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/)               

           

       

Chag Sukkot Sameach!

May this holiday bring you great joy.

I have been a big fan of Koren Publishers since I davened from their Hebrew only Chumash/Siddur in Israel. Their Tikkun for Torah readers is one of the most accurate out there.  Now they have done it again with their Talmud.  I have been doing Daf Yomi with Artscroll's iPad app and Koren's translation of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's fabulous Talmud.  Rabbi Steinsaltz is phenomenal and helped me (and many others) through his "easy" Hebrew translation of the Talmud.  The other major innovation of the Hebrew edition is that he added punctuation to the Talmud and Rashi.  (That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is HUGE!)  Koren's English translation of his work adds color photos that have been a major help in understanding certain sections.  Sometimes it is just easier to see a picture than to understand a long complicated discussion.

http://www.korenpub.com/pdf/SukkotSample.pdf
While Sukkot won't be published for a while longer, in honor of Sukkot, Koren has sent out the sample above.  I will be using a piece of it in my Sukkot teaching this holiday.


Koren Publications was kind enough to send me a review copy of the following book.  While I will write more about it another time, I can say that it clearly and concisely explained the legal dimensions of a Sukkah (both minimum and maximum) helping me to ensure that my shul's Sukkah was kosher!

http://www.korenpub.com/EN/products/maggid/maggid/9781592643523

Hilkhot Mo'adim

Understanding the Laws of the Festivals

By: David Brofsky

(All trademarks belong to their respective owners.)  I was not financially compensated for this post, although I did receive the email link above and the book mentioned.

Yom Kippur Yizkor--Seven Gates to let Gd in

Rabbi Philip Weintraub

Congregation Agudas Israel

Yom Kippur

September 14, 2013

L’shanah Tovah.  Just a moment ago you did a great mitzvah.  You showed that you are a part of this community and that you want to support it. Before I begin my formal address this morning, a comedic insert courtesy of Rabbi Kramer and Ken Copans.

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs, and your stocks not fall. And may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count, your PSA and your mortgage interest not rise.

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, gastroenterologist, urologist, nephrologist, proctologist, podiatrist, dermatologist, obstetrician, oncologist, rheumatologist, endocrinologist,ophthalmologist, ENT, psychiatrist, plumber, and the Internal Revenue.

May your work be secure, looking for work stress-free, good friends and contacts willing to make solid introductions.

May your checkbook / budget balance and include generous amounts for charity.

May you find a way to travel from anywhere to anywhere during rush hour in less than an hour, and when you get there may you find a parking space.

May what you see in the mirror delight you and what others see in you delight them.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner.

May Israel be safe, continue to flourish and strong against all enemies that plan to do harm.

May this Rosh Hashana, find you seated around the dinner table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends, ushering in the Jewish New Year ahead.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your partner, your child, and your parent(s). You can say it to your secretary, your nurse, your butcher, your photographer, your masseuse, your seamstress, your hairdresser or your gym instructor, but not with a "twinkle" in your eye.

May we live as intended, in a world at peace with the awareness of the beauty in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous part of ourselves. Bless you with every happiness, great health, peace, tranquility, contentment and much love during the next year and all those that follow.

LeShanah Tovah U’metukah Tikatayvu Vetaychataymu.

Best sermon ever, right?   In truth, greatness can come out of tragedy.  Brilliance can come from dark places.  Some of our greatest poets, authors, scientists and teachers have struggled with depression and other forms of mental illness.  In the depths of our suffering we can find insight.  The Talmud teaches that suffering can be a gift from Gd, a time to reflect and consider our actions.  Yet at the same time, suffering can be unwanted and we may not desire the lessons we learned.  In one of my favorite passages of Talmud from Tractate Brachot, we discover that the rabbis did not enjoy suffering, saying that they wanted neither the suffering nor the reward.  In their illness though, they found inspiration in each other, in their community and in the power of a pastoral visit.  For me, this has been a personal inspiration.  Chaplaincy has been a way for me to meet people and bring holiness to their lives, to be a bright spot in the darkness.  The sugya, the narrative unit, of Brachot 5b tells us that visiting a person who is ill removes 1/60th of their suffering.  It asks why the miracle-working rabbis cannot heal themselves and concludes that a “prisoner cannot free himself from prison”--that we must help each other in our most difficult times.  This is the power of Jewish mourning customs.  Shiva, Shloshim, and Yahrzeit teach us that mourning is not only an individual journey, but a communal one.

