Thexsrpv Orchard Published by The Jewish Federations of North America Rabbinic Cabinet Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 Thexsrpv Orchard Chair The Jewish Federations of North America Rabbinic Cabinet...... 3 Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt Rosh Hashanah Family Dinner Reading...... 4 From the JFNA Chair of the Board of Trustees and President and CEO...... 5 Vice Chairs Kathy Manning and Jerry Silverman Rabbi Les Bronstein Rosh Hashanah Greetings from the Director of the Rabbinic Cabinet...... 6 Rabbi Frederick Klein Rabbi Gerald Weider Rabbi Larry Kotok Rosh Hashanah Greetings from the Chair of the Rabbinic Cabinet...... 7 Rabbi Steven Lindeman Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt Rabbinic Cabinet Activities...... 8 President Rabbinic Cabinet Calendar...... 8 Rabbi Steven Foster Rabbinic Cabinet Annual Meeting Report...... 9 Honorary Chair Rabbis Hold Series of Unprecedented Meetings at the U.N...... 10 Rabbi Matthew H. Simon high holy day sermonic and Poetic Thoughts Open Your Eyes...... 12 Director Rabba Sara Hurwitz JFNA Rabbinic Cabinet Low Tide Of The Year...... 14 Rabbi Gerald I. Weider Rabbi Judith HaLevy Rush Not …To Forgiveness...... 16 JFNA Chair of the Board Rabbi Bonita Taylor and Rabbi David Zucker Kathy Manning Superstition...... 18 Rabbi Eric Polokoff JFNA Chair of the Feet They Have And Cannot Walk...... 20 Executive Committee Rabbi Michael Gold Michael Gelman Make The Call – Yom Kippur Yizkor...... 24 Rabbi Morley Feinstein JFNA President and CEO Working On Our Rewrite...... 26 Jerry Silverman Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin Why Tzedakah Is Better Than Prayer And Even Torah Study...... 30 Rabbi Allen S. Maller Viewing Unetanah Tokef Through A New Lens...... 31 Rabbi Amy Scheinerman A Review of Israel And The Middle East – Yom Kippur Morning...... 34 Rabbi Fred Guttman When Reconciliation Fails...... 40 The Orchard Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Published by The Jewish Federations of Sign Of The Times – A Story Of Redemption...... 42 Rosh Hashanah North America Rabbinic Cabinet Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt

25 Broadway, Suite 1700 Rosh Hashanah Day...... 47 Rabbi Steven Garten New York, NY 10004 Walking Hand In Hand — The Challenge Of Jewish Unity...... 50 Email: [email protected] Rabbi Avi Weiss

Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 Comments For The High Holy Days...... 53 Rabbi Paul David Kerbel What Can We Know...... 59 Published in cooperation with Rabbi Wayne Allen The Will To Live...... 61 the rabbinic cabinets of local Rabbi Emeritus Amiel Wohl Jewish federations Torah Comment Or Sermon Spark – Day One Torah Reading...... 63 Rabbi Neil Sandler Four Poems On Repentance...... 64 Rabbi Brad Bloom Israel Action Network High Holidays Messaging...... 68 Countering The Assault On Israel’s Legitimacy...... 69 The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee...... 77 The Jewish Agency for Israel...... 79 The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 2 THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA RABBINIC CABINET

The mission of the JFNA Rabbinic Cabinet SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

is to unite rabbis of all ideologies in the work of 1. Raise the level of knowledge about JFNA in the kiyum ha’umah, Jewish continuity, and tzedakah, rabbinate and community.

acquaint and involve the North American rab- 2. Stimulate and support rabbinic participation in, and relationships with, JFNA and local Federations. binate with the goals and activities of JFNA, and

bring the talents, resources, and perspectives of the 3. Assist with and participate in The Federation Annual Campaign by enlarging the scope and intensity of rabbinate to JFNA and the Federation movement. synagogue involvement.

4. Upgrade rabbinic giving and increase rabbinic The cabinet serves as the rabbinic arm of JFNA, solicitations.

the major agency of North American Jewry for 5. Strengthen the rabbinic, congregational, community, agency and Federation partnership. tzedakah. It promotes the unity of the Jewish

people in its efforts to support the needs of Jews 6. Engage the next generation of rabbis.

everywhere by including rabbis from every 7. Continue education

movement in North American Jewish life. 8. Develop programs and educational materials about Israel, the Jewish tradition and Jewish peoplehood/ community. The Rabbinic Cabinet further seeks to inform 9. Serve as teachers and spiritual resources to the colleagues about the most current developments leadership and constituencies of JFNA, local in Jewish life, the needs of our people, and the federations and the Jewish community.

techniques for effective utilization of rabbinic STANDARDS FOR MEMBERSHIP leadership within local communities. In addition,

the Rabbinic Cabinet endeavors to apprise the Members of the Rabbinic Cabinet should:

lay leadership of the concerns of the rabbinate, 1. Be involved in local Federation and campaign activities, support federation work and engage infuse Jewish values and content into the work of synagogues in the community campaign. local federations, and serve Israel and the Jewish 2. Pledge a minimum of $1000. Rabbis who were people with rabbinical involvement and support. ordained less than five years ago should pledge at least $500.

3. Participate in JFNA missions.

4. Attend the Annual Meeting of the Rabbinic Cabinet and/or regional conferences and special meetings.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 3 Rosh Hashanah Family Dinner Reading

We present you with this suggested reading so that it may be shared with members of families and communities, and as loyal members everyone at your holiday table prior to beginning your meal. It may be read of the House of Israel. in unison by all present, or by the leader of the meal. As we dip a slice of apple in honey, let us remind ourselves that life is worth living and that a life of Torah and holy deeds brings On this Rosh Hashana we gather as Jews united across the sweetness into the world. world to celebrate the new Jewish year 5773. Finally, as we hearken to the wordless prayer of the shofar, Once again we feel the privilege of inaugurating a new year and let us listen to the commandment only our hearts can hear: as we do so, we look back at our history with profound pride. At Choose life, that you may live. the same time, we look to our future with the worry that always comes from experience, but also with the soaring hopefulness May we join our fellow Jews in choosing life for the coming of a people whose Torah teaches hope for God’s world. year, both for ourselves and for all of God’s creatures. On this day marking the creation of the universe, let us try Amen to re-create ourselves as decent human beings, as caring

The Rabbinic Cabinet of the Jewish Federations of North America

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, Cabinet Chair Rabbi Larry Kotok, Vice Chair Rabbi Matthew H. Simon, Honorary Chair Rabbi Les Bronstein, Vice Chair Rabbi Steve Lindemann, Vice Chair Rabbi Gerald I. Weider, Director of the Rabbinic Cabinet Rabbi Frederick Klein, Vice Chair Rabbi Steven E. Foster, President

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 4 ROSH HASHANAH FAMILY DINNER READING

ROSH HASHANAH GREETINGS FROM JFNA CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND PRESIDENT & CEO

Rosh Hashanah is a time of great unity for the Jewish People. Throughout the year, we may walk different paths, pursue diverse goals, and live separate lives, but on the high holidays, we, as Jews, are all one. No matter our culture, race, age or denomination, on Rosh Hashanah we all share in the traditions, the gathering of friends and family and the blessings of life. We all share in the promise that teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah will bring a sweet new year.

At a time when there is so much division across the world, Rosh Hashanah reminds us that the Jewish People must stand together. We must share in our devotion to G-d, to Israel and to the global Jewish community. There is much work to be done and critical issues to be addressed – challenges that require us to put aside our differences and, instead, celebrate what we share.

At The Jewish Federations of North America, we invite you to share in our lifesaving work, to help care for those in need at home, in Israel and in more than 70 countries around the world. With the help of our historic partners, The Jewish Agency for Israel, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, World ORT and our many local and overseas agencies, Jewish Federations are helping people in need, rescuing people in danger, and keeping Jewish life strong.

This year, let us share in the relief of a North American mother, who finds the support necessary to rejoin the workforce and provide for her young children, thanks to Jewish Federations. Let us share in the joy of the young Ethiopian-Israeli, who with the help of Jewish Federations, finds a new job and puts food on the table for his young family. Let us share in the excitement of the teenage girl in Brazil, who travels to Israel on Taglit- Birthright Israel and discovers a Jewish community, and the health of Holocaust survivor in Odessa, whose medicines miraculously arrive each week, along with groceries and comfort and compassion – all made possible by Jewish Federations.

On Rosh Hashanah, we have the chance to start anew. We have the ability to reflect on our actions, make amends with those around us and begin the year with a fresh slate. We have the opportunity to work together to accomplish more for our entire Jewish family, and make an incredible difference for those in need around the globe.

Rather than letting our differences come between us, let’s celebrate our common goals and dreams, and rejoice in what we share – not only on Rosh Hashanah, but throughout the whole year.

L’Shana Tova Tikatevu,

Kathy E. Manning Chair of the Board of Trustees The Jewish Federations of North America

Jerry Silverman President and CEO The Jewish Federations of North America

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 5 ROSH HASHANAH GREETINGS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE RABBINIC CABINET - RABBI GERALD I. WEIDER

Fall 2012/Tishri 5773

The rabbinic role in securing the future of North American Jewry is crucial, especially when coupled with the work of Federation. That is so because I believe that rabbis hold the key to the hearts and minds of this generation of Jews as well as the next generation of North American Jewry. What rabbis do and say about Federation will make a difference as to where, how, and why the average Jew in North America gives t’zedakah. That is why the Rabbinic Cabinet of The Jewish Federations of North America (and the Boards of Rabbis that are supported by local federations) are so important.

Simply put, federations need rabbis as religious leaders, teachers and exemplars of Judaism and rabbis need federations as the vehicles for the tzedakah work that they do locally and around the world. This became so obvious to the thirty rabbis who visited Budapest and Israel last February as a part of a very special overseas mission. Each of the rabbis who participated in the mission saw “up close and personally” how federation dollars had saved Jewish lives and souls in Hungary and in Israel. They witnessed the hunger for Jewish learning, tradition and values on the part of those Jews in need of Jewish support in every day living and they saw how JFNA, through the JDC and JAFI, provide the means for that needed guidance.

Rabbis are the gate way to teach Jews about the value of t’zedakah, and the value of federated giving. Rabbis are the voice of congregational priorities for the local community. When rabbis are actively involved with federations, they can then put their concerns into concrete action through federation programs because federations create vehicles that are beyond the scope of any one synagogue. Then, Jewish values and ideals are translated into actual projects for the betterment of the entire local, national, and international Jewish community.

Therefore, it is my hope and prayer that in this New Year we will create a cooperative spirit wherein both rabbis and federations will work together for the benefit of K’lal Yisrael. As such, in the year ahead, I call upon each member of the Rabbinic Cabinet to reach out to your local federation leadership, both professional and lay, in order to create that spirit of cooperation by giving of your time, your support and your substance to your local federation. In the year ahead, I pray that we can create an awareness of the world of good that federation does within your synagogues, and in so doing, that you will teach the community about how important synagogues are for federation.

If we will take these simple steps together, I am sure that this will go a long way in making 5773 a year of good will and a year of sustenance for the entire Jewish community of North America.

Shana Tovah

Rabbi Gerald I. Weider Director of the Rabbinic Cabinet of JFNA

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 6 2012 High Holiday Message and Greetings from the Chair of the Rabbinic Cabinet Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt

The High Holidays are for rabbis what the Super Bowl is to NFL football players, April 15 is to accountants, and December 25 is to retailers. It is for us what “sweep week” is to network and local television execs. It is the time when we have our largest audience, when the greatest number of our congregants are watching and listening to what we have to say.

As a result, we have the chance to reach individuals we may not normally see on a regular basis. They come, wanting and sometimes even yearning to be touched and inspired.

Since we have their attention our goal should be to connect them to our people and to Judaism, to give them the desire to learn more, to feel positive about Israel and being Jewish, and to realize that our faith can be a guide for how to live their lives.

I always view the holidays as a time to rise to the occasion by seeking to touch and inspire those who come to worship with us. It is an opportunity to impart and convey some of the richness of our heritage and the beauty of our tradition to those in attendance. It offers the possibility to teach and share the wisdom of our tradition and to show its relevance and its applications to situations we encounter today. The capacity to ignite a spark of pride in our people and to implant an appreciation for Jewish identity is part of what we should aspire to do at this time of year.

As you prepare for the holidays, I hope you will find the material in this issue of the Orchard helpful so that you may succeed in touching the souls of those who join you for the Days of Awe. May you challenge the intellect and fulfill the spiritual longings of your community, and may 5773 be a sweet year for you and your loved ones as well.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 7 RABBINIC CABINET ACTIVITIES

RABBINIC CABINET CALENDAR 2012 – 2013

September 2012

High Holy Day Orchard sent out to rabbis and Federations High Holiday Home Reading to be sent to rabbis and Federation Executives to distribute nationally

October 2012

October 3: Massachusetts Board of Rabbis Meeting, Boston - Topic: “Rabbis and Federations: How can we work to forge a new relationship”

November 2012

November 11 -13: GA, Baltimore, MD – Rabbinic Cabinet luncheon and special programming for rabbis Thanksgiving Home Reading to be sent to rabbis & Federation Executives to distribute nationally

December 2012

Hanukah Home Reading to be sent to rabbis & Federation Executives to distribute nationally

February 2013

February 4–12: Mission to Kiev and Israel *By invitation only. If interested contact Rabbi Jerry Weider, Director of the Rabbinic Cabinet

February 25: Passover Orchard sent out to Rabbis and Federations

April 2013

April 24: UN Day lobbying effort with New York Board of Rabbis, ARZA and MERCAZ in New York

June 2013

June 10–12: Annual Meeting, Washington D.C.

Also: Community visits to Boards of Rabbis, with Seminary students and at National Rabbinic Conventions by Stuart Weinblatt, Chairman and Jerry Weider, Rabbinic Cabinet Director.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 8 The Rabbinic Cabinet Annual Meeting Report

Dear Colleagues,

I want to share with you some of the highlights from an extremely successful Annual Meeting held in New York.

Our program reflected the diverse aspects of what it means to be a rabbi. eW studied together, touched upon the spiritual dimension of our work, our pastoral role as community leaders – both in the broader community and in the Federation community.

We met in small groups with 12 Missions to the United Nations. The ambassadors we met with were extremely receptive and interested in hearing from American rabbis on issues pertaining to Israel, the peace process, Iran and the Middle East in general. To help prepare us for these unprecedented meetings, we were briefed by some outstanding professionals in the Jewish community. Among the speakers who addressed us were Malcolm Hoenlein, Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, John Ruskay, the Executive Director of the New York Federation and Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor. We studied Torah together and had a private personal tour of the 9/11 Memorial with the architect and had a moving visit to the Tribute Center which was arranged by Rabbi Joe Potasnick of the New York Board of Rabbis.

I sincerely hope you will be able to participate and join us at next year’s Annual Meeting and the GA, and participate in the work of the Rabbinic Cabinet of JFNA.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Stuart G. Weinblatt Chairman, Rabbinic Cabinet Jewish Federations of North America

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 9 Rabbis Hold Series of Unprecedented Meetings at the U.N.

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, Chairman of the Rabbinic Cabinet of JFNA June 12, 2012

The old adage about the weather is applicable to the United Nations. Everyone complains about it, but no one seems to do anything about it.

A group of over 60 rabbis, at the annual meeting of the Rabbinic Cabinet of JFNA decided to try to do something, if not about the weather, then at least about the poor treatment of Israel in the international forum.

Ambassador Richard Schifter, who served in the United Nations with Jeanne Kirkpatrick and as Ambassador to the Human Rights Commission guided our approach. He pointed us in the direction of which countries he thought we would be able to influence. Prepared with briefings byAaron Jacob of AJC and David Michaels of B’nai B’rith, we fanned out across New York in groups of 5 - 6 and met with ambassadors and representatives of a dozen countries, including the Vatican’s mission to the UN.

To the best of my knowledge, it is the first time that American rabbis had gone out in such a concerted effort to lobby and meet with UN delegations about the treatment of Israel.

We chose selectively. There was no point wasting time or expending energy with countries that are predisposed against Israel. As a result we met with representatives of nations primarily in the Eastern European bloc because they have often voted neutral or abstained on resolutions pertaining to Israel, and they appear to be interested in improving their relations with Israel. If a significant number of countries who abstain on votes against Israel would change their votes, many of the resolutions singling out Israel would not pass.

Our goal was to express our dissatisfaction with the poor and unjust treatment of Israel at the United Nations. We sought to highlight the unique way in which Israel is treated, resulting in the inexcusable ignoring of serious problems and egregious human rights violations elsewhere. No other nation is singled out in the way that Israel is. At the last session alone, 30 % of the resolutions adopted by roll call criticized Israel.

