What do you believe?

This week I saw several articles/posts that made me think about what Jews believe today.  The first was shared by Rabbi Freedman on TBJ’s facebook group; it was a link to a survey about Reform Jews views on Gd.  I skimmed the survey and then read the article by Rabbi Shapiro of Springfield, MA.  He wrote that with 40% of his Reform congregation responding, more than half of them believed in Gd and felt they had been in Gd’s presence at a holy moment in their life--ie birth of child, Bar/Bat Mitzvah of themselves or their children, wedding, Shabbat or festival service, in nature, or some other setting.  Yet, their definitions of Gd were not necessarily “traditional”.  For example, most did not believe that Gd neither rewarded nor punished in this life or even in the afterlife--which if you asked Jews 1000 years ago, many would have agreed.  “

For example, when asked about the traditional belief that God rewards good people and punishes bad people, 73.8% said that did not happen. When asked if God is all powerful, 39.5% said yes while 39.5% said no and 21% said they were unsure. And is God just? Although 26.3% say yes, 30.4% say they do not believe God is just and 43.4% are not sure. (http://reformjudaismmag.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=3036)

In the JewishWeek,( http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial-opinion/opinion/lifting-our-heads-high-conservative-jews) Rabbi Steve Wernick, the CEO of USCJ, wrote about the recent population study of New York Jews.  While not something to necessarily brag about, he noted that there was a clear distinction in the survey among Reform and Conservative Jews.  Generally speaking, (not exclusively or in every case), Conservative Jews were more active than Reform on virtually every measure--whether observance, donations to their shuls or Federation, or education. So for every person that says, what's the difference between Reform and Conservative Judaism, besides the theological differences, there are some big practical ones, too.

Ignoring the numerous posts about the Supreme Court’s upholding the Constitutionality of the Affordable Healthcare Act, where I saw numerous articles about why affordable healthcare is a Jewish value, the most moving article I saw this week was from Rabbi Adam Frank of Jerusalem.
Rabbi Frank is the spiritual leader of Congregation Moreshet Yisrael.  It is a mainly English speaking Conservative/Masorti congregation next the the Conservative yeshiva and the Fuchsburg Center in Jerusalem.  Rabbi Frank is originally from Atlanta, although I did not know him, and he studied at the Ziegler Rabbinical Seminary at what is now the American Jewish University in Los Angeles.
I am going to read what he wrote, ask for some discussion, and then share 1 or 2 brief thoughts

(from http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Opinion/Article.aspx?id=274708)

Though I serve a most public face of Conservative Judaism in Israel – certainly in the eyes of Diaspora Jewry – I speak neither for the movement nor for any of its institutions.

However, in this ever-changing landscape that is Conservative Judaism, I feel compelled to share the following: Conservative Judaism was birthed as a result of a modernizing Jewish population’s desire to continue to observe Jewish law in the face of new intellectual and political liberties that invited Jewish participation in this developing world.

Just as the early founders of Conservative Judaism adjusted and retooled approaches to Jewish tradition in reaction to changes in the modern world of its time in order to “conserve” Jewish practice, so too must present-day Conservative leadership adjust and retool Conservative Judaism to preserve Jewish practice – which means changing messages and ways of doing business that have shown themselves to fail in helping Jews maintain a fealty to Jewish observance.

Accordingly...

I BELIEVE that allowing demographic trends to dictate movement stances and synagogue policy is a misguided capitulation to a mostly non-engaged public.

I believe that Conservative Judaism’s most passionate youth are turned off by Conservative pragmatism over passion, ideology over actuality, by the snobbery termed “intellectual honesty” over the character building and shared sense of mission created by a community of Torah-observant people who believe that God has expectations of them.

I believe that intellect is different from wisdom and that the Conservative Movement has been unwise in placing too much emphasis on biblical criticism and not enough on psychology, emotions, and human needs as they relate to belief in God.

I believe that faith in God is not supposed to be put under a microscope for dissection.

I believe that many Conservative Jews would benefit from a clarion call that validates the belief in God and the belief in the literal Divinity of the Torah.

