Ahz mah (So what)

Last week, our children discussed the challenges and opportunities new Jewish immigrants faced when it came to their dietary habits. Would they maintain the traditional laws of kashrut? Would they maintain their mothers' time-honored recipes from the old country? Or would the powerful allure of "being American" trump tradition? The children learned how well-meaning Americans (including Jews who had immigrated a generation earlier) sought to influence immigrant eating habits through influencing the children in public school. Social welfare, or coercion -- what do you think?  Oh, and about that gefilte fish... I want to recommend a touching story called The Carp in the Bathtub by Barbara Cohen.

How would you answer this question: What do a sukkah , a turn-of-the-century tenement slum, and a home in the Boston suburbs all have in common? Recently, our temple children were exploring comparisons between the sukkah mentioned in Torah, immigrant living conditions at the turn of the 20th century, and the children’s own sense of security in their homes. David and I shared with them some ancient rabbinic musings about the sukkah, in which it was suggested that God’s protective presence (symbolized by the “cloud of glory” which accompanied the Israelites in the desert) was the real shelter. To give a sense of the sort of protective presence being suggested by the rabbis, we posed to the children this question: Do you feel differently being in your home when a parent is home versus when you are home alone? The younger children all spoke of feeling a greater sense of security and safety when there was a parent in the house. Many of the older children expressed a sense of freedom and...

Yom Kippur 5772/2011 On March 11th of this year, Japan was rocked by a massive earthquake followed by a terrifying tsunami. Imagine: One day you are going about your life, with a reasonable sense of certainty about what is happening and what will be happening… and the next day, everything you hold dear is literally swept away. Everything about life is uncertain, except the certainty of change. Every one of us will be hit by a tsunami or a hurricane or some equally powerful blast in our lifetime. It’s coming – for some of you, it may have already hit.... Click here for complete sermon

Kol Nidrei 5772/2011 The story is told that when Solomon became king of Israel he had a ring made, upon which he had engraved the words gam zeh ya’avor – This too shall pass. Gam zeh ya’avor . This too shall pass. An expression of the truth of life that is both saddening and liberating. Or, in the words of Abraham Lincoln when he told a version of this same story:  “This too shall pass. How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!” Gam zeh ya’avor . This too shall pass. Everything about life is uncertain, except the certainty of change. Everything that we “have” will eventually and inevitably pass away. Slip through our fingers. And tightening our grip doesn’t make any difference; it only gives us rope burn.... Click here for complete sermon

Rosh Hashanah 5772/2011 Recently, Alan and I had reason to be in Logan Airport. As is our custom, we were there early, and thus had plenty of time to sit in the waiting area at our gate. Our attention was caught by a young woman – a very young woman – sitting alone with no carry-on except for one oversized garment bag with the name of a bridal shop on it. She also was there very early, but she was crying. Weeping, I should say. When we finally boarded the plane, the captain came on the PA system to tell us that there was a special passenger with us today – a “little girl” who had missed her flight earlier in the day and was therefore missing the rehearsal dinner for her own wedding. He asked us to give her a round of applause to show our support.... Click here for complete sermon

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5772/2011 Here is a story that we Jews have been telling for thousands of years: Once there was a man named Avram (later Avraham/Abraham), who lived in the region of ancient Mesopotamia. Avram became convinced that there was only one all-powerful God, maker of heaven and earth, and that this one invisible and un-nameable God was calling him to leave his home, move to a promised land he did not yet know, and share his faith with the people he would encounter along the way. You’re familiar with that story, right? Here is another story, that you’ve probably never heard:.... Click here for the complete sermon

As our children in Tikvah Learning explore the lives of Jewish children who immigrated to America during the "Great Migration" period of the early 20th century, they are encountering some new vocabulary and concepts. This week, while comparing the biblical story of the Israelites in Egypt with the stories of Jews in Eastern Europe, we discovered that "oppression" is a new word for some of the children.   Do not wrong a stranger, and do not oppress them, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt. How would you explain this fundamental Jewish value to a child (or to anyone)? What illustrations or examples might you choose to make the concept real to them? Two million Jews came to America during that brief period of the Great Migration; and although the most well-known scenario is the Ellis Island/Lower East Side/sweat shop/poverty scenario, there were many others! Check out, for example, this fascinating article in the Forward about an early Jewish farmin...