It is amazing to me how a single moment can change and inspire us.  When I was in rabbinical school, a fellow student, Rafi Lehmann, passed away.  He was not my best friend.  He was an acquaintance.  I had met Rafi before rabbinical school, when his father Rabbi Allan Lehmann was the Jewish Chaplain at Brandeis.  Rafi loved Torah.  He loved the teachings of early Hasidic masters.  He loved good food, good meals and good friends.  Tragically he died shortly before he was scheduled to be married, a few months before he was to be ordained.  JTS arranged bus transportation to his funeral and many of us attended.  

At his funeral I had two transformative moments.  The second was at his burial, where they literally ran out of dirt.  There were still dozens of people in line to put a shovelful of dirt on his grave, but the grave was filled.  There was no more dirt.  Friends, family, acquaintances, students, teachers all came together and literally buried the one they had loved and learned from.  It was an inspiration to me of what we are supposed to do at Jewish funerals.

I told you the second, but not the first.  The first was at the synagogue.  Temple Emmanuel in Newton, a large Conservative synagogue, had large posters hanging throughout the building.  At every seat there was a booklet.  The title of the booklet was “Seven Gates.”  The gates were “Torah, Prayer, Israel, Shabbat, Redeeming the World, Building Community, and Teaching Jewish Values.”  Their website includes the same gates.  In that brochure, in these themes, they show that all are welcome and that all have a place.

“The Seven Gates stand for the proposition that everyone can find a place at Temple Emanuel. Whatever your passion, whatever inspires you, it is here. All you have to do is enter.

While these are entry points, it is not only about entering.

It is also about what you do once you are here. It is about engaging.

It is about finding meaning, purpose, and friends within a community of people who are moved by what moves you.

The gates are open and waiting for you.

Through which gate will you enter?”

The Seven Gates show that we are individuals and that together we make up a community.  The Seven Gates teach us that as individuals, we have different interests and access points.

I listed the seven gates, but what do they mean for us here?

Torah sounds self-evident, studying Torah, living Torah, teaching Torah, learning Torah.  But what is Torah?  Yes, it is the scroll we read from this morning, with Genesis-Deuteronomy, but Torah is also the entire canon of Jewish learning, as well as philosophy, science, and more.  Studying Torah can mean looking at our roots, our genealogy, which we can do together in a few weeks.  It can mean learning Hebrew, helping to make our texts and traditions more accessible.    If you have never learned to read Torah, I will be starting my third group of Read Hebrew America in October.  If you want to learn how to read Torah or Haftorah, join my other Thursday class, which focuses on liturgy and prayer skills.  Torah can also be learning about our Jewish traditions or even reading a good book.  If there is something that we are not doing yet, just ask!  I have been studying Daf Yomi, which can be an arduous path through Talmud.  the Conservative Yeshiva is beginning a Daf Shevui, studying a page of Talmud a week, which will be sent by email in Hebrew and English to you every day--a much more manageable task.  If you would like to discuss this project, please be in touch with me.  Torah is not just classes though, it is also our collective wisdom.  Every single person in this room has Torah to teach.  What I would love to see in the coming years is for YOU to teach ME (and everyone else).  If you are a talented dancer, musician, amateur historian, professional psychologist, doctor, lawyer, you have skills and knowledge that we do not all share.  Please teach us!

The second gate is Prayer.  We meet regularly for Tefillah, for Shabbat and Festivals.  We meet monthly before the Board Meeting for evening minyan--which lasts all of 8-15 minutes.  When congregants request a Yahrzeit or Shiva minyan, we make it happen.  Most of our prayer is traditional, but I open to trying different options.  Together we can connect our souls to the Divine!  