I believe the Five Books of Moses were given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai.

I BELIEVE synagogues should sell off their large, expensive, empty sanctuaries and replace them with intimate havens whose size matches the demand of a 52-week community rather than a three-days-a year membership list.

I believe that Conservative synagogues should be communities that set public levels of expectations on its members in the areas of kashrut, Shabbat, Torah study and acts ofhessed (loving-kindness).

I believe Conservative Judaism should encourage our boys and men to wear kippot outside of school, synagogue and the home.

I believe that not living near the synagogue due to the cost of housing is an excuse that does not get used in the factual observant world.

I believe that membership to a shul should be a privilege.

I BELIEVE that the North American Solomon Schechter Day school system should require parallel learning for parents of students and require a level of observance from its member families.

I believe that teachers of Jewish studies in our Jewish day schools must have a commitment to living an observant lifestyle.

I believe that in a Jewish school environment that espouses pluralism of its students’ practices, the biggest lesson taught to the student is pluralism at the expense of Judaism.

I believe that the name “Conservative” contains no descriptive or prescriptive meaning. It communicates no sense of expectation or definition of its members’ philosophy or practice.

I believe that most of my modern Orthodox friends are “Conservative” and I believe that most of my Conservative friends are not.

I BELIEVE that for too long, Conservative leadership has tried to work behind the scenes.

I believe the leading bodies in the Conservative Jewish world should be rattling the cage at society’s indecencies.

I believe that religious leadership requires courageous, charismatic personality and upstanding character and that both can be taught and developed.

I believe that our seminaries must impose expectations on our rabbinical students that demand more than simply “being on the spectrum of Conservative Halacha.”

I believe that our observant Conservative Jews in their 20s, 30s and 40s must have vibrant communities to join other than our institutional seminaries.

I believe that Conservative Judaism should focus its finite resources to strengthen its core rather than to expand its numbers.

I believe that the largest institutions of the Conservative Movement – USCJ, the Rabbinical Assembly, JTS, the ZSRS, the Women’s League and the Men’s Club must fund/financially support kollels of youthful, charismatic master teachers in city centers in order to create the foundations of communities for our committed adults, which will support the implementation of intensive, observant-based outreach.

I believe Conservative Jewish leadership neither embrace nor emphasizes enough that the Jews are a chosen people with a special, unrivaled relationship with God.

I believe that Conservative Judaism should more vocally espouse that the Land of Israel is holy ground where God’s presence in the world is felt strongest.

I believe that many Jews want and need the message that according to Judaism there is a correct way to live in this world and that there are absolute rights and wrongs that apply to ritual, as well as ethical, behavior.

I believe the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards should be viewed as the modern day Sanhedrin – but first it must start acting like a Sanhedrin by issuing edicts that are clear and worthy, humble and certain, relevant and important and unwavering.

I believe the Conservative Law Committee should repeal the ruling that permits driving on Shabbat and holidays.

AND I believe that parents of young families will appreciate their Conservative rabbi saying to them: Parents, you are not responsible for the level of Jewish literacy you were or were not gifted with during childhood; your parents are. Just as you are responsible for your child’s level of Jewish literacy.

Will your child feel panic or comfort with a siddur in her hands? Will your child be able to chant and understand the full kiddush on Friday nights? Know how to kasher a kitchen? Be able to open the chumash or Torah and read it in its original Hebrew? Will your child be able to explain why being Jewish is relevant and important, and why finding a Jewish partner is a no-brainer?

Will your child find comfort and pleasure upon entering a synagogue or will it cause anxiety and resentment? Will your child have the critical positive memories of living in a Shabbat-observant home?

Parents: even and especially if it means helping them to exceed your own level of knowledge, give your children the gift of literacy and the experience of their heritage, which will be the key that opens their Jewish futures... a gift that too few of us received from our own parents.