We were there to make it clear that Israel is not alone, that it has friends, and that the resolutions against Israel do not reflect reality.

We discussed problems posed by a repeat of the attempt by the Palestinian Authority to avoid or circumvent direct negotiations with Israel by seeking admittance to the UN. In one of our meetings I reminded the Ambassador of Abbas’ op ed article in last year’s New York Times where he stated that the primary purpose and benefit of being admitted to the UN would be to pursue Israel in international courts of law and other forums. In other words, they pursue this action not to resolve the conflict, but to use UN status and its apparatus to prolong and perpetuate it by seeking venues to attack the legitimacy of Israel.

Another issue we brought to the attention of the Ambassadors was the very structure of the United Nations, which is automatically stacked against Israel. There are 22 members of the Arab League, along with 57 countries that make up the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and other geopolitical factors. The organization of Jewish states in the world is of course, one.

Israel’s predicament is further complicated by the structure of the governing body and its agencies. Whereas nine of ten units in the Department of Political Affairs deal with global or regional issues, there is one that deals with a singular issue, the Division for Palestinian Rights. Two committees of the General Assembly focus almost exclusively on bashing Israel. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Human Rights Practices Affecting the Palestinian People are the only committees of the General Assembly that have such narrow mandates. We

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 10 pointed out the lopsided approach and reminded them that funding of these agencies and divisions should not be automatic.

Finally, we spoke about Iran and the threat posed to the region and the world by a nuclear armed Iran.

I believe the Palestinian Authority was genuinely surprised last year when their request for member status was rejected. They are used to having their way at the UN. As Abba Eban used to famously say, were the Arab states to suggest a resolution that the world is flat, it would pass with an overwhelming majority. The American Jewish community organized and worked effectively and tirelessly behind the scenes to let it be known how unhelpful such a move would be. The active response and work of the American Jewish community expressing its opinion clearly influenced the outcome.

Time will tell if our meetings had an impact. We were extremely well received, and they were happy to hear from us. Indicative of this was the high rate of acceptance of our requests. Of the 14 nations with whom we asked to meet, an astonishingly high number, 12 agreed to meet with us.

We still have much to do, but at least we let it be known that Israel is not alone, but has friends who care deeply about how it is treated.

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, Chairman of the Rabbinic Cabinet, Jewish Federations of North America Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tzedek Potomac, Maryland

Countries whose representatives met with members of JFNA Rabbinic Cabinet: Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, The Vatican

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 11 ROSH HASHANAH SERMONIC AND POETIC THOUGHTS

OPEN YOUR EYES Rabba Sara Hurwitz

We live in a precarious and scary world-- where now, more than ever, the future seems uncertain. A reasonable response is to simply shut it all out, to literally and metaphorically cover our eyes. Covering our eyes, is plausible, even an encouraged Jewish response. Weekly, on Friday night, we shut out the world for a few moments shielding our eyes from the light of the Shabbat candles. And, daily, we cover our eyes, consumed briefly by darkness, imploring G-d to listen as we recite ShemaYisrael. But we can’t keep our eyes closed forever.

Through our traditions, as a people we cover our eyes. And therefore, on Rosh Hashana, the most Awesome Day of the year, we are commanded to listen to kol shofar, allow its sound to reverberate and awaken us. However, on the day when we are meditating on the sounds of the shofar, we are confronted with the verse in the shoforot section of musaf that confounds our senses entirely, “vkol ha’am ro’im et hakolot v’et hlapadim v’et kol hashofar...” As the Jewish people are standing at Sinai at the moment of revelation, we are told, “And the entire people saw the sounds and the flames and the sound of the shofar…”

Perhaps the question about the verse should not be: how is it possible to SEE the sounds of the shofar? But rather, if we open our eyes and truly look, would we be able to see the physical shofar as clearly as our dreams for the future-- the dreams we hope the shofar sounds will help achieve?

Vision is more than the eyes ability to identify images. To really see clearly means both to see that which is right in front of us, and to see into the future, to have a vision, and of what it could be. This, I believe is the challenge of Rosh Hashana, to open our eyes, and really see.

It is no coincidence that the laining that Chazal selected to read on Rosh Hashana is consumed by the imperative, to open our eyes. In both Parshiot, the words ra’ah meaning to see, and rachok, meaning from afar, or distance, reoccurs throughout. It is the interplay of these two words—ra’ah and rachok, which implore us to really see. Ra’ah is the hope that we will open our eyes and see physically what is right before our eyes. Rachok is the hope that we see into the future and dream of its possibilities.

First we read about Hagar, who at her greatest moment of adversity could not open her eyes. Not only did she lack the vision to dream, but she couldn’t see what was right before her eyes.

The Torah tells us: (21:16)

; דֶלָּיַהתֹומְּב הֶאְרֶא-לַא ,הָרְמָא יִּכ .. קֵחְרַה ,דֶגֶּנִמ ּהָל בֶׁשֵּתַו ְךֶלֵּתַו And she went, and sat down over against him a good way off (HARCHAYK)… Let me not look (EREH) upon the death of the child.

Hagar was blinded by the present. She could not see that in the future her son Yishmael would thrive and grow into a mighty nation. She had no vision for all that was possible for her child. By sitting harchayk, at a distance, she removed herself from her dreams.

But God would not let her remain blinded, as the Torah explains: ;םִיָמ רֵאְּב אֶרֵּתַו ,ָהיֶניֵע-תֶא םיִלֱא חַקְפִּיַו טי “And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.”

The Torah is careful not to say that God miraculously caused the well to appear, rather, God opened her eyes—implying that the well was there the whole time. She was so consumed by her dread, lacking hope for the future, that she did not even see the well.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 12 And so Hagar disappears, fading into history as a foil for our forbearers.

We then read about Avraham, who at first also seems to be lacking both types of vision, 22:4 קֹחָרֵמ--םֹוקָּמַה-תֶא אְרַּיַוויָניֵע-תֶא םָהָרְבַא אָּׂשִּיַו ,יִׁשיִלְּׁשַה םֹוּיַּב ד “On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.”

Avraham saw the place from afar, “vayar ha’makom, merachok.” The exact words attributed to Hagar. Although the plain sense of the verse implies that he saw something, his vision was mayrachok, distant. The Midrash in Bereishit Rabba (56:1) explains that the place Avraham saw was, “a cloud enveloping a mountain.”

Avraham looks up and his vision is clouded, he cannot perceive God so clearly. He lacks clarity of what the future will bring. The hopes and dreams placed in his son Yitzchak are about to be taken from him. The world suddenly appears clouded and for a moment and his dreams vanish.

Just as Avraham is about to sacrifice Yitzchak, Avraham overcomes his haziness. The Angel stays his hand, vayisah - Avraham once again lifts up his eyes, Vyar, and looks.

רַחַא ,לִיַא-הֵּנִהְו אְרַּיַו ויָניֵע-תֶא םָהָרְבַא אָּׂשִּיַו ג “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns.”

Avraham opened his own eyes, unlike Hagar, who could not do so herself. His dream of the future was restored. At that moment, he saw that God would forgive his decedents, over and over again, that the shofar would be the vessel to deliver our hopes and dreams to god. The ram is no longer placed “afar”, but right before his eyes. He can see what is before him and regains his ability to dream.

This year, we must ask ourselves if we are like Hagar, blinded to all that we are blessed with; do we have stunted dreams? Or are we like Avraham? Can we learn to see all that is before us, and in times of adversity, can we see merachok, have a vision of our dreams for the future?

Are we able to move beyond the details and discern what is really important in life? Do we really see our children grow up? Or do we let life rush past the moments of joy? Do we see our parents, despite the fact that they don’t live close by? Do we see our spouse, our friends, our loved ones and perceive their joy and sadness? Or, do we close our eyes to the obvious, to that which is right before us?

In times of darkness, personally and globally, do we remain, merachok, distant and detached? Do we allow adversity trample our hopes and dreams of the future?

We cannot run and hide like Hagar. We cannot retreat to the darkness moving through life with eyes closed. Because we will suffer the consequences of feeling merachok - afar, distant- cut off from those who love us. If we cannot look people in the face, then how can we be close with others? And if we stop dreaming, looking for the mountain-tops, though they may be clouded, then we are destined to walk through a dark miserable world. If we stop hoping, life loses its meaning.

So, we must open our eyes and look up. And on this Rosh Hashanah, as we hear the shofar, may we seize the opportunity to look up, open our eyes and really see.

Rabba Sara Hurwitz Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, Riverdale, NY

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 13 LOW TIDE OF THE YEAR Rabbi Judith HaLevy

As a rabbi, I am so privileged to be serving here in Malibu, in the presence of a great teacher who is here for us always, just waiting for us to stop and learn the eternal secrets of life. Our greatest teacher is the Pacific Ocean, our Source of Life on these shores. What better guide could we have to the mysteries of the rhythms of eternal life, the ebb and flow of time as it laps between the shores of the temporal and the eternal? I often regard the inevitable traffic jam on the Pacific Coast Highway as a blessing: this becomes my unexpected yet Divine opportunity to observe the sea. Every time, I see that each wave is separate and distinct in its shape and pattern, yet the ocean is a unified whole. Separation and unity are both part of the greater reality that is the sea. The only constant is change. Hour by hour, the sea responds to and creates patterns that run the gamut, from the glasslike calm of an early Malibu morning to the stormy winds of a hurricane sent northward up the coast from Mexico. We cannot always predict when life’s storms will suddenly swell up, buffeting us with illness or loss. Life’s timing is not ours to determine.

As Jews, we live in lunar time, and we are people of the moon. At this moment of Rosh Hashanah, we await the new moon of Tishrei to herald our coming New Year. Here, on the shores of the Pacific, we are constantly reminded of the pull of the moon’s timing on our lives.

And how do we know what time it is? When I moved to Malibu, a congregant gave me a small care package, and in it was the “Malibu Bible.” It’s a little book that tells you the exact moment of low and high tide, along with the sunrise and moonrise, for each day of the year. The minus tides, marked in red, indicate super lows. May of us consult that little book daily as if it were the Torah from Sinai. How else am I to know when to walk on the beach? If I want to walk on the shore, I must honor moon time—or my seven o’clock walk will sometimes be underwater.

It occurs to me that, in “Malibu Bible” terms, we are now, on Erev Rosh Hashanah, at the minus tide moment of the entire Jewish year. The minus tide is the moment that the sea recedes, revealing a whole world of tide pools and rock formations, organic life forms and seaweed forests that are usually covered by the ocean’s waters. The surface has been rolled away, and it is as if we are given a glimpse of a different reality, however fleeting, marked in RED. At this moment of poise, of balance between 5772 and 5773, it is as if the Divine waters have receded, back to the source of life. We are at a moment of stasis, on hold, restrained by the cosmic pause button. We can see clearly what lies underneath us before God allows the waters of life to rush back in and replenish us with a new vitality, a New Year.

What do we see underneath the surface in our minus tide moment? If we take the time for introspection, a moment of quiet to reevaluate our lives, we will see the slippery rocks that lurk below. We will see the patterns that have held us captive, enabling us to repeat the same mistakes, year after year. We will see the barnacles of old resentments that lie just under the surface, releasing small bubbles of anger whenever our buttons are pushed. If we look deeper, we will see the deep troughs of old wounds, and the bedrock of long-held beliefs about our limitations and the limitations of the others. We are given a glimpse of what lies beneath the surface to help us to reassess and reevaluate our lives. We need to change, but before we can change, we must clean ourselves out, make room for new energy to pour into our lives. We must empty ourselves before we can be full.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 14 This is the process of T’shuvah. T’shuvah means to take the time to examine the underpinnings, and to reflect on our beliefs and repent the actions that have led us to accumulate the barnacles and slippery moss that cover the shoals of our lives. We must scrape. We must clean. We must reach out and say – aloud - “I am sorry” to those whom we may have harmed by our actions or our thoughtlessness. One by one, we must pry loose all that no longer serves us. We must make space for forgiveness, toward ourselves and toward others. If we allow murky resentments to fester beneath the surface, we will soon have nowhere left to stand. We are given this time, these special days, to literally clean up our act before entering a New Year.

God’s time is God’s time. No matter what we do, the waters of life will return, covering the hidden substructure, bringing back mayim chaim, the waters of life for another year. Who and how will we walk in this world? The cycle of life will continue, but it is our choice as to how we wish to live. We can alter the quality, and the meaning of our lives, but the ultimate timing belongs to God. Let us let go of what no longer serves us in the rush of the outgoing tide, and change, really change before the New Year, before we are out of time.

Rabbi Judith HaLevy Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue Malibu, CA

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 15 RUSH NOT . . . TO FORGIVENESS Rabbi Bonita E. Taylor & Rabbi David J. Zucker

A continuing theme during the High Holy Day season is the issue of forgiveness. This topic is threaded through the prayers that we recite during the month of Elul as we prepare for the Days of Awe. It continues during the month of Tishrei through the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah, Shabbat Shuvah, and Yom Kippur. There is even a time-honored tradition that stretches the timeframe for seeking forgiveness and forgiving others through the period of Sukkot.

We face the issue of forgiveness from two primary perspectives. The first is our wish to be forgiven by others and by God. When it comes to our seeking forgiveness for our deeds either of omission or commission, we are fairly clear about what this means. We are willing to seek pardon for our iniquities, but we want this pardon to be relatively easy to achieve. The second is our struggle to forgive others who have wronged us. Here, we are inconsistent. On one hand, we find it difficult – frequently even impossible – to forgive those whom we claim to hold near and dear for the treasured wounds that we feel they have inflicted upon us. Family feuds are notorious where one person holds onto a slight that they experienced decades ago. We note that not too long ago, a new TV mini-series surfaced about the Hatfields and the McCoys, the model for a family feud that went on for generations. On the other hand, we are often too quick to forgive those with whom we interact who we feel have wounded us to the core.

Our tradition encourages magnanimity. In Pesiqta Rabbati our sages encourage generosity of spirit by offering God as a role model. They cite a midrash on Leviticus which acknowledges that Israel sins throughout the year. Then during the High Holy Days, Jews actively seek forgiveness for their sins. They sound a shofar, praise God, repent, and fast. Consequently, by the close of Yom Kippur, God forgives them. Seeing this, Israel is filled with joy. The people gather myrtles, willows and palm branches to build sukkot and sing praises to God. “The Holy One then says to Israel, ‘Let bygones be bygones. From this moment commences a new reckoning. Today is the first day in the new reckoning of iniquities. As Scripture says, On the first day’ (Lev. 23:40).” (Pesiqta Rabbati, Pisqa 51.8 end).

Should we follow suit? Letting people “off the hook” might seem appropriate when it comes to the relatively benign wrongdoings of enhanced gossip, avarice, failure of will, a lack of compassion, or even indifference to the needs of others around us, whether they be family, friends, colleagues, or members of the wider society in which we live. Yet what of more egregious sins, acts of omission or commission that truly harm and cause deep and lasting damage? What of those sins that we know about but often fail to discuss publically, such as predatory behavior and sexual scandals? What about the predatory behaviors that are perpetrated by rabbis, cantors, and Jewish educators? These sins – and they are truly sins and not just “missing the mark” – continue to stain the good name and the moral standing of the entire Jewish community.

Publically admitting that this shandeh takes place is difficult to face. Regrettably, families and religious communities deny even the public airing of these allegations. Sadly, statistics suggest that we know and work alongside people who have been molested, or and this is hard to think about – someone who has molested or continues to molest others.

The need to fully acknowledge wrongdoing is greater than mouthing words of penitence and sorrow. The rush to forgiveness – in effect to sweep sinful behaviors under the table – does not address the core problems. It hides and ignores them, but it does not make them go away. This is particularly true when community leaders commit these illicit acts that we choose to forgive. If these events even make the news, reporters interview neighbors who expound that the perpetrator should not be held accountable because “we like their music,” “they are nice people who daven regularly,” or because “they have families.” The net result is but a variation of the legal principle “Justice delayed is justice denied,” or its earlier formulation in the Mishna, “Violence comes into the land because of the delay of justice or the perversion of justice” (Mishna Avot 5.8).

Should forgiveness even be the goal?

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 16

Ignoring, excusing, forgiving, and forgetting may have disastrous consequences, including sending the message that the behavior is sanctioned and acceptable, leading to its repetition. In so doing, we become complicit with evil and deny the suffering of the victims. According to recognized world-expert Dr. Marie Fortune, of the FaithTrust Institute, “Forgiveness is the last step at best . . . Quick forgiveness or cheap grace is not helpful to perpetrators --- and it can be devastating to survivors whose process is cut short. Some experience of justice is the prerequisite for forgiveness and eventually for healing.” (Marie M. Fortune, “No Healing Without Justice,” December 2001, quoted in materials of the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence (CPSDV) now the FaithTrust Institute http://www.cpsdv.org/Articles/index.htm) . When perpetrators – sexual predators – do not need to repent by earning their forgiveness (which might take years or decades or even a lifetime to achieve), they often repeat their predacious behaviors.

