Joseph Meyerho Center for Jewish Experience

HIGH HOLIDAY TORAH Jewish Learning from Hillel Professionals and Students 5774 High Holiday Torah 5774 Jewish Learning from Hillel Professionals and Students Dear friends,

On behalf of Hillel’s Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Experience, please enjoy this compilation of High Holiday remarks by several students and Hillel Directors. The words contained in these sermons demonstrate the depth and breadth of thought shared with the thousands of students who celebrated holidays with Hillel this year.

We thank Tilly Shames, Executive Director of University of Michigan Hillel, who initiated the sharing of sermons within the Hillel professional network. In her words, “I know that I gain so much from our time together and learning from all of you, and in that spirit I am sending along my sermon in the hopes that some of you will send yours as well and we can be inspired by one another during this time of year.” This is the power of Hillel — to inspire each other, to inspire our students.

More words of wisdom from our students and Hillel professionals around the world will be shared online. We hope that this will become an annual compilation to inspire reflection and growth during this season.

I hope you have had an opportunity to enjoy a meaningful holiday, filled with family, friends and loved ones.

Sincerely,

Abi Dauber Sterne Vice President for Global Jewish Experience Table of Contents

Rosh Hashanah Sermons:

“If Not Now – When?” Tilly Shames, Executive Director, University of Michigan Hillel 1

“Being Present” Rabbi Jeffrey A. Summit, Neubauer Executive Director, Tufts University Hillel 4

Yom Kippur Sermons:

“The Power of Confession” Rabbi Julie Roth, Executive Director, Princeton University Hillel 9

“The Harmonious Community” Susie Klein, Student Leader, Hillel at The Claremont Colleges, California 12

“Awake and Rise Up to the Moment” Hal J. Ossman, Executive Director, Cornell University Hillel: The Yudowitz Center for Jewish Campus Life 14

“Beyond Fasting: Finding Joy and Community on Yom Kippur” Caroline Kahlenberg, Student Leader, Middlebury College Hillel 18 Rosh Hashanah 2013 If Not Now - When? Tilly Shames - Executive Director University of Michigan Hillel

Believe it or not, every year, I appreciate that our High Holidays fall at the beginning of the school year. As much as it may be difficult, I appreciate that we are all challenged with how to navigate these holidays in a secular world with other pressures, distractions of football games, and excitement around us.

We may not have power to change the new, build upon what we’ve learned in the past circumstances around us, but we do have the year. And yet, for the Jewish new year, there is ability to choose our actions and acknowledge one critical difference. For us, this is the time of how it makes us feel. We will make choices that year where we have to look back before we feel right for us, for this moment in time. How move forward. we are celebrating the holidays this year is likely different than how we celebrated last year, and During the month of Elul leading up to Rosh will likely be different than how we will celebrate Hashanah, I thought a lot about what I wanted a year from now. to share with you today.

I want to assure you that any choice that you make This month of Elul offers us a gift – the is the right choice. My new year wish for you is for opportunity to begin that first step towards the time and space and energy and clarity to make the High Holidays by looking back before these your choices. Be where it feels right for you we can move forward. to be this year. There is a text about Elul that explains that we When the academic year and Jewish new year enter into the month achor el achor – back to back. coincide, they each give us the opportunity to This could be a good thing after the month of Av explore new journeys for a new year. The two are with such destruction and mourning. When we so similar – opportunities to move forward with rest back to back with someone, we lean on one excitement, challenge ourselves to try something another in support. We don’t need to say anything

