the pro-Israel community now
provides this bigoted blowhard a platform from which potentially to lob insults
and ignorance?!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">News of this
invitation to speak at Aipac came with no explanation or disclaimer about the
organization’s feelings about Trump’s unusual campaign methods or irresponsible
use of hateful rhetoric. It is no surprise
that groups of Jews are terribly concerned about the image of Aipac, the sense
that the American Jewish community somehow endorses Trump’s hateful methods and
conclusions, and the future of the relationship of Jews and the two major
political parties.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Keep listening, my
friends.</span></span>Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-21169659619325056102015-12-27T16:10:00.000-06:002015-12-27T16:10:17.209-06:00Muslims and Jews Celebrating Christmas Eve Together<span style="font-size: large;">This past Thursday evening, our Temple observed Christmas Eve by participating in the age-old Jewish tradition of Chinese food and a movie. Well, two movies, actually. An early film for youngsters (which drew a lot of adults, too) and a later film for a more mature crowd. Although the event seems stereotypical, it serves a worthwhile purpose for our community and, by the sound of email and Facebook posts from colleagues, many other communities as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">During dinner, which took place during the intermission, we hosted as our guests members of the Madina Community Mosque of Madison. Their imam came as well, and enjoyed his vegetarian egg roll, among other great foods. Among many other similarities, Muslims and Jews have comparable dietary customs, and everyone seemed to like Chinese food. So it was an easy and fun evening. But it also had a serious side and origin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You see: Over the last few weeks, I have been speaking to Saad, a member of the mosque and owner of a local coffee shop, about the incendiary and bigoted comments about Islam by the racist and xenophobic presidential candidate Donald Trump. We spoke about Trump's ignorant rantings and the great number of followers that Trump has inspired. Another notable Wisconsin example of prejudice included Bruce Hagen, the mayor of the city of Superior, who made anti-Muslim statements about President Obama over the last few weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But most of our recent concern, and our conversation on December 24, focused on Trump. The fact that most of Trump's fellow candidates, as well as many in the Republican leadership, refuse to directly and forthrightly call him out for the bigot that he is, is disappointing enough. What is more disturbing is the degree to which, perhaps, millions of other Americans align with his views and make no excuse for it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I recall stories my parents told me about Father Charles Coughlin, Catholic priest and radio broadcaster of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, who became rabidly anti-Semitic in his messages. Through his broadcast speeches he brought to thousands, perhaps millions, a message of hate of Jews analogous to that of Trump's anti-Muslim mania. The fact that Trump strives to be the next president has meant that his populism has grown broader than Coughlin's, and his meager and his followers appear oddly well-positioned for making a significant impact on the election.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our Muslim guests welcomed our support, and we all vowed that we would meet again. The imam and I will find ways to bring about more knowledge and understanding. We look forward to the opportunity of getting to know one another better.</span>Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-31984995563961021702015-11-27T22:48:00.003-06:002015-11-28T10:37:04.318-06:00Jacob the Heel becomes Israel the God-Wrestler: Transformations in Action<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(These
remarks are excerpted from the D’var Torah I delivered to my congregation on Friday
evening November 27, 2015. After this
service, four worshipers asked me to post this sermon online, so here
it is. Some may consider these remarks to
cross the line between the pulpit and electoral politics. I disagree. But I further believe that irrespective of the political
personalities that one may hear referenced in my comments, people of good will
must call out the recent remarks of those running for the highest office of our
land for what they are: racism, xenophobia, and prejudice. And the sooner we provide them with their
proper labels, the healthier a society we will have created.)</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: large;">In this week’s Torah portion of Vayishlach,
we witness a unique kind of transformation, as Jacob our Patriarch emerges
from his birth-heritage of competition, trickery, and deceit, to the world of human
relationship. And in return for
acknowledging his human frailty and for making an act of repentance, our
tradition records that his name and persona are changed to reflect his new
status.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">In
the initial part of this <i>parashah</i>, Jacob returns to Israel after a 20-year stay
with his father-in-law Laban, and sends emissaries to Esau in hope of
reconciliation. But Jacob’s messengers
return and report that his brother is marching toward him with 400 men,
presumably armed. Jacob prepares for confrontation, worships, and sends Esau a gift
of livestock to appease him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">That
night, Jacob ferries his family and possessions across the Yabok River; he,
however, remains behind and encounters a mysterious man with whom he wrestles
until daybreak. Jacob suffers a
dislocated hip but still vanquishes the supernatural creature, who bestows on
him the name Israel, which means “he who struggles with creatures human and divine - and is successful.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Eventually,
Jacob and Esau meet, embrace, and kiss, and go their separate ways. Yet each one is changed; each one is
transformed. Each one expected something
different from this confrontation, and each one received a sincere blessing for
his future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">For
Jacob – and for us – <i>Yisrael</i> becomes not only a place designation or a simple
given name. <i>Yisrael </i>becomes our
identity as people who strive for meaningful purposes – and even with God – and
prevail. As we hope and pray for
transformation in our own day, we too should, at the same time, anticipate a
struggle: We know that nothing comes easy. And indeed we may have to face a struggle against
those who would divide our country along racial or ethnic lines.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">I
say this because there are some who wish to transform our nation back into a chauvinistic and xenophobic society that supports
paranoia and bigotry. These are the
politicians and pundits sullying the reputation of our nation as a
compassionate haven for political refugees, as they advocate for identification
cards for Muslims, or the monitoring of what transpires in mosques.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Such
ideas degrade our nation’s history and tradition of compassion, justice, and
freedom of speech and fairness. Nothing could be farther from what our
nation stands for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
New Colossus, our “Mother of Exiles”, which is the nickname of our Statue of
Liberty, is bowing her head in shame; her torch is extinguished, for she, as a
‘mother of exiles’, knows that parents who treat their children in the manner
in which candidates such as Donald Trump and Ben Carson suggest should lose
their credentials as mothers and fathers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">We
Jews know well the bitter sting of bigotry, and we should be in pain and
despair over their outrageous proposals to establish a national registry for
Muslims, or to have them carry special identification papers, establish a
religious test for elected office, or to turn our backs to the refugees who
desire nothing more than to come to our shores and find freedom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
suggestion that Muslims require special documentation echoes pre-World War II
Germany, when Jews were compelled to wear yellow stars, to have their genealogy
noted on their identity cards, and to suffer the boycotts of their
businesses. Such proposals also sadly imitate the American paranoia of World War II, when we placed Japanese-American
citizens into prisoner and work camps in this country.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Politicians
attempting to score political points through the fears of our era are engaged
in an obscene pastime, and we need to say “Dayeinu” to that kind of
pornography. And Americans – and other
politicians – who are able to call out the bigots for their odious remarks must speak
out loudly and identify the hatred for what it is.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">To
remain silent would mean that we have neither learned the lessons of history
nor understood the message of compassion for which our country is famous, which
our nation has – admittedly – not always practiced, but toward which we strive
in each generation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">It
is understandable for us to be fearful of terror, of being injured or killed in
a battle that is not of our own making.
But when society's values are threatened, we must stand up and fight
back regardless of the price. As Jonathan Sacks, the former
chief rabbi of Great Britain, has said, "The victims of terror are not
only the dead and injured, but the very values on which a free society is
built: trust, security, civil liberty, tolerance, the willingness of countries
to open their doors to asylum seekers, the gracious safety of public
places."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">These
are casualties that we must prevent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">I
hold out the promise that someone – that many someone’s – will stand up to the
Trump’s and the Carson’s of the world, and tell them that ‘enough is enough’, that their attitudes and comments are unwelcome. Perhaps this is my struggle, and that of my clergy
colleagues, and that of every person in America who believes in fairness and
right. It is our task to transform our
national attitude, to a time when we think well, and not ill, of another
person.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Similar
to the Jacob story in this week’s Torah parashah, Jacob came to see in his
brother not a threat, but as part of his own flesh and blood, someone who
needed compassion and caring. Jacob was
able to transform his anger and fear into constructive ways of living.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our
challenge is to wonder whether we can do the same in our day and era.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div>
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2875558852657083652#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"> This is an incident reported by <span style="background: white;">Rivkah Lambert</span></span> on http://jewishvaluescenter.org/jvoblog/a-little-hat-story<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-87357022887802977022015-11-17T14:54:00.004-06:002015-11-17T14:54:41.291-06:00Imagine<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Children of previous and current generations have imagined a
world that John Lennon envisioned in his song “Imagine”: No heaven or hell, no
national boundaries, no religion, no desire for possessions. The message of his visionary words and
lilting melody is that eliminating the primal, distinguishing desires of
humanity will yield a more peaceful world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps it was quite natural, then, that in the wake of the
IS terrorist attacks of the last few weeks, residents of Paris used John
Lennon’s song as a prayer, a paean that longs for a world with no religiously-inspired
violence, meaning no religion. In
makeshift shrines and informal gathering places around the city, Parisians
offered Lennon’s tune and words, swaying and praying for a better future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">John Lennon was correct in one aspect: As religious
believers become radicalized, they come forth with hubris, threats, and eventually
lethal violence against non-believers to achieve their distorted visions. Sadly, you can find these ideas among the
philosophies of some of our religious texts, which the radicals deform and
misrepresent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">And further, sadly, each of the three Abrahamic faiths of
Christianity, Islam and Judaism – these are the ones with which I am most
familiar – can ‘boast’ its radical fringe of adherents and activists. Fanatics who claim faithful Abraham and Sarah
as their ancestral parents have used those holy scriptures to justify xenophobia,
usurpation of territory, and destructive violence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">One solution would be to flee from religion altogether, as
in Lennon’s vision. Taking no risk means
receiving no potential bad results. In
this view, eliminating religion means taking away motivation for aggrandizement
and radicalization.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But we must not throw the baby out with the baptismal
font. Let us examine and NOT overlook the
core human values of these religions' ideas. Each
one contains seeds of peace and love and humanity which can be sown and nurtured in the soil of the
mind and heart. Let us not blindly and
completely abandon the wisdom of ages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Rather, let us discover, in each faith, the statement that
directs us to ‘love our neighbor as ourselves’.