Fortune explains that she has witnessed offenders who offer these chilling words: “‘Whenever you talk with people about forgiveness, tell them not to forgive us so quickly.’ Each [one of these offenders . . .] had gone straight to his [religious leader . . .] when he was first arrested. Each one had been prayed over and sent home ‘forgiven.’ They said, ‘it was the worst thing anyone could have done to us. It meant that we could continue to try to avoid responsibility for the harm we did . . .’” (ibid).

In an ideal world, all ruptures would be reconcilable. In the real world, sadly, perhaps forgiveness should not always be the goal. Certainly, the onus for forgiveness should be on the perpetrator and not on the victim or survivor, where it frequently is now. Forgiveness needs to be earned, step-by-step. In some cases, granting forgiveness will take years, decades, or even centuries.

Rabbi Bonita E. Taylor, DMin, BCC is the Associate Director of CPE, and Director of Jewish Chaplaincy Education, at HealthCare Chaplaincy, New York, NY. She is an ACPE (Association of Clinical Pastoral Education) Supervisor, and Board Certified by the NAJC, where she is Past-Vice President. She was designated the 2008/5768 Chaplain of the Year by the New York Board of Rabbis (NYBR). btaylor@ healthcarechaplaincy.org

Rabbi David J. Zucker, PhD, BCC, recently retired as Director of Chaplaincy Care at Shalom Cares, and Shalom Hospice in Aurora Colorado. Zucker is the recipient of the prestigious 2012 APC (Association of Professional Chaplains) national “Local Leadership Award.” Author of several works, his latest book is The Torah: An Introduction for Christians and Jews (Paulist, 2005). He writes for a number of journals. His website is: http://davidjzucker.org

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 17 SUPERSTITION Rabbi Eric Polokoff

Like other kids, our daughters looked forward to snow days. The allure of an impromptu holiday was so great they even tried to take matters into their own hands. Back in elementary school the girls’ claimed that all that was necessary for a major snowfall was to strictly adhere to this recipe: put an orange in the freezer, a wooden spoon under the pillow, wear pajamas reversed and inside out, drink hot chocolate before bed, and say “Let it snow” three times before falling asleep.

In what’s likely more fodder for the analyst’s couch, I saw this as a “teachable moment.” I explained that belief in magic was superstition, and that we pray for the day, “When superstition will no longer enslave the mind nor idolatry blind the eye.” The girls’ reaction: they really, really wanted a snow day, and their friends insist it worked! So much for rabbinical persuasion. And such is the natural desire to find a vehicle for exerting control. What child wouldn’t want to gain mastery over the school calendar.

Yet the girls were not alone, superstition abounds. Baseball players think it bad luck to step on the foul line when taking the field. The Chicago Cubs are still thought to be under a curse for having ejected a goat from Wrigley Field in 1945. Theater people don’t whistle backstage and call Macbeth a “Scottish play.” One of my nieces, a working actress, tells me that in many of the theaters there’s often a “resident ghost,” who the locals talk about. Many fear being jinxed. Others follow Christian-oriented practices like crossing their fingers or knocking on wood. We laughed at Delaware Senatorial candidate Christine ‘I am not a Witch’ O’Donnell, but even trial lawyers also succumb to all sorts of superstitions – a lucky tie or suit, the same food for lunch. One superstitious super lawyer explained his rationale to The New York Times: “The trial gods are very powerful. You respect them. You make little offerings.”

I’m very close with a guy who’s extremely well-read and high-achieving. He’s also a big Yankee fan (there’s a correlation...) A few years back he grabbed a foul ball at Yankee stadium that had been thrown by Mariano Rivera, the legendary closer. Afterwards during critical games he would put the ball on the coffee table in his family room, thereby aligning the baseball spirits. Nor am I ‘holier than thou’ or completely immune to such things. At my weakest moments – even during this incredible season! – I’ve secretly fretted that my tuning in to a game might change the karma, as it were, inducing a Giants loss.

Still I know better. I associate with superstition what was once said about the author Lillian Hellman: “Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’” As Stevie Wonder sang: “Very superstitious, writing’s on the wall.” Superstition captures our attention and plays into our deepest longings. From Harry Potter to Disney a world totally devoid of magic seems so cold and crushing, we start to re-enchant it.

Superstition can easily be confused with religion – both bespeak the unknown and the miraculous. Though the greatest Jewish sages condemned it, Jews too have flirted with superstition. That most famous of incantations “Abracadabra” is actually Jewish. It’s Aramaic, the language of the Talmud, and means “I say and create.” Superstition is utilized throughout Jewish folklore and was ingrained in many communities. Well before Tony Orlando and Dawn, a Galician superstition advised that during an epidemic one should only open the door to a person who knocked three times. In one of my favorite anecdote: the newly arrived Jewish residents of Passaic, New Jersey were fearful that in establishing a cemetery, they were somehow tempting the Angel of Death to take one of them prematurely. So they got an old man to move to Passaic on the condition the community would cover his upkeep and burial. Only much to their dismay, the fellow lived and had to be maintained for another decade. Evidently the supernatural is not so readily controlled.

The Torah itself rails against sorcery and hokum. Deuteronomy 18: “Let there not be found among you… soothsayers, diviners, sorcerers, one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits.” The Rabbis teach, do not depend on miracles, as noted in the story of a man who once asked the Rabbis how to be cured. They replied, “Take medicine.” Maimonides, the great Jewish doctor and philosopher, condemns those who use words of Torah as a magical formula to enact a physical cure. We must not treat holiness as an amulet. For faith requires thoughtful responsibilities, not insipid shortcuts.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 18

Chasidic tradition offers us this tale: A woman unable to have children came to the maggid (preacher) of Kozhenitz for guidance. He told her: “My mother had the same problem as you. Then one day she came across a wonder-working rabbi and brought him a gift of a coat. I was born the next year.” Thank you so much,” the woman replied. “I’ll do the same thing. I’ll give a great rabbi a coat.” The maggid smiled. “Don’t bother, because it won’t do any good for you. You see, my mother had never heard this story.”

We all experience hard times, if not outright distress. With so many concerns and anxieties, the irrational becomes increasingly tempting – even extremely bright people are seduced by its lure. Yet as my daughters did discover, there are no magic recipes. We can’t make the snow fall. Rather, as that maggid of Kohzenitz taught, what we can do is redouble our efforts to make sure that people have coats to wear for when it’s cold or does snow.

In the words of a Reform Jewish prayer let us hasten the day:

When corruption and evil shall give way to integrity and goodness, when superstition shall no longer enslave the mind… when all… become one in spirit and one in friendship.

And should anyone sneeze right now, it won’t be an avowal of this truth, even as we would say, “bless you.”

Cain yehi Ratzon. Be this God’s Will.

Rabbi Eric Polokoff B’nai Israel of Southbury Southbury, CT

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 19 FEET THEY HAVE AND CANNOT WALK Rabbi Michael Gold

A teenage boy approached his dad. Can I borrow the car to go out with my friends every Saturday night? His dad answered, “You want the car. First there have to be some changes. I want your grades to improve, I want you to come with me to synagogue, and I want you to cut your hair.” A few months later the boy asked again, “Can I borrow the car?” His dad answered, “You grades seem to be getting better, you have been coming to synagogue. But you still have not gotten a haircut.” The boy protested, “Dad, I listen to the rabbi. All those people in the Bible – Moses, David, Samson – had long hair.” Dad answered, “You are right. But they walked everywhere.”

My sermons this set of High Holidays have all been based on Psalm 115. This includes the line raglehem v’lo yehalechu - “Feet they have and cannot walk.” For life is about walking. Life is a journey, some would say life is a holy pilgrimage. But to take the journey, you have to start walking. Our feet must get used to walking. I am reminded of the story of the centipede who was a wonderful dancer. Everybody would come out to watch how beautifully he moved his hundred feet. But the tortoise was jealous. He could never dance like that. He wanted to put a stop to the centipede’s dancing. The tortoise had an idea. He spoke to the centipede. “You dance beautifully. But tell me, what order do you do it. Do you move foot 63 or foot 64 first. Do you start with the feet on the right or left side? What about foot 99?” The centipede began to think about how he moved each foot. And the more he thought, the more he could no longer move. He became so flustered that he stopped dancing.

We cannot become flustered. We need to start moving our feet. On this Yom Kippur, as we prepare to begin our yizkor services, I want to speak about walking on the journey called life. Seven is a holy number in Judaism. So let me share seven insights about our journeys.

Insight #1 -To know where we are going, you have to know where we came from. Today many of us get directions on the internet, using mapquest or google maps. Before it can give directions, these websites ask where you are starting from. Many of us use a GPS – a truly great invention. But before the GPS can point you towards your destination, it first has to search for a satellite signal. It cannot tell you how to get where you are going until it knows where you are.

Before Selichot services we showed the movie The Jazz Singer – the Neil Diamond not the Al Jolson version. It is a wonderful movie about a young cantor, Jess Robin, part of five generations of cantors, who wants to break away from his family tradition and become a pop singer. His father Cantor Rabinovich, played by Laurence Olivier, keeps reminding his son not to forget where he came from. He says more than once in the movie, “to know where are you going, you have to know where you came from.” But the young cantor wants nothing of his past. I am not spoiling the movie too badly by saying that in the end, the young man comes back and sings Kol Nidre in synagogue Yom Kippur eve. Probably one of the most beautiful scenes is when his gentile girlfriend Molly played by Lucie Arnaz convinces him to go back to synagogue. “I may be a shiksa, but I know what Yom Kippur is. Yom Kippur is about forgiveness.”

As we begin our journey in life, we need to realize that we were not born into a vacuum. We were born of particular parents in a particular time and place. We descended from particular grandparents. Many of us are saying yizkor today to remember those parents and grandparents. For those of us who are not converts, we were born and raised as Jews. Its values, rituals, and memories give us our starting place. We may, like the cantor in the movie, set out in a different direction than our parents. But we can never wander too far. We are who we are. We cannot be successful on the journey unless we know where we came from.

Insight #2 - We each need to decide where we want to go. My journey will be different from yours, it will certainly be different from that of my parents. And my childrens’ journey will be different from mine. They cannot live my life any more than I can live my parents’ lives. We each have a unique journey. Each of us must think about where we want the journey to take us. What path should we go on? I have often shared a story from Alice in Wonderland, a story I also shared in my book The Ten Journeys of Life. Alice comes to the

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 20 Chesire Cat, the disappearing cat with the big smile. Alice asks the cat, “I am totally lost. Which way should I go?” The cat replies, “Where are you trying to get to?” “I don’t know,” says Alice. “Well if you do not know where you are trying to get to, it does not matter which way you go.” In our journey, we must think about where we are trying to get to and which way we are going to go.

Each of us must think about where we want to go. My in-laws were wonderful people, but did not have a good sense of direction. They are gone now, but they probably would not mind if I told a true story. They were travelling from a visit to family in Boston back to their home in Brooklyn, NY. They got on the highway and started driving. They realized they might have made a mistake when they passed a sign – Welcome to Maine. Perhaps we all need a GPS of life, or at least a Cheshire Cat, to tell us where we going and how to get there.

What if we do not know where we want to go? I meet too many people who tell me, “Rabbi, I hate my life. All I do is get up, go to work which I hate, go home, watch tv, fall asleep, and start all over again. There is no purpose.” Or in Florida I am as likely to hear, “Rabbi, I hate my life. It was fine while I was working. But now that I am retired, I don’t play golf, I don’t play canasta, I have nothing to do.” The journey has to start somewhere. If we cannot find purpose for a big journey, try something smaller. Take a class. Learn a new skill – perhaps a musical instrument or a foreign language or a computer program. Start baking. Start journaling. Plant a garden. Travel somewhere you have never been. Read one of the great novels. Study Torah with me. I remember children who told me about their mother. “When our dad died, she lost all sense of purpose. She did not know what to do with herself. Then she discovered something new. The slot machines. And she won.” I am not sure that when we speak of the journeys of life, it includes slot machines. But who knows?

Insight # 3 - Every journey starts with a first step. It was a wise Chinese thinker who said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. We have to get started. If our journey involves going back to school, we have to sign up for the first class. If our journey involves learning a new skill, we need to start learning. If our journey means coming back to Judaism, we need to start coming, to try to learn the Hebrew and the rituals. If our journey is about finding love, we can’t just sit home feeling lonely. We have to take a step.

Most of you know that I am working on my PhD. I am at that point where many people hit the wall – EBD everything but dissertation. I had a wonderful talk with a member of our synagogue who had written his dissertation and received his PhD. His advisor had told him, “Do you know the difference between people who write their dissertation and people who talk about it but never write it. The people who write their dissertation – write.” The people who succeed on the journey get started and go on the journey.

People tell me they are scared to get started with a project because they know it is not perfect. Did you know that perfection is the biggest enemy of good? If you wait for everything to be perfect, you will never be satisfied with the good. I am reminded of a speech I once heard from radio commentator and Jewish thinker Dennis Prager. He was speaking about someone he knew, an Orthodox Jewish man, who could not find a bride good enough. Prager said, “He is looking for a Playboy centerfold who studies Talmud. No wonder he has not succeeded.” If you want to accomplish something in your life, you cannot wait for the perfect moment. You have to start.

Insight #4 -We cannot take the journey alone. Most of us, if we are lucky, find significant people to help us with the journey. In an ideal world, we find a life partner – a wife or husband or spouse or significant other, to be with us, support us, help us on the way. For the Torah says, it is not good to be alone. Or as a colleague of mine so beautifully interpreted the story of Adam in the Garden of Eden, “Adam had everything and nobody. To have everything and nobody is to have nothing.”

I am reminded of another book and movie – Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Based on a true story, the movie starred Emile Hirsch as Christopher McCandless, a brilliant student who left his family behind, gave away his entire savings, changed his name, and took off hitchhiking across the country. He ended up in the woods of Alaska. Only when it was too late did he realize how important his family and his name were. It is a story about the sadness of trying to go through life totally alone. Christopher certainly met some influential

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 21 characters on the way. But in the end he realized who he really missed.

I spoke the first day of Rosh Hashana about truly seeing the other, particularly seeing others to whom we make a life-long commitment. Part of seeing the other is seeing their journey. How can we help them become the person they have set out to become? Our journey needs people.

Insight #5 - There are distractions along the way. In fact life is filled with distractions, diversions, fun, things that keep us from staying on the path. There is a story told by Buddhists of two monks on a journey. On the way, they see a woman standing by a river. The woman tells them that she needs help crossing. One of the Buddhist monks picks up the woman and carries her across the river. The two monks continue on their way, but the one who carried the woman notices that his colleague is getting very angry. He finally asks, “Why are you angry? Did I do something wrong?” The other monk answers, “I can’t believe you picked up that woman and carried her across the river. What kind of action is that for a monk?” The other monk replied, “Yes, I carried her. But I put her down a half hour ago. You, my friend, are still carrying her.”

There are distractions along the way. Perhaps it does not mean carrying a woman across a river. But there is good food and drink and entertainment, there is sex and money and wonderful toys, there are new cars and trips. None of these things are bad in themselves. When I talk to the teens about this issue, I ask them, “Is there anything wrong with going to an amusement park?” Of course they answer no. Then I ask, “What if you went to an amusement park every day?” Unless someone was a professional amusement park critic, going every day would be a bit much. Diversions are wonderful, but a life of diversions is not a worthy life. We can stop along the way, but eventually we have to get back onto the path.

Insight #6 - There are also obstacles along the way. Sometimes things go very wrong. Sometimes we are going down a path and discover that the road is washed out, that a large boulder is blocking the way, that we have a physical ailment that keeps us from continuing. Sometimes we have to come up with an alternative route. And sometimes we need to switch destinations altogether.

Let me share another Buddhist monk story. Yes, the Buddhists were almost as good as the Hasidim at telling clever stories. There was a Buddhist monk who was considered the wisest man in the world. And there was warrior who was considered the strongest man in the world. One day the wise monk met the vicious warrior on a narrow bridge. The warrior saw him and became angry. “You think you are so wise. But I am far stronger than you. Tell me, what can you possibly teach me that I do not already know.” The monk answers, “I can show you the door to hell and the door to heaven.” The warrior is infuriated. He screams, “How dare you! Get out of my way before I kill you.” The monk answers, “That is the door to hell.” Suddenly the warrior felt bad, “I am so sorry. I guess I lost my temper.” The monk said, “And that is the door to heaven.”