1 or do anything. We can just lean on one another. So imagine you’ve given yourself the time, space We go about our lives in the same way as always, and permission to stop. What will you ask yourself? maybe even in our silos and worlds that we are What do you need to know about yourself in order most comfortable in. Seeing the world through to move forward this year? I can only offer a few our own lenses and focusing on what is in front suggestions. What brings you happiness? When of us. do you feel most yourself? When do you feel most vulnerable? What do you regret? Who did you Maybe we have turned our backs to avoid hurt? Who hurt you? What are you afraid of? What something that is behind us – ignoring it, not do you need to let go of? Even if you ask yourself acknowledging it, hoping if we don’t see it, it will just one of these questions this holiday season, just go away. When you stand with your back to and reflect on it, you will begin to know yourself. someone it is easy to convince yourself there is no point in turning around because you just assume Our famous quote from Hillel starts with “If I am that the other person isn’t turning around either, not for myself, who will be for me?” How can you and they are going about their own life in their be for yourself, if you do not know who you are? own comfortable way too. It is a very complacent, Only when we truly know ourselves, when we comfortable way of being, accepting the path have reflected on how we feel about the year you are on, and just continuing to look ahead. we’ve had and believe in what we want to change for the year to come, only then can we turn to one However, by the end of Elul, the goal is to turn another and focus on how we act in this world. from back to back to panim el panim – face to The act of knowing ourselves and the will to face. Turning may feel too risky. Maybe we’re too change give us the courage to overcome our comfortable leaning back-to-back. Maybe we’re fear and begin to turn around. too settled in how we see the world in front of us. And maybe we’re afraid to face whatever or And so now that we’ve faced ourselves, and know whoever we know we must turn towards. ourselves, take that first step. What does it look like to turn around? Who is the first person that And yet, this is the time of year where the shofar comes to mind who you wish to face? What do awakens us, shakes us out of our comfortable you wish to say? What do you need to fix? What ways, and inspires us to act. This awakening can you share that will lift you both up, and lift makes us face ourselves, face others, and face up your relationship? What in this world still God: the three steps of the High Holidays. unsettles you that you need to address before you move forward? So let us begin by facing ourselves. How do you even begin? What do you need to do to We may have had our backs to things we wanted face yourself? What kind of space and time do to avoid and ignore in this world. But we also you need? How will you focus on yourself for had our backs leaning on people we may take for a moment during this time of the new year? granted. This is your time to be face-to-face with Will it be by sitting here, in prayer, with your your friends, with your family, with the world. With community? Will it be turning your cell phone people you may have hurt. With people who have off and feeling liberated by the gift of time you’re hurt you. With people who have supported you. giving yourself? How will you make the time to Even with parts of the world that you wish to face yourself?

2 change. Be face-to-face with who and what you name - Israel – Why? “Because you wrestled with want to face in this world. God and with men”. And what does Jacob do? He names the place the “Face of God…because I saw The second line of our famous Hillel quote is “If I God face-to-face”. Only through his wrestling with am only for myself, what am I?” When we turn to himself, with other men, and with God does Jacob face another person in this world, it is no longer reach a point where he declares that he sees God about how we feel about ourselves. That we’ve panim el panim. already dealt with. It is about what we can offer for the other person to lift them up. It is about When we wrestle – when we face ourselves, face what we offer to lift up our world. one another, and face our actions and place in this world – only then can we move forward into our What is so incredible about this time of year is new year. that you cannot do it all on your own. Sure, you can spend this time by yourself, silently focusing And so I leave you with the last line of that famous on your past year and what you want for yourself Hillel expression, “If not now, when?”. This is your this coming year. But ultimately, there is another time to define who you want to be, how you wish step that has to happen. You have to be face-to- to be for yourself and for others, and what change face and vulnerable with another person in order you want to make in this world. to move forward this year. You can’t do it alone. As always, I welcome you to visit me. Tell me what Our time on Yom Kippur, our prayers and asking you want to face this year. Share what change you God for forgiveness, is our last step. We can only want to make in this world, on campus, in Hillel. begin to approach God on Yom Kippur when we This is your time. Because if not now, when? can say that we faced ourselves, we faced our past year, and we faced each other. We have to work This sermon is dedicated to the memory of George for our clean slate every year. We do as much as Orley (z”l) – a dear student and friend to so many. we can to get there, and then we ask God for help May his memory serve as a blessing. with letting go of the rest.

There is a story in the Torah about one of our most flawed characters Jacob. Jacob was not without sin. He cheated his brother Esau and deceived his father. He fled and abandoned his family. But eventually he was prepared to face his past and face his brother. The night before his reconciliation, he has his moment to face himself, his actions, who he is, what he’s done, and what he needs to do to make amends with his brother.

That night, he struggles with an angel – perhaps he is wrestling with himself – and he emerges bruised and broken and asks the angel for a blessing. The angel blesses him with a new

3 Being Present Rabbi Jeffrey A. Summit - Neubauer Executive Director Tufts University Hillel

Here’s a true story. I’m at Whole Foods last week. It’s an upscale store. They care about you. You ask a clerk where to find the organic kale and she’ll drop whatever she’s doing to walk you to the vegetable section. When I’m in the checkout line, the nice clerk, with long dreadlocks, asks me, “Did you find everything that you were looking for?” Mmm. Now, I’m a rabbi, and it’s a week before Rosh Hashana. Don’t ask me a spiritual question unless you want a serious reply. “Have I found everything that I’ve been looking for?”

So I answer the guy. “No, not everything, but conversations with people, about taking risks I think I’ve found some of the more important to make connections, about being fully present things.” And the guy just sort of looks at me and in the moment when you interact with another I say, “Oh, you were asking about groceries: I was human being. talking about life.” But I don’t want to dominate the conversation so I ask the checkout guy, “What I’m convinced that our tradition cares a lot about about you? Have you found everything that you’ve this and when Shammai, who wasn’t known to be been looking for?” And he says, “No, not yet. But a smiley kind of guy, teaches “greet every person I’m just 23 and I feel like I have some time to figure pleasantly” he’s not just talking about smiling it out. Right now I’m working on finding love.” I say, at people as you pass them in the street. He’s “Sounds like a good place to start.” He gives me attuned to the potential for transformation in a really good smile and I walk out of the store. the everyday interactions in our lives.