Israel is not just a vacation spot or a historical entity, but a living, breathing, Holy Place.  Visiting Israel is transformative, as some of our congregants discovered this summer with me.  Walking in the footsteps of our ancestors, we learned much about our history and I believe, much about ourselves.  It was a blessing to travel together and I hope that in another two or three years we can again travel to Israel as a community, uniting past and present in our souls.  Israel needs our attention from here, as well.  There are many people around the world who see Israel as a source of hate or violence.  They speak ill of Israel and often preach hate and violence against all Jews.  We must be advocates for Israel, reminding the world that Israel is valuable, important and rarely reflects the image that hate-mongerers and average people imagine.  Modern Israel is a young country.  It is growing and changing and we must be a part of that.  We have to show Israeli society that it is possible to be modern, Jewish, observant, egalitarian and open to all.  The Kotel should not be an ultra-Orthodox synagogue, but a place where ALL can daven.  The Temple Mount should be regularly accessible to Jews AND they should be allowed to pray there.  Israel should not be one of the only places in the world where I, a Conservative Rabbi, cannot perform a wedding!

Shabbat:  Ahad Ha’am was an early Zionist thinker, philosopher and writer.  He penned the famous line, “More than the Jews have kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews.”  Jewish law has varying interpretations of how to keep the Sabbath and modern Jews find many different ways of observing it.  Whether your Shabbat practice is to shut off all electronic devices, make Kiddush and light candles on Friday night, or simply savor your favorite book; Shabbat can be a very special time for families.  Would I love to have all of you decide today to be traditionally observant of Shabbat, YES, but I think that you can gain many of the benefits of Shabbat without entirely changing your lives.  Talk to me about your Shabbat practices.  Make a special dinner.  Save a great article.  If you use TV on Shabbat, skip the violence and watch a nice movie with your loved ones.  If you use the phone, call your children--make Shabbat a time of connection.

Judaism is not a religion lived in isolation.  We are commanded to live in the world and continually improve it.  For some Jews, Tikkun Olam, Redeeming/Repairing the World, is their primary connection to Jewish life.  Whether volunteering at Habitat for Humanity, donating blood, giving tzedekah, there are many ways to help the world.  If you are looking for suggestions or have suggestions, be in touch!

Many recent books about the future of Judaism in America say that one of the most important things we can do is to build communities.  When we build community, we use our sacred values to look out for one another.  We do not want to be the synagogue where someone leaves after a decade not knowing anyone.  We want to be the place where people feel welcome from day one.  In the last two years, I think we have made tremendous strides in that direction.   Yet, welcoming and building community neither happen overnight nor are once and done programs.  They are long term, continued and committed efforts to make sure that every single member of our community feels valued and an important part of our congregational whole.  In a day and age when our families are scattered around the country, if not the globe, our congregation has an opportunity to bring people together.  We cannot neglect this responsibility.

Teaching Jewish Values:  We live this through teaching our children, through the rituals of Simchat Bat and Brit Milah, through B’nai Mitzvah, but also through daily life.  We teach Jewish Values in every interaction we have with anyone.  Every time we talk to someone; every business deal we make; every class we teach; every patient we treat is an opportunity to demonstrate and reflect our values.  Powerfully, Temple Emmanuel has created a “Living Legacy Guide” a way for you to think about your values and share them with your loved ones. I mentioned earlier that we will soon have an opportunity to think about our family trees.  Sharing our history, sharing our values is a poewrful expression.  Writing down the things that matter to us are just as important as telling our children the account numbers of our bank accounts.  Long after our physical inheritances have been saved, invested or spent, our spiritual, educational, emotional inheritances will resonate.