How often do we travel on our journey and we see hell along the way. Something happens that stops us dead in our tracks. Someone gets sick. Someone we love dies. Someone loses a job. A marriage breaks up. Estrangement happens in a family. We wonder how we can ever keep going. And yet, somehow, we pick ourselves up and continue on our way. We may be delayed. We may even find ourselves staring in a new direction. How many people have found their life’s meaning after overcoming terrible obstacles. Perhaps these obstacles were actually part of the journey.

Insight #7 - Nobody will totally finish the journey. That is correct. Even if our journey is to climb a mountain, when we get to the top we see new mountains to climb. One of my favorite passages in all of Rabbinic literature comes from Pirkei Avot – Lo Aleica HaMelacha Ligmor v’lo Ata Ben Horin L’Hebatel Memena. “It is not your job to finish the task, but neither are you free to avoid it altogether.”

None of us will totally finish the journey. That is why it is so important to have others – children, students, disciples, people who will take over where we left off. We carry the baton only so far, then eventually we must hand it off to someone else. They continue the journey. And so it is, over the generations, bit by bit, each of us doing our part, the tasks of life are completed.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 22 We have now come full circle. We started by looking at our past, our parents and grandparents, our teachers and mentors, those who set us on the past. We look now at our future, our children and grandchildren, our students and disciples, who will continue the journey when we are gone. And so we see that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves. Each of our individual journeys is part of the great journey humanity takes as it works its way towards perfecting this world as a kingdom of God.

The book of Psalms teaches “Feet they have and cannot walk.” We need to walk. We need to begin the journey. And as we do, let us remember the seven insights I shared. 1) To know where we are going, you have to know where we came from; 2) We each need to decide where we want to go; 3) Every journey starts with a first step; 4) We cannot take the journey alone; 5) There are distractions along the way; 6) There are also obstacles along the way; and finally 7) Nobody will totally finish the journey. On this High Holidays I have spoken about our body. God gave us eyes to see. God gave us ears to hear. God gave us hands to touch. And finally, God gave us feet to walk. As we go on our journey, may God accompany us along the way,

And let us say AMEN.

Rabbi Michael Gold Temple Beth Torah Tamarac, FL

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 23 MAKE THE CALL - YOM KIPPUR YIZKOR Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein

The tenth anniversary of September 11 is still fresh in the minds of every American. We see photographs of New York, or TV telecasts of a sports event from a blimp or a helicopter, and all of us know what’s missing, what happened, and what we all lost. What echoes most profoundly in my mind are not the images but the sounds of the last phone calls that were recorded. Surrounded by hijackers and knowing of their certain deaths, people called from the airplane by cell-phone or swiped a credit card to use one of those airplane handsets imbedded in the seat facing each passenger. As the twin towers were falling and as the airplanes were crashing, people tried to make one last connection. Facing imminent death, they called to say their last few words to a loved one. Almost unanimously, they chose the things that we think about every day.

“Hi Jules, its Brian. I’m on the plane and it doesn’t look good. I just wanted to let you know that I love you, and I hope to see you again. If I don’t, please have fun in life, and live life the best you can. Know that I love you.” Another—“I love you; take care of the children.” Give my love to your brother. Take care of yourself. I love you. I love you. I love you…A New York Times writer said, “These sentiments surely sounded inadequate as they were spoken, if only because they would have to stand in for a lifetime of words that would no longer be said. So many doomed people called the most meaningful number they knew from wherever they happened to be and prayed that someone would pick up on the other end.”

It shouldn’t take the end of our lives to motivate us to say the most important words to the ones we love. But even with cell phones and text messaging and computers and Google + saying the most important words seems to come hard to us. We may use Facebook because we can’t face our family or friends and actually speak to the ones we love with the right words. We remain mute, as if some force has willed us to think, but not communicate, the words our loved ones can’t wait to hear. How every one of us in this room who has lost a loved one would cherish one more moment to say something special to those we have lost.

Our words matter. This is why our tradition teaches that we should not gossip, tell tall tales, or slander another. If we do so it is as if we have murdered the person-or at least his or her reputation. The servant of Rabban Gamliel, Tevi, was commanded to go to the market to select the best food. He chose tongue. When he was asked to purchase the worst food in the market, he also selected tongue. Rabban Gamliel asked him, “Why did you choose tongue twice?” The non Jewish servant responded: “Both good and bad come from it. When the tongue is good, there is nothing better. But when the tongue is bad, there is nothing worse.” What a lesson to remind ourselves about the power of our words!

Rabbi Eric Yoffie tells of a call he forgot to make, a mitzvah left unfinished which has haunted him. He wanted to call his grandmother when he was a rabbinical student. But he was “overwhelmed with work, concerned with my own family and-inevitably-with myself. I kept telling myself: Call Bama. She had not been well, although none of her illnesses seemed life threatening. I didn’t call her, and she died suddenly. And I have been asking myself for 35 years: Why didn’t I call? How do I repent at this season for the sins against my grandmother? How do I move forward?...I set aside some time to reflect about her life and her accomplishments, her love for her family…and I think about those who are important in my life whom I have been neglecting. And I call them.”

In his book The Four Things That Matter Most, physician Dr. Ira Byock focuses on the power of what we need to say to those closest to us. He’s a palliative care physician and spends most of his time in hospice with those who are dying and with their families. He has a unique custom, something not learned in medical school. He writes four simple phrases on a piece of paper and affixes them to the wall near the patient’s bed with a bit of scotch tape. Everyone who visits is encouraged to speak these critically important words, scrawled on the paper: Please forgive me. I forgive you. Thank you. I love you. These eleven words have the possibility to change a life. The more we personalize them the more the message adds weight and importance. Please forgive me for not being a better brother. I forgive you for not being there when I needed you the most. Thank you for everything you did for me, Mom. I love you, Dad, and I always will. Byock teaches that “the specter of death reveals our relationships to be our most precious possessions. I’ve lost count of the number of times

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 24 I’ve met people in my office, an emergency room, or a hospice program who have expressed deep regret over things they wish they had said before a grandparent, parent, sibling, or friend died. They can’t change what was, but without fail their regrets have fueled a healthy resolve to say what needs to be said before it’s too late – to clear away hurt feelings, to connect in profound ways with the people who mean the most to them… I will dissolve in love, appreciation, and affection, and we recognize the urgency of mending, tending, and celebrating our relationships. Because accidents and sudden illness do happen, it is never too soon to express forgiveness, to say thank you and I love you to the people who have been an integral or intimate part of our lives, and say good-bye as a blessing. These simple words hold essential wisdom for transforming that which matters most in our lives – our relationships with the people we love.”

A number of years ago, the famous Alabama football coach, Bear Bryant was invited to make a commercial for AT&T. It ended up being the most poignant commercial the phone company every produced. Bryant was indeed a bear of a man, who was known for dressing down his players, yelling at fumbles, screaming at miscues, and demanding more than 100% from each of his players. AT&T wanted Bear Bryant to look at the camera, and in his meanest coaching voice, say “Call your mother!” Bear Bryant asked them to change the words to something that fit him better as a Southern coach, “Call your mama.”

Bear Bryant rehearsed the commercial many times, and never seemed to get it exactly right. Then all of a sudden it hit him, what the words really meant. There, on the field of the Crimson Tide he stared into the camera and said “Call your mama.” And the words grabbed his heart and as he broke down and wept he added, “I wish I could.”

May each of us remember to make that call, to say what we want, to ensure that the other person hears us. “I’m thinking of you – I care for you-- forgive me--I forgive you--thank you-- I love you.” And may we say those words and make those calls over and over and over again, as if every day would be our last. Amen.

Rabbi Morley Feinstein University Synagogue Los Angeles, CA

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 25 WORKING ON OUR REWRITE Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin

As many of you know, I am a big fan of rock music – especially now that many of my rock heros are approaching or passing the age of seventy. On the Simon and Garfunkel album “Bookends,” which came out in 1968, there is a beautiful song called “Old Friends.” In that song, Paul Simon muses: “How terribly strange to be seventy.”

Paul Simon found out exactly how strange that is, because this past year, he turned seventy years old. Just a few years ago, Time magazine named Paul Simon one of the hundred people who have shaped the world. He appeared on the cover of The Atlantic Monthly as the epitome of the creative spirit in our time. Ever since I was a young teenager, Paul Simon’s music has shaped and defined my world, and I suspect that is true of many of you as well.

Therefore, in tribute to his seventieth birthday, I would like to present to you one of the songs from his most recent album. The song is called “Rewrite.”

I’ve been working on my rewrite, that’s right I’m gonna change the ending Gonna throw away my title And toss it in the trash Every minute after midnight All the time I’m spending It’s just for working on my rewrite Gonna turn it into cash

I’ve been working at the carwash I consider it my day job Cause it’s really not a pay job But that’s where I am Everybody says the old guy working at the carwash Hasn’t got a brain cell left since Vietnam

But I say help me, help me, help me, help me Thank you! I’d no idea That you were there When I said help me, help me, help me, help me Thank you, for listening to my prayer

I’ll eliminate the pages Where the father has a breakdown And he has to leave the family But he really meant no harm Gonna substitute a car chase And a race across the rooftops When the father saves the children And he holds them in his arms

And I say help me, help me, help me, help me Thank you! I’d no idea That you were there When I said, help me, help me, help me, help me

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 26 Thank you, for listening to my prayer

With the exception of the Hasidic reggae star Mattisyahu, who sings Hebrew texts and Jewish texts to sold out crowds all over America – I challenge you to find a more profoundly Jewish statement in contemporary popular music.

Because what is Paul Simon singing about?

“Adulthood,” writes the psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, “is when it begins to occur to you that you may not be leading a charmed life.” Paul Simon is singing about a man who did not live a charmed life. If he had great dreams, he left them somewhere in a rice paddy in southeast Asia. He returned from the war, broken and shattered. Maybe you know people like that. He’s working in a car wash. That’s not what he once wanted to do, but that’s where he is now. Every day he works for nothing. He is soaked with suds. His customers can only cluck their tongues and whisper about the guy who lost it in the war, the old guy who hasn’t had a brain cell left since Viet Nam.

And so, the man in the song came home from Viet Nam with what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder. Here’s a grim statistic: every day in this country, eighteen veterans commit suicide. The man in the song had a nervous breakdown. He left his family. Someone once said that dreams don’t make noise when they die. No, they don’t have to. But they die nonetheless.

The man in the song wants to pull those dead dreams up on the monitor, and he wants to highlight them and delete them. He wants to rip them right out of his life. He can imagine a more heroic way of having lived. It’s not that he left his family. Absolutely not. In his preferred version of his story, he imagines that he is a character in an action film. He imagines a car chase. He imagines saving his children from some unseen or unknown disaster or danger, and fleeing with them in his arms across the rooftops.

The man in the song wants to re-write his book of life, his sefer chayim. In the song’s chorus, he turns to God and almost in the voice of the ancient Psalmist, the man says: I had no idea that You were there. How could I have known? My life has been wretched. I have experienced my life as being one massive void, a spiritual vacuum. But in the process of even wanting to re-write my book of life, I found You. Or, You found me. Thank you for listening to my prayers. Thank you for being there. For only in the moments when I try to go beyond myself, only in the moments when I reach beyond myself, only in the moments when I confront the I that I am – that is when my I is filled with your Anochi, O God -- your supreme and sublime I that helps me re-write myself.

Once upon a time, the man is probably saying to himself, I believed that real heroism was to be Bruce Willis and to become an action hero. Now I realize, he is probably saying to himself, that the real heroism is not fancy driving, but in the driving of ourselves, that incessant voice within us that says: You can be better. You can be whole. Your book of life is not finished. It has not gone to print. I’m working on my re-write – that’s right.

I’ve been humming that song for months. It’s on Paul Simon’s latest album, “So Beautiful Or So What.” It’s worth listening to. It’s a beautiful album, especially considering that it comes from a seventy year old man (and yes, Leonard Cohen is pushing eighty, but that would be another sermon).

When I first heard the song “Rewrite,” I found myself thinking – believe it or not – of a man who was never on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. He was one of the greatest spiritual heroes of modern Jewish history. He was the last rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto, and his name was Kalonymus Kalman Shapira.

When the Nazis invaded Poland, in the first days of the German bombings, Rabbi Shapira witnessed, in sequence, the death of his son, and then of his daughter-in-law, and then of his sister-in-law. A few weeks later his mother died.

When the Nazis established the Warsaw Ghetto, Rabbi Shapira refused to leave his people. He worked in soup kitchens. He set up a secret synagogue, where he would teach Torah week in and week out. They say

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 27 that he was physically imposing, “handsome and well groomed, distinguished and elegant.”

During the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the rabbi remained in the ghetto. After the uprising, he was captured and sent to the Trawniki work camp near Lublin. He had the opportunity to escape, but he refused to leave his people. On November 3, 1943, all the remaining Jews in Trawniki, included Rabbi Shapira, were shot to death.

Sometime after the war, there was a construction project that was laying the foundation for a new building on the site of the destroyed ghetto. A construction worker found a container that was buried in the earth. It contained the texts of all the sermons that Rabbi Shapira had delivered in the ghetto. Inside the container, there was a note from Rabbi Shapira: “By the grace of God, I respectfully request the honored individual that will find my writings to take the trouble to forward them to my brother, Rabbi Isaiah Shapira, who lives in Tel Aviv in the Land of Israel. When, with God’s compassion, I and the remaining Jews will survive the war, I request that everything be returned to me.”

A few years later, those sermons were published under the title Eysh Kodesh, The Holy Fire, and you can find them on Amazon and you can read them and you can say to yourself: This is what it means to live nobly and this is what it means to live heroically. These are sermons delivered in the presence of people who, in fact, would try to save their children, and would hold them in their arms, and who would, in fact, race across the rooftops of a burning Warsaw Ghetto.

On Rosh Ha Shanah, 1941, just two weeks before Paul Simon was born in Newark, New Jersey – Rabbi Shapira spoke these words in the secret synagogue in the Warsaw ghetto.

“The time for repentance is Rosh Ha Shanah, the anniversary of the creation of the world,” Rabbi Shapira said.

And then he went on to explain why it is necessary for people to start the process of repentance on Rosh Ha Shanah. It’s because repentance itself requires a kind of creativity. We return to who we are meant to be, but whom we have not yet become. Who we are, and who we are meant to be, lie dormant within us – just like a finished sculpture lies dormant within a block of stone.

And so you see that two great Jews who could never have known each other, two great Jews who lived in very different times and places, two great Jews who had two very different world views – those two great Jewish souls have reached across the decades and continents that separate them, and they are singing the same song: We need to return to who we are meant to be, but have not yet become – and that is the supreme act of creativity.

What do you do with your book of life, with your sefer chayim? What does it mean to work on your re-write?

Even before you work on your re-write, you have to open that book and you have to interpret it. There is that great Hasidic story of a man named David Lilov, who is about to die, and his friends gather around and they ask him, “David, our teachers have said that when the righteous die, in the world to come they study a holy text in a seminar where God is the teacher. What book, what holy text do you think that you are going to study in the world to come?”

This is what David Lilov said: “As for me,” he said, “I do not expect to study the Talmud, or any of the mystical texts. The book that I will wind up studying for eternity will be Sefer David Lilov – the Book of David Lilov. All my life, I have been writing that book. All my life, God has been writing comments about that text in the margins of my life. And now, God and I are going to study it together.”

Our sages say that when you study Torah, that there are seventy facets of Torah, seventy ways that people can interpret the Torah.

Don’t you think that there are at least as many ways for you to interpret yourself? Think, for a moment, about King David. King David was: a king, a warrior, a poet, a lecher – oh, and by the way, he was also the

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 28 forerunner of the Messiah. When was the last time you heard or recited the 23rd Psalm – “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” and you thought about the fact that this was the guy who sent a man to his death so that he could possess his wife?

Should you be less complex than King David? Should you have fewer inner contradictions than King David?

That’s why the ancient rabbis said: “Let no person think himself or herself as entirely righteous or entirely wicked.” It doesn’t mean you have no imperfections. It means that you transform those imperfections.

This is a major lesson for us, as we confront the challenges of living in a challenged time. None of us is entirely competent or entirely incompetent. None of us is entirely successful or entirely unsuccessful. We are living in a time when the primordial chaos of existence, that tohu va-vohu that appears in the first verse of Genesis, has leaked into all of our lives.

We cannot control the chaos of existence. All we can control is how we respond to the chaos of existence. In a world of diminishing expectations, not all of us are going to be entirely professionally successful. The challenge is to work on those pieces of ourselves that are not subject to a market economy – to be better spouses and partners and parents and children and siblings and friends.

Not all of us are going to be entirely financially successful. But we can be spiritually successful.

