Are we all sinners?

Rabbi Philip Weintraub

Congregation Agudas Israel

Sometimes I feel that there are so many details in Jewish law that it is impossible to follow them all. Nobody can. So everybody fails at something (at least) sometime. Are we then all "sinners"? How can we live with constant failure?

Below is my answer. At the link are three other rabbinic perspectives!

http://www.jewishvaluescenter.org/question.php?id=1057&cprg=%2Fsearch.php%3Fsearchtxt%3Dsinners%26what%3DA

In many ways, I think this is one of the classic questions of life, law and Judaism.  How can we live with constant failure?

I think the classic answer is another question: is the glass half full or half empty?  Do we look at this as constant failure or constant success?  

The ritual mitzvot are essential to our lives.  Keeping kosher, observing Shabbat and festivals, praying regularly bring great meaning to our souls.  They structure our lives and help us find balance in a world always leading towards excess.  They teach us that we are most happy when we are happy with what we have, but also remind us that there is always more we can strive for--not just materially but spiritually.  Many of these mitzvot we might classify as bein adam l’Makom, between a person and GD.

Yet there is another entire section of mitzvot--those bein adam l’chavero, between an individual and his friend.  This includes vast sections of Jewish law--business ethics, familial ethics, sexual ethics, and more general interpersonal relationships.  Jewish law teaches us that we must be honest in our business dealings (that we are forbidden to have two sets of weights and measures--or two sets of books).  We are commanded to love our neighbors and not to stand idly by if they are in danger.  Jews are to treat one another with respect.  In all of these departments, we probably fulfill many mitzvot we never even knew were mitzvot!  

Whenever someone introduces him or herself to a rabbi, the introduction often continues, “but I’m not religious.”  I’ve heard this from doctors and garbage collectors, lawyers and airline ticket agents.  Yet, many people picked careers that match their Jewish values.  Reproductive specialists help couples fill the command to “be fruitful and multiply.”  Lawyers are advocates for the poor and those that need help.  Garbage collectors remove that which is disgusting from our homes, allowing us to pray and eat in places that do not smell terribly.

To be technical, we do all sin at times, but we also do many, many more mitzvot.  In the Aseret Hadibrot, the Ten Commandments, it says that Gd visits iniquity to the third and fourth generation of those that hate GD, but shows mercy for a thousand generations to those that love GD and keep the commandments.  In GD’s great mercy, we are given opportunity to atone--every day and on Yom Kippur.  We acknowledge our shortcomings, reminding GD that we are imperfect and must be judged on the scale of the imperfect.  

I want to end with two Hassidic tales:

A chassid once asked his rebbe, "why should wepray on Yom Kippur, after all, we will inevitably sin again." In response, the rebbe asked him to look out the window behind him. Outside there was a toddler who was just learning to walk. "What do you see?" asked the rebbe. The disciple replied, "I see a child, standing and falling," Day after day the chassid returned to witness the same scene. At the week’s end, the child stood and did not fall. The child’s eyes expressed the achievement of having attained the impossible. "So with us," said the rebbe. "We may fail again and again, but in the end, a loving God gives us the opportunities we need to succeed."

Another classic story. Reb Zusha was on his death bed, and he had tears streaming down his face. "Why are you crying?" asked his disciples. "If God asks me why I was not like Moses or Maimonides," answered Reb Zusha, "I will say, I was not blessed with that kind of leadership ability and wisdom." But I am afraid of another question," continued Reb Zusha, "what if God asks, Reb Zusha, why weren’t you like Reb Zusha? Why did you not find your inner being and realize your inner potential? Why didn’t you find yourself? That is why I am crying!"

Of the 613 mitzvot, many require the Temple, the ability to offer sacrifices.  For those, we have alternate paths, we remember the Temple, we recite the sacrifices.  Yet there are other mitzvot that we can fulfill.  We must continue to try to fulfill all the ones we can.  We must continue to try to be the best people we can be.  We must treat each other with love and respect.  We must remember that we will fail, but like the toddler, we must get up again and keep trying.  Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity!  The glass is half full.

Parshat Lech Lecha and the Jews 2013

Rabbi Philip Weintraub

Congregation Agudas Israel

Parshat Lech Lecha

10/12/13

Last year at this time Rebecca and I stood before you to celebrate the birth of our daughter. We spoke of the family and Jewish history of the name we chose, using this parsha Lech Lecha, to discuss the power of names.  In our parsha this morning, we find Avram and Sarai becoming Avraham and Sarah, cementing their Jewish identity through the power of a name change.  In our tradition, names have great meaning.  It is said that when a child is named, the parents have a prophetic moment, knowing that their choice will be a representation of their child.  Sometimes this prophecy does not work.  Some people simply do not match their names--and sometimes people change their names to match their true selves.

Naming and identity go hand in hand.  Even the pronunciation of the same name can have different meanings.  Using variations of Avraham, we can see this concept.  If you name your child Avi, you probably are an observant Jew, but not ultra-Orthodox.  If your child is Avruhum, you might be more frum. If your son is Abe, he might be old English or American--the same with Abraham.  

In the last two weeks, there has been a lot of tsurris about the Pew Foundation’s survey of American Jews.  High intermarriage, Jews that are proud of being Jewish but claim no religion, dropping affiliation, and the decline of Reform and Conservative Judaism are all causing stress among rabbis, cantors, educators and other Jewish leaders.  Writers are bemoaning these numbers and in the popular vernacular: generally freaking out.

At the same time, I have seen many articles looking at the numbers through rose-colored glasses.  They note that at no time in history could Jews be this proud of being Jewish, be so open in schools, work, life that they were Jewish and face as little discrimination and anti-Semitism, as Jews in America face.  Some even argue that assimilation is great and that our relatives fresh off the boat would be happy that their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren can just be Americans without the Jewish part.