This isn’t a sermon about finding what we want And it’s not just about the person in the store in life. It’s about the importance of having real or on the street. Somehow, we develop the

4 ability to not be present, even with the people So I’m full of stories where presence, a real whom we love, and who love us the most. The sense of “hineni,” changed people’s lives. daily and obligatory check ins with our husbands Here’s the story of Jeanette Brousse, a feisty or wives, or our children or parents. Which is 90 year old woman who has become my friend. one of the reasons why I find the Akeda (Binding Madam Brousse was 19 years old when the of Isaac) to be such a powerful story. What gets Nazis occupied “Free France” in 1942. me in this story is not the craziness of a zealot who seems willing to sacrifice his son, or the last She got a job as a clerk in the office that was minute redemption where the ram stands in for responsiblefor issuing official papers, and identity Isaac, or the fact that during the entire story I’m cards, papers you had to have to pass checkpoints, wondering: where is his mother? to buy food, to live your life. One day, a family came to Madame Brousse’s office and asked for What makes the story so powerful is Abraham’s new identity cards. Why new? The father lowered recurring response to God, to Isaac, to the his voice and explained, “we’re Jewish: Juif is angel: “Hineni.” stamped on our cards. If we show our cards we are in danger of being arrested and deported.” Here I am: I am fully aware and present for you at this moment. But when I read the Akeda, I don’t Jeanette made a split second decision, reached see Abraham being present. He responds with the into the drawer and issued new papers and promise of presence and then just floats through changed their family name from the very Jewish the dreamscape, without really being engaged in “Aaron” to “Caron,” a venerable French Christian the situation. name. Now of the many crimes the Nazis would not tolerate, forging papers especially disturbed Isaac asks, “Dad?” Abraham answers, “Hineni, my their sense of order. If you were caught, more son.” “We’ve got the fire and the wood but where’s often than not, you were simply escorted outside the sheep for the sacrifice?” “God will provide,” and shot. Abraham answers. In what world does that reply work? My son would have said, “Dad, we have a During the war, Madame Brousse forged papers situation here. Really, what’s happening?” for more than 300 people. When I asked her why she did this, she said, “They were right there and Just for a moment, imagine how different this they needed my help and besides, it made me story would be if Abraham was truly present, angry when the Nazis were shooting at my friends engaging with the uncertainty, loss, love, fear— after curfew in town. You had to do something.” all of the issues that are never touched in this supposedly “present” encounter. I’m drawn Here’s a true story by Lawrence Kushner, called into the story because of what is missing: “The Stranger on the Bus”, which happened in I long for a deeper level of connection. Munich in Nazi Germany. A woman had been riding a city bus home from work when SS What does it mean to really respond in a storm troopers suddenly stopped the coach and situation? This summer I co-convened a began examining the identification papers of the conference at Tufts campus in France on passengers. Most were annoyed, but a few were confronting mass atrocity and genocide. terrified. Jews were being told to leave the bus and get into a truck around the corner.

5 The woman watched from her seat in the rear “When you and I are truly aware of each other, as the soldiers systematically worked their way God fills the space between us so that we down the aisle. She began to tremble, tears are connected. “ streaming down her face. When the man next to her noticed that she was crying, he politely Both love and true friendship are more than a asked her why.” I don’ t have the papers you way of knowing that we matter to someone else. have. I am a Jew. They’ re going to take me.” They are a way of mattering to the world, bringing The man exploded with disgust. He began God into a world that would otherwise be a veil to curse and scream at her. “You stupid cow!’ of selfishness and loneliness.” he roared. “I can’ t stand being near you!” When we choose to live unconnected, shut off The SS men asked what all the yelling was about. to the chance encounter in the supermarket, “Damn her!’ the man shouted angrily. “My wife to the homeless person standing by the side of has forgotten her papers again! I’m so fed up. the road, to people in our workplace, when we She always does this!” The soldiers laughed and fail to see that there is a connection between moved on. Now that’s a hineni moment: being us and the people who pick the beautiful fully present when it matters the most. strawberries we buy at Whole Foods, in fact, we are shutting out opportunities for God to Now, these are extraordinary stories from dwell in those every day parts of our lives. extraordinary times. But I believe that there are opportunities for potential connection in But those encounters are also a training ground our daily lives, that can be transformative. for the times when something is really asked When your daughter asks a real question about of us. Having real conversations in unexpected her life direction. When your husband or wife places can sandpaper our sensitivity and make tries to have a difficult conversation about us more aware of when we must be present in something that disturbs or scares you. These the most important relationships in our lives. are opportunities for connection that we blow And then when it really makes a difference, we at our peril. become more able to answer with a full and a true heart, hineni. How do we understand the dynamics of the connected encounter? We can learn something about being truly present from the experience of singing or playing music together. Making music together is an evolving conversation, where the importance of your part only emerges in relation to what the other musicians are contributing. Everyone has to listen.