So, each of us is a sacred text that cries out, as ancient holy texts would cry out: Darsheini! Interpret me.

And then, you work on your re-write, that’s right.

And so, will the man in Paul Simon’s song “Rewrite” be successful? Will he change the ending? Will he turn it into cash?

We don’t know. Perhaps Paul Simon will re-write “Rewrite” and call it “Rewrite, Part Two.”

But I will say this. The worst Jewish heresy I know, the worst Jewish denial of faith I know is the heresy of saying that what is, is. The worst Jewish heresy I know, the worst Jewish denial of faith I know, is to believe that it is impossible to work on your rewrite.

The worst Jewish heresy I know, the worst Jewish denial of faith I know, perhaps the worst Jewish sin I know is the sin of despair, of thinking this is it and I cannot change either myself or the world.

A great, unnamed Jewish mystic writes that God forms the world through three things: two books and a story. The first two are the books of the world through which God reveals himself, the book of the natural world, and the book of the Torah. The third is a story. It is the way that we reveal ourselves to ourselves. It is the story that each person writes for himself or herself.

I’m working on my rewrite, that’s right. How about you?

Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin Temple Israel Columbus, GA

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 29 WHY TZEDAKAH IS BETTER THAN PRAYER AND EVEN TORAH STUDY Rabbi Allen S. Maller

The following story told by a Hassidic rabbi, Meir of Premishlan: “I had a dream,” said Rabbi Meir, “in which my soul ascended to heaven and came to Gan Eden (paradise). I sat down at its gates. There, I saw a very respectable Jew demanding to be let in.”

“Who are you? What merits do you have to deserve entry into Gan Eden?” the angel in charge asked.

“I was a very pious Rabbi. All my life I studied and taught Torah. Surely, I deserve to enter through these gates,” the very pious rabbi replied.

The angel wasn’t impressed. “You will have to wait,” she replied. “We have to check if your studying Torah was truly for God’s sake, or was it to show off how smart you are.”

Then another distinguished Jew arrived at the gates of Gan Eden and wanted to enter. “Who are you? And why do you deserve entry to Gan Eden?” questioned the angel.

“My entire life I devoted to God. I spent my days in prayer and kept Shabbat very strictly. Surely I deserve Gan Eden, for whom else was Gan Eden created?” he replied.

“Not so fast,” replied the angel. “Although you may have done everything you claim, we must be sure that it was done with purity, sincerity and love. You will have to wait until we check it out thoroughly.”

As the angel is still arguing with this man, another Jew appears at the gates. “I would like to go into Gan Eden,” he declared. “Who are you and what did you accomplish during your lifetime that makes you worthy to enter Gan Eden?” asks the angel.

“I was a very simple person and earned my living from an inn at the roadside. Whenever travelers came hungry and tired, I made sure to give them food and lodging. If a person was poor I charged less or didn’t charge at all. I tried my best to serve my guests, including the non-Jewish ones, and I always answered their questions about Jewish beliefs. I did as many Mitzvot as I could, but I am sure I didn’t do as many as these pious people. Perhaps I’m not worthy of entering Gan Eden, especially seeing that these pious rabbis and scholars are kept waiting.”

“Come right in!” exclaimed the angel. Then the angel explained, “We have to check all the others to see whether their deeds were really pure and sincere. However, helping people in need and giving them food, lodging and knowledge of Torah does not need any checking. It doesn’t matter why you did it, as long as the other person was helped!”

“Prayer and piety are mitzvot that require the purest of intentions to be done properly” said Rabbi Meir. “With charity, however, the reason or motive doesn’t matter, as long as the other person was helped!”

Rabbi Maller’s web site is: rabbimaller.com

Rabbi Allen S. Maller Temple Akiba Culver City, CA

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 30 VIEWING UNETANAH TOKEF THROUGH A NEW LENS Rabbi Amy Scheinerman

Let us proclaim the sacred power of this day: It is awesome and full of dread… This is the Day of Judgment… How many shall pass on, how many shall come to be… who shall see ripe age and who shall not…..

These words danced hauntingly through my mind 21 years ago at the hour most of you were in shul chanting Kol Nidre. The surgeon looked down at me, saw my tears, and said, “You’ll be alright,” and I fell into anaesthetized slumber.

I had started bleeding a few hours earlier - yes, on Erev Yom Kippur. The doctor had said: “It’s an ectopic pregnancy. You have one hour to get to the hospital.” As I was wheeled into the operating room, the sun was dipping below the horizon. At a time when I sought comfort, the Yom Kippur liturgy that flooded my mind served up cold judgment. In the place of assurance, it delivered guilt. Or so it seemed at the time.

The tears that spilled out in the operating room were not for me or for my husband; we were exceedingly blessed with three healthy children. My tears were not for my children either. They had been clamoring and campaigning for another sibling, and would be sorely disappointed, but we would try again. In truth, this whole matter was an inconvenience; it was in no way a crisis. My tears were for all the people who suffer real tragedies, far greater losses, genuine adversity and calamity, and come to synagogue on the High Holy Days to hear Unetaneh Tokef tell them that their suffering is God’s just judgment.

Shalom Auslander put it this way in The Foreskin’s Lament:

When I was a child my parents and teachers told me about a man who was very strong. They told me he could destroy the whole world. They told me he could lift mountains. They told me he could part the sea. It was important to keep the man happy. When we obeyed what the man had commanded, the man liked us. But when we didn’t obey… he didn’t like us. He hated us… in early autumn, when the leaves choked, turned colors, and fell to their deaths, the people of Monsey gathered together in synagogues across the town and wondered aloud and in unison, how God was going to kill them: … who at his predestined time and who before his time, who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation and who by stoning.

Rabbeinu moreinu Gary Larson expresses it in a classic cartoon: God sits at his computer. On the screen a man walks on a sidewalk. Above the man a piano hangs threateningly, suspended by a cable. God is poised to push the “smite” button on the keyboard.

Torah paints a picture of a God who is a Being, and who not only loves us dearly (like a child), but who controls and manages the world, commands and coerces, abrogates the laws of physics, determines the length and quality of our lives, and metes out reward and punishment. As troubling as this theological portrait of God is to me, Unetaneh Tokef is this theology on steroids because it’s far more granular: judgment, reward and punishment on the level of each and every individual -- each and every one of us. While some take comfort in the notion of a God who controls – indeed micromanages – the universe, for others, this prayer strains credibility in its claims about God, and offends modern moral sensibilities.

Unetaneh Tokef takes many of us on a yearly trip into the Forest of Frustration and Confusion: If God is both Omni benevolent and omnipotent, why is there such evil in the world? Why doesn’t God prevent it? And if God is omniscient and omnipotent, in what sense can we say that God is good? Suffering is not reserved only for those who are “deserving.” What is more, living in the 21st century, we are grounded in science: the laws of physics, biological understanding of disease, and the consequences of human choice. Unetaneh Tokef, long a theological conundrum, strikes the 21st century mind steeped in science and rationalism as minimally straining credulity, generally as archaic and meaningless, and maximally as cruel and sadistic.

What to do? We do what Jews throughout the ages have done with troubling texts: we reinterpret them. Imagine with

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 31 me this morning how we might understand Unetaneh Tokef if we read it not through the lens of rabbinic theology, but through the lens of Process Theology.

First, a few words of explanation for those who are not familiar with Process Theology: Process theology is built on the philosophical foundation of Alfred North Whitehead’s Process Relational Thought. Influenced by quantum mechanics, Whitehead sought a philosophy, and later a theology, that does not conflict with science, but rather dovetails neatly with it: science and religion complementing and reinforcing one another.

Whitehead described reality as composed of events and processes: occasions of experience. Our lives are mosaics of our experiences, dynamic and continuously changing and evolving processes.

The theology that has arisen from Process Relational Thought -- in both the Christian and Jewish worlds -- is panentheistic which is to say: The world is in God, and God is in everything in the world. As Bereishit Rabbah expresses it: Ha-kadosh barukh hu m’komo shel olam, v’ein olamo m’komo “God is the dwelling place of the world, but the world is not God’s dwelling place. God saturates, permeates, interpenetrates every part of the natural universe. God is the sum total of all of our experiences, and the experiences of the entire universe, but God is also beyond the universe. Perhaps existence itself, or the life force, or Emerson’s Oversoul, or the ultimate source of possibility: Ehyeh asher Ehyeh. God, who encompasses the entire universe, experiences all that we experience. This is not a God who judges and metes out punishment; this is God experiencing our suffering with us, sharing our pain.

With this in mind, imagine that God is not as Shalom Auslander was taught. Imagine that God is not a being at all, but rather that the universe is in God and God is in everything in the universe: barukh hu m’komo shel olam, v’ein olamo m’komo. God is continuously changing and becoming because the universe is always in flux, always changing. God is as near and as intimate as our breath, the DNA that animates us, the experiences that make us who we are, the divine spark in each of us.

If Process Theology doesn’t conceive God as ruler, commander, and redeemer, then what is God? God is the ethical lure -- the inducement and enticement -- that draws us to make the right choices, but does not -- cannot -- force or coerce our choices, because we are completely free to decide. God is present at every decision we make offering the moral path. Perhaps it might help to think of God as the cosmic mind of the universe – always in flux, dynamic, rippling, changing. God seeks to engage with us and empower us to align our lives with God by recognizing the unity of all being and our place in the universe. In this way, God is companion, guide, conscience, consoler, redeemer.

Through this lens, Unetaneh Tokef conveys a wholly new message to me. I offer my interpretation for your consideration this morning:

Unetaneh tokef kedushat ha-yom. We acclaim this day’s pure sanctity, its awesome power… You Judge and prosecute, discern motives and bear witness, record and seal, count and measure, remembering all that we have forgotten. [6] Certainly, Unetaneh Tokef asserts that God does not want to slam down a guilty verdict on us and consign us to the rubbish heap of history. God wants us to repent and merit life. Yet the rock bottom reality is that we are ephemeral, mortal creatures: fragile clay vessels, withering grass, fading flowers, passing shadows, fleeting clouds, vanishing dreams. Yet each of us has made a mark on the universe; the universe itself is the record of all who have been and all that they have done. Each of us will leave an imprint on the cosmos (perhaps small, but unmistakable). Sefer ha-Zichronot, the Book of Remembrance is the totality of our universe – all that has ever been and all that is; this includes our decisions and actions, because each of us has changed and shaped the universe. It is in this sense that sefer ha-zichronot, is signed with our deeds. Unetaneh Tokef reminds us – at the moment we feel most vulnerable and powerless, and perhaps even inconsequential, that we have genuine power. Consider our effect on this blue marble, and how we have changed the landscape of this planet. Consider how our decisions -- personal and political -- affect the lives of people suffering in our backyard and around the world. Each of us might consider how our behavior affects the people we live with and interact with, day after day. We cannot change the fact of mortality, and we cannot always avoid misfortune, but we are not powerless. Unetaneh Tokef asks us to look long and hard into the mirror of our souls and do precisely what the word lehitpalel (“to pray”) means: to judge ourselves: God of whom we are a part judges and prosecutes, discerns motives and bears witness. This is the power of Unetaneh Tokef.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 32

Kama ya’avorun v’khama yibarei-un? Mi yich-yeh u-mi yamut / How many shall leave this world and how many shall be born into it, who shall live and who shall die… by fire or water or sword or beast or hunger or earthquake or plague. Unetaneh Tokef places us face-to-face with our mortality: no squinting. For a process theologian, the universe is in God, and only in that sense does God bring floods, earthquakes, and disease: they are part of the natural world. In the words of science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, “The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.” But it is more than the knowledge of our mortality that haunts us. Novelist and essayist Joan Didion watched her husband die of a heart attack one evening at dinner. In her memoir of the year following his sudden and tragic death, A Year of Magical Thinking, she wrote, “Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.” Even if our lives do not end in sudden violence or illness, they will end because we are by nature, “like withering grass, a fading flower, a passing shadow, a fugitive cloud…” It is only when we stand in the stark, blinding light of our mortality that we can fully appreciate the immeasurable, incalculable value of our own lives. When we come to that realization – as Rosh Hashanah invites us to stop and do each year – we are faced with questions, the very asking of which can open doors to teshuvah, to change for the better: What am I doing with my life? How am I using my time and energy? How am I spending my love? This is the power of Unetaneh Tokef.

U-teshuvah u-tefilah u’tzedakah ma’avirin et ro-ah ha-g’zeirah (“repentance, prayer, and righteousness temper the severity of the decree”) is the climactic statement and turning point of the prayer. As Unetaneh Tokef is the lynchpin of the High Holy Day liturgy, u’teshuvah, u’tefilah u’tzedakah is the lynchpin of Unetaneh Tokef. While it may be the case that King Ahashueros’ decree is immutable, in God’s real universe the future does not exist because it hasn’t happened yet. The laws of nature limit the possibilities, and the past suggests probabilities, but we are not automatons responding to innate genetic and chemical programming. We are endowed with free will, a divine spark, and the capacity to [1] cultivate our thoughts, [2] choose our words, and [3] determine our deeds: Teshuvah/Repentance is about our thoughts and intentions. Tefilah/Prayer is about our words. Righteousness/Tzedakah is about our deeds. Repentance, Prayer, and Righteousness are the avenues via which we exert moral agency and influence in the world. They are how we “ma’avirin et ro-ah ha-g’zeirah,” influence the direction of our lives and the life of the world. Where there is choice, there is hope and possibility. Unetaneh Tokef reminds us to use our freedom purposefully, carefully, and deliberately. This, too, is the power of Unetaneh Tokef.

Unetaneh Tokef reminds us where our immortality lies. Everything we do sends ripples out into the universe that continue to be felt by others – and therefore by God. Therein lies our immortality, and it is deeply meaningful. In the words of Unetaneh Tokef: “Your years have no limit. Your days have no end. Your mysterious name is beyond explanation… And You have linked our name with Yours.”

Seen through the lens of process theology, Unetaneh Tokef has become deeply comforting to me. It now says: While there is much that is entirely beyond my control, and mortality is a reality I must face, I am not powerless: vulnerable yes, powerless no. The facts are the facts, but how I respond to them is entirely up to me. In every moment, with every breath, I have the opportunity to accept God’s lure and make choices that nurture life, and cause goodness and righteous to flow into the world.

The world will be forever changed for my having been here -- I want that change to be for the good.

Unetaneh Tokef is a reality check that empowers us to live our lives with greater integrity and courage. What better message to hear on the High Holy Days?

Rabbi Amy Scheinerman President Baltimore Board of Rabbis Baltimore, MD

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 33 A REVIEW OF ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST - YOM KIPPUR MORNING Rabbi Fred Guttman

Today I would like to share with you some interesting facts about our relatives and my personal family history. I am sure that the relatives of whom I will speak first are all of our relatives historically and spiritually. It is all about our connection to the land of Israel.

Approximately 2900 years ago, one of our cousins was living in Israel in the town of Gezer. Her teacher was trying to teach her about the seasons and asked her to take out her writing tablet upon which she wrote the following:

“Two months gathering Two months planting Two months late sowing One month cutting flax One month reaping barley One month reaping and measuring (grain) Two months pruning One month summer fruit.”

The most remarkable thing about her calendar is that she wrote it in Hebrew. As such, it is the oldest know Hebrew document in existence.

Our cousin lived in a city with a gatehouse built during the time of King Solomon. The gate house has a specific architectural structure and was, according to the bible, also to be found in the cities of Hazor and Meggido. Today archaeologists have found the remnant of these gates at all three cities.

But let me tell you of another of our relatives. This one was a young girl who lived 2700 years ago and had a charm which she wore on a necklace. The charm was made out of silver and had the words of the Priestly benediction inscribed upon it. This is the same benediction which we use on every Shabbat to bless our children and each other.

Since the times described above, I have always had relatives living in the land of Israel. Some of my family helped build the magnificent Second Temple. Others fought and lost to the Romans as they killed more than one million of our brothers and sisters during the Great Revolt from 66-70 CE.

Others of our relatives included those in Jerusalem who were locked up in a synagogue in 1099 by the Crusaders and died as the synagogue was set ablaze.

We can all identify with these people because they were Jews and their history as Jews has affected our identity to its very core.

Now I want to shift and tell you of my personal family history.

I am a direct descendent of Rabbi Judah ben Bezalel Lowe who was known as the Maharal of Prague who lived from 1525 to 1609. He was the greatest scholar of his generation. There were many legends surrounding his life and one of them was that he created a large figure out of clay called a Golem. Using the divine name of God, Rabbi Lowe would bring the Golem to life whenever the Jewish community was imperiled by the non Jewish community in Prague. The Golem, according to the legend, defended the community from physical attacks. As fanciful as this legend is, it always seems to me to indicate the tragedy of Jews being helpless and defenseless.