Over these High Holy Days, I have mentioned the Gd-shaped hole, the idea that we can feel far more fulfilled, complete, and happy if we let Gd in.  Sharing these seven gates are seven different ways for you to let Gd in.  Seven different gates, seven different days, seven different opportunities.  Looking around this room, I see people of different backgrounds, different ideas, different politics.  Why would I expect that every single person connects to Gd, each other, the same way?  The seven different gates show us that we are individuals.  All of the gates should be important to us in SOME way, but for all of us, one gate will probably speak to us more than another.  Our tradition speaks of shivim panim batorah, the seventy faces of Torah, really meaning that there are many different ways, many different access points.  On Rosh Hashanah I mentioned that even the opening of the Amidah, when we remind Gd of our connection to our ancestors, we also remind ourselves that our ancestors were individuals.  We remind ourselves that our ancestors connected to Gd in different ways.  It is a lesson that is very easy to forget.  As a rabbi, prayer is very important to me.  Yet being married to my lovely wife and now being a father to an amazing daughter, I see that my attitude towards prayer has changed.  My prayers may be briefer, but they feel more powerful.  I am more grateful, more thankful than I have ever been.

Watching all of you, looking at the example of my parents and grandparents, I see people who have connected to our traditions.  Their observance may have waxed and waned, but they always knew they were Jewish and their lives reflected that.  In just a moment, we will offer our Yizkor prayers.  We will remember those who had an influence on us.  We will remember their Jewish lives.  We will think of their yiddishe neshamas, the aspects of them that brought us joy and infused a spirit of holiness.  Whether we think of brisket and kugel, afternoons with a crossword puzzle, memories of shul, walks on the beach, mornings in a store or pushcart or an office, the ones we loved influenced us greatly.  Many of them built this shul (or the ones on Grand or Williams Streets).  We stand in their footsteps.  They spent their lives bringing our families together.  Let us spend our doing the same.  Our shul may not look exactly the same--the people in the bimah certainly look a little different--but the spirit we bring is the same.  We come together to celebrate Torah, Prayer, Israel, Shabbat, Redeeming the World, Building Community, and Teaching Jewish Values.  Together those principles have changed my life and I know they have changed all of yours.  May the coming year continue to bring us holiness, happiness and the power of community.

Kol Nidre 2013/5774

Rabbi Philip Weintraub

Congregation Agudas Israel

Kol Nidre 5774

September 13, 2013

Gmar hatimah tovah.  May you be sealed in the book of life.

For some Jews, today begins a day of agony.  They fast because it is what they always do.  They do not enjoy it.  They do not find meaning in it.  They just find themselves hungry.  It does not make them feel more spiritual, more angelic or closer to Gd.  It is just something they get through. I could stand here and suggest that these people are doing it all wrong, but I will not.  They have it right, just not exactly right, not entirely right.

Jews ARE supposed to fast on Yom Kippur.  We are supposed to afflict ourselves.  We are to avoid a complete bath/shower, putting on colognes/perfumes/anointing ourselves.  We do not have intimate relations with our spouses.  We do not wear leather (comfortable) shoes.  Yet, we are supposed to enjoy it!  I have even heard of people giving their children special treats or candy on Yom Kippur, since they do not have the privilege of fasting.  Many people see fasting as a spiritual discipline.  The rabbis of the Talmud limited fasting, since some Jews of the ancient world were fasting so often they were neglecting their other responsibilities.  

In our tradition, there are two parallel fast days, Tisha B’Av  and Yom Kippur.  Many books have been written about their connections, their parallels and their difference.  In short, Tisha B’Av is a fast of lament, of depression, of sadness.  It is the day when we remember the destruction of the Temple and the fasting and related practices are to remind us of this sadness, to memorialize the loss.  Yom Kippur, on the other hand, is about atonement, forgiveness and redemption.  Fasting on Yom Kippur is not done to punish ourselves, but instead to bring us closer to Gd.  It is done to help us find the Gd-shaped hole I have been discussing this holiday season.  Fasting is an opportunity for us to shake off our human needs.  If we do not eat or drink, our bathroom needs are limited.  If we do not go to the bathroom, we do not have to wash as much.  If we do not wash as much, our spouses are more likely to give us some space. (pity laugh anyone?)  With that space, we can find the holiness in our selves, our connection to the Divine.  At the end of the day, our fasting for Yom Kippur, is about Divine awareness, about connecting to our Creator.