I believe that the potential to bring a deeper sense of holiness, of authentic experience, into our lives provides the possibility of bringing God into the world. I’m sure you are familiar with Martin Buber’s quote about where to find God? Buber wrote,

6 7 Yom Kippur 2013

8 The Power of Confession Rabbi Julie Roth - Executive Director Princeton University Hillel

I got a parking citation and so did the car next to me.

I replaced the ticket on the car next to me with mine. Only my ticket got paid.

When my friends go on diets, I discourage them. This is because I really just want them to be fatter than me.

I was probably the only one who knew he was an addict. I never said anything. He died six months ago.

I need to change.

Yom Kippur is all about the power of confession. These were examples from a community art Over the next 25 hours, we will stand together project called Post Secrets. It was started by an as a community, reciting again and again the ordinary man named Frank Warren who printed Ashamnu and the Al Chet prayers, for the sins we 3,000 blank postcards and invited people to share have committed intentionally and unintentionally. a secret with him; something they had never told To the formulaic lists of sins recited on Yom Kippur anyone. To his surprise, he received over 10,000 by Jews praying together all over the world – postcards from all over the world in Portuguese, in Princeton and Paraguay, in Hong Kong and German, Hebrew, and even Braille. It confirmed Hungary, we will add, in our own words, the sins that we all have secrets: fears, regrets, hopes, we have committed personally and individually. beliefs, fantasies, betrayals, and humiliations. And when we confess what is buried in our heart, In case you were wondering, I do not discourage we feel lighter. my friends who are on diets or switch parking tickets with strangers. I have other sins to confess As powerful as the Post Secrets project has been, for this year and other reasons I need to change. it is missing two key components that are central

9 to our Yom Kippur confessional experience: Before LaGuardia was mayor of New York, community and theological framework. he served as a night court judge during the Depression. One evening, a defendant came, Tonight take a closer look at how the communal accused of stealing bread. LaGuardia judged and religious framework of the Yom Kippur him guilty. He assessed the man a fine. Then, prayers and rituals hold us responsible for our LaGuardia paid the fine out of his own pocket. actions, elevate our potential as human beings, And then, LaGuardia fined everyone in the and define the Jewish community as one that courtroom – including himself – for allowing values love and forgiveness. In the words of our a society to exist that would force a man to prayer books, “amidst a community of imperfect steal in order to feed his family. He gave the humans, we gain the courage to confess our sins money that he collected from the fines to to God. Knowing that it is God whom we are the defendant. facing, we are called to a level of honesty and truthfulness that is greater than any intermediary LaGuardia did two things simultaneously. would demand.” He found the man who stole the bread guilty for breaking the law. And at the same time, Living in a time and culture where individualism LaGuardia extended the responsibility to the is both valued and accommodated, the plural larger community – to the society that framing of our confessional prayers is not to be perpetuated the poverty and inequality taken for granted. From a practical perspective, that so desperately impacted the man who the communal framework motivates us to spend stole the bread. As Rabbi Abraham Joshua an intensive period of time reflecting on our Heschel famously said, “some are guilty, but misdeeds. In this time that is set aside for prayer, all are responsible.” with these words provided for us, we read through a long list of sins, forcing us to admit This is how our tradition approaches teshuvah – some we might otherwise not admit, allowing repentance. When we wrong another person, us to look for the specific actions that are true it is our responsibility to seek forgiveness from for us as individuals. them directly by apologizing up to three times. Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we In addition, by gathering together, we give are asked to directly confess to the people we each other energy and focus that we most have hurt and to say, “I am sorry.” What then is likely would not have sitting alone among our the purpose of our communal confessional? many distractions. But the significance of the “we”, is much more than just the structure and According to Ruth Messinger, the president energy we give to each other by praying together. of the American Jewish World Service, a Jewish organization that works to realize human rights According to our tradition, we confess our sins and end poverty in the developing world, our together because we actually bear responsibility Yom Kippur liturgy, “dictates a radical view of for each others’ sins. As it says in the Talmud, our responsibility for each other. By implicating “whoever can stop others within one’s community ourselves in this long list of sins inflicted by our from sinning, but does not, is held responsible for fellow humans – including hardening our hearts, what those others do.” denying and lying, haughty eyes – we remind ourselves that we play a role in the injustices