Some four hundred years later in Europe, others in my family known as the Eskeles who lived in Germany and Austria would die in the Holocaust.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 34

However, I can even tell you of even more personal family history. My great grandfather Jacob lived in Russia and witnessed a pogrom and anti-Jewish riot in which Jews were beaten and murdered. He told my grandfather Morris who told my dad that if one was to ever see an enraged mob coming after Jews, one should run in the other direction.

Jacob immigrated to the United States in 1886. After my grandfather died in 1972, we found a book which had belonged to his dad, Jacob. The book has a cover of olive wood. When you open it up, you see that it contains wild flowers from the city of Jerusalem. This book is over one hundred years old.

Over the years, I have asked myself why my great grandfather had this book. I am not sure of the answer, but I do feel that it was somewhat bashert or karmic that my family discovered this book in 1972 when I was a student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Perhaps I was the fulfillment of Jacob Guttman’s dream of actually seeing the wild flowers of Jerusalem? I am not sure.

I do know that all of my children were born in Israel and all three possess Hebrew names. I do know that I have relatives who live there and among them are two young men who serve in the Israeli army, one in the air force and another in an intelligence unit. My son lives in Tel Aviv.

I mention these facts because the Jewish people are interconnected with the land of Israel, be it through our understanding of Jewish history, our religious connection which goes back to biblical times and is supported by biblical archaeology, or our family connections.

Therefore one can easily understand how upset I am and the rest of the Jewish world were when the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, spoke the following words a week and a half ago from the podium of the United Nations. “I come before you today from the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the birthplace of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people in the homeland and in the Diaspora, to say, after 63 years of suffering of an ongoing Nakba: Enough. It is time for the Palestinian people to gain their freedom and independence.”

The bottom line is that President Abbas gave a terribly disappointing speech. He denied any Jewish connection to the land of Israel. The background to this speech was that President Abbas had made a decision, despite the personal pleas of President Obama, to go ahead with an attempt to get the UN Security Council to recognize a declare Palestinian statehood and admit it to the U.N. as a full member state. This process will take several weeks to unfold. The 1993 Oslo Accord stated that all future problems would be solved by bilateral direct negotiations. The Palestinian attempt to circumvent direct negotiations is a violation of the 1993 Oslo accord.

The reality is that the US has already indicated that it will veto this in the Security Council and as one of the five permanent members can do this. There will need to be 9 affirmative votes of the Security Council for this to proceed as a recommendation to the UN General Assembly, but as of now there is uncertainty as to whether the nine votes for the Palestinians are there.

If there are fewer than nine affirmative votes, the Palestinians will not submit the resolution to the Security Council and the U.S. would not have to veto it.

Abbas referred to 63 years of suffering of the ongoing “Nakba” or “catastrophe.” The number sixty three is significant because it shows that the issue goes back to Israeli’s founding sixty three years ago in 1948. By referring to 1948, Abbas reawakened the fear that Israelis have that the conflict is a basic one not over borders, but over Israel’s right to exist.

He ignored Israeli and Jewish concerns over terrorism and made it seem that the views of Jews do not matter. He gave no indication of the compromises that the Palestinian people would have to make for a real and

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 35 lasting peace. It was a deeply hostile speech.

One of the challenges of peace making has been to convince the Israeli people that there is someone on the other side who truly wants peace and is willing to make the compromises necessary for peace. Abbas’s speech went in the opposite direction.

By contrast in his speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu reached out to the Palestinians and called for direct negotiations without pre conditions and called for peace. The Prime Minister accepted the proposal by President Obama to use the 1967 borders with mutually agreed land swaps as the basis of future negotiations.

Israel lives in a very difficult part of the world. Recently, terrorists attacked Israel from Egyptian territory in the Sinai and in the ensuing battle, Egyptian soldiers were killed. A few days later, a mob stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo and the remaining six staff members, part of the security team barely made it out before being overrun. By the way, Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel, but in this case, Egyptian officials refused to take calls from their Israeli counterparts as the embassy was being stormed. Only a last minute intervention by President Obama averted a real catastrophe.

There is worry that things could go badly in Jordan as well as there have been anti-Israel demonstrations there.

Diplomatic relations with Turkey have deteriorated. The Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan apparently wants to see himself as the new leader of the Muslim world. The relationship further deteriorated in the aftermath of the deaths of nine activists on a Turkish ship that tried to run an Israeli naval blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza last year. A subsequent UN inquiry declared the blockade legal and blamed the Turks for inciting this situation, and yet the Turks demanded an apology from Israel. Israel did agree to pay compensation but that was not enough and Turkey much to the dismay of not only Israel but the United States. Turkey has threatened to escalate the situation by sending warships into the eastern Mediterranean.

In the north, the radical Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah has to all practical purposes taken over Lebanon. According to Us and Israel intelligence, Hezbollah now has more than 50,000 rockets which threaten Israel, many of these supplied by Iran.

In Gaza, the blockade against the Hamas led government has been eased during the past year. Intelligence reports indicate that Hamas now has 10,000 rockets, many of these the longer range and more powerful Grad rockets supplied by Iran.

The Iranians continue their quest for an atomic bomb. A recent International Atomic Energy Agency report said that it is “unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.”

Yes, Israel lives in a tough neighborhood but let us remembers that thanks to U.S. military aid and its own superb defense industry, Israel maintains a qualitative military edge over all its neighbors and as such is very strong and more than capable of defending itself. Like all countries, Israel has significantly internal problems which need to be addressed, yet Israel has a robust economy with unemployment at five percent.

The latest move by the Palestinian Authority at the United Nations has not helped the peace process. The government of Israel has stated its support for a two state solution, which is an Israel and a Palestine side by side in peace and in economic cooperation.

There is considerable pressure on Israel to make wide ranging concessions at this time, and yet the Israeli government and its population seem to be more than skeptical. Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon and was replaced by the radical Hezbollah and withdrew for Gaza and was replaced by Hamas. Every unilateral withdrawal has been met not by peaceful coexistence from the other side, but by rockets aimed at Israelis’ heartland. It is for this reason that in any future agreement with the Palestinians, Israel’s security concerns will

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 36 have to be taken very seriously.

Here in the United States, we are entering what promises to be an interesting political season. I know that there are Republicans, Democrats and Independents in this congregation, but I want to state in the most forthright way as possible that putting Israel into partisan American politics does not serve Israel well. Frankly saying that this or that candidate is better for Israel is not to Israel’s or the Jewish people’s advantage. The strength of U.S. support for Israel derives to a large extent from it’s being bipartisan.

Consider the following. I could easily go back to the time of President Eisenhower and cite ways in which American Presidents have at times been very supportive of Israel and at times not supportive. A great example of this would be President Reagan who was very supportive of Israel and yet during his presidency, he angered both Israel and the Jewish community by selling AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia and by laying a wreath at the Waffen SS cemetery in Germany. At this time, I do not desire to give a history lesson, but rather to speak honestly in a contemporary vein about President Obama and Israel.

The President gave probably what was the most pro Israel speech which has ever been given by a US president from the podium of the UN. He laid out the problems that Israel is facing including Israel being subject to terror and rocket attacks and that her neighbors want to destroy her. The President said that the United States will veto the initiative and fight it in the GA. His speech was a very powerful statement which should be read by all. Also, the president has pushed back on all international efforts to delegitimize Israel, including the Goldstone Report, and has vetoed a Security Council resolution criticizing Israel over the settlements.

In addition, the military cooperation between the United States and Israel has never been better. The crown jewel of this cooperation has been the development of the Iron Dome anti-missile batteries. Finally it has been under the Obama administration that Congress was able to pass significant economic sanctions against Iran in an effort to curtail Iran’s nuclear weapon quest.

That my friend is the good news.

The bad news is that at times, the Obama administration has shown a level on naiveté in its diplomacy. His decision, early on in his tenure, to publicly blast Israel over the settlements was a serious mistake that led President Abbas to refuse to resume peace talks unless Israel freezes all construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which no Israeli government would accept. Hence the absence of negotiations. Recently, I along with 900 other rabbis listened to President Obama’s briefing before Rosh Hashanah. The president seemed to indicate that if progress can be made on the Israel/Palestinian front, the situation in Egypt and Turkey would improve. With such progress, the United States could be able to shape the so called Arab Spring to its advantage.

I found this to be quite wishful thinking. There are myriad of problems in that part of the world and solving one will not solve them all. Asking Israel to take all of the risks for dubious results is not only naïve, but potentially dangerous. The President has been correct in making overtures to the Arab world. These began with his Cairo speech in 2009. However, let us be clear that there has been no significant response to President Obama’s overtures. The United States is being perceived as being weaker, primarily due to our economic problems. Therefore our diplomacy has been rebuffed by Turkey in its escalation of tensions and by the Palestinians in their United Nations gambit.

Recently, there were two highly partisan articles by Jewish political pundits concerning President Obama and Israel. The first one was entitled “Why Obama Is Losing the Jewish Vote” by Dan Senor. Senor was formerly a spokesman for George W. Bush’s Provisional Authority in Baghdad and has considered a U.S. Senate run as a Republican. The second was entitled “Obama and Israel” and was written by former California Democratic Congressman Mel Levine. I was sad to see these two partisan articles. In my opinion, neither serves the security of Israel or of the Jewish people well.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 37 Making Israel into a “wedge” issue for partisan advantage is a serious mistake. God forbid that there really was a candidate who really is not a supporter of Israel and her security. It is very dangerous to use Israel as a grossly partisan political tool. It is my hope that in the future those in the Jewish community, whether they be Democrats or Republicans, will refrain from unwarranted and highly partisan attacks on candidates because of perceived or made-up issues regarding Israel. Again, such attacks do not serve the legitimate and long term interests of Israel and her security.

Frankly, the support for Israel among both Democrats and Republicans is deep and is one of the few things upon which they agree. Friends. It is important that you understand that at least in my lifetime, every President, Democrat and Republican has during his term of office been a good friend of Israel.

Israel needs all the friends in Congress it can get. Occasionally, there is a congressman or a senator who is indeed anti-Israel, but thank God that these seem to be few and far between. No matter who wins the next presidential election, Israel will need a friend in the White House.

My hope is that in the coming political season, we here in this congregation will avoid this type of political partisanship.

So with all of this background, let me lay out what I see should be our agenda in the coming year as far as Israel is concerned.

1. Gilad Shalit whose picture has been sitting on that chair in our sanctuary for more than four years has now been held by Hamas for more than five years. He was captured within Israeli territory. Rabbi Koren and I have visited with his father in Jerusalem. Gilad has not been seen during this time by the International Red Cross. It is time for Gilad to be brought home and we should keep his name front and center in our Israel advocacy.

2. We need to urge the administration and the congress to continue to impose tighter sanctions against the Iranian regime. Only time will tell if these sanctions will work, but let us be clear that a nuclear armed Iran is a threat not only to Israel, but to the entire world.

3. Let us continue to urge the President and Congress to support Foreign Aid to Israel. Most of this aid is spent in the United States and is critical for Israel to maintain its qualitative military edge. You may wish to consider joining the North Carolina delegation to the AIPAC Policy Conference in early March 2012

4. Let us redouble our efforts to explain Israel’s case to our non-Jewish friends. Later this month, I will be speaking about Israel at the First Presbyterian Church in Burlington. If you belong to a club like the Rotary, it is time to bring a pro-Israel speaker to one of your meetings.

5. Let us make a pledge to ourselves that some time in the next year or two, we will go to Israel. Despite what I have said today, Israel is not a war zone, but a very peaceful, wonderful and strong country wherein our roots as Jews are very deep. And if I might say so myself, the food is terrific! This year the Greensboro Jewish Federation and the NCCJ are sponsoring in March an Interfaith Mission to Israel. In April of 2012 and 2013, there will be a Greensboro contingent on the March of the Living. Adults are welcome as participants. Finally, the Greensboro Jewish Federation is planning a community mission October 9 -19, 2012.

6. Finally, prayers concerning Israel and peace are important. Such prayers are not only petitions to God. They are also our mission statements which reaffirm our vision of what should be. Therefore, let us conclude this morning with the following prayer.

O Guardian of Israel, we ask Your blessings, O God, for the State of Israel, For the Land of Israel, and for the People of Israel. Bless those who defend the Land and protect its people.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 38 Bless its leaders with wisdom, courage, and dedication. May they be resolute in the face of challenge, And unwavering in the pursuit of peace. May Israel be a beacon of hope for the oppressed, A source of inspiration to all who are free. Fulfill in our day the ancient promise, “Zion shall be redeemed through justice, And its inhabitants through righteousness.”

Amen.

Rabbi Fred Guttman Temple Emanuel Greensboro, NC

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 39 WHEN RECONCILIATION FAILS Rabbi Allen S. Maller

The custom of praying late at night prior to Rosh HaShanah (slikhot), and the custom of throwing away sins following Rosh HaShanah (Tashleekh), both originated during the late Middle Ages. Our ancestors added these new customs to the traditional observances of the High Holy Days because the larger Jewish community realized that while everyone needed to forgive others, some people also needed to forgive themselves.

Slikhot was added to stimulate each person’s ideal desire to repent and to reconcile with both God and our fellow human beings, thus making the New Year truly a Shanah Tovah- a better year than last year.

Tashleekh was added because reality teaches us that while any one can repent, it takes two to effect a reconciliation. While repentance is always part of atonement, reconciliation does not always occur. Sometimes the scars and painful impressions made on us by others in past years need to be washed away like footprints in the sand.

Thus, the Talmud (Yoma 85a-b) teaches us that if a person has made three separate attempts at reconciliation, and been rebuffed each time, that is sufficient for God to forgive, even if the other person never does forgive. And if God forgives you, you should forgive yourself.

Yet many good hearted idealistic people keep trying to fix bad relationships, often exposing themselves, and sometimes others, to new hurts and rejections. They need to understand that without the co-operation of another person, some hurts and bad feelings cannot be healed. The only remedy is Tashleekh; to cast them off, to wash them away and let them go; and to begin again with new opportunities.

A Story: Repentance, Atonement, and some nails

A mother once gave her daughter a box of nails and told her that every time she lost her temper or insulted somebody she must hammer a nail into a large tree in the back yard.

The first day the girl hit 9 nails into the tree. Over the next few weeks, as she learned to control her anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled. She discovered it was easier to hold her temper than to drive those nails into the tree.

Finally the day came when the girl didn’t lose her temper at all. She told her mother about it and the mother suggested that the girl now pull out one nail for each day that she was able to hold her temper. The days passed. Finally, she told her mother that all the nails were gone.

The mother took her daughter by the hand and led her to the tree. She said, “You have done well, my daughter, but look at all the holes in the tree. The tree will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like these.” You can put a knife in a person and draw it out. It does not matter how many times you say I’m sorry, a wound is still there. A verbal wound is almost as bad as a physical one.

“How can I fix the tree?” asked the girl. “Will it have to remain damaged forever?”

“Yes and no” said the mother. “Our Rabbis say that if the tree is still alive, and responds to the way you have changed, it too can change and heal itself. If the tree is dead to the possibility of your repentance it will carry its scars onward. Either way the tree will never be as it was before, but it doesn’t have to become perfect to be a good tree. If you do your part and change, and the tree does its part in response, God will do something wonderful. God will promote a healing that will make you and the tree better then you were before. This process is called Atonement. Atonement means that the changes that come about from repentance and forgiveness lead people to higher levels of relationship than was the case before.”

“What happens if the tree doesn’t respond?” asked the girl. “Can I ever make it whole?”

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 40 “You should try on three different occasions,” said the mother, “but if the tree remains dead to you even after you have changed, YOU can’t force it to heal. In that case you should help another tree somewhere else. There are always lots of trees that need care, and whenever you nourish a tree God will make something wonderful happen. That is the miracle of Atonement. God always responds to our attempts to change by helping us change and always responds to our change by giving us new and wonderful opportunities for Atonement. This is why we have a Day of Atonement ten days after the beginning of every New Year; so the New Year will be a better one than the last one.”

Rabbi Allen S. Maller Temple Akiba Culver City, CA

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 41 SIGN OF THE TIMES – A STORY OF REDEMPTION ROSH HASHANAH Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt

In early 1995, less than a year after we had moved into our current facility, on a Saturday night when we were holding an art auction, someone plowed into one of our signs at the top of our driveway. A young kid speeding down Norton Road, was so high on drugs or alcohol he didn’t realize that the road did not continue. He was oblivious to the sign at the top of our driveway. He continued on a straight path and just barreled right into the sign. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt. He panicked, abandoned his car and tried to run away before the police arrived. We reported the loss to our insurance company and eventually the sign was repaired and replaced.

