ROSH HASHANAH II

5770

In 1910, our grandfather, A.B. Wise, who was born and lived in Jerusalem fled Turkish Palestine with his young bride Esther, our grandmother, to avoid being drafted into the Turkish army.  In Hebrew, the verb used to say this, barach, means to “run from.”  Our rabbis tell us that there are things we need to distance ourselves from, run from and avoid and those things that we must go after, get closer to and pursue in our lives.  What we go after determines if you will, whether we are driving in the right direction.

What do you and I pursue in our lives?  On the front of our Torah reading table, we have Hillel’s teaching, inspired by Psalm 34, telling us to love and pursue shalom.  In Parashat Shoftim, chanted a few weeks ago, we are commanded to pursue justice.  We know that Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, immediately following his speaking at a peace rally in Tel Aviv, and the assassin’s bullet that penetrated his heart first passed through the words of the song Shir Shalom, a Song of Peace, that he had in his pocket.  An extremely tragic example of one pursuing peace and justice dying because of another pursuing religious fanaticism, xenophobia and violence.

Albert Einstein said that our fanatical love of justice is one of the foundational principles of Judaism that made him thank his stars for belonging to the Jewish people.  Here at Adath Israel, every Shabbat when we pray for the State of Israel, we pray that Israel will be unwavering in the pursuit of justice and peace.  What do these words mean for us, what should they mean to us and what do they require of us?      

What is shalom?  It is well-being, security and peace.  Shalom is inner and external harmony, wholeness and integration.  Our rabbis distinguish between shalom and shalom shalem, complete and perfect shalom.  Does this exist anywhere today?  Has it ever existed?  It is our dream, our hope, our purpose to pursue shalom shalem in ourselves and the world regardless of the outcome because the very effort itself, as Reb Nachman teaches, is edifying and holy. 

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks distinguishes between the vision of shalom of the prophets and that of our rabbis.  The shalom of the prophets is idealistic, messianic, radical.  The shalom of our rabbis, referred to as darchei shalom, the ways of peace, is pragmatic, realistic and attainable.  It is not perfect but it provides a way for people who may be different and disagree to live together.  Rabbi Sacks reminds us that as Jews we are obligated to pursue ways to live peacefully with everyone and that we are commanded to pursue making our enemies our friends.  Being realistic, we are commanded minimally to find ways, darchei shalom, to co-exist.    

Certainly, Israelis and Palestinians come to mind as do all the other global conflicts, but more immediate and attainable for us are relationships with family members, neighbors, business associates and others.  At any given moment how many people are there in our lives that we have negative and hostile relations with and with whom we do not speak civilly to if we speak at all?  How many of these are family members and former friends of ours? Think how adults are behaving at these rallies and town meetings dealing with taxes, health care reform and other issues.  These are Americans behaving this way toward other Americans including our elected officials.  A member of Congress publicly calls the president a liar and he is defended and praised by many for doing so.  These are all adults behaving with such anger, self-righteousness and disrespect; what can we expect from our children?

Rambam’s vision of the messianic era is a time when people will continue to live and die but there will not be any human caused suffering and pain.  Sometimes students of mine ask what is so special about this?  I always challenge them to pause and think of what such a world would be like.  Think how different life would be if you and I never said or did anything that was dishonest or selfish, that caused pain, hurt, worry or fear.  What if political leaders, corporate giants, military officers, judges, police did the same? 

Before dying, Moses reminded the Israelites that when they entered the land and established their society it needed to be a just society for everyone: Israelite and non-Israelite.  Our Mishnah tells us that war, upheaval, insecurity and fear are a result of injustice permeating a community and society.  Our rabbis teach us that the most difficult trait to repair in an individual or a society is injustice because it becomes ingrained, habitual and those practicing injustice always benefit from it.  Just think about now and throughout history of all those in positions of power and influence that got rich and are getting rich and richer from war, drug trading, weapon smuggling, price fixing and more.  Think of the injustices done everyday, for example, to children, women, the disabled and the elderly by employers, pimps, husbands, parents, caregivers and others.  All of these perpetrators, be they family or not, benefit materially and/or psychologically.  They profit from the suffering and abuse of others.  What is more unjust?  

Many individuals and organizations who devote themselves to peace and justice concern themselves with the Six Unfreedoms: hunger, racism, genocide, tyranny, slavery and illiteracy.  It is at times mind boggling that in 2009 when we have been to the moon—already 40 years ago—and are probing Mars, Saturn and way beyond, when we, even in this economic crisis, are the most affluent society in the history of humankind, are so primitively selfish and short sighted.  Human trafficking is in economic terms greater than it ever was—billions and billions of dollars; it is flourishing throughout the world including in the United States, Cincinnati, Toledo and in Israel.  Morally and ethically, it is grotesque and depraved beyond description.  Yet, the powers at be throughout the world, as with the drug trade, do not do what can be done because too much money is being made from it.   

Justice and peace—where are they?  Here and throughout the developed world, there is rampant hunger and preventable disease.  Bono rightly accuses us when he said: “We can spend $700 billion to save Wall Street but not $25 billion that could save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable disease and hunger.  Bankruptcy, Bono acknowledges, is a serious business but this is moral bankruptcy.”  As Dylan sings: “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.”