Let us direct our <i>kavannah</i> (Hebrew for ‘intention’ or ‘devotion’)
toward the preservation of life and the potential of progress for humanity. When we can accomplish these difficult but
important tasks, we will have prevailed over the radicals. Not only that, we will have actually moved
closer to John Lennon’s vision of a world “as one.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-41690850820224205852015-09-16T15:46:00.000-05:002015-09-16T15:46:05.488-05:00Rosh Hashanah Morning Sermon 5776 -- Realizing the Real and Original American Dream <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB', serif; line-height: 16pt; text-indent: 38.15pt;">L’shanah
Tovah!</span><br />
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: ES-TRAD;">I love today</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s Torah portion, for it recounts truly momentous
events from the experience and wisdom of our people:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">God’s remembering, and then acting
upon, the divine promises of a son made to Sarah;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">the large celebration on the day
Isaac was weaned;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo3; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Sarah’s summary banishing of Hagar
and Ishmael to a possible death in the wilderness;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">and their eventual restoration to
the human community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">What
baffles me about this chapter, however, is the autocratic superiority that
Sarah displays toward her hired help.
What could possibly have given her the privilege not only to get rid of
Hagar her handmaiden, but also to banish this Egyptian servant to a life of
homelessness and possible death?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">To
discover the answer to this question, we</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">d have to review some background of the story. Like one of those television voice-over
announcers reviewing with the audience the incidents that took place before the
start of the current episode – and with no apologies to my previous profession
– </span><span style="font-family: 'Californian FB', serif; line-height: 16pt; text-indent: 38.15pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Californian FB', serif; line-height: 16pt; text-indent: 38.15pt;">“Previously…in the book of Genesis…”</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">We
first must look at the incident that took place in the Torah just before the
start of today</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
reading. Abraham and Sarah have just
helped cure the infertility of King Avimelech, his wife, and his maidservants,
foreshadowing the miraculous pregnancy of Sarah and the birth of Isaac.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Why
did this occur? Well, Abraham and Sarah had journeyed to the region of Gerar,
and lied to King Avimelech when informing him that Sarah was Abraham</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s sister and not his wife. As penance for being caught in this lie,
Abraham beseeches God for reproductive healing for this king and his retinue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">For
Sarah to become the matriarch of our people, we realize that she has to emerge
unscathed from this and other thorny situations, and we think that maybe there
is something unique in her background that sets the stage for such
privilege. So, we return to chapter 11
to search for Sarah</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
lineage…but we find the Torah mute on this subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">So
now we require a “</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">deus ex machina</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">”,
or an outside consultant. We jump ahead
in time and place to medieval France, into the study of Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki,
known as Rashi, the most prolific of Torah commentators, to discover his
insights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">He
would turn to the camera – sorry, to us – and first note that, according to the
Talmud, Sarah was the daughter of Haran, Abraham</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s brother. So, at first blush, we would have to call her
Abraham</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
niece, a relationship that could not, in ancient Israel, result in marriage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">But
in a seemingly xenophobic way, Rashi would indicate that since Haran – Sarah</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s father – was a gentile (there
were no Jews yet, after all), technically speaking Sarah has no father for
purposes of Jewish genealogy. So Sarah
could be married to Abraham even though she was, by blood, his niece.</span><a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">[1]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Whew!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">From
this exhausting excursion through text and time, we might come to understand
something about Sarah</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
sense of “Israelite privilege”. Sarah
was part of Abraham</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
prestigious family long before Israelite religion was in vogue; along with
Abraham she was an original monotheist!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">So
she was of high status in Israelite society from a philosophical point of
view. And by virtue of her marriage to
Abraham she possessed plenty of wealth and property. In that society, she could do whatever she
wanted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">So
getting rid of a servant who did not fit into the household? Done before completing the thought! No problem!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">* *
* *<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">As
we might imagine, there were significant responsibilities to being an
Israelite: a life of fealty to a mysterious and unseen god; the need to follow
all of this God</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
commandments; a fate of becoming a race of slaves to many of our host nations;
and a life of wandering and existence subject to the whims of others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">But
the <u>privileges</u> of being an Israelite were also substantial. Our ancestors had:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo5; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">A destiny guided by a respected
and superior god;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo6; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">We had entree “</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">on
demand</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">” to that god;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo7; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">We had wealth and property that
could be bequeathed to future generations;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo8; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">And we had the feeling of
belonging to a growing and dominant nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">In
consideration of these privileges, and in thinking about today</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: ES-TRAD;">s Torah portion, again it would be completely consistent with Sarah</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s status to dismiss a
disrespectful and racially inferior servant – and her son – because of some
perceived slight, even though the son was an offspring of Abraham.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Maybe
she read “The Game of Thrones”; it</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
best to marginalize the bastard son and never let him forget the stigma of his
birth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">* *
* *<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">In
Sarah</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
era, this kind of hierarchy was commonplace.
Such behavior adheres to the customs, and probably the demands, of these
early years of civilization</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
dawning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">However,
we</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">d think that
attitudes would change in the subsequent almost-4,000 years when it comes to
the way we treat one another today. We</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">d hope that we</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">d have arrived to a place where
the color of one</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
skin, or the selection of one's clothes and music, would simply represent
differences in DNA and personal taste, and not be flashpoints for possible
incarceration or some kind of violent culture clash.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: 382.2pt; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Making
such presumptions is a phenomenon referred to as “white privilege”, and it is
much in evidence today. White privilege
was described most interestingly, I think, by Dr. Peggy McIntosh, senior
research scientist and former associate director of the Wellesley Centers for
Women, who oversees the Gender, Race, and Inclusive Education Project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: 382.2pt; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Of
white privilege she once wrote, “I think whites are carefully taught not to
recognize white privilege…So I have begun in an untutored way to ask what it is
like to have white privilege. I have
come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I
can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’ </span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible
weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas,
clothes, tools, and blank checks.”</span><a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">[2]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: 382.2pt; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Another
author brings this point home more pointedly.
Jennifer Holladay, a former director of Teaching Tolerance, a
publication of the Southern Poverty Law Center, relates this incident which
expanded her thinking on this subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">“Two
years ago”, she writes, “I was driving down Rosa Parks Boulevard, a street that
runs through an all-black and impoverished area of town, at night. I was looking for a house that I had never
been to before, so I was driving slowly, stopping and moving as I searched for
numbers on residences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">“Out
of nowhere, this large police van pulled me over, blue lights flashing and
sirens blaring, and a handful of well-armed police officers jumped out of the
van and surrounded my car.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">“I
did as I was told, and got out of my car.
‘Hands above your head; move slowly!</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’ </span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">I
then succumbed to a quick physical pat-down, as well as a search of my
car. The officers had pulled me over –
not only because of my erratic driving – but also, because, in the words of one
officer, I was ‘a white woman driving down Rosa Parks after dark</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">.
They thought I was looking to buy drugs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">“When
I went to the office the next day, I relayed my story to several white
colleagues. They shared my sense of violation, of anger, of rage. These co-workers encouraged me to call our
legal department and report the incident.
I later told the story to a colleague who is black and who lives on Rosa
Parks. ‘You just never have to worry
about those things, do you, Jennifer?</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’ </span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">she said, and then walked off.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">In
that response – in those twelve words – her black colleague starkly revealed
this author</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
sense of privilege.</span><a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">[3]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Most
of us might never realize it, but it is white privilege to go shopping in any
retail establishment and not have to worry about being followed and observed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">And
it is white privilege to not have to be concerned about educating one</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s children about the gang bangers
that are waiting out there to pounce on unsuspecting young black children and
teens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">And
it is white privilege to swear aloud, or dress in second hand clothes, or not
comport as society expects, without having people attribute these behaviors to
the bad morals, or the poverty, or the so-called “illiteracy” of one</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s ethnic or racial group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">* * * *<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Perhaps
the good news is that we have not consciously created this state. It has come about through the complex history
of our nation</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
relationship with slavery and the passive effects of living in a
majority/minority culture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">But
the problem with white privilege is that it insidiously maintains and
strengthens the racism that is prevalent in our nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">You
might wonder why we</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">re
talking about racism and classism when those issues are, well, so 1980</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s.
Well, the signs which tell us these matters are still of great concern
are obvious:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo9; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">the problems of violence arising
between police and African Americans;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo10; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Wisconsin’s incarceration of
African Americans as being the highest per capita in the nation</span><a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">[4]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo11; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">or that some fail to recognize the
negative effects of food deserts on minority populations, as well as other
disabilities of living in unofficially segregated communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">These
attitudinal realities demonstrate that we have far to go to alleviate the
problems of race in our society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">* *
* *<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; text-indent: 38.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Writing
in the early years of the Great Depression, entrepreneur-turned-historian James
Truslow Adams coined – in 1931 – the term “American dream”. It is, he writes, “that dream of a land in
which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with
opportunity for each according to ability or achievement…It is not a dream of
motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man
and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are
innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of
the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”</span><a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">[5]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">This
is a beautiful dream, and it</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s
especially poignant to me that, as originally stated, it looks beyond the
material success of those who survived the economic vagaries of the 1930</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Sadly,
we Americans today usually associate the term “American dream” with only
personal economic success; we seem to have neglected the optimistic social
imperatives of the original version of this dream.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">* *
* *<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">In
his recent book “Between the World and Me”, black journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates
provides us a slightly different view of the American dream, and his
understanding of those who choose to slumber with this idealized vision in
their minds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">He
writes, “I have seen that dream all my life.
It is perfect houses with nice lawns.