A few months later we were startled and disturbed to see when we arrived at the synagogue one spring Sunday morning to find that once again the sign had been damaged. Only this time it wasn’t unintentionally caused by an errant vehicle. It was consciously and maliciously defaced. Discarded spray cans were found lying around that had been used to paint anti-Semitic graffiti and a swastika on the Jewish star of our logo. A number of congregants and others from the community, including Congresswoman Connie Morella helped clean the sign, wiping away the offensive writings.

When I heard that the second sign had been defaced, among other thoughts, my initial reaction was, Oy – there goes our insurance premium.

Imagine my surprise when earlier this year I got a message from my assistant that a young man, who wasn’t Jewish, called and wanted to come see me. Because, although only a few here today know this bit of B’nai Tzedek history from our past, and probably even less recall what happened about 16 or 17 years ago, there was at least one person who remembered what had transpired: the person who did it.

Sitting in my office, the neatly dressed young man told me, “I am the guy who messed up your sign a number of years ago.” I asked him, “which one?” He looked puzzled and didn’t understand what I meant. I explained that the sign was actually damaged on two different occasions, and so I wanted to know which one he was responsible for having done.

He told me that when he was a teenager about 16 years ago, after a night of heavy drinking with some friends they came and did something, in his words, “they should not have done” scrawling graffiti on our sign. His life was significantly different now. He is married and has a child. As a result of his wife’s prodding and insistence, he had enrolled in a 12 step program, and had stopped drinking. The 12 step program helped him find faith and God. His religion, Christianity has become an important part of his life and was now what guides his actions. He was remorseful and regretted what he had done. As part of his rehabilitation he felt he needed to come clean, which is why he made that tough call to come and meet with me. He wanted to apologize, to seek forgiveness, and to make amends. He offered to pay for the cost of the damage he had inflicted.

It was one of the most poignant encounters and remarkable meetings I have ever had as a rabbi. I was taken by surprise, and wasn’t sure how to respond. But in truth, it is not so unusual to hear that something like this would still plague him, even though it happened so long ago.

I was speaking this summer with a close friend, in his 50’s, who told me he was troubled by something he had said about another friend when they were both running against each other for the same student council office. Although this had happened while they were in high school over 40 years ago, it still bothered him, and he felt the need to do something about it. As a result he reached out and invited his former opponent to lunch and apologized for what he had said and done so long ago, and which had troubled him ever since, even though he did not have to be so tough on himself and could have chalked it up to immaturity or youthful indiscretion.

One of the unique aspects of being human is that we can and do make moral choices. Unlike other creatures we are created betzelem elohim, in the image of God, which means we are programmed with memory and a conscience. Surely we all have done things which we regret, especially with the benefit of hindsight. The

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 42 question is, what do we do with those feelings?

Part of the power of these Yamim haNoraim, these days of Awe is that it motivates us to turn to and to reach out to others, especially those we have wronged, whether intentionally, or unintentionally. When we hear and recite the prayers of Rosh Hashana we are motivated to reflect on the calling of the shofar leading us to seek forgiveness, to seek healing, and to ask those we have wronged to accept our apologies. It is also a time to let go of past grievances and perceived slights. It is as if God and our heritage have given us this wonderful gift, the means to repair and restore frayed relationships, to reach out to those from whom we have become distant and to relieve the guilt that can haunt us, even for years.

I think this explains part of the awesome power of this time of year. Our prayers summon us to make amends, reminding us that the gates of repentance are open, and pointing us in that direction. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explains in the introduction to his new High Holiday prayer book that teshuva is the simple act of turning, an abandonment of sin and a change of behavior to embrace the holy and the good.

The Talmud has a seemingly strange passage which says that God created repentance even before he created human beings. God did this because He knew that we would not be perfect and would make mistakes. The rabbis believe that providing us the means to make up for our shortcomings and to repair our errors is a gift God gave us, a way to help us cope with our feelings and pangs of conscience when we know we have disappointed Him and others. When we work to correct our human imperfections, we improve our character and change our nature. It is an affirmation that we have free will and knowing this and acting upon it can be transformational.

Sometimes regrets about things we have said or done, or things we have not said or done, can linger with us for a long time, and take awhile before we seek to rectify them. Other times it need not take years to realize that we have erred.

Although Armando Galarraga was pitching a perfect game in May of last year for the Detroit Tigers going into the final inning, with one out to go, it won’t go into the record books as a perfect game. He had faced 26 batters, and not one of them had reached base.

With two outs in the ninth inning, and with the crowd cheering and standing on their feet in anticipation of being witnesses to history being made, the batter hit a ground ball to the second baseman, who tossed it to the pitcher, Galarraga, who ran to cover first base. As was immediately evident to everyone in the stadium, as well as to those watching on TV and to anyone who has seen the instant replay, the batter was out. But the first base umpire, Jim Joyce called him safe. Listening to the play by play, you hear the announcer exclaim, “He’s out!” only to hear him correct himself a split second later when he realized the umpire had called the runner safe. The perfect game was ruined. Had the umpire made the right call, Galarraga would have earned his place in the record books, as only twenty perfect games have been pitched in the over 100 year history of major league baseball.

But what happened next was especially unusual, fascinating and inspiring, and is what makes the whole affair more memorable than being in the record books. (After all, if it was just a perfect game the story would never have made it into a High Holiday sermon at a major synagogue in suburban Washington D.C.!) The umpire reviewed the play in the umpire room after the game and saw that he was wrong. Once he realized what had happened, without prompting or delay he publicly expressed genuine remorse and said how terrible he felt being the one responsible for denying the pitcher a perfect game. How many times do you recall an ump or referee admitting a mistake? It is even more rare than a perfect game!

Yet as remarkable as the umpire’s admission was, the response of the pitcher, the person who was wronged, was equally exemplary and even more extraordinary. Galarraga did not respond with a temper or a display of outburst or anger, as we have grown accustomed to see in professional sports. He didn’t yell at the ump or even protest the call. He did not express any blame, or malice or ill will. He just smiled and with an

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 43 incredulous, “you’ve got to be kidding me” kind of way, looked as if he was thinking, “I can’t believe what just happened.”

After Mr. Joyce realized he had made a mistake he asked to speak directly to Galarraga to apologize to him. Visibly shaken when he faced reporters in a press conference the next day he repeatedly confessed, “I was wrong ... I just screwed (up) the perfect game, this kid worked so hard to do it…, and I just cost that kid a perfect game,” he said. In one of the classiest moves of major league sports, the next day the Tigers pitcher was the one who presented the lineup card to the umpire, who accepted it, with tears in his eyes.

In an interview on “The Early Show”, Galararraga told Harry Smith in broken English how he felt about the umpire. “It was not easy coming and telling the people he had made a mistake. It meant a lot to me. And when this guy go talk to me, he can’t even talk, he was crying. And I understand nobody’s perfect. It’s part of the game.”

In a day and age when athletes behave like pampered narcissists with a sense of entitlement, and who call press conferences to inform the world where they “intend to take their talent” this was refreshing and uplifting. It is an example of the positive role sports figures can play as role models and offers lessons for all of us. It is a timely reminder of the power of humility and of the simple, but sometimes painful and difficult words, “I made a mistake. I am sorry.” While it may have resulted in messing up a perfect game, it was a perfect apology. It was perfect because it was sincere and entailed genuine remorse. It was also perfect because the aggrieved party was willing to forgive. Both parties were gracious and magnanimous.

Sometimes it doesn’t work out as well. People may not be so forgiving, and efforts to make peace are rebuffed. There are those who enjoy wallowing in self pity and cannot let go of a perceived slight or allow themselves to get over hurt feelings. In general and in principle, we should always be open and accept the extended hand of those who reach out and let go of our anger, to let bygones be bygones. It is much healthier, and in fact, if we do not forgive, our tradition says, the sin passes on to us. But are there times when it may be too late, when too much harm has been done and we are justified to maintain our sense of indignation? Probably not. Although when we malign the reputation of another person it is difficult, if not impossible to repair the damage.

The well-known story of the rabbi telling someone who regretted having spoken to so many so negatively and so often about the rabbi comes to mind. When approached privately with a sheepish apology the wise rabbi instructed the person to spread the feathers from a pillow wide and far, and then to try to retrieve them, an obviously impossible task. Upon seeing how difficult it was to gather the feathers, the rabbi explained, so it is when we say something that diminishes or tarnishes the good name of another. Trying to retract the words is as futile as trying to retrieve the scattered feathers which have taken on a life of their own. The point is that we should be extremely mindful and cautious of what we say about others. Jewish sources implore us to resist the temptation to spread rumors and gossip, even when we know it is true, for it can cause irreparable harm, and we may later regret what we have done.

What is true for individuals is true on a larger scale, for countries as well.

Israel, for example is much maligned, and has become the world’s punching bag. There are a myriad of reasons for this, which I will discuss in more detail on Yom Kippur. But the part that is relevant to what I am discussing today is the harm done to it by the infamous Goldstone Report. Filled with lies and inaccuracies, in typical UN fashion it offered a one-sided condemnation of Israel for its defense of its citizens against the constant shelling from Gaza. It is as if when it comes to protecting Jewish lives, any defense is disproportional. A South African Jew, Richard Goldstone was chosen to head up the United Nations commission investigating the 2009 War in Gaza. The damage the libelous report did to Israel’s reputation was considerable.

This past year, Goldstone had a change of heart and said that he wanted to apologize for what he had done. In an Op Ed piece he penned for the “Washington Post” several months ago he wrote: “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.” Nothing was more damning

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 44 than his conclusion which he now renounces and states unequivocally that “civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.” But unfortunately, like the feathers spread to the wind, the words of his initial report had already taken flight and the damage of the widely circulated negative slanderous misrepresentation has been done. In this case, the harm is so widespread, it may be too late. The media that hyped Goldstone’s allegations of Israeli war crimes did not devote the same front-page coverage to Goldstone’s retraction. NGO’s have made their conclusions, public opinion has been shaped by the report, governments have formed policy, and resolutions of condemnation have been passed based on the incorrect conclusions. Despite Goldstone’s penitence, Israel will still be regarded by many as a pariah among the community of nations. In reality though, for Goldstone teshuva requires more than a single op ed in the “Washington Post.” If he is sincere and truly regrets what he did, he should mount a major effort to meet world leaders and undertake an active campaign to let the media know how he feels.

The lesson here is to think before we speak ill of others about the damage we can do to the reputation of a person, or in the case of Israel, a country.

So back to our story about the young man who marked up our sign who came to see me: what did I tell him? I proceeded to teach him what our tradition teaches about teshuvah and about the process of how we make amends for the errors of our ways. I taught him not just the concepts, but the actual terminology as well.

Teshuvah, I explained, for most Jews is intricately linked to the High Holidays. But the reality is, the gates of repentance are always open. Knowing that we do not know the day of our passing, the Talmud enjoins us to repent the day before we die. We are taught that the way to achieve teshuva is by admitting first to ourselves that we have done something we should not have done, and then to admit this directly to whomever we have wronged. Compensation should be made if there is monetary loss, and tzedekah can be given to correct the imbalance caused by the sin. I explained to him that while I appreciated his kind offer to make restitution, the sign had been paid for some time ago. Nevertheless, realizing the wisdom or our sages, that it may be important for him to feel that he had made tikun, a correction for what he had done, I told him while it was not something he had to do, he could make a contribution to the synagogue if he wished to do so. I felt I couldn’t require it of him, but that it had to come from within his own heart.

I then took him into the empty sanctuary, where I invited him to stand with me before the open ark, and we prayed. It was a deeply moving, religious moment, for both of us. I thought to myself about the transformative power of faith. I couldn’t help but think of all the skeptics who question what good religion is, and wanted them to be with me at that moment. Here was someone who had turned his life around, as a result of his belief system, of giving his life, in the terms of AA, over to a “higher power.”

I found the story of this young man so compelling and share it with you today because it so dramatically shows that we need not be prisoners of our past. It affirms that all we say is true: we can change, and faith can help us achieve it. In a subsequent conversation he told me how moved he was by the experience and how much he appreciated learning what Judaism taught about teshuva. A few weeks later I received a check in the mail made out to “B’nai Tzedek”, with the words “for teshuva” on the memo line.

Part of what Rosh Hashana is all about is celebrating decency, and reaffirming the power of kindness, compassion and of the way we should treat loved ones. This is why these stories resonate this time of year. We reflect on how far we have drifted away, and of the need to turn to each other, as well as to return to the basic tenets and teachings of our heritage. It gives us a chance to be renewed and reenergized, with a fresh slate and a new beginning. The question is how can we liberate ourselves from those things we have that we have come to regret, how are we able to move on. The answer is through teshuvah.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 45 As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes, “Teshuva tells us that our past does not determine our future. We can change. We can act differently next time than last. If anything, our future determines our past. Our determination to grow as human beings – our commitment to a more faithful, sensitive, decent life in the year to come gives us the courage and honesty to face our past and admit its shortcomings. Our teshuva and God’s forgiveness together mean that we are not prisoners of the past, held captive by it. In Judaism sin is what we do, not what we are.”

As we say when we conclude the Unetaneh Tokef prayer, “Teshuva, (sincere repentance), u’tefillah (prayer) u’tzedekah, (acts of charity and kindness) ma’avirin et roa hagezerah, aver the severity of the decree.” The young man who came to see me did all three. He came to me to ask forgiveness, we prayed, and he made a donation to the synagogue. As we face the new year, let us work to bring healing into our lives, to do the important, sometimes difficult, often courageous, but always redemptive work God demands of us.

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt Congregation B’nai Tzedek Potomac, MD

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 46 ROSH HASHANAH DAY Rabbi Steven Garten

“William Rainsferd and I stood alone in the hall of the nursing home. Outside on the rue de courcelles, it was raining.

“How about some coffee?” he said.

He had a beautiful smile.

We walked under the drizzle to the nearest café. We sat down, ordered two espressos. For a moment, we sat there in silence.

At last he said slowly, “Tell me my mother’s story.”

‘This isn’t going to be easy,” I said.

“Yes, but I need to hear it, Please Julia.”

William needs to hear the story of his mother Sarah. Sarah, William and Julia are characters in the book Sarah’s Key. The powerful nature of the novel made for a moving movie that was released this summer. Amongst the many powerful scenes depicting the French Vel’d’Hiv round up of Jews in Paris, amongst the powerful scenes painting a picture of destroyed lives and lives forever altered there was one scene that stood out to me. It was near the end of the movie when William the son of a Holocaust survivor, Sarah, asks Julia, a journalist who is obsessed with discovering the story of Williams’s mother, why she has sacrificed much of her life to pursue this tale. Julia answers that unless stories are repeated they die. Unless stories are preserved they fade away and what they represent is destroyed a second time.

I think of that scene often. We are a people who have survived exile, pogroms and annihilation by telling stories. This morning we retell Abraham’s journey to Mount Moriah with his son Isaac. Each year their three day hike is the focus of our Torah reading. This powerful story was created by individuals searching to comprehend God’s presence in the Universe and to understand the relationship of human beings to the divine. This story is their answer. Many of you are able if prodded to remember are able to recall stories you learned in religious school, day school, maybe even from your parents or grandparents. Some of you will dredge up the story of Abraham destroying the idols in his father’s workshop. A story intended to calm our fears about the transcendent God and tell us of Gods imminence. A few will remember the story of Hillel and Shammai responding to the perspective converts’ request to teach the torah on one foot. A tale designed to help us understand that that there are many ways to understand Torah. A few more may remember the story of King Solomon and the Baby, a story about the power of human reason.

These stories are a reflection of our peoples’ quest to wrestle with tough issues of life and death, the purpose of our lives and the role the divine can play in our lives. These stories are a reflection of each generation’s commitment to preserve our present and insure our future through the use of the past. But we live in very different times. Science has replaced Torah as the source of answers for questions about the unknown. We are more likely to ask Google to answer questions about the universe than refer to the Midrash. With few exceptions we live in safety and in comfort, the stories of Jewish Heroics; Judah Maccabee, Akibah, and Judith seem distant to us. The truth is as I see it we the people of stories are in danger of becoming a people who do not transmit our stories and worse still are uninterested in doing so.

When my children were growing up there was a movement afoot to recreate fairy tales and children’s stories so that they better reflected the changing social norms. The stories of the Grimm brothers were seen as too dark and scary so they were removed from classrooms and home libraries. The classic fairy tales were seen as misogynistic or racist so they were replaced with rewritten texts. Stories such as the paper bag princess replaced sleeping beauty or Rapunzel. Some of you may remember a volume of stories entitled, politically

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 47 correct fairy tales.