We talk of justice a lot.  What is the difference between what is just and what is legal?  In 1939 it was legal for the Untied States and Cuba to turn away the St. Louis carrying over a thousand Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany.  Was it just?  The segregation laws in the south until the late 1950’s and 60’s were legal, were they just?  Today, expelling immigrants over technicalities, including honest and hard working parents, is legal.  Is it just?  Countries, including ours, legally possess antiquities from Greece, Egypt and Central America, but is it just?  Individuals and museums legally own artwork and other valuable assets that were confiscated from Jews during the Holocaust, but is it just?  Paying women lower wages for the same work men do is legal.  Is it just?  In many states, the death penalty is legal but is it just?  Outlawing same sex marriage is legal but is it just?  In Israel, excluding Reform and Conservative rabbis from officiating in marriages is legal.  Is it just?  For husbands in Israel to deny wives divorces thereby preventing them from remarrying and/or receiving financial support including child support is legal but is it just? 

Tragically, Kiddush HaShem, the Sanctification of G-d’s name, has come to mean martyrdom.  In its essence, as Ramban of the 13^th century taught, it means living in ways every day that bring G-d’s presence into the world.  Many rabbis throughout the centuries have understood Kiddush HaShem as implicitly and explicitly commanding us to live ethical lives.  We are taught that the eternal principle of Judaism is not just to worry about Jews and only care about Jews.  For there to be spiritual integrity to Judaism, Jews must busy themselves, ourselves, with constructing a just and ethical society wherever we live and whenever we live.  We are to pursue peace and justice in our homes, in our speech, in our offices, on the golf course and athletic field, in the marketplace, at the restaurant, in schools and certainly in court rooms, state houses and the White House.  

This is why our Conservative movement that is very much concerned with Jewish law, halakhah, is also concerned with whether food that is technically kosher is also kosher by standards of justice.  This is why we have created the hechsher tzedek proclaiming that we are not any longer—in the spirit of justice and peace—going to accept as kosher that which is by the letter of the law kosher but where laborers, animals and the environment have been violated, and the laws of our land transgressed.   

When it comes to justice and peace, we must remember Rabbi Heschel’s admonition from years ago when he said: “We should not be worrying about whether swordfish is kosher or whether it is alright to drink wine made by non-Jews but we should be worrying about nuclear bombs, racism, persecution of Soviet Jews and the war in Viet Nam.”  Rabbi David Hartman, an Orthodox rabbi in Jerusalem today, when talking about religion and ethics, passionately asserts that the obsessive-compulsive concern with the mechanics of religious observance has nothing to do with G-d.  He further states that the concern with the chained women, the agunot, the treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel, the equality for all Jews in Israel including Reform and Conservative rabbis and the ongoing pursuit of peace with Israel’s neighbors has everything to do with G-d and justice.

To be a people, threatened for so long, committed to justice and peace is complicated. To be American Jews committed to the same is not easy.  Recently, President Obama, in a conference call with over 1000 rabbis, appealed to us to help the American people move from fear to hope, from being self-centered and self-concerned to being altruistic and compassionate.  When we are afraid, we think of ourselves; when we think of ourselves we are selfish; when we are selfish we do not concern ourselves with what is good and right; when we are not concerned with what is good and right, we do not concern ourselves with justice and peace; and when we do not pursue justice and peace we are not doing what G-d wants us to being doing with our lives. 

Rabbi Eric Joffee, who introduced President Obama at the beginning of the conference call, reminded us that since Jews of every denomination pray every day for healing, we must be true to our words as they relate to the Jewish concern for the health and well-being of everyone.  Therefore, health care for all.  Regardless of our political affiliations, and acknowledging that there may not be a perfect solution for our health care system and presently we may not even know what the best possible one would be, every Jew should, from a Jewish based valued system, be passionate supporters of providing the best possible health care for every person in our country.  As shared yesterday, health care has nothing to do with politics, it has everything to do with mitzvahs.

Professor Uri Simone of Hebrew University reminds us that we cannot afford to live beyond our ethical expenses.  In other words, we cannot afford to live in ways—personally, as a society or as a Jewish people—that do not pursue what is just and peaceful so that we do not go morally and ethically broke.  Let us on this Rosh HaShanah bring it back home, to our hearts and souls, and commit ourselves to pursuing that which we are commanded to: pursuits that will provide for our future, our children’s future and the future of the Jewish people and the world.  Let us in our personal lives as Jews, as Americans and as human beings pursue that which is just and peaceful in how we talk, how we think of and treat others, how we raise our children and in how we live everyday.

Reb Nachman tells the story of a man who was chasing after another whose tightly shut hand was held out tempting him to pursue it.  The first man was certain that within the other’s hand was exactly what he needed and wanted.  When he finally overcame this mysterious person and grabbed his hand and forced it open, he discovered it was empty.

Let us have confidence that we can do much better in pursuing the right things, in devoting our lives to the deserving things, to aspiring toward the worthy things and by doing so teach our children to do the same.  Let us be discerning so that we do not run after an empty hand thinking it contains what we need and want.  Let us be blessed to pursue the gift of gifts, the treasure of treasures, the light of lights; let us be blessed to pursue justice and peace.  For sure, let us be sure we are driving in the right direction, not just on the freeway but also in our lives.

SHANAH TOVAH.