It is Memorial Day cookouts, block associations, and driveways. The Dream is treehouses and the Cub
Scouts. The Dream smells like peppermint
but tastes like strawberry shortcake.
And for so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my
country over my head like a blanket. But
this has never been an option because the dream rests on our backs, the bedding
made from our bodies.”</span><a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">[6]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Throughout
his book, Coates offers a candid rendering of black perceptions of the
injustices emanating from “American dream” America. There are vignettes of:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo12; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 65.15pt 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">his
frightening childhood in Baltimore’s ghetto;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo13; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 65.15pt 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">his
understanding of school <u>not</u> as a place of academic possibilities but
rather a <u>refuge</u> from the dangers of the street;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo14; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 65.15pt 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">an account of
the death of a friend from Howard University at the hands of Virginia police,
who believed the victim had stolen his own car;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo15; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 65.15pt 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">and many
other confrontations with American life as a black man and parent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">It
is important for white Americans to read and digest his anger, his
disappointment, and his conclusions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">He
comes to offer few clear prescriptions for the illnesses brought on by this
so-called “American dream”. He hopes
that the reader will ‘get it</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’ </span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">and,
at least, think about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">He
closes with advice: for members of the Black community in relation to the Dream
and, indirectly, for those white Americans who dream this Dream with any
regularity. He says to Black America:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">“Struggle
for the memory of your ancestors.
Struggle for wisdom. Struggle for
the warmth of The Mecca [the academic world of Howard University]. Struggle for your grandmother and
grandfather, for your name. But do not
struggle for the Dreamers. Hope for
them. Pray for them, if you are so
moved. But do not pin your struggle on
their conversion. The Dreamers will have
to learn to struggle themselves, to understand that the field for their Dream,
the stage where they have painted themselves white, is the deathbed of us
all. The Dream is the same habit that
endangers the planet, the same habit that sees our bodies stowed away in
prisons and ghettos.”</span><a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">[7]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">So
be it. If we in the white community need
to struggle, then let us do so because it is the right thing to do. And let us think of it this way:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Struggling
against white privilege: is to volunteer in places like Emerson Elementary
School and strike out against illiteracy and poverty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo17; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 65.15pt 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Struggling
against white privilege: is to support our African American brothers and
sisters and be able to articulate proudly with them that ‘black lives DO
matter’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo18; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 65.15pt 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Struggling
against white privilege: is to engage in dialogue with members of any racial or
national minority, so that we can better empathize with and understand issues
of poverty, inadequate employment, and fair compensation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: .2in; margin-left: 65.15pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .2in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo19; mso-para-margin-bottom: 1.2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 65.15pt; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: 1.2gd; tab-stops: list 65.15pt 74.15pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">•</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">And
struggling against white privilege: is to ensure, to the extent possible, that
our employers – or the businesses that we own – provide living wages, safe work
environments, and benefits that address the true needs of families in any stage
of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">Look,
we cannot change the consequence of American history, or easily reverse more
than three centuries of anti-Black sentiment.
But as Jews we are still required:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Californian FB', serif; line-height: 16pt; text-indent: 38.15pt;">to
address the question;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Californian FB', serif; line-height: 16pt; text-indent: 38.15pt;">to
empathize with all those who face racism and poverty in our day;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Californian FB', serif; line-height: 16pt; text-indent: 38.15pt;">and
to engage in the tasks of correcting injustice.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">In
the New Year ahead, let us seek out and find opportunities for renewing an
“American dream”, a vision that now takes only a limited number of Americans
into account. For on this holy day of
the New Year, we are required to imagine a different dream, one in which we
can, unlike our matriarch Sarah, learn to treat others as we would like to be
treated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">We
<u>can</u> envision a world in which we resurrect the fullest possible
definition of James Adams</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’ </span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">dream,
where “each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature
of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they
are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”</span><a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">[8]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">“</span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: DE;">Im
tirtzu, ein zo aggadah.</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">” If we truly desire this, it will remain a
dream for only a bit longer before we turn it into a reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">L</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">shanah Tovah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">(Sermon
Anthem – “Ain</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">’</span><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif";">t
Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round”)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div>
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><sup><span style="font-size: 28.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a> Rashi’s
comment on Genesis 20:12: "My sister, the daughter of my father": And
the daughter of one’s father is permitted to a Noahide
[for marriage], because a gentile has no father [his lineage is not traced from
his father]. And in order to justify his words, he answered him in this way.
Now if you ask: Was she not the daughter of his brother? [The answer is that]
grandchildren are considered like children (Tosefta, Yev. 8:8; Talmud Bavli,
Yev. 62b); therefore, she was (considered as) Terah’s daughter [and would, therefore, be Abraham’s sister]. And so did he say to Lot, “For we are kinsmen”<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial;"> </span>[lit.
men, brothers], from Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, ch. 36.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><sup><span style="font-size: 28.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial;">
</span>“White Privilege: Unpacking the
Invisible Knapsack”, Peace and Freedom Magazine,
July/August, 1989, Women’s International League for Peace and
Freedom, Philadelphia, as cited at http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><sup><span style="font-size: 28.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a> <a href="http://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilege"><span class="Hyperlink0">http://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilege</span></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><sup><span style="font-size: 28.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a> <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/03/228733846/wisconsin-prisons-incarcerate-most-black-men-in-u-s"><span class="Hyperlink0">http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/03/228733846/wisconsin-prisons-incarcerate-most-black-men-in-u-s</span></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><sup><span style="font-size: 28.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a> The Epic of America, Little, Brown,
and Co, 1931, p.214-215.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><sup><span style="font-size: 28.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a> Coates, Ta-Nehisi, “Between the World and Me”,
Spiegel and Grau, New York, p. 11.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><sup><span style="font-size: 28.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a> Ibid., p. 151.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///S:/Rabbi/My%20Documents/Holidays/High%20Holy%20Days/5776/Sermons/Finals/RHD%20Final%20PR.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><sup><span style="font-size: 28.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="border: none; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a> The Epic of America, Little, Brown,
and Co, 1931, p.214-215.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-30675296013847912762015-07-19T18:02:00.000-05:002016-07-27T16:44:29.784-05:00Religion: A Potentially Divisive Political Landscape<span style="font-size: large;">At a recent campaign appearance in Iowa before a group of Religious Right activists and clergy, Governor Scott Walker announced that "his faith defines who he is as an elected official and informed his response to protesters during the polarizing 2011 debate over public sector collective bargaining." (Wisconsin State Journal, July 19, 2015)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In a seemingly simple statement and speech that day, Walker introduces his brand of divisive politics: implying that his faith is purer than those of the protestors; dismissing the religious values of those who, in faith and integrity, appropriately and legally confronted their government at the time of those protests; denying any responsibility for enraging the sensibilities of those whose livelihoods he diminished; and claiming religious superiority over others.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">As a rabbi and a member of a religious minority, I am particularly offended when a candidate for office uses a reprehensible technique such as this to win over potential voters. It is wrong to claim that one set of religious values are necessarily superior to another; it would be an unAmerican approach to our political process, and the candidate who espouses such prejudicial tactics should be avoided.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In the coming election cycle, as always, we must be keenly aware and cautious of politicians who use their pulpits to create divisions where there are simply differences of opinions. Open political debate is fine and necessary, but it must be tempered by honesty, tolerance for differences, and a sincere search for truth. </span>Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-55612261275234799392015-06-29T19:42:00.002-05:002015-06-29T19:43:21.133-05:00Reaction to the Deaths in Charleston<span style="font-size: large;">The following is a transcription of remarks I made at our Shabbat evening service on Friday June 26, 2015: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Shabbat Shalom.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">How do we soothe hearts that are broken by loss? How do we bring comfort to the mourner?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In Jewish life we do so by our presence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">No words can change the ugly reality of the pain of loss; no amount of praying can bring back those who have been killed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It is, rather, our ability to leave our positions of comfort, and to sit with someone who has experienced a loss: this is the ultimate mitzvah of “nichum avelim,” of comforting the mourners.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I have to tell you that, as a Rabbi, I feel somewhat odd imposing my understanding of mourning and loss onto those of another religious tradition. To some, those who died at the hands of that gunman in Charleston are in a better place. And those who experience loss will find some solace in a faith that places the souls of loved ones in the bosom of their god.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But as we consider our history and as we think about our traditions, we Jews are no different. We understand well the disruption of those whose houses of worship have been violated by violence and hatred. We know the anger and anguish of prayer that is prohibited, and of Torah study being cut short. And in our past, we have given special homage to those who have died “al kiddush hashem,” that is, having perished while sanctifying God’s sacred name.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">To die while studying the bible, just as did our ancestors at the time of the Roman conquest of the land of Israel, has been considered by our tradition as an act of martyrdom. We tell ourselves, “Talmud torah k’neged kulam, the study of Torah is greater than observing all of mitzvot.” In short, those individuals of faith hold a special place in the schema of the world, and we treasure them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yet regarding the act of violence that led to these deaths in Charleston: another bible verse comes to mind at this time: “Lo tirtzach,” do not murder,” says the Ten Commandments. Taking life is a sacrilege. So how do we speak of these unspeakable acts? How can we hold in our minds the thought of the hatred that one person can have for another person, or for a group of people, or for the simple ideas of tolerance and acceptance?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We see – we know! – the existence of hate crimes in our times. Madison itself is on the list of towns where the African American community has suffered loss and experienced prejudice. Especially here, in a county which is among the most painfully divided because of race: We should well understand the pain – the ache – the agony of rejection by society. So it is incumbent upon us Jews to empathize well, and to give our presence to those who have experienced loss.