Even though I have may have laughed and poked fun at the attempt to rewrite the classics I knew that the changes were a reflection of people caring deeply. Individuals felt so strongly about the need to change the role of woman, the status of woman that they wanted to imbue children with new perceptions and new concepts. I always noted that amidst the call for change and modification there was rarely a call to stop telling stories. Feminists might want to replace one story with another, change one ending from another, but they understood the power of storytelling.

To care so deeply about something that you wish to tinker with history, to care so deeply about how the next generation thinks and feels, even if means messing with the time venerated stories that is to be praised. I wonder if we care that much about how the next generation feels about being Jewish. I wonder if we are even cognizant of how few Jewish stories we tell our children. I wonder if we even consider writing new ones, or do we just dispose of the old ones. I see how few children have heard of David and Saul, Goliath or Judith or even Lilith. Do we have so little feeling for our peoplehood, for our faith, for our traditions that if the story it is not associated with food, there is no story to be told? Nowhere is this phenomenon more obvious then in our relationship to the State of Israel.

If you are of a certain generation then Leon Uris’ Exodus is the story of your youth. There is a generation here who grew up knowing that the mythic figures of Exodus were the stand-ins for Ben Gurion, Rabin, Begin, Shamir, Dayan and hundreds of others. We read the story and kvelled at the strength and bravery of Israel’s’ founders. We shepped nachos at their success and knew that the story of Judah Maccabee was now not just an ancient story, but one that had been relived in our life time. That generation, my generation, personally knew of the threats to Israel’s survival and told the glorious stories of the six day war, Entebbe, the miraculous recovery from the dastardly attacks on Yom Kippur of 1973. We told heroic stories of Moshe Dayan and even Ariel Sharon.

Stories of military successes, archeological discoveries, and the absorption of nearly a million Jews expelled from Arab lands were the told as often in Jewish homes as Cinderella. There was no shortage of stories to tell and hear. We passed them on to our children as the dreams of a homeland had been passed on to us. I loved the stories. They were as captivating as the early Harry Potter stories, good triumphed over evil and we were the good guys. The underdog always won and we were the underdog.

Those stories are still glorious. But we now know that the stories of Israel’s founding were not quite magical. We now know that the players on our side were not Harry, Hermione, and Ron. We now know that the stories of the great and glorious past are as gilded as any piece of fiction. eW now know that these stories can no longer guarantee commitment and unswerving adoration and loyalty to the state of Israel. Statistics tell us that the connection between Israel and the younger generations is tenuous at best. Statistics tell us that more Christians visit the Holy Land each year than Jews. Statistics tell us that less than 40% of Jews make donations to the UJA or institutions in the Jewish state. I could continue to innumerate the disconnect between the State of Israel and the majority of North American Jews. The stories that we could tell now are not glorious, they are not fiction, and they are not the stories of good and evil. They are the real unexpurgated story of a struggle between two competing peoples for one piece of land. They are the stories of two nations struggling for a land too much promised. They are the stories of two historic peoples yearning to live in peace but not yet ready to hear the historical narratives each other. I wonder if we have the guts to tell these stories. Are we so divorced from love of Israel that we can’t face telling new stories that don’t feature Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint.

If we wish to build strong vibrant resilient relationships with the State of Israel it will not depend on money or fairy tales. It will depend on telling new stories.

It is time to write new stories about our beloved Israel; stories that do not rely solely on the past glories, but on the new more modern, more nuanced heroes of the present. We should tell the stories of those who sacrificed for peace; Begin, Sadat, King Hussein, Rabin, Perez, Arafat and the soldiers who struggled with orders that

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 48 were too difficult to obey. We should tell the stories of the mothers of victims of violence be they Israeli or Palestinian that gather together to promote peace. We should tell the stories of those who sheltered the poor the needy and the homeless, those whose heroic deeds will create a justice and equitable society. We should tell the stories of Israelis who risk everything to make Israel a just and honorable country for all. Heroes are those whose actions rise above the homogenized norms of society. The great deeds of the past are just that past. We can honor their memory, we can retell their glories however if they do not resonate with the current struggles for justice and equality for all the peoples of the Promised Land then they will be found on the remainder table with old paperbacks of Exodus.

Telling these great glorious stories requires us to care enough about the survival of the state. Do we care enough about Israel’s’ survival to accept its faults and tell stories of its struggles? Can we speak of the woman of the wall yearning to read Torah at the Wall, when we rarely come to hear Torah being read? Can we kvell at the struggle of Ethiopian or Russian Jews desperate to convert to Judaism, if Judaism means so little to us.

Do we have enough commitment to our people’s values and traditions to tell the stories of those wonderful individuals who created Leket, opportunities for picking the corners of farmers’ fields for the poor as it tells us in Torah, if our contributions to tzdakah are minimal? Can we put aside for a minute all the comments about Netanyahu, or Leiberman, or dysfunctional government and shepp nachos from the doctors’ nurses and ambulance attendants who care for Palestinian woman and children caught between conflicting stories, if you do not help the poor and needy in our own country?

You know I love baseball and love to speak about the exploits of Jewish ball players. I do that because I love Jews, more than I love baseball. Sandy Koufax, Art Shamsky, Hank Greenberg, Moe Berg and even Shawn Greene, all made commitments to being Jewish and that’s why I tell their stories. The same is true of Israel, I tell its stories with all its blemishes because for me the survival of Jews is worth telling. Is it for you? It is 1948 just before the creation of the state of Israel. Israel’s undercover agency the Mossad, dispatches a top agent to meet a fellow spy in New York, man by the name of Abe Ginsburg who live at 123 Delancy street in the lower East Side. The password for Ginsburg is “the sky is blue, the earth is brown.”

The Mossad agent leaves Israel and arrives at the New York airport. To make sure that he is not followed, he takes a train to Connecticut, a bus to New Jersey, a limo to Staten Island and a ferry to Manhattan. Finally he arrives at 123 Delancey Street. He enters the building, read the names on the mailboxes. There are two Ginsburgs, one on the second floor and one on the fourth. Using all his intuitive skills he decides that the Ginsburg he seeks lives on the fourth floor. He climbs the stairs, knocks on the door very loudly. A little old Jew answers and yells back, “What do you want.” The agent replies; “The sky is blue, the earth is brown.” The old man retorts: “Ginsburg the spy lives on the second floor”

Once upon a time we told endearing stories like this about Israel and laughter came easily. Now it is more complicated. Settlements and settlers, roadblocks and blockades, and occupation, the first and second invasions of Lebanon, and of course we should add the unresolved battles with Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel presents us with headlines that confuse and concern us. It is not easy to laugh anymore. But in spite of that there are stories to tell and dreams to share. The question for us today is if we care enough about the survival of the State of Israel to tell these stories. I pray that we do?

Rabbi Steven Garten Temple Israel Ottawa, Canada

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 49 WALKING HAND IN HAND - THE CHALLENGE OF JEWISH UNITY Rabbi Avi Weiss

Am Yisrael Chai. Od Avinu Chai.

From New York to Paris to Melbourne to Buenos Aires to Tel Aviv and throughout the world, this was the theme song of the Soviet Jewry movement. One wonders, are these words found anywhere in Tanakh?

On this Yom Kippur I’d like to talk about what I believe to be the greatest challenge facing Am Yisrael – the challenge of living in the spirit of ahavat Yisrael – love of our fellow Jew. It revolves around the importance of living in unity, even with those with whom we disagree.

The Talmud records that on Rosh Hashanah, Joseph was released from his Egyptian prison and brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dream. Tanya Rabbi Eliezer omer, be-Rosh Hashanah yatzah Yosef mi- beit ha-asurim - Rabbi Eliezer said on Rosh Hashanah Joseph was freed from prison. (Rosh Hashanah 10b)

Were I writing my own Midrash, I would add that if Joseph was released from the dungeon on Rosh Hashanah, it follows that he begins his tenure as second to the king soon after – close to or on Yom Kippur. The language of the Joseph narrative resonates with imagery of Yom Kippur.

After feeling forgotten in his dungeon cell, Joseph is remembered, much as we hope we will be remembered on Yom Kippur. Joseph changes his clothes as the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, does many times on Yom Kippur. He comes before the king – true, a mortal king, but it stirs within us our standing before the King of Kings, God Himself on the Day of Atonement. Joseph interprets a dream – and who on Yom Kippur doesn’t dream of life improved. He’s at the precipice, he must be careful with every word, as his life is in the balance, much as we on Yom Kippur should see ourselves as being on evenly balanced scales – the next deed or word could make the whole difference. And even as Pharaoh tries to change Joseph’s name to an Egyptian one, Vayikra Pharaoh shem Yosef Tzafnas Paneah, hoping that Joseph would assimilate, Joseph does Yom Kippur type teshuvah by remaining true to his Jewish roots, as the Torah states, Vayetzei Yosef al Eretz Mitzrayim (Genesis 41:45).

Not only is the imagery of Joseph and Yom Kippur similar, but their major themes conflate as both emphasize the critical importance of Jewish unity.

Joseph’s release from prison and his assumption of leadership in Egypt marks the turning point in the Book of Genesis. Up to his release, Genesis is about broken families – Isaac versus Ishmael, Jacob versus Esau. That fractiousness continues with Joseph and his brothers hating one another.

It reaches a tipping point when Joseph leaves prison. This begins the march towards that pivotal moment when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. They cry and embrace. The descendants of Abraham and Sarah, the Jewish people, are finally together. We had become one nation.

The Book of Genesis ends with family reconstructed. The Prophets are nothing less than an unraveling of this dream. Israel divides into two kingdoms – we are at war with each other. The 10 tribes are exiled, and the Temple destroyed. All seems lost.

The last sentences of the Neviim Rishonim, the Early Prophets, are telling. They reveal how the family unit of Israel can be restored. They talk about how Yehoyachin, the penultimate king of Judah, was released from his Babylonian prison, changes his garments – veshina et bigdei ki’l’o – and is placed on a high throne - vayiten et kiso me’al kisei ha’melachim (II Kings 25:28, 29). This reminds the reader of the time when Joseph was released from prison and changed his clothes before appearing before Pharaoh – va-ye’halef simlotav and is elevated to the high throne of viceroy of Egypt – rak ha-kisei egdal mi’mekhah. (Genesis 41: 14, 40)

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 50

While the Early Prophets ends tragically with the destruction of the Temple, it concludes, with the language that reverberates with the Joseph story, to teach that the pathway to redemption is to reclaim that moment when Joseph ascends from the dark dungeon and marches towards a reunification with his brethren. That is the key to redemption.

This message of unity is a central idea of Yom Kippur, as on this day we hope and pray for ahdut Yisrael, the unity of Israel. We sound the shofar to end Yom Kippur as the shofar is a call for collective redemption, a call for all of our people to commit to redeeming the Jewish people, through which the world will be redeemed. Thus, the final blast is sounded immediately after we call out Hashem hu ha-Elokim. These very words were said by Am Yisrael on Mount Carmel as they gathered round – led by Elijah, the harbinger of redemption – and declared as one the Oneness of God. As Debbie Friedman wrote, “Gather round, gather round, gather down by the river. Every day, right here, right now, one day, all over the world – gather round.”

This call for unity is not a call for uniformity. Uniformity is the eradication of differences. Unity is living together despite differences. When we argue among ourselves on the politics of Israel, or the truths of our religious paths, we must do so as a family. We must be absolutely uncompromising and mahmir (stringent) in the mitzvah of ahavat Yisrael, loving our fellow Jew, recognizing that the test of family is not how we love each other when we agree, but how we love each other when we disagree.

For this to happen, an ethics of how we should disagree should be drafted. It should include the following guidelines: Whatever side we are on, we must use language with care; we should recognize that dissent is acceptable, delegitimization is not; we ought to listen and not only hear the other and avoid impugning the motives of our adversaries. Above all, we should always remember that we have much to learn from each other. Alone, in our particularistic views, we will not make it as a people; only together will we survive.

Which brings me back to Am Yisrael Chai, Od Avinu Chai, the anthem of the Soviet Jewry movement. The music was composed at the request of Jacob Birnbaum, the father of the Soviet Jewry movement, by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. But even more brilliant than the music are the words which Shlomo wrote. Here, I believe, Shlomo sought words which reflected a Jewish people united to free Soviet Jewry. And so, he chose words which echo remembrances of Yosef revealing himself to his brothers. That extraordinary moment of coming together, when Joseph declared, Ani Yosef, ha-od avi chai - “I am Joseph – is my father still alive.” The song offers a response: The people of Israel will live – Am Yisrael Chai, if od avinu chai, if we declare in unison that we are all part of the same mishpacha – it’s not my father but our father – we’re one family.

I grew up with the teaching of the message of Od Avinu Chai. My paternal grandfather died penniless. He left a spiritual will with one request – that his children gather once a month on Motzei Shabbat for a Melave Malka. To this day, I remember the gatherings that were held in our home. My uncles and aunts are so different. But there they were, religious Zionists, anti-Zionists, secularists, religionists, conversing, singing, embracing. It made an indelible impression on me that remains to this day.

I live this message and felt it profoundly a few Shabbatot ago, just a few days after Toby lost her mother. For the first time in a long time Toby and I spent Shabbat with our children. We were in Manhattan Beach, where Toby’s mom had lived. After the Friday night meal, all of us gathered like bunkmates in our bedroom and we sat and spoke and laughed and, of course, cried.

On Shabbat afternoon we walked from Manhattan Beach to Sheepshead Bay. The kids wanted to see where I grew up, the home I lived in, and the synagogue where my father served as rabbi. As we returned, Toby and I drifted to the back. Fifty feet before us were our children. Each has taken a distinct path in their own life, but there they were, walking arm in arm.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 51 The sun was setting over the bay. Shabbat was ebbing away. The oncoming darkness seemed to reflect the gloom we felt. Over and over Toby was saying, “I can’t believe I have no mother.” But amidst the darkness, I saw the light of our children – Dena, Elana and Dov, walking together. I offered the prayer, “may this continue forever and ever, for our children, for our grandchildren, for our family, for your children, your grandchildren, your family, the Bayit, Am Yisrael and the world.”

Walking, walking…hand in hand. Walking and singing Od Avinu Chai, Am Yisrael Chai, Am Yisrael, Am Yisrael, Am Yisrael Chai.

Rabbi Avi Weiss Hebrew Institute of Riverdale Riverdale, NY

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 52 COMMENTS FOR THE HIGH HOLY DAYS Rabbi Paul David Kerbel

Reflections

“If we devoted as much energy getting away from sin as we do getting away with sin, how much nobler we would become.”

Rabbi Sidney Greenberg

“What I have learned from Jewish life is that if man is not more than human then he is less than human. Judaism is an attempt to prove that, in order to be a man, you have to be more than a man, that in order to be a people, we have to be more than a people. Israel was made to be a “holy people.” This is the essence of the dignity and responsibility of being a Jew.”

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

“On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good and not quite all the time.”

George Orwell

“Human worth does not lie in riches or power, but in character or goodness…if people would only begin to develop this goodness, instead of stifling it, and give the poor some human sympathy, one would need no money or possessions, for not everyone has that to give away.”

Anne Frank

“Let a good person do good deeds with the same zeal that the evil person does bad ones.”

The (Hasidic) Rabbi of Belz

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”

Edmund Burke

“With regard to moral conduct, the principle that a man must always act benevolently toward this neighbor and never cause him harm, applies to his neighbor’s body, possessions and feelings.”

Moses Hayyim Luzzato

“Who is wise? He who learns from everyone! This means that we should find our own errors in each of our neighbor’s errors.”

Baal Shem Tov

Three times the Torah asks us ‘to love’: twice in Leviticus (19:18, 19:34)

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 53 we are commanded to love human beings, and then in Deuteronomy, our love is directed toward God. Only after we have learned to love people, can we come to love God.”

Chasidic saying

What is greatness? Greatness is a matter not of size but of quality, and it is within the reach of all people. Greatness lies in the faithful performance of whatever duties life places upon us and, in the generous performance of the small acts of kindness that God has made possible for us. There is greatness is patient endurance; in unyielding loyalty to a goal; in resistance to the temptations to betray the best we know; in speaking up for truth when it is assailed; in steadfast adherence to vows given and promises made. God does not ask us to do extraordinary things. God asks us to do ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

Rabbi Sidney Greenberg

Touching Up Our Lives – Tolstoy tells the story of a Russian painter Brylluov, who was also an art teacher. One day Tolstoy watched Bryullov touch up the work of one of his students and the painting truly came to life. Bryullov commented that sometimes all a painting needs is a slight correction or a few strokes of paint to make a painting truly a work of art. On Rosh HaShanah, many of us just need a little “touching up” to help make the canvas of our lives truly a work of art.

Rabbi Hillel Silverman

God Does Not Ask Us - “God does not ask us to do extraordinary things. God asks us to