When we desire to connect to Gd, just as when we desire to connect to friends and family, we discover that we are imperfect.  We make mistakes.  We have good habits and bad habits.  In thinking about tshuvah, repentance or returning, we create a time to reinvent ourselves.  With this reinvention is the assumption that WE CAN REINVENT ourselves.

When we read the paper today, the world seems static.   Assad rules Syria and will murder hundreds of thousands of civilians and the world will do little--since there are bad options and terrible options.  Afghanistan sounds much like it did when the British invaded in 1839.  Congress seems mired in disfunction.  Our Jewish communities are shrinking here and across the country.  The world seems lousy and stuck.  At home, we live our lives, making good choices and bad ones, playing the same games on facebook or on our iphones (ok maybe that is just me), using up time we could spend helping others or helping ourselves.

I was sent a youtube video the other day.  Entitled Mad Mensch, it was a parody of Mad Men, but re-imagined with all Jewish admen making a spot for an anti-bullying Jewish non-profit.  The conclusion of the two minute webisode was that while “It gets better” might be a good slogan for the goyim, for the Jews a better one would be (in fake Yiddish accent) “it could be worse.” (laugh)

Yet, as Jews, we seem to ignore reality.  Much like people around the world on the secular New Year.  We come together on Yom Kippur and say we will change.  We acknowledge our sins, public and private.  We recognize that we are ALL sinners.  We say we will do better next year--and yet we find ourselves in the same room saying the same words.  Some of us have made big changes.  Many have made little changes.  And many have not.

A few months ago I read an article in the New York Times Magazine called “How Companies Learn Your Secrets.”  It discussed how companies mined customer data and could figure out that someone was pregnant and send appropriate sales and coupons--sometimes even before the person knew she was pregnant.  By noting that pregnant women often bought certain items together, they could make very accurate guesses about specific stages of pregnancy and time emails and mailings to match.  Using the same type of science, the makers of Febreeze found a way to turn a semi-useful product into a billion dollar industry.

What were both companies looking at?  The simple answer: habits!  Much of our waking life is habit.  We do not think about what we do first thing in the morning, but most likely our getting out of bed routine looks the same every day.  We do not think about how we brush our teeth, but we do it the same.  By understanding our habits, we can truly change our lives.  The power of AA is through changing people’s basic habits.  The power of regular exercise, dieting, weight loss is through consistent and permanent change.  The power of our own military is making actions habits, so that soldiers do not have to think about how to react, they just do!  By replacing bad habits with good ones, we can make the changes we desire.

The article in the New York Times was based on a book by Charles Duhigg called The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in life and business. In the book he describes the habit loop: cue, routine, reward.  To effectively make changes you have to figure out what your routine is, what the reward is and isolate the cue.  For example, if you walk to a local shop or cafeteria and eat a cookie every day at 3PM, your waistline may be growing.  For Mr. Duhigg, who ate such a cookie, by experimenting with different actions at 3PM, he figured out that he was not eating the cookie because he was hungry, but because he need to take a few minute break and socialize.  By replacing the routine of the cookie with a routine of talking to a colleague, he lost the added weight, but kept the reward of a brief distraction and a return to productivity.

I want to suggest a new habit loop for you.  If you have a watch or a phone with an alarm, after breakfast (not in shul), I want you to set it for 3PM.  At 3PM, I want you to pause for just a moment.  I want you to daydream.  I want you to notice something that you are thankful for.  It does not have to be anything complicated.  It could be “I’m thankful for having a job” or “I’m thankful for the coffee in my cup” or “I’m thankful that Gd put me on this earth.”  What I want you to do is create a habit loop for a Mincha Moment.  The cue is you will hear/feel your alarm, the habit is pausing and thanking Gd, the reward is the feeling of blessing from that very simple action.