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We read in the selection from Leviticus earlier this evening* that we must not stand around idly while our neighbor bleeds. In this instance, when our friends and neighbors experience loss at the hand of a violent offender – when God’s beloved have literally bled to their deaths – we must call ourselves to action. We must take into consideration the lives of these dear ones and insist that their martyrdom will not be for naught.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There is another scripture that we must learn, however. There are other lessons that we must integrate. Ed Madden, poet laureate of Columbia, South Carolina, and faculty member at the University of South Carolina, offers us this recent insight:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">“he is from here,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">he grew up here,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">he went to school here,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">he wore his jacket with its white supremacist patches here,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">he told racist jokes here…</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">he learned his racism here…</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">he is not a symbol, he is a symptom.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">he is not a cipher, his is a reminder.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">his actions are beyond our imagining but his motivation is not beyond our understanding.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">no he didn’t get these ideas from nowhere.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">From where, then, we must ask: Who is responsible, and who will now take responsibility?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There has been, ever since the rise of Jewish social justice causes, a natural and strong affinity between the Jewish American and African American communities. Now is the moment – now is the time – when we must re-engage with one another, to remember the values that brought us together, and to commit ourselves anew to the cause of racial justice and equity. As Hillel reminds us, “And if not now, then when?”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So let us remember the souls of the Rev. Clementa Pickney, the Rev. Daniel Simmons, Sister Cynthia Hurd, Sharonda Singleton, Myra Thompson, Tywanza Sanders, the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Susie Jackson, and Ethel Lance. Let us consider well what we can do to make their deaths part of the grand scheme of tikkun olam, the perfection of God’s world.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There is a lot to do, and the job is not only to be accomplished in Madison.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">During our recent stay in Jerusalem, I had hoped to visit the “Museum on the Seam,” an institution dedicated to studying the causes and solutions of intolerance. It is located on the old border between Israel and Jordan, itself a sign of trying to find the hope in conflict.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But our guide told me that the Museum had gone bankrupt. It made me think that, due to the enormous amount of prejudice alive and well in Israel, maybe the idea of combating intolerance and prejudice, too, has become bankrupt. Have we become so concerned with our own issues and problems that we cannot see the other, whether in joy or in pain?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">A week ago yesterday, as we toured the Golan Heights – as we explored the intricate and delicate situation in that part of the world – our Beth El Israel travelers could hear air-shattering and heart-pounding artillery fire in the distance. Although we were not certain at the time, we could literally feel the pain in the world as yet another round of hatred takes hold.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We later learned that the artillery fire was that of the Syrian army shelling Druze villages in the Syrian-held parts of the steppes of Mount Hermon, in the northern Golan Heights. Loyal Syrian Druze citizens were and are being slaughtered at the hands of a ruthless and intolerant Syrian regime. When will that hatred ever cease?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And this moment of our tour was especially poignant to us. For just two days before, we were privileged to be hosted for lunch at the home of a Druze family near Haifa. The Druze, a sect of Islam that remains secretive and has been unwilling to disclose details of their faith, is now letting in the strangers and letting the world know a bit about their culture and religion. They are a kind, generous, tolerant group of souls, who never intermarry and always are loyal to the land in which they live. If you didn't know, the Druze men serve proudly in the Israel Defense Forces.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Another vignette from our recent trip to Israel:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">A week ago yesterday, as we returned from Golan Heights and headed toward our kibbutz hotel, we learned of an attack on a church at the northern end of Lake Kinneret, in the small town of Tabcha. This church is located at the place, says the New Testament, at which Jesus multiplied the fish and the loaves of bread. It is a place where the Christian faithful come to recall and witness miracles. Yet on that day, in an entrance corridor of the building, perpetrators set fire to the building making the place inhabitable. And Hebrew graffiti was found, citing a passage from our Aleinu prayer, calling for the ‘false gods to be eliminated’ from the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Most authorities believe this to be the work of a Jewish group which calls itself “Tag M’chir,” or “price tag.” This group has taken it upon themselves to attack Christian, Muslim, and liberal Jewish individuals and institutions as a way of protesting the presence – in Israel – of those who believe differently than Orthodox Jews, and suffering loss is literally the price these groups have to pay, to try to live in an open society.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The true disappointment is that no one has yet been indicted or held accountable for this or for any of the other such hate crimes that this group has committed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Even the government in Jerusalem is rife with prejudice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">A minister in the new Israeli government last week decried Reform Judaism as the entity that will cause the end of the Jewish people. Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately condemned those words. But when such sentiment breaks forth from elected officials, and especially those who are part of the</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">ruling coalition: This is indeed a time for concern and action.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">* * * *</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Examples of prejudice abound; it seems they confront us each day, whether we live in Israel, in Charleston, in Oak Park, Wisconsin, at the Sikh temple, or right here in Dane County. The question is: What will we do about it? Again, who is responsible, and who will now take responsibility?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">A colleague put it in physiological terms: The human heart has two sides: one side receives blood that has been depleted of oxygen, and the other side adds life-sustaining air and pumps out oxygen-rich blood to the body. And somehow we hold both in our breast at the same time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Our hearts today are filled in part with the airless ache of acts of hatred, lives laid to rest in Charleston, and lives cut short by terror overseas. Many of us feel oxygen-depleted, especially when we consider the situation of the world, and we lose hope.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And for some of us as well, today we also hold in our hearts a measure of hope and comfort, as others of many religious traditions, our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, were given some assurance that that the love they feel for their beloveds is now going to be more accepted by our nation’s state and national governments. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ultimately, it is the positive oxygen that sustains the human body. Ultimately, it is the love and justice that surge through our souls that sustains us all. It is this life-sustaining force that we must put forth into the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The loss that confronts us this week has taken the breath from our souls. It is this loss that we feel with profound sadness. And so we are present for one another at a time of loss.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But let us also use this occasion to bring comfort, through our hope for repairing the ills of our world. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">May we achieve tikkun olam soon, and in our day.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Shabbat Shalom.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">*These selections from Leviticus were read by the congregation earlier in the service:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The Revelation at Sinai – The Holiness Code The Eternal spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the whole community of Israel and say to them, “You shall be holy, for I - the Eternal - am holy. You shall each revere your father and your mother, and keep My Sabbaths. When you reap your harvest, leave the corners and the gleanings of the field for the poor and the stranger. You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another. You shall not swear falsely by My name. You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not commit robbery. The wages of your workers shall not remain with you until morning. You shall not insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall not render an unfair decision: Do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich; rather, judge your neighbor fairly. Do not go about as a talebearer. Do not profit by the blood of your neighbor. You shall not hate your kinfolk in your heart. Reprove your neighbor, but incur no guilt in doing so. Do not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinfolk. Love you neighbor as yourself: I am the Eternal.”</span>Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-63905020764524177622015-06-22T22:59:00.002-05:002015-06-22T23:00:48.788-05:00The Desert Experience<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On this second to the last day of our tour, we descended to
the Dead Sea Valley for some extraordinary experiences. This valley is located in the Syrian-African
rift, a meeting of the tectonic plates that separate geographically the continents
of Asia and Africa.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As you can guess, therefore, this region is subject to
earthquake activity on a regular basis (I am from southern California, so I
feel particularly at home here!) and the evidence of this is everywhere. Cliffs show evidence of violent rockfalls, and canyons widen both through natural erosion and the movement - over centuries - of the surface of the land.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F3Ab_B0p9EY/VYjYWyvBpfI/AAAAAAAAAhg/7tnwaw_IaKw/s1600/DSCN2882%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F3Ab_B0p9EY/VYjYWyvBpfI/AAAAAAAAAhg/7tnwaw_IaKw/s320/DSCN2882%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Dead Sea is located at the lowest elevation
on the face of the planet, therefore it is among the warmest places on
earth. Yesterday the temperature rose to
a comfortable 100 F or so, but, as they say, ‘it is a dry heat,’ so it does not
feel as hot as it may appear. That’s why
it’s terribly important to keep hydrated all the time, and our tour guide and
our tour members constantly reminded us to drink.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Dead Sea is a salt water lake with the highest
concentration of minerals and salt content in the world: The water consists of 33%
salt, and as you may know, when you ‘swim’ in this water, you float without
effort. The authorities recommend that
no one swims in this water, because if any of the salts enter your body through
your eyes, nose, or any open wound, you will not soon forget its sting.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The movement of the tectonic also caused the land to gush
forth with fresh water, as we saw in Ein Gedi, a site that is within 2 miles of
the Dead Sea yet is a fresh water spring that is as fun to play in as it is to
drink.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We also visited Masada, desert fortress and purported site
of a mass suicide that occurred at the hands of the Roman legions in the year
73 CE. Our guide Tzvi presented theories
that doubted the veracity of this account by Josephus, and suggested that the
slogan “Masada shall not fall again,” that is, as a reflection of Josephus’
imagination, emanated from a time in Israel’s history (during the 1930’s and 1940’s
– see Ari Shavit’s book “My Promised Land”) when she needed such heroes who would
commit suicide rather than succumb to the conquering nature of the enemy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">More photos of all of this are to come…please be patient
while we conclude our trip and I upload the pictures of our fantastic trip.</span></div>
Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-31100687914176869542015-06-21T22:18:00.002-05:002015-06-21T22:18:41.623-05:00Getting Down to the Basics<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Shabbat day and Sunday were days on our tour of Israel when
we got down to the basic elements of the history of Israel: not all of them, mind
you, but we found some of the essential sites here that undergird our history
and culture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On Shabbat morning, we separated for a while: some went to
Shabbat services at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the
school from which I received my rabbinic degree; others slept in; still others
visited relatives; and still others took in the Israel Museum or other cultural
sites.<span> </span>At 12:30, we met up and enjoyed a
tremendous walking tour of the walled city here in Jerusalem, usually known as “the
Old City.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Many cultures inhabit this place, and the city is divided
into four quarters: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian.<span> </span>We walked through these quarters pretty
freely, regardless of the activity in the Arab market (or <i>shuk</i>), or the Shabbat
worship that took place at the Western Wall.<span>
</span>For many this was their first time here, at the base of the retaining
wall of the ancient Jerusalem temple, and for all is it an emotional experience
to be there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We also took a stroll to the rooftops above the city to get
an idea of the layout of the city, a place of only one square kilometer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Saturday evening was free time, and people had dinners on their
own.<span> </span>As a reality of Israeli life, we
found, on the eve of the summer solstice, that many of the restaurants did not
open until after Shabbat concluded, which was about 9 PM.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On Sunday, we visited another element of Jewish life that is
essential to our identity: Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum and Memorial
Authority.<span> </span>The new permanent exhibit