Rabbi Frank raises a point that Rabbi David Wolpe spoke about a few years ago.  It’s much easier to market a bumper sticker.  If we could easily say “this is Conservative Judaism”; we might have an easier time advertising ourselves.  At the same time, Rabbi Frank doesn’t just speak of some sort of bumper sticker CJ.  Rather, he is trying to speak of substantive issues.  He is trying to raise the standard of observance and participation in the Conservative Jewish world.  Living in Israel, he sees some of the diaspora challenges as false or imaginary.  

For example, he speaks of walking to shul.  He thinks that if people really cared about walking to shul, they would find a home that was within walking distance.   While for some that may be true, I don’t think it is exclusively true.  I know of several people who used to be walkers to their shuls, but then their shuls merged or moved and they were no longer around the corner.  Financially, moving to the new neighborhood was not something they could afford and they began to reluctantly drive to shul.  Alternatively, I can think of many people that would love to walk, and live with in theoretical walking distance, yet because of age or changing abilities, walking, even a short distance is no longer feasible.


Rabbi Frank wrote:
I believe that Conservative Judaism should focus its finite resources to strengthen its core rather than to expand its numbers.

I think this is a major discussion for us as a community.  Do we focus on the people in the room or the people not in the room?  Clearly we should not abandon either group, yet if we are always looking outward, we forget about the holiness in this room.  At the same time, if we only look inward, we can become elitist, and forget the holiness that can be found outside these gorgeous windows.

I think Rabbi Frank raises a lot of interesting questions, some of which we will continue to discuss.  Regardless of his answers, I think he gives us much to think about.


 

Scouts and Visions and Blue Fringes

Rabbi Philip Weintraub
Parshat Shlach Lecha
June 16, 2012

This week’s parsha opens with chapter 13 of Bamidbar, where the scouts are sent to the land of Israel with very specific questions:

יז  וַיִּשְׁלַח אֹתָם מֹשֶׁה, לָתוּר אֶת-אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן; וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם, עֲלוּ זֶה בַּנֶּגֶב, וַעֲלִיתֶם, אֶת-הָהָר.	17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them: 'Get you up here into the South, and go up into the mountains;
יח  וּרְאִיתֶם אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, מַה-הִוא; וְאֶת-הָעָם, הַיֹּשֵׁב עָלֶיהָ--הֶחָזָק הוּא הֲרָפֶה, הַמְעַט הוּא אִם-רָב.	18 and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
יט  וּמָה הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-הוּא יֹשֵׁב בָּהּ--הֲטוֹבָה הִוא, אִם-רָעָה; וּמָה הֶעָרִים, אֲשֶׁר-הוּא יוֹשֵׁב בָּהֵנָּה--הַבְּמַחֲנִים, אִם בְּמִבְצָרִים.	19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;
כ  וּמָה הָאָרֶץ הַשְּׁמֵנָה הִוא אִם-רָזָה, הֲיֵשׁ-בָּהּ עֵץ אִם-אַיִן, וְהִתְחַזַּקְתֶּם, וּלְקַחְתֶּם מִפְּרִי הָאָרֶץ; וְהַיָּמִים--יְמֵי, בִּכּוּרֵי עֲנָבִים.	20 and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.'--Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.--

After visiting the land, the scouts bring back their report.  While they discuss the bountiful produce, including bringing back a cluster of grapes or grapefruits so large they have to be carried on a frame by two men (now the logo of the Israeli Tourism Ministry), they also discuss their own perspective and the challenges of a military campaign.

The scouts said:

לא  וְהָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר-עָלוּ עִמּוֹ, אָמְרוּ, לֹא נוּכַל, לַעֲלוֹת אֶל-הָעָם:  כִּי-חָזָק הוּא, מִמֶּנּוּ.	31 But the men that went up with him said: 'We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.'
לב  וַיֹּצִיאוּ דִּבַּת הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר תָּרוּ אֹתָהּ, אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, לֵאמֹר:  הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר עָבַרְנוּ בָהּ לָתוּר אֹתָהּ, אֶרֶץ אֹכֶלֶת יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ הִוא, וְכָל-הָעָם אֲשֶׁר-רָאִינוּ בְתוֹכָהּ, אַנְשֵׁי מִדּוֹת.	32 And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.
לג  וְשָׁם רָאִינוּ, אֶת-הַנְּפִילִים בְּנֵי עֲנָק--מִן-הַנְּפִלִים; וַנְּהִי בְעֵינֵינוּ כַּחֲגָבִים, וְכֵן הָיִינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶם.	33 And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.'