10 taking place around the world that don’t likely evil inclination and the good inclination as in make our list of individual sins. But the litany competition with each other, they become two forces us to remember by association in the sides of the same coin. This framework is based global community, we too are guilty of causing on belief that if God is everywhere, there are holy the poverty, hunger, and disease, the inequality, sparks even in our sins. prejudice, and cruelty in the world.” Rabbi Kushner explains, “we lose our temper I think Ruth Messinger’s message about shifting because we want things to be better right away. our vantage point from the “I” to the “we” can We hoard material possessions because we be understood not only in global terms, but imagine they will secure us in life and happiness. also in connection to all the concentric circles We turn a deaf ear because we fear the pain of of responsibility in our lives. The language of listening might damage us.” Embracing the good the Ashamnu and the Al Chet asks us to consider within the evil allows us to own our personal how we contribute to the suffering of others. goodness more fully and forces us not to hold How are we responsible through our actions our shortcomings at a distance. By “uncovering and our inactions for the hurt feelings and the our original motives” and “realizing how those jealousies, the inability to talk about Israel, the motives have become disfigured beyond lack of vision, the binge drinking and the sexual recognition,” Kushner argues, we can truly assaults, the violence and the global warming? transform them. As Ruth Messinger says, “while we may not be able to complete this t’shuvah process, we can Tomorrow we will engage in our own Post at least begin. Secret Project within the context of communal responsibility and yearning to fulfill God’s “For the sin we have committed before You” has expectations of our potential. two key elements, the ‘we’ which radically extends our circles of responsibility and the “before You” As Jews, we believe in the power of words that acknowledges God as the One who defines to re-create and to transform because God the standards by which we are supposed to live created the entire world through language. as human beings. This theological framework We take individual responsibility for righting simultaneously acknowledges that we are born our wrongs, but we also extend our responsibility with a clean slate, but inevitably fall short of to each other. Our potential for good is immense God’s expectations of us. and our promise for a fresh start renewed each and every year. We have the power to look Rabbi Lawrence Kushner suggests that our at our missteps and to find within them the greatest potential can be found even in our redeeming qualities that will reconnect us greatest points of weakness. He suggests that with our best selves. “on Yom Kippur, [when] we examine the evil we have intended or done”, our task is not to “excise it as an alien growth but to discover its deepest motivation – the holy spark within it.” And once we have done that Rabbi Kushner invites us to uncover the positive potential underlying our evil inclinations. Instead of understanding the

11 The Harmonious Community Susie Klein – Student Leader Hillel at The Claremont Colleges

A really special thing about Yom Kippur is that members of the community join together to observe the holiday. When I think about Yom Kippur, I usually think about individual repentance. How am I going to improve upon my actions in the coming year? Who did I wrong in this past year and how can I be forgiven? The reflection stays on a personal and micro level. However, in the past ten days after Rosh Hashanah I have been thinking more about the individuals in our community.

What defines a community? Isn’t it a group of mentioning their specific characteristics. God many individuals and the effect that their actions makes it clear through his word choice that the have on each other? In today’s Torah portion when community is not a single homogenous being. God addresses all of the people that were waiting A community includes many different kinds of at Mount Sinai, God says, “You stand today – all of people with varying thoughts, passions, strengths You – before your God: your leaders, your tribes, and weaknesses whose interactions shape its your elders, your officials, every man, woman, and overarching characteristics. child in Israel, the stranger in the midst of your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the A central aspect of Yom Kippur is the confessional one who draws you water... It is not only with you recited during services. Together as a community, that I am making this sworn covenant, but with we recount a lengthy list of sins from aleph to tav. whoever is standing here with us today before The English translation is not, “For the wrong your God, and with whoever is not here with I did before you” but rather “For the wrong we us today.” did before you.” Most individuals have not sinned in all of the categories, but as a community we all Why does God phrase it this way? He could have maintain responsibility for each other, even if they addressed the community as one being, without are physically or emotionally absent.

12 This idea removes emphasis from the individual, Whether they were voices of those I could and shifts its emphasis to the bigger picture. An recognize or not, each and every single person’s The Harmonious Community individual’s actions do not stand alone; our actions voice and passion contributed to that sound. Susie Klein – Student Leader include our interpersonal relationships and the I encourage all members of the community to Hillel at The Claremont Colleges larger community. join us on Friday nights at Hillel, where each voice has its place and meaning; and serves We can also apply this concept to acts of chesed to make us a more harmonious community. and tikkun olam (kindness and healing the world). One individual act of kindness can ripple through- out a community. I am so inspired by those who selflessly perform acts of chesed. It’s like getting a smile from someone you barely know while walking to class, writing a heartfelt letter to a friend, or picking up a piece of trash on the sidewalk and throwing it away.

At my home synagogue, in Potomac, Maryland, each Yom Kippur a few people bring in lemons with cloves, so everyone can smell them during the challenging last hour of Yom Kippur services. During these last hours of the fast, that little whiff of fragrance makes the fast easier. I was always thankful for the scent, and really touched by the beautiful kindness of people that choose to share this simple scent with others, while they were also fasting. These small acts of kindness are what make up communities.