displays, in chronological order, the devolution of the Jewish people through
the intentional actions of the Nazi regime of WWII Germany.<span> </span>There are also fitting memorial monuments to
the children who were murdered (1.5 million), as well as those who fought the
terror in the Warsaw ghetto and other places.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the afternoon we really dug down to our roots by enjoying
an archaeological dig in the region known as Beit Guvrin.<span> </span>A series of 5,000 caves seem to hold
treasures from the Maccabean era, and the team at Archaeological Expeditions
had us dig into the earth, uncover pottery shards, and then they will try to
put together a fuller history of the people of this region.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the cave known to the digging team as Django, we found an
almost complete cooking pot.<span> </span>It was a
marvelous experience for us!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tomorrow we will visit the Dead Sea and Masada, learning the
lessons of the martyrdom of the Jews of the early years of the First century of
Common Era.</span></div>
Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-14239105009151542472015-06-19T21:13:00.000-05:002015-06-19T21:13:33.286-05:00Jerusalem – A Miraculous World Unto ItselfOn this Friday of June 19, as many do each Friday, we changed our world.<br /><br />
We did not necessarily change “the” world, but rather we transformed the day-to-day existence that we live, and entered the special world that is this holy place of Jerusalem.<br /><br />
On our particular journey, we traveled only 100 miles in space, but eons in time, in order to view a world of real and imagined possibilities.<br /><br />
Here is how we got there.<br /><br />
We departed the beautiful Kibbutz Lavi Hotel where we had lodged for two nights. I had written before that Kibbutz Lavi was an Orthodox kibbutz, but I don’t think I expanded those words into a practical description of the hotel. Being an Orthodox institution, they cater not only to modern Orthodox, but also to ultra-Orthodox as well. This was most evident on Thursday evening and then again on Friday morning at the dining room. We had eaten previously – all the hotel’s clientele together – in one dining room. But on Thursday night, at supper, things changed. We ate in a separate dining room, and it seemed that the distinction was due to the degree of Orthodoxy the group practiced.<br /><br />
Reform in one room, ultra-Orthodox in another.<br /><br />
Other travel groups in our room, ultra-Orthodox in another.<br /><br />
Any group whose men did not wear kippot in our room, ultra-Orthodox in another.<br /><br />
Any group whose women and men did not wear appropriately modest clothing in our room, ultra-Orthodox in another.<br /><br />
I want to be absolutely clear that I do not complain about this. This is, after all, a private hotel/kibbutz which can operate as it chooses. But the distinctions made were all too clear, and I simply observe this as a hint of life in Israel.<br /><br />
We left the hotel and proceeded to the Kinneret Cemetery, located at almost the very southern tip of the Sea of Galilee, or Yam Kinneret in Hebrew. At this cemetery are buried many of the greats of the early Zionist movement: political movers and shakers, poets, even a number of mistresses of some of the men involved in the building of the state of Israel; oddly enough, these women are buried just next to their lovers, who are buried next to their wives. Again, just an observation of the lives of these great men and women who toiled to raise this nation out of the swamps of a fetid land.<br />
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Here are a few photos of our group as we learned from the words and experience of our guide and educator Tzvi.<br />
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In this last photo you can see the grave marker of the early Zionist/Israeli poet Rachel Bluwstein, the stone with only her first name on it. She composed verse on the nature of the land, the trials of being a single person having immigrated to a land of swamps, and the difficulties of the Zionist movement. If you look carefully at this picture, just directly behind Tzvi's right and, there is a metal plate that appears to be sitting on a low stone. It is a cover of a repository that Tzvi told us about: In this small niche is a copy of the book of poetry that Rachel composed: today it is a simple paperback version, but it had been a much better preserved hard cover edition. THAT version had been stolen, and it was the inspiration of a group of guides to find ways to keep the more permanent volume present. Tzvi is continually working to maintain both the memories of Rachel, and the integrity of the cemetery, in tact!<br />
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It was Mark Twain who observed that the land of Palestine, in the mid-to-late 1800’s (in his book “The Innocents Abroad” noted that Palestine was “a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds... a silent mournful expanse.... a desolation.... we never saw a human being on the whole route.... hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.” The land as we observed it could very well have been the same: it was a warm and humid morning there as we overlooked the Kinneret. But we could only imagine the sights and sounds of the Kinneret that greeted this author laureate of our nation.<br /><br />
Anyway, being at this cemetery inspired us to wonder about how any of us address any task in our own lives: To what extent are we willing to sacrifice our ideals and lives to achieve a goal? What can we, ourselves, do in our day to affect the kind of change in which they participated?<br /><br />
From Kinneret Cemetery we went to a strip mall just outside of Tiberias for a coffee and bathroom break, preparing for the next two hour drive to Jerusalem. During our sojourn where we had a bit of interesting scenery and a lot of desert to observed, we engaged in a discussion of the latest political machinations of the governments of Israel and the United States.<br /><br />
We arrived at a scenic overlook of the city of Jerusalem: We parked at the northern campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and participated in a welcoming ceremony for our group, most of whom had never been to Jerusalem before and were completing this pilgrimage today. It was a very moving experience for all of us.<br /><br />
We then traveled to the Machaneh Yehudah market, a vast area in the western part of the city (the new and Jewish part) consisting of streets of stores and stalls selling anything you can imagine! As it was 2 PM on erev Shabbat, the place was packed with people, buying for the Shabbat or for ‘the weekend’ to come, and after 75 minutes of our own engaging in this shopping craze, we boarded the bus and transferred to our hotel.<br /><br />
Just before our dispersion into the shopping crowds, someone on the street beside me noticed the OSRUI logo shirt I wore: For some who may not know, OSRUI is the acronym for the Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute camp in Oconomowoc, and for the woman who noticed my shirt, it was a warm remembrance of a camping experience that she had as a teen, and asked me about my connection. As it turns out, she is a member of the Reform congregation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which was also running a tour at this time. As it turns out, her Rabbi is a very close friend of mine who just happened to be across the street and coming to greet me. A miracle is something unexpected, and it surely was a miracle to be a the saem time, in the same place, and to see a good friend in the city of Jerusalem, in the middle of throngs of people, at this particular time.<br /><br />
Anyway, we departed Machaneh Yehudah and went to check in at our hotel. As we approached the Dan Panorama hotel in the heart of the city, some of our travelers noticed familiar faces walking on the sidewalk alongn side our stuck-in-traffic bus: David and Aleeza Hoffert, our temple’s Executive Director and Director of Community Engagement, were just walking along in Jerusalem in the hours prior to Shabbat. (I knew they were going to be there, but) it was a total surprise for some of us to see them. But still, the fact that we were all going to be in Jerusalem at the same time is another miracle.<br /><br />
After a lot of waving and calls, we encountered them personally at the First Train Station in Jerusalem, where our group went to experience Kabbalat Shabbat Jerusalem 2015 style:<br /><br />
The name “Kabbalat Shabbat” refers to the series of psalms and prayers said in synagogues just before the start of the evening service on Friday evenings. And in the sultry summer Friday evenings, the First Train Station – formerly the terminus of the rail line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and now a beautiful performance venue – is totally transformed into a lovely “open air synagogue,” with a band that performs these tunes for the more than 300 people – mostly secular but some modern Orthodox – who enjoy the evening, drink beer or eat ice cream or bring their picnic suppers and participate in the evening’s arrival of Shabbat. I described a bit of this scene in a high holy day sermon two years ago after having seen this scene during my sabbatical sojourn in Israel.<br /><br />
Another miracle: As I was talking with Gil Nathanson and Manny Price, two of our group’s participants, about the calls for modernity and innovation even in the Talmud, up to us comes Susan and and Mira Sellman, two other of our Temple Beth El congregants who live in Janesville. It is a very small Jewish world indeed!<br /><br />
But then, another miracle occurs! Earlier in the week, our guide mentioned that his wife – as I – was raised in the San Fernando Valley of the city of Los Angeles, and that her name was Debbie. At that earlier moment and always exploring Jewish geography, I tried to discover if I had known her during my youth, but could not make a connection; our guide did not know intimately too much about her earlier days. But at the First Train Station she came to meet him for their own Shabbat observance, and he introduced her to me. It was then we discovered that we were the same age, we had both come to Israel for our first times as 15-year-olds in the same program in the same summer, that we had many of the same friends and acquaintances, and that this particular summer was a pivotal point for each of us as we developed our attitudes about Israel: She is an attorney and social worker for the Ministry of Social Welfare, whose focus is saving at-risk youth from abusive family situations. <br />
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I think that Jerusalem is the city of miracles, to be sure!<br /><br />
After the events of the First Train Station, our group, along with David and Aleeza Hoffert and Aleeza’s mother and two sisters, returned to the hotel for a festive and filling Shabbat dinner.<br /><br />
Shabbat Shalom!<br /><br />Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-79686766942945432292015-06-18T15:07:00.001-05:002015-06-18T15:07:08.667-05:00The Character of Northern Israel: Between Many Worlds, Especially Today<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Some of our group have organized morning walks, and this
morning we started off with a fast-paced stroll around the perimeter of the hotel
and residences at Kibbutz Lavi Hotel, where we stayed last night, and will do
again tonight.<span> </span>At a time when most
kibbutzim have privatized, dramatically changed the nature of their mission, or
are selling their land to private individuals for housing developments, Kibbutz
Lavi has never (yet!) wavered from its goal of providing a socialist expression
to those who choose to live there.<span> </span>The
local buzz is that the kibbutz is about to undergo a transformation into
differentiated salaries, modified dining hall procedures, and the like.<span> </span>If you are interested, please ask me more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Upon departing on our touring from the kibbutz hotel, we
proceeded literally across the street to the Jordan River Village, a project of
Paul Newman and many others who wished to impact significantly on the lives of
children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses or challenging physical
deficits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Throughout the year, groups of 64 children
come for two week periods of time when they can, in the words of our guide, can
be kids; when the parents can have a respite from taking care of their children
on a 24/7 basis; and when the kids can live with kids with similar or the same
ailments, providing them with more of a normal existence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Their amenities included a zip line for the many intrepid
students and counselors; a Zero Entry” pool for all who like to swim:<span> </span>a water center who all who are present; and play
equipment for the students there who find it comforting to play outside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We traveled then to Tzfat, city of the origins of Jewish
mysticism.<span> </span>We do not know for certain why
this was the case; the actual reason for the city to have been built there might
have concerned the elevation (such a pleasure in the summer months to) and the history
of the city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We visted the artists' colony there on the way to the Ashkenazic ARI synagogue, ARI being the nickname of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the first modern day day (for its day in the Seventeenth century) mystic of Tzfar. The ornateness of the ark inspires worship as well as tourist visits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">On the way to the Dan Nature Preserve, we passed a tank and soldiers on patrol. We began to hear and tell inspiraitonal stories of the Golan Heights and territorial compromise. Perhaps they will come some day. On this day, however, we also began to hear artillery bombardments from the civil war in Syria. None of us was afraid of these sounds, even though the distance to those bombing sites may have been no more than 15 miles. Such is life in Israel today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Following our time in Tzfat, we traveled to the Dan Nature
Preserve to walk through the cold head-waters of the Jordan River.<span> </span>Literally through them!<span> </span>There is a large pool/pond combination with a
zero-height entrance, and there is a 1<sup>st</sup> century synagogue that has
been excavated over the last 40 years.<span>
</span>Both of these components make the Reserve a beautiful place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">For a fun afternoon, we had a chocolate and wine tasting at Bahat
Winery and De Karina fine Chocolate. <span> </span>And
our group certainly added to the Israeli economy!</span></div>
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Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-70686071846977861092015-06-17T14:57:00.001-05:002015-06-17T14:59:55.730-05:00Up the Coast, a Warm and Tiring Day<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">You like warm? We’ll
give you warm!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You like water? We’ll
give you water!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today was a day of warmth, water, ruins, and wonderful
Israelis to get to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We departed the Dan Panorama hotel today at about 8 AM, and
headed north through Tel Aviv’s famous traffic that is sometimes as confounding
as any comparable big city in the States.