I was going to create a website and twitter account, but it seems someone already thought of that!  There is even a facebook group online.  The funny thing about habits is that once we create them, once we make them routine and habitual, they tend to stick.  You may find that after a few weeks of taking a moment, you see the world with a little more gratitude.  You might even feel compelled to open a siddur and pray mincha, the afternoon service!  

To me mincha, is the most powerful reminder of Jewish tradition.  It is “easy” (air quote) to pray when we wake up or when we go to sleep, but to pause during our work or school or retired day is to say “I am not the only one in my universe.  I am a part of a greater whole.  Gd is a part of my life.”  It is a big statement for such a small action.

Our rabbis acknowledged the power of habit and the challenges of change long before any writer at the New York Times read some studies and brain scans from MIT.  In rabbinic literature, there is much discussion about Teshuvah, about repentance and rethinking our lives.  At this time of year we do chesbon hanefesh, an accounting of ourselves.  (Per the Power of Habit, we look at our habit loops.)  In the Talmud, we have dozens of pages about the conditions of teshuvah, what it requires, and how do we know when we are done? How do we know when we have truly done teshuvah.

Sanhedrin 25a discusses individuals that cannot be witnesses because they are not trustworthy.  They give an example of a butcher who is disqualified because he is known to have sold kosher meat.  Rav Nachman, the rabbi who initially disqualified him, allows him to testify after the butcher grows a long beard and long fingernails, showing publicly that he acknowledges his sins and is in the process of repenting.  Rabbi Idi the son of Avin offers a much more difficult route to repentance.  He said that the butcher cannot be trusted until he moves to a new town, where no one knows him, returns a lost object (does the right thing when no one is looking) or gets into a similar situation where he has the opportunity to sell treyf meat, but instead takes the loss (again, doing the right thing when no one can tell).  From Rav Idi, true teshuvah is not until you have broken the habit loop.  Until you have put yourself into the same situation and made a better choice, even at financial sacrifice, Rav Idi says you have not truly repented.  

The language is not the same, but the principles are.  To truly change oneself, we have to replace bad habits with good ones.  We have to do the right thing, even when no one is looking.  If we stop smoking publicly but still smoke when no one is around, we have not quit.  If we exercise once in awhile, but never make it regular, it is better than nothing, but the impact is not the same.  (Yes I am talking to myself here!  Another way to change our habit loop is to motivate ourselves--which for me is creating public accountability!)

I spoke earlier about the challenges of our world and how we can be discouraged into thinking that nothing can be changed with the world or ourselves.  This is simply not true.  Ask any Jew one hundred years ago what the Jewish center of the world was and they might say Poland, Lithuania, Germany or Russia.  Israel did not exist.  It was just the dream, the hope, Hatikvah!  Today the centers of the Jewish world are New York and Jerusalem.  The world has changed.  We are distraught over the destruction of the Shoah, the Holocaust.  We are grateful for the land of Israel, which came about through the work on many, many people working in concert.  Just as the world can change, so can we.

We can change ourselves, but it does not happen entirely overnight and it works best in community.  Why do we pray together?  We pray together not just to lift our prayers higher, but also for accountability.  When we see each other here in shul, we push ourselves to do more, to life our souls, to cry out to heaven.  Seeing each other, peer pressure, is also a powerful motivating factor.  For my mincha moment suggestion, if you have facebook, tag me and CAI when you take a mincha moment. Say I stopped and here is what I thought about.  Maybe you will change not only your habits, but the habits of everyone in this room!

Returning to my opening, those of you who fast on Yom Kippur, but are not happy about it have the cue and routine right, you just need to work on the reward.  Having ⅔ of a habit is a great start!  With a little more work, I pray that this year’s fast will not be something to be endured, but a tool to help you on your spiritual journey.  I pray that these tools of cue, routine and reward will help you consider your life and help you become the best you, the best Jew, you can be.  Personally, I think it is pretty impressive that our rabbis have been suggesting the same idea for thousands of years.  I guess there really is some wisdom in our Jewish texts!  

May your fast be not only easy, but meaningful, empowering and spiritually rewarding!