On Yom Kippur, we congregate together to reflect on the past year. If our community here did not exist, we would have no reason to hold ourselves accountable for our actions. The individuals in our community help us to grow and to become better people.

Last night as we chanted the Kol Nidre prayers, I briefly stayed silent and listened to the combination of voices that surrounded me in this room. The variety of different voices gave me the chills, and made me smile at the beautiful sound of our community.

13 Awake and Rise up to the Moment Hal J. Ossman - Executive Director Cornell University Hillel: The Yudowitz Center for Jewish Campus Life

The High Holy Days are the time in our tradition when we reflect back on the year that was, think about the wrongs that we have done, and pledge to do better in the year to come.

So, let’s think back to the last twelve months... My dad said that these are dire times, more What comes to mind first? so than anything he can remember. For me, this begs the question – what can we do about •• Hurricane Sandy? it? While daunting, the answer also fills me •• Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza? with hope because the answer is anything •• The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary? and everything.

•• The ongoing war in Afganistan? You are a new generation. You are not •• The civil war in Syria and unrest in Egypt? responsible for the state of the world. But guess what? This coming year you can take responsibility and change everything. It is We live in a world in turmoil during a very at times like Yom Kippur that we can look trying time for many, many people. to our tradition to help us decide the right path. I found myself talking on the phone with my dad about the past year and he was very concerned So what does Judaism tell us about how we about our country and our world. My dad is 65 can assume responsibility for the world? years old. He saw the hardships of the Vietnam War and lost many friends. He has lived through Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, Chief Ashkenazic the oil embargo of the 70’s and the meltdown Rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem, said, of the stock market in the 80’s. You name it – the Cold War, The Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, “A story is told that a Jew approached the 9/11. He has lived through these times. Chazon Ish (Rabbi Avraham Yishayahu Kareletz

14 of B’nai Brak, Israel) and informed him that he did He states that, “It came as a joyous daybreak Awake and Rise up to the Moment not have the money to pay municipal taxes. At to end the long night of their [the African that time, one could not vote if [he] did not fulfill American slaves] captivity.” There are two Hal J. Ossman - Executive Director [his] civic financial obligations. The Chazon Ish important concepts that jump off the page. Cornell University Hillel: The Yudowitz Center for Jewish Campus Life directed this man to sell his tefillin and pay his First of all, people can help to bring light taxes. You can borrow tefillin from someone else, out of darkness. Every generation has this the Chazon Ish explained, but the privilege to opportunity. Second, this concept is steeped vote you cannot borrow from someone else.” in our Jewish tradition.

According to our tradition, voting and being In the Passover Haggadah we read, “We are civic members of society rank above some other obliged to thank, to sing, to praise, to glorify, to mitzvot. It is a privilege we cannot borrow; it is exalt, to beautify, to bless, to offer and to magnify ours and ours alone. But it is also an essential the One who performed these miracles for our communal right in our nation. ancestors and us—who brought us from slavery to freedom, from despair to joy, from mourning Pirkei Avot, The Ethics of Our Fathers, teaches to feasting, from darkness to great light, and from not to separate yourself from the community. bondage to redemption.”

You have an opportunity to be a leader in The story of our Exodus from Egypt, our Passover our community on campus. You can take story, is a beacon of light to others. We, as Jews, responsibility for one another, you can vote, have a story to tell that can help others rise out you can protest the wrongs in the world. But of their physical or spiritual slaveries. Dr. King I am not here today to tell you what you should understood this. do – that is up to you and you alone. “It is obvious today that America has defaulted But, we can look to our tradition and to other on this promissory note...Instead of honoring inspirational moments in history to learn how this sacred obligation, America has given the we can be responsible for our future. Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’ But we refuse to And so, I would like to take a moment to reflect believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.” on 50 years ago. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech to hundreds of Right now, there are millions of Americans who thousands of people gathered in Washington, have been delivered a bad check. It has come with DC entitled, “I Have a Dream.” the millions of home foreclosures, the predatory practices of banks and lenders, and a crash in the I took a look back at the “I Have a Dream” speech. economy that has cost many people their savings, A teacher of mine, Rabbi Avi Weinstein, taught jobs, investments, and retirement funds. Does this that there is a way to learn about the Jewish affect us or our families? It might or might not. values that lie within this famous speech and that many of these values are important for our But it will be your generation that picks up of the generation to understand. In the beginning of pieces of the economy and tries to fix it for the the speech, Dr. King references the Emancipation future. You will have to own this responsibility. Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. You can begin by reading the paper, taking a