A few times we stayed in stop-and-start traffic longer than we had
hoped.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But soon we left the traffic behind, found the main coastal
road, north and traveled to Caesaria, one of Herod the Great’s architectural wonders
of the Roman world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today's Caesaria,
located on the coast between Netanyah and Haifa, consists of a beautiful reconstructed
amphitheatre that, especially in the summer, hosts a great number of concerts
and artists. Our guide Tzvi first
offered us a history lesson of the timeline of the Jewish people, challenging
us to remember which era represented what conqueror. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then he staged a wonderful drama that included
two native performers of our group, Alan and Laurel. They were great, they were dramatic, and
because of the superior acoustics of that ancient structure, we could hear them
far away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We then proceeded to the current archaeological excavations
on the site. Over the last few years a
parking lot gave way to an uncovered hippodrome where, in Herod’s day, there
were horse and chariot races. Today there are active excavations going on,
including the attempt to reconstruct the Herod’s palace, the base of which is
below the surface of the ocean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After concluding our time there, we visited the Druze town
of Usifiyah, had a home hospitality lunch in a Druze home, and learned something about
the Druze religion and people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is
a movement among the usually private and reserved Druze people to disclose more
about their people and religion than they had in the past. The twenty-nine of us gathered in the sitting
room of one of the Druze families, enjoyed a very tasty, traditional Druze
meal, we sat and listened Jo-al describe life as a both a secular and religious
Druze person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sated and educated, we drove along the coast up to Rosh
Hanikra, the northern-most point of Israel along the shore of the Mediterranean,
to see the sea grottoes that had been carved out of the sandstone walls of the
cliffs by the might ocean tides. We
descended by cable car to the entrance of the grottoes, and walked through and
saw the layers of erosion in the stone, trying to stay out of the splashing
waves that crashed up onto the walkways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Finally, we ended our day with a wonderful visit with the
leadership and membership of the Progressive congregation Emet V’shalom in the
town of Nahariyah. We were received with a typical reception of food and drink,
a sign of their true hospitality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and we met in their very comfortable, clean, and air conditioned bomb shelter. They described their community to us, introduced us to their
new Rabbi, and led us in song.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SkReSMlRdYk/VYHPAl5hSlI/AAAAAAAAAbs/maslkWe8ybg/s1600/DSCN2782%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SkReSMlRdYk/VYHPAl5hSlI/AAAAAAAAAbs/maslkWe8ybg/s320/DSCN2782%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we
were concluded there, we turned east, headed across the hills of the Western
Galil to our hotel for the night on Kibbutz Lavi. A modern Orthodox institution, one of their
industries is the hospitality business (among others), and we are the
beneficiaries of their choice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Over dinner at the Kibbutz, we met representatives of the People
to People Partnership, a project of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Jewish federations
across the country. On Thursday morning,
we will have a tour of Jordan River Village, a practical project of this new collaboration
that includes Jews of Madison, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Tulsa. So there’s a lot to learn. That is it for now, and there will be more
tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-87461356671790710522015-06-16T15:57:00.002-05:002015-06-16T15:57:47.511-05:00Origins of the State in Tel Aviv<span style="font-size: large;">Some have called the city of Tel Aviv “a city that never sleeps.” Although there are only 500,000 people within the city limits, the entire megalopolis that is Tel Aviv and surroundings is more than 60% of Israel’s population: The density here is among the highest in the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This morning we began our touring in earnest with our guide Tzvi, born and bred in Brooklyn, NY, and having immigrated to Israel in 1980.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gRaOFwByoLI/VYCJwT7LzrI/AAAAAAAAAZg/w1GkIyHDj5A/s1600/DSCN2732%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gRaOFwByoLI/VYCJwT7LzrI/AAAAAAAAAZg/w1GkIyHDj5A/s320/DSCN2732%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After a very large tourist-style breakfast for which Israel is very well known, we left the hotel at 8:45 and headed for the start of our understanding of the independence era of Israel’s modern history. We first arrived at the Ayalon Institute, the scene of a top-secret clandestine operation – in effect from 1945-1949 – to manufacture sufficient quantities of ammunition for Israel’s war of independence. In an underground bunker 30 X 10 meters, a small and secretive staff worked to produce up to 6,000 bullets a day to supply the needs of Israel’s fledgling army.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vAYntTg7dNA/VYCKIu31MPI/AAAAAAAAAZo/AzXFE_pTQRM/s1600/DSCN2735%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vAYntTg7dNA/VYCKIu31MPI/AAAAAAAAAZo/AzXFE_pTQRM/s320/DSCN2735%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Over this factory the Israeli authorities built a bakery and a laundry, which served the needs of the kibbutz where this was located. The sights, sounds, smells, and supply chain of the ammunition factory were masked by the otherwise routine activities of the bakery and laundry, and the British authorities in charge of the land apparently never discovered this place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">From there we traveled to the old city of Jaffa, which today is part of the Tel-Aviv/Jaffa municipality. From Jaffa you can see the entire Tel Aviv coastal and inland skyline!</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nsFYN7oGdiM/VYCMnTja9OI/AAAAAAAAAaE/Pj4k9oBN3EE/s1600/DSCN2742%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nsFYN7oGdiM/VYCMnTja9OI/AAAAAAAAAaE/Pj4k9oBN3EE/s320/DSCN2742%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of the oldest cities in the region (mentioned in the prophetic book of Jonah), today it is a mixture of Jew and Arab, and seemingly able to get along with one another. In the two stores we visited today, the (Arab) staff people were wearing t-shirts that read “Jews and Arabs Don’t Have to Hate Each Other,” perhaps a sign of some improvement of relations between members of the community.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We then visited Independence Hall, the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uzd_ykp1fq0/VYCNb2K6Q-I/AAAAAAAAAaM/Bv0xOAMv-n0/s1600/DSCN2745%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uzd_ykp1fq0/VYCNb2K6Q-I/AAAAAAAAAaM/Bv0xOAMv-n0/s320/DSCN2745%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The center today serves as a historical remembrance of that day, as members help to re-enact the events of history leading up to that fateful moment. The signing ceremony was very emotional for many, as a dream of 2,000 years was about to be fulfilled. After the reading of the declaration and the singing of Hatikvah, Israel’s (then new) national anthem, with the accompaniment of an orchestra in black tie that had been assembled for the occasion, we could hear David Ben Gurion’s final words of that moment: “The state of Israel has been established. This meeting is over.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Finally we walked along Shenkin Avenue, the site of great fashion shopping (though frankly we did not find very much), along a pedestrian mall housing for this day’s arts and crafts show, then into the Carmel Market for Tel Aviv’s open air fresh fruit and vegetable, meats, sundries, snacks, and alcohol market. We then retired and prepared for an earlier start for tomorrow’s day, when we leave central Israel and head for the north of the country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We hope you have enjoyed the photos and the travelogue.</span><br />
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Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-92069948614408093242015-06-15T10:51:00.001-05:002015-06-15T14:35:38.781-05:00<span style="font-size: large;">Temple Beth El Travels to Israel</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Shalom to all! If you have not been to Israel, or even if you have, read on and travel vicariously with Temple Beth El as we travel to Israel! Your Rabbi and 28 intrepid travelers have finally arrived in Tel Aviv, and are about to embark on a wonderful experience, and we invite you to join us from Madison!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This afternoon, Tel Aviv time, 25 of the 29 of us arrived at Ben Gurion airport, tired but happy! We should have come last summer, but due to the war and security concerns, we postponed until now, and we are very happy to be here in a beautiful country on a warm and sultry evening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Early on Sunday morning (was that just yesterday), or even late Saturday evening, we left Madison for our trips to either the Mitchell or O’Hare airports for our overnight trips to Israel. Those who traveled through Milwaukee had a long layover in Philadelphia, and thanks to Patricia Litscher, Joanna Berke, Carol McLain, and Laurel Hefty – all staying behind to watch over people’s carryon luggage</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> – members of our group were able to tour around Philadelphia and site see, check out colleges, enjoy the great food, and just have a great time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We took off from Philadelphia about 30 minutes late due to thunderstorms in the area and a small mechanical problem on the plane. We were glad they found that before we took off!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here are some informal photos from the Philadelphia airport in the transit lounge waiting for the Tel Aviv flight:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Soon after leaving the US, they served dinner and then closed the cabin lights and windows to allow us to get a nice night’s sleep. We landed in Tel Aviv pretty much on time, were met at the baggage carousels by our welcome hostess Ortal (meaning ‘light of dew’), were introduced to our tourguide Tzvi Levron, got sim cards and Israeli currency, then drove to the hotel, the Dan Panorama just across the road from the beautiful Mediterranean Ocean. On the way, we were caught for a brief period by the traffic...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As the sun begins to set, we are about to head toward town for a Middle Eastern dinner, then off to bed for a full day of touring this metropolis on the Mediterranean.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">More on this city tomorrow, but Tel Aviv and its environs played a key role in the development of the state, and still serves as the fiscal and entrepreneurial center of the country. See the book “Start Up Nation” for more on the role of IT and other burgeoning parts of Israel’s economy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our welcome to Israel dinner tonight was held at Maganda Restaurant in the Yemenite Quarter of Tel Aviv, and everyone was well sated and relaxed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Some are rising for a 6:15 AM walk along the shore; others will sleep in! More after tomorrow's day of touring. Shalom from Tel Aviv!</span><br />