From September through December, we will be immersing ourselves and our children in the world of the “Great Migration” of the early 20th century, when millions of Jews left Eastern Europe in search of a better life. The vast majority of those Jews settled in the United States, and Judaism (as a religion and as a culture) underwent a profound and unprecedented transformation as a result. An exploration of this pivotal era in Jewish history will be our springboard into an exploration of several core ethical principles in Judaism. Can you guess what those might be? I hope you will join us often during this “Coming to America” semester, as we explore these ethical principles in discussions of books and films on Shabbat evenings as well as during Tikvah Learning with our children. And watch for details of our community Field Trip in October! On another note: There is a Jewish custom of visiting the gravesites of our loved ones in the weeks prior to the High Holidays. If you are not able...

I would like to hang another banner out in front of our temple: No Soul Left Behind . If you have not yet seen or heard of the film “Race to Nowhere,” especially if you are a parent or grandparent, please check it out (racetonowhere.com). At a recent screening of the film to a capacity crowd in the Sharon High School auditorium, we were confronted with the frightening impact of our “success”-oriented culture on the well-being of our children. I attended in the hope of supporting efforts to bring about systemic change in our community. I was moved to tears not by the film (which was of course very powerful), but by the many testimonies of Sharon High students who spontaneously went up to the microphone to make their voices heard. Judaism has historically been a counter-cultural force, pushing back against idolatrous priorities. How can we as a spiritual community become a sanctuary from cultural pressures on our children that have spun out of control? No Soul Left Behind...

Recently, a high school student contacted me. He was writing a newspaper article on the phenomenon of "Holocaust denial," and wanted to hear my thoughts on the subject. He provided me with a few questions to choose from, and I picked one. In the end he only used a couple of sentences from my response. Here is my complete answer: What leads people to become Holocaust deniers? One answer: It is obviously a form of antisemitism. But that simply begs the question: What leads people to be antisemitic? To me, this question leads straight down into the dark, mysterious underside of the human mind. What is it about the human mind that makes it capable of irrationality, hatred, violence? I think that we tend to forget how young human consciousness is in terms of “geologic” time. Civilization is merely a thin veneer, and scratching the surface may be enough to uncover a fearful, potentially vicious animal response to perceived threat. Having been trained both as a psychologist and mor...

In chapter 19 of the biblical book of Exodus, the Israelite people are preparing for the revelation at Mount Sinai. God is giving Moses instructions about how it’s all going to happen. Here is the first instruction Moses gets: “Say this to the people: You yourselves saw what I did… and how I carried you on the wings of eagles and I brought you to me. And now, if you will really listen to my voice and keep my covenant, you will become for me a treasure among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine….” You will become for me a treasure among all the peoples. The standard understanding of this biblical verse is that the Jewish people will be somehow special, or privileged, or “chosen.” The Chosen People. What does it mean to say that we’re the Chosen People? Oy, Jews (and non-Jews) have been arguing about that for the past two thousand years! So instead of going in that direction, I would like to share another interpretation of this verse – an interpretation which I think is re...

[excerpted from my remarks on the occasion of being installed as Rabbi at Temple Kol Tikvah, 12/5/2010] Pharaoh has two dreams which he cannot understand – seven fat cows eaten by seven skinny cows, seven fat ears of grain eaten by seven skinny ears of grain – and he is very anxious. Joseph (a young Hebrew slave at this point) is fetched from prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. Joseph explains that the dreams are one, that both are prophesying seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. Joseph then gives Pharaoh some management advice about how to prepare for the famine, and Pharaoh accepts his advice and puts Joseph in charge of carrying out the plan. Here is what’s amazing about this story: Pharaoh trusts Joseph. Pharaoh puts his faith in Joseph. Pharaoh hands Joseph the authority to radically restructure Egyptian society. And on what basis? All that Pharaoh knows about Joseph up until this moment is what he heard from his royal butler: that Joseph once successfull...