15 business class, asking questions, but these and a reason to be just and righteous. Perhaps are just the first steps you can take as college the strongest parallel to Judaism in “I Have a students. Yet, despite this bad check, we cannot Dream,” comes with this statement, “Continue say that we cannot make a difference. In the to work with the faith that unearned suffering is very next sentences, Dr. King stated, “We have redemptive...Go back...to the slums and ghettos... come to this hallowed spot to remind America knowing that somehow this situation can and of the fierce urgency of now. Now is the time will change.” to make justice a reality of all of God’s children.” In this statement, Dr. King speaks of suffering I am the Director of Cornell Hillel. Our namesake, and the path to redemption, even in the direst Rabbi Hillel, said of the fierce urgency of now, “If of places. I am not for myself who will be for me? If I’m for myself alone, what am I? If not now, when?” In the Talmud, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai stated, “Three great gifts were given to Israel for their Both Hillel and King see the world in the same lens suffering: the Torah, the Land of Israel, and – the responsibility not only lies in us to repair the the World to Come.” It is here where our world, but we cannot sit on the sidelines waiting narratives intertwine. If we pull ourselves for the right time. The right time is now. out of our suffering, we can change the world, not just the world to come, but the world In the Talmud, Rabbi Eliezer said, “One who of tomorrow. performs acts of righteousness and justice is greater that one who brings sacrifices to the Jews dream that God will, “Let the rugged ground Temple.” He also states that, “Acts of compassion be made level, and the ridges become like a plain.” are greater than acts of justice.” Once we have become compassionate, once we care about the Dr. King also dreams. “I have a dream that my four state of others, then we will fulfill the prophecy little children will one day live in a nation where found in the book of Amos, “And justice and they will not be judged by the color of their skin righteousness will rejoice like water, flow like but by the content of their character...I have a the river of Eitan.” dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, Just a brief time later in the speech he states, the rough places will be made plain, and the “We cannot be satisfied as long as... our children crooked places will be made straight...This is are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of our hope.” their dignity...We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Yom Kippur is the day that we take stock and Negro in New York believes he has nothing for take ownership over our deeds. While it is a day which to vote...No, we will not be satisfied until of repentance, it is also a day of reflection and justice rolls down like waters and righteousness hope. This year I hope for a better year; I hope like a mighty stream.” that we become better people. And for me, this year, I hope that your generation rises up and Dr. King and the Talmud would tell us that we takes ownership of your opportunity, takes should believe we have something to strive for advantages of your freedoms.

16 Vote, volunteer, be just, be righteous to each other, and don’t let this moment pass and think back decades from now, like my father, and wonder how the world is so shattered.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. closes his speech by saying, “Let freedom ring from the...hilltops of New Hampshire...from the mountains of New York...from the Alleghenies of Pennsylvania... from the Rockies of Colorado...from the slopes of California...And when this happens, and we allow freedom ring...we will be able to speed up the day when of all of God’s children – black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics – will be able to join hands and sing...Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

For the first time, you are free to make your own decisions and participate in our great, but sometimes broken society. My wish for you during these Holy Days, is that you hear the sound of the shofar, awake, and rise up to the moment.

17 Beyond Fasting: Finding Joy and Community on Yom Kippur

Caroline Kahlenberg, Student Leader Middlebury College

I’ve gotten a lot of quizzical reactions to my summer work for the Institute for Southern Jewish Life. People wonder,“ Wait, the South? Are there any Jews down there?”

But actually, there are lots of small but thriving I’m completely puzzled, therefore, when people Jewish communities all across the South, just call Yom Kippur the most joyous day of the year. as there are across New England. In fact, “Joy!?” More like a day of discomfort, and whenever I’d mention to people in Mississippi caffeine withdrawal headaches. If Jews call that I was involved in the Jewish community this ‘joy,’ I thought, perhaps I’ll try another path. up at Middlebury, people would respond, “Wait, Vermont? Are there any Jews up there?” But when Rabbi Ira asked me to give this sermon, I realized I hadn’t looked closely at the Torah and Once again, I’d answer: yes, there are. I am lucky haftarah portions for today. I could guess what to be part of an intimate, open-minded Jewish they’d say: one, that I’ve sinned against God. Two, community up in Middlebury. therefore I should fast to repent. And three, that I must promise never to have a cheeseburger again. In the spirit of this holiday, I begin with a confession: I’ve never really liked Yom Kippur— As it turns out, I was completely wrong. Far it involves two things I least enjoy: fasting from the strict commandments to fast all day and atonement. Both make me uncomfortable: and confess my sins to God, today’s haftarah one physically, the other emotionally. portion, offers a totally different interpretation of the holiday.

18 The Jewish people think they’re doing everything fasting on the day when we are all supposed to right to make God happy: they pray and they fast, fast. As we read in Isaiah, what matters most on just as God had commanded. They don’t under- Yom Kippur is not whether we fast. Our challenge stand why God isn’t responding to their prayers. is to rebuild and strengthen our relationships “Why, when we fasted, did You not see? When with other humans and our communities. we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?” As Israeli scholar Alice Shalvi wrote, today, God Because your fast is empty, God answers. It’s wants us “not to fast, but rather to share our bread hollow. You’re following the rituals, but in the with the hungry; not to lie in ashes, but rather process you’re forgetting to be kind to your to take the wretched poor into our home; not to neighbor, to those who are suffering. You’re wear sackcloth, but to clothe the naked; not to engaging in a physical act but lacking any be concerned solely with self, but to care for our ethical integrity. kith and kin.”