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Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-67805749543550873692015-04-02T11:58:00.002-05:002015-04-02T11:58:26.931-05:00A Meditation for Pesach 5775<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">You
who watch and weep over the misbehavior of your earthbound children; You who
have shown us the path of righteous living through the Torah; You who have
given us minds with which to think and reason, to love and understand: Inspire
us once again, through the retelling of our ancient story of redemption, to confront
the challenges of our world!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">This
week, as we gather around our tables; as we open our books and see the crumbs
from Seder's past spilling into our fingers; as we count the wine-stains on our
pages and remember how our cup is always lessened with human suffering, help us
to find perspective, strength and faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Help
us recognize that people of color in our midst still suffer the degradation of
racial injustice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us pledge to help
bring redemption in our generation.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Cause
us to take up the prejudice directed at our gay and lesbian brothers and
sisters, and to help raise up their love, their affection, and their humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let the world know that everyone should have
the freedom to love whom they wish.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Bring
us to respect and assist those with mental illness in our society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us try to understand their perception of
the world, and to welcome them into our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>May we help them to find peace with who they are!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Give
us fortitude to continue the struggle toward men and women’s equality in our
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May prejudices of the past
continue to disappear as women and men become partners in the perfection of our
world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">May
our worship, our laughter and our tears, our stories, and our pledges to action,
bring to fruition the ancient hope of a world perfected and complete! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May violence and hatred be drowned out, and
may our hearts be unified in one human embrace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let us always be defined by our vision of a better world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">L'shanah
Haba’ah B'yirushalayim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next year in
Jerusalem!</span></div>
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Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-51586897510843182082015-03-08T07:50:00.002-05:002015-03-08T07:50:26.634-05:00Shooting of a Young Black Man in Madison<span style="font-size: large;">This was not the way for Madison to mark the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Instead of empathic observances of memory and determination, our beloved community of Madison was the site of the latest tragedy of police violence against young African American men.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The shooting of Anthony Robinson on the East side last night has shocked the community. My mentioning this at yesterday's Saturday morning services brought forth empathy for the family of the victim Anthony Robinson and gratitude for bringing it to the moment in an appropriate way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Barack Obama, the nation's first African American president, has been an inspiration of hope to all in America who strive for the acceptance of diversity in American life. Attending the 50th anniversary observances in Selma, he labeled the police violence of 50 years ago as "a clash of wills, a contest to determine the meaning of America." But we all know that this struggle is no where near its hoped for victory.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The side of righteousness - the side of "tzedek," the Jewish value of 'doing what is right because it is right' - has yet to achieve what we pray for in this context: a nation - not to mention a world - where skin color makes no difference, and where all are treated with dignity. In a way, we are all Sisyphus, pushing that boulder of racial equality up the hill only to have us watch that burden roll back down upon us to threaten us - and threaten us it does! Our continued American inability to achieve racial equality is a chronic and fatal cancer that has become resistant to the many medications that we have prescribed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The NAACP of Dane County put out this statement last night in regard to this most recent shooting. I end with this, because it says what needs to be said at this time:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Each new case of an African American person killed is a grim reminder of the urgent need for reform in the use of force against American citizens. Although excessive use of force disproportionately affects African Americans and people living in poverty, it can affect people everywhere regardless of race, age or gender.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Whenever this kind of tragedy occurs, questions arise about police training and appropriate use of force. We must remind the investigating authorizes of the need for transparency, that black lives do matter, and sadly, another family is now experiencing the pain of loss in Madison, Wisconsin.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"We must push for solutions within our criminal justice system that will help keep our communities safe, our children protected and our officers properly trained.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"While there will be reactions from community leaders, faith leaders and concerned citizens, the NAACP calls for calm and vigilant monitoring of events as they unfold. We will work with the Madison community and the Wisconsin NAACP State Conference of Branches to ensure justice for Tony Robinson."</span>Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-55963627079441718102015-02-26T10:56:00.002-06:002015-02-26T11:03:14.859-06:00Invocation at the Rally in Opposition to the proposed Right to Work legislation, Madison, Wisconsin, February 25, 2015<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Good day. Yesterday I offered an invocation at the rally, held on the steps of the state capitol here in Madison, which protested in opposition to the proposed Right to Work legislation now on its way to the second house of Wisconsin's legislature (having been passed by the Senate last evening). My remarks are below: They followed the pledge of allegiance and the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am Rabbi Jonathan Biatch from Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, a statewide coalition of people of many faiths. We strive toward “creating a state whose people and government address the real needs and raise the dignity of the hungry and poor; care for and heal the sick; and truly listen to the voices of all citizens.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As people of faith, we are the heirs of a prophetic tradition that has ever sought to perfect the world that God gave to us. The book of Genesis reminds us that we are each made in the Divine Image, and that no one person is inherently better than another. That is why we honor the dignity of each person: for being a member of the human family, and for their chosen work in the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />The biblical books of Exodus , Leviticus and Deuteronomy set forth civilized guidelines through which humanity engages in work that supports their families. “Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.” “Do not take advantage of a hired worker…Pay them their wages each day before sunset…” These commandments resound with the spirit of fair treatment of the employee.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />But there is more. Our evolving Jewish and Christian traditions have long supported collective bargaining rights. Even as our ancient texts direct us to engage in our individual labors with genuine effort and complete spirit, they also provide the sanction for workers to organize for their benefit and safety. Guilds and associations of trade-workers have characterized the history of work for more than 1,800 years.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />These worker organizations – especially in the last century – have striven to achieve safe working conditions, fair wages and overall dignity for those who produce the goods and services that fuel our economy. Collective bargaining has brought security to the middle class, and has allowed us to provide adequate food, shelter, and happiness to our lives. Nothing could be better than a society that is anxious to improve itself, doing so through the efforts of the work of our hands and the sweat of our brow.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />That is why our efforts here this week are so important. The weakening of unions, one objective of so-called “right to work legislation,” will have disastrous effects on the lives of working people in Wisconsin. So as we today gather “peaceably to assemble” and address our elected officials, I offer this prayer to the Source of Power and Dignity in the universe:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />May God bless us in our efforts to maintain and achieve a dignified work environment for all workers in Wisconsin! May the Spirit of Human Endeavor continue to strengthen us in our chosen professions! And may the Spirit of Right and Justice prevail through all our undertakings! And we say, Amen.</span>Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-44004416438747725132015-02-18T08:57:00.001-06:002015-02-18T08:57:39.886-06:00Response to Anti-Semitism? Band Together with Others<br />
Over this past weekend, anti-Semitic and racist epithets were painted on homes and driveways on the west side of Madison. This is the note I sent to my congregation in response:<br />
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Anti-Semitic graffiti, as well as other defamatory tagging, has appeared again on the streets of Madison, and we are reminded that hatred and ignorance exist even in our progressive Midwest community. News reports provide the evidence. Each of us must now consider the repercussions and our actions.<br /><br />I wish to express appreciation for the leadership of the Jewish Federation of Madison who spent the weekend with local and federal law enforcement officials reviewing the situation. All of them are there for our welfare, and I believe they have been engaged, concerned, and present for us.<br /><br />I do not believe this is a moment for panic or anxiety. But in my opinion – to paraphrase the book of Exodus (12:42) – this is a time for watchfulness and preparing for engagement.<br /><br />For these local incidents must also be viewed against the backdrop of other recent anti-Semitic acts. The shooting in a Copenhagen synagogue this past Saturday, the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in France on Sunday, and the recent attack on a kosher market in Paris last month underscore the threat that our European cousins confront each day and that are increasing.<br /><br />And sadly, there is more. In our country, religious minorities suffer attacks by extremist groups. North Carolina Muslims are targeted for indiscriminate shooting. A Sikh temple in Milwaukee faces an attack from a racist killer. Jewish facilities from Kansas City to Seattle to Los Angeles endure assault. There is a pattern of hatred that we must recognize, even as we search for answers.<br /><br />The disturbing words and images painted on residences on the West side should compel each of us to strive mightily against intolerance, and not give in to hopelessness. It is a joyful and necessary challenge to do the work of prejudice reduction; assembling intergroup coalitions is long and arduous work. But to confront bigotry, to rally against extremist and radical forms of religion, and to demonstrate the solidarity of our Madison community against any form of prejudice: these are challenges that we must undertake.<br /><br />Let us stand by with one another as we face these challenges in the future! Let us stand unified against prejudice, hatred, and any form of intolerance! And let us strengthen one another as we face the future as proud Americans and Jews!<br />Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-4473151141334439892014-12-21T07:20:00.000-06:002014-12-21T07:20:21.637-06:00Black Men, Police Violence, and the Urgency to Act<span style="font-size: large;">When our sage Hillel writes, “If not now, when?” he underscores the immediacy of addressing pressing issues in a timely way. For our society today, it is imperative that we resolve the manifest problem of violent police attitudes and behavior toward young black men. The disproportionate incidence of police mistreatment of black youth, leading to violence and death, is an offense to our civilized society, and bespeaks a certain prejudice that still inhabits the hearts and minds of some law enforcement personnel.<br /><br />Our tradition instructs that each person has been made in God’s image, and we must, accordingly, treat each of God’s creatures with equality, dignity and worth. The disproportionate occurrence of violent death of unarmed black youth at the hands of police, from Staten Island to Oakland, and even in our own state of Wisconsin, clearly demonstrates that we have great difficulty actualizing this value in our nation, and that we must not permit such tactics to continue. We must, as a nation, cure the illnesses of mistrust and bigotry that plague us.<br /><br />The protest demonstrations that have been occurring regularly address the apathy of our nation that prohibits us from resolving this problem. They emphasize the urgent need to recognize our shortcomings and solve them. And they echo the sentiment of Hillel, who directs us not to tarry when a need is so immediate and vital.<br /><br />We pray that, in our day, we can work to repair the human divisions that still estrange one group of people from another. May God give us the strength to do so!</span>Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-27272193091926566472014-12-05T10:41:00.000-06:002014-12-05T10:41:52.603-06:00A Jewish Values Viewpoint on Collective Punishment: A D'var Torah for Vayishlach<span style="font-size: large;">The Torah portion for this week, Vayishlach, cautions us against the practice of collective punishment, a form of retaliation whereby a suspected perpetrator's family members or acquaintances are punished, even though they may have no direct association with actions and motivations of the perpetrator. This is a lesson for us all, regardless of where we live, or where our loyalties lie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As our parashah begins, Jacob is on his journey away from his father-in-law: He has left Laban’s employ a wealthy man. And although we read this week that he assumes the noble name Yisrael – striving with God – this designation seems still to be one of potential rather than one of accomplishment (see Gunther Plaut).<br /><br />Jacob’s sons disappoint him because of their wanton destruction of Hamor’s town, on account of the rape of Dinah. They perpetrated the murder of every male in the city, and they seize the town’s women and children, and all its property, as the spoils of battle. And all this as retribution for the crimes of two of the town’s citizens.<br /><br />The description of the booty taken by Jacob’s sons includes a word that could be seen as redundant. Therefore it is ripe for interpretation!<br /><br />In addition to the ‘flocks and herds,’ the ‘children and their women,’ and ‘all that was inside the town and out’ – phrases about the spoils that imply that they took everything that wasn’t fastened down – they took also what the Torah calls “<i>kheilam</i>” (Genesis 34:29). Many translations render this word as “their wealth.” But this word can also be translated as “their strength” or “their vigor;” I suggest, in this context perhaps, even “their dignity.”<br /><br />The implication: Jacob’s sons purloined the very humanity from the population of an entire town because of the crimes of two boorish perpetrators.<br /><br />There is no doubt that Shechem’s rape of Dinah, and his father’s willingness to keep her hostage during these negotiations, are crimes worthy of punishment. But our Jewish conscience is offended at the collective punishment of the entire city.<br /><br />Our traditional revulsion at this act, however, has not prevented something similar from happening in our time. Israelis have recently borne witness to the reinstatement of house demolitions as a “deterrent” against the families of terrorist suspects, and many of us have reacted to this resumption with disbelief.<br /><br />It was not long ago that these collective punishments were deemed by the Israeli justice system to be illegal. And their reappearance is a haunting reminder that, in every generation, we must be on guard to protect the civil liberties all of Israel’s citizens.<br /><br />When Jacob realizes that his sons have taken revenge to a frightful level, he worries only about what people will think of him, and how his personal reputation will be sullied. For us who understand how these collective punishments in the West Bank and in Israel proper will negatively affect the future of Israeli-Palestinian relationships, we recognize a broader imperative, which is to strive toward a re-imposition of a ban on such punishments, and to ensure due process in all criminal proceedings.<br /><br />In these ways we strengthen democracy and decency in the Jewish state. May our efforts, and those of the Israel Religious Action Center, be successful!<br /></span>Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-45276910677982405002014-11-18T07:30:00.001-06:002014-11-18T08:24:00.115-06:00Terror in a Jerusalem Synagogue<span style="font-size: large;">The terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday morning moved me to tears: tears of disgust with those who plot and premeditate such heinous acts; tears of grief for the victims and their families; and tears of frustration for a fractured peace process which has not yet brought about a rational response to the needs of the region.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This attack reminds us of the extent to which hatred and bigotry can thrive in an atmosphere of unresolved issues. It also suggests that we not give in to the same emotions that led these perpetrators to their acts of violence and terror. We need to strengthen our resolve to continue the search for peace in our homeland, to encourage and prod the governments of Israel and Palestine to negotiate in good faith, and to ensure that the extremists on both sides not be allowed to control the agenda of peace.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Religious leaders of all faiths - Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and others - must condemn this attack as something that will not be allowed to stand. I hope to hear these other religious voices in the hours and days ahead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As difficult as this may be, we must confront and overcome the challenges of peace so that terrorists and extremists lose the power to mesmerize the world, and that good people and causes create the real and peaceful environment for the future.</span>Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875558852657083652.post-61259220628259111012014-10-09T10:02:00.000-05:002014-10-15T13:18:14.005-05:00The Case of the Missing KippahMy children’s love of Shakespeare led my daughter this past summer to bring me a souvenir of her performance trip to England: a sweatshirt from London's Globe Theatre with a citation from the play <i>Henry VIII</i>: “(But all) Hoods make not monks.”<br />
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This was an opportune gift, for it was around that time that I had been considering removing my <i>kippah</i> (head covering; sometimes called a <i>yarmulke</i>) which I had worn since I was a child growing up in a Conservative synagogue.<br />
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I had thought for a while about making this conscious choice about my own personal Jewish behavior. Arguably, whether I wear a head covering or not has very little connection to how I lead my community in worship, teach Judaism to my congregants and others, pastor to my congregants’ needs, or reach out to the general community and share Jewish views with non-Jews. But long-time habits – and long-held expectations – are difficult to change.<br />
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<u>Origins of the head-covering</u>: There is a <i>midrash </i>in <i>Talmud Shabbat </i>156b, which tells of a young boy whose propensity to steal was diminished by the wearing of a hat; it was said to be symbolic of undertaking the "yoke" of God's commandments. And based on the strength of that extra-legal vignette, certain authorities have spoken about the hat being a sign of recognition that we serve God ‘above,’ and therefore we cover the head in accord with this understanding. Still, most authorities will acknowledge that there is no <i>halachic </i>(Jewish legal) requirement to wear a head covering. <br />
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<u>My experience</u>: During my student days and through the length of my 22-year rabbinate, I have worn a <i>kippah </i>while leading worship and working as a pastor. I had occasionally worn it while performing public functions. But for the three weeks prior to the recent High Holy Days, and throughout the recent holiday season, I have remained bareheaded…and the skies did not open up in downpours, nor was there any lightning from above.<br />
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Further, it has been fascinating to hear reactions from congregants who are surprised by what they see.<br />
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I treasure my congregants, and I have been especially impressed by those who have approached me to inquire about my new practice. I know that some of my congregants will never speak to me about it, preferring to speculate privately without making an inquiry. But to a person, those who have ‘taken the risk’ and come to me have asked in a very sensitive and sincere manner. They want to know why I have made this decision. They are curious about how long it has been since I removed the <i>kippah</i>. And when I ask them about how they feel about it, they are honest about their being surprised, and some have expressed discomfort. But most have been willing to accept the sanction I possess as an independent, self-actualizing, Reform Jew to select my set of choices when it comes to personal practice.<br />
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They have also been willing to hold final judgment and see if they ever become comfortable with this changed custom.<br />
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This issue brings up the question of whether in a modern Reform setting the Rabbi needs to serve as an exemplar of religious practices that are not necessarily a “required” part-and-parcel of Reform praxis. That will be the subject of a long-time personal reflection – and some public listening sessions – in which I will engage in the future.<br />
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My <i>bimah </i>partner Cantor Martin wears a <i>kippah</i>; I do not. Perhaps this pairing of two different worship styles will demonstrate that either is acceptable in our contemporary Reform Jewish setting. And in the eyes of some, more and more congregants are willing to accept the Bard’s reflection with which I began my blog above, that “all hoods make not monks.”Rabbi Jonathan Biatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18374365617057693597noreply@blogger.com0