Perhaps, the spies failed because they took initiative.  How often do you hear that!?  Usually, going above and beyond is a good thing.  Usually, doing more than your mission is seen as advantageous for your organization.  Sometimes this is NOT the case.  Sometimes if you are asked to do something, especially in military settings, your opinion is neither wanted nor warranted.  Of course, that is a big challenge for Jews!

Although, now that I share that perspective, I would like to offer another.  I don’t really think it was their overeagerness that was the spies failure.  Rather it was one of false perspective and of lack of faith.  It was also one of spreading falsehoods.  The spies shared rumor and not truth.  They shared their ideas, without thinking about Gd.  They forgot the Holy One, who had brought them from the land of Egypt.  They forgot the One who had split the sea, the one that had moved mountains and valleys, the One who gave them Torah.  They also made a very faulty assumption that others see us the way we see ourselves.

How many of you have walked into a room as a speaker or presenter, given a presentation, been shaking inside or nervous inside, and then been told what a great job you did?  Have you had people come up to you and say how calm you looked?

While some of them might have been nice, others were completely honest.  To them, you were cool and collected.  To them, you were an expert sharing their wisdom.  While you might have felt yourself nervous or imperfect, your presentation went off flawlessly.  A musician or actor can flub a line or miss a note, but only another actor or musician will even notice.  If someone reads Torah or Haftorah and misses a note, we say absolutely nothing; we only correct if a word is mispronounced.  No matter how many times I read Torah, I will still make at least one mistake a week!  I try and I try and I try, but perfection is always just a little out of reach.  Are you going to fire me over that?  I hope not!  That is the real challenge of the spies.  They thought that what THEY saw is what EVERYONE saw.  

They transferred their own fears onto others.  We see this with small and not so small children, and some adults, (for example, many politicians): the only way to see the world is out of their eyes.  If you don’t see it the same way, you are wrong!  You are missing the point!  Except at the end of the day, the world does not work that way.  Even if Representatives or Senators think that members of their opposing party are idiots, we know that there are some brilliant Republicans and some brilliant Democrats, and that the government and our country can only function if we occasionally look from an alternate perspective and work together!

This week’s parsha ends with another vision, with another perspective and reminder of perspective.  The maftir that Rebecca read, for her first time reading from a Torah in a long time, I might add, is one we read twice daily.  It is the last paragraph of the Shema, where we are reminded to attach fringes to our four-cornered garments.

לח  דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם, וְעָשׂוּ לָהֶם צִיצִת עַל-כַּנְפֵי בִגְדֵיהֶם, לְדֹרֹתָם; וְנָתְנוּ עַל-צִיצִת הַכָּנָף, פְּתִיל תְּכֵלֶת.

38 'Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them throughout their generations fringes in the corners of their garments, and that they put with the fringe of each corner a thread of blue.

לט  וְהָיָה לָכֶם, לְצִיצִת, וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-מִצְו‍ֹת ה", וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם; וְלֹא-תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם, וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר-אַתֶּם זֹנִים, אַחֲרֵיהֶם.	39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray;
מ  לְמַעַן תִּזְכְּרוּ, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֶת-כָּל-מִצְו‍ֹתָי; וִהְיִיתֶם קְדֹשִׁים, לֵא-לֹהֵיכֶם.	40 that ye may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy unto your God.
מא  אֲנִי ה" אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, לִהְיוֹת לָכֶם, לֵאלֹהִים:  אֲנִי, ה" אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם.  {פ}	41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.' {P}

We are commanded to wear fringes not for decoration, but to remind us of Gd, of our history and of our future.  Just by looking at our tzitzi, we see our past (the Exodus), our present (the commandments) and our future (a holier/Divine world).  That’s a lot in just a few verses!