Even though you’re fasting, God says, “you see After I read Isaiah, I no longer saw Yom Kippur to your business and oppress all your laborers!... simply as an occasion for isolated individuals Is [this] the fast I desire?” to mourn and reflect alone on their relationship with God. Rather, I began to understand that No. Rather: “This is the fast I desire: To loose the Yom Kippur is all about human relationships. chains of injustice, and untie the cords of the yoke, This seemingly abstract notion of repentance, to let the oppressed go free; to break off every is about reaching out to and reconciling with one yoke. It is to share your bread with the hungry, another—family, friends, co-workers, strangers, and to take the wretched poor into your home; enemies—and apologizing with sincerity. when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to ignore your own kin.” As the Mishnah on Yom Kippur clearly states, “For transgressions done between a person and When I first read this, I thought of the many times God”—such as eating forbidden food or not that my mom asked me to clean my room. Instead keeping certain commandments—atoning of cleaning it, I stuffed all of my clothes in my today, on Yom Kippur, is sufficient. But, “for closet, drawers, and under my bed, hoping she transgressions done between one person and wouldn’t notice. But, she’d open my closet, see another,” —such as assault, robbery, or even dis- the mess, and give me a look—a look that, to this respect—simply asking God for forgiveness isn’t day, is still imprinted on my memory. enough. Rather, we must face our fears, reach out to the person we’ve hurt, and sincerely apologize. In this portion—just as my mom didn’t fall for my superficial cleaning tactics—neither did God It’s hard—but it’s also what I’ve come to love fall for the Jewish people’s superficial prayers about Judaism: Judaism values human and fasts. Fasting, God said, is only valuable relationships—it values community—above when coupled with ethical acts. Otherwise, all else. And it’s through these relationships it’s meaningless. that we relate to a higher power.

It seems slightly counterintuitive that the Rabbis There’s an old story about a devoutly religious chose this haftarah that minimizes the act of man named David who believes strongly in the

19 power of prayer. One day, David’s house is caught worshipped idols, but it was baseless hatred— in a devastating flood, and he’s stranded. A fighting amongst ourselves, and being too proud neighbor in a rowboat comes by to rescue him, to apologize—that crumbled the walls and led the but David refuses because he wants to wait for Jewish people into exile. God to save him. Meanwhile, the waters continue to rise, and David climbs higher and higher in Just as it takes tremendous strength to apologize, his house, still refusing each of the people in the same is true of forgiveness. Apology is hard. rowboats that come by to help him. Forgiveness is even harder. But both are essential to build and nurture the most sacred component Finally, David drowns, and goes to heaven. There, of Judaism: community. he complains bitterly to God—he says, “God, I was a good Jew, how could you forsake me?” God It’s hard to be a Jew without community. responds, “David, how can you say that? I sent four You can be a Jew without being born Jewish. row boats for you.” You can be a Jew without believing in God. You can be a Jew without knowing a single Clearly, divine work occurs through humans. And prayer. But it’s exceedingly difficult to be a Jew if you reject all of the rowboats that come by in without community. your life, you end up drowning. Because divinity is in those rowboats; it’s in every one of us. We That’s why I feel so lucky that here, in rural must take the time, today and every other day, to Vermont, I’ve found my Jewish community. I nurture and strengthen our human relationships had my bat mitzvah in this community. I learned first and foremost. Hebrew prayers in this community. I have broken my fast for three years in this community. And But how do we mend a relationship that we’ve most importantly, I’ve made some of my very somehow damaged? As the Mishnah teaches, best friends in this community. For all of this, we must apologize with sincerity. A real, sincere I feel so grateful. apology is hard. So I come back to my initial question: Why is To quote the noted philosopher Elton John, Yom Kippur the most joyous day of the Jewish “Sorry seems to be the hardest word.” Why? calendar? The Rabbis say it is because the day Because it puts us in a momentarily vulnerable is full of apology and forgiveness, I would agree, position. We can’t be sure that we’ll be forgiven, and also add one more thing: it’s a day full and that’s scary. of community.

Still, it’s the only way to rebuild and strengthen It is our community—our relationships with one relationships that have been cracked. And all another—more than anything else, that makes across the Jewish texts, our tradition challenges us holy. Thus today—Yom Kippur—is the holiest us to be vulnerable, to apologize. of days.

One of the Rabbis’ main explanations for the destruction of the Second Temple wasn’t that we didn’t fast on Yom Kippur, it wasn’t that we

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