Like most Conservative rabbis, I tend to take a middle-ground on issues.  I am happy to hear that many Jews feel strongly about their Jewish identity, but I think that living a Jewish life strengthens Jewish identity even more than some undefinable Jewish culture.  As Mordechai Kaplan wrote, Judaism is a Civilization.  It is the art, the music, the langage, the land, the people, the writings, the history, the practices.  It is everything that Jews do.  Yet, for that to translate as an inheritance, as a yerusha, it needs a makor, a source.  In my mind, Gd, Israel and the Jewish people together form the core, the essence of Judaism.  To live fully as Jews, we must interact and have a relationship with all of these facets.  This is the lesson I teach over and over again.  This is what brings meaning to our lives and to our families.

Reading the articles about current demographics, it seems like many wonder about the chicken and the egg.  Are Jews less interested in Judaism because they intermarry or do they intermarry because they are not interested in Judaism?  On one foot I do not have a simple answer to this question.  When I look at Jewish history I see that in many societies, whether due to prejudice or anti-Semitism, it was simply impossible for Jews to intermarry.  There were always Jews that left the fold.  (One of the surprising statistics to many liberal Jews was that approximately half of Jews raised Orthodox either are now more liberal Jews or do not identify as Jewish.  Meaning that assimilation is a challenge not just for liberal Jews, but for Orthodox ones, as well.)  In the past, if someone was no observant, they were out of the community.  If someone married outside the faith, their relatives sat shiva.  Today we have discovered that someone can have a strong Jewish identity and have non-Jewish spouses or parents.  Someone can work on Shabbat, yet say Kiddush before going to the office!  (The funny thing about the last example is that 100 years ago, that was pretty common.  Synagogues had early minyanim on Saturday and Holidays not because people wanted davening at 7 and cholent by 10, but because people were going to their stores!

For some these recent studies are cause to mourn.  Without putting on rose colored glasses, I think we are at a crossroads of Jewish history.  We can continue as we always have, and we will be fine--to a certain extent.  Or we can ask more questions.  We can consider what is working in our communities and what is not.  I have mentioned before that just because a program or event worked in the past, does not mean it will work now and just because something failed previously, does not mean it will fail now.  

Time, technology, life change faster now than ever before.  As I look to the future of Judaism, the Jewish life I pray my daughter will have, I think the possibilities are endless.  Within the Conservative umbrella, there are new learning opportunities, independent minyanim and communities that did not exist a decade ago.  There are Jews across denominations who are bridging traditions and modernity in ways our ancestors could not have dreamed.  Do they all fit into traditional definitions of Jewish law?  No, but even within the four amot of halacha, there has been much innovation.  Questions of life and death through the power of medical technology, organ donation, fertility treatments have all expanded our understanding of Jewish law.  Science and technology have not only made observing Shabbat more complicated but help us understand the Divine in new ways.

At the end of the day, Judaism--especially in a place like Newburgh--, helps us with something sorely lacking in American society today--community.  Whether in politics, community service organizations, fraternal organizations, have seen a significant drop in interest.  Many today seem to care more about themselves than others.  We see politicians who care only about being re-elected.  They ignore their responsibilities, their (and our) obligations to the less fortunate.  We see Masons and Elks and bowling teams with fewer and fewer people.  We see churches around the country with fewer and fewer people in their pews.  What we need today, more than ever, is community.  This is what I see here.  This is what I hope my daughter will have.  We see people looking out for one another, helping one another with meals during shiva, assisting after the birth of a child.  I see friends helping friends.  I see families helping families.  I see a reminder that we are not alone.  Gd is with us AND Gd’s representatives are with us.  To the ones we assist, we are angels.  When we assist others we are GD’s presence, we are the image of GD.  Let us not forget that!              

 My undergraduate thesis advisor, Jonathan Sarna, closed his powerful book (and an adult education offering for the spring): American Judaism with the words of Simon Rawidowicz, who in a few short lines bared the souls of generations of Jews, writing:

                   

A nation dying for thousands of years. . .means a living nation. Our incessant dying means uninterrupted living, rising, standing up, beginning anew. . .If we are the last—let us be the last as our fathers and forefathers were. Let us prepare the ground for the last Jews who will come after us, and for the last Jews who will rise after them, and so on until the end of days.           

When I read those words almost ten years ago, I was immediately struck by their truth. So often Jewish history and the fear of the future becomes the lachrymose conception of Jewish history; they tried to kill us; we won; let’s eat. As the Passover Haggadah reminds us, an enemy has risen against us in every generation, yet we have prevailed. In addition to the threats from without, every generation has been withered by assimilation— whether it was Assyrian or other pagan religions, Hellenism, Zorastrianism, Christianity, Islam, modern secularism; all have siphoned off some of the best and worst of every Jewish generation. And yet, we continue.

And yet we thrive.

Dr. Sarna signed my copy, writing “In the hope that you will write fresh chapters in this history.”  My prayer is not that these words come true for me, but they come true for all of us and for our children.  Our heritage, our Judaism, our life is rich and a blessing to the world.  May our Jewish names and identities always be with us and may our lives be shaped by the Divine Will to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with Gd. Amen.

Sources include:

• Jonathan Sarna, American Judaism, Yale University Press (October 24, 2005)
• http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/us/poll-shows-major-shift-in-identity-of-us-jews.html?_r=2& 

 

 (After Shabbat I found this article and was inspired and interested by it: http://forward.com/articles/185461/pew-survey-about-jewish-america-got-it-all-wrong/)