Erev Shavuot I looked at these verses with many of you.  We noticed that the language here is inclusive.  It does not say that tzitzit are for men only or women only#, but are for all.  We looked at sections of Talmud where we found that some rabbis had their entire families wear tzitzt and perhaps even the non-Jewish servants!

Perhaps next year I will discuss Techelet, the thread of blue.  It is a fascinating story to discuss the history, the loss, the rediscovery and now the consistent manufacturing of tzitzit with their legal and appropriate thread of blue!

Today, though, I am thinking about vision.  I am thinking about seeing.  I am thinking about how we view the world.

This parsha is about the importance of seeing the world accurately, recognizing the limits of one’s own perspective and seeing the Divine and the Mitzvot at every opportunity.

Our first text showed us that sometimes we have to define our mission;
our second showed how easy it is to spread disdain/falsehoods and bad news/bad attitudes; our third text showed that if we choose, we can find holiness and reminders of holiness everywhere.

The first week in June, I was in Chicago at a conference for lay leaders and rabbis of non-massive congregations.  Even though in a small place we are asked to be all things to all people, what really came out is that we must have a vision of where we are and where we want to be.  We have to have a mission.  For me, my mission is to live, love, teach and study Torah, to find the holiness of mitzvot and to see and help bring out the holiness in every human being, in every member of this community.  
In the months to come, I would like to continue the conversation about what is our mission at CAI?  What are our goals?  How can we ensure that EVERYTHING that we do is intricately tied with our future and current plans?  In this way, we will define success as accomplishing goals, rather than the number of bodies in a room at any one time.

So in keeping with this parsha, let’s keep our eyes wide open, be aware of our challenges, but not let them overwhelm us.  Together, we can do great things.

Shabbat Shalom.

My invocation at JCC's meeting

Good evening and welcome to the JCC’s meeting, held in its future home, Kol Yisrael.  If we have not yet met, my name is Rabbi Philip Weintraub, of Congregation Agudas Israel.

It is a blessing to be standing before you this evening, privileged with offering a blessing to you on the occasion of the JCC’s annual meeting and on the installation of its new board.

It is a blessing to be standing before you in a room that we will all share, in a building we will all share.  In the coming years, the JCC, TBJ, and CAI will be enacting a vision of Jewish community.  While in other cities and towns, our partner organizations frequently act as adversaries and do not see the opportunities of cooperation.  Here, in Newburgh, we stand together and apart.  We recognize the holy missions of each of our partner organizations, allowing them their own administrations and programming, yet we will work together, bringing Jewish values and Torah to all who enter these doors.  Together we will bring the Schechina, Gd’s presence into all we do.  Whether it is summer camps or Hebrew school, Torah study or athletic teams, Purim schpiels or JCC musicals, together we will be able to do more, to live more in community.

My blessing to us all is that we remember our vision.  I pray that we will stand together and not in the silos of our own JCC/TBJ/CAI communities.  I pray that we will see that every individual in this room, Jewish or not, is created in the image of Gd, b’tzelem E-lohim.  Every one of us has the capability to do great things.  Together we can do them, as long as we continue to treat each other with the respect we all deserve!

I could share with you any number of stories about brotherhood and sisterhood, but I want to be brief, so I will take one more moment to discuss the name we are calling this shared space.  We are calling it Kol Yisrael, All of Israel.  It comes from a phrase in Talmud, כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה Kol Yisrael Arevim zeh lazeh.  All Jews are responsible for one another.  While the original context is one of sin, that we, too, pay the price if we stand idly by the blood of our neighbor; we also interpret it positively.  When we work collectively, we can accomplish more.  When we see a place where our neighbor needs help, we help her.  At the times, when we need help, we can ask for help and receive it!

To me this value is clearly imbued in the Newburgh Jewish Community.  Whether through the services and programs of our synagogue communities, the work of Federation, or the amazing and dynamic programs created and sponsored by the JCC, the entire Newburgh Jewish community is a unique and holy place.  It is a community that works together across organizational and denominational lines.  I pray that it always continues that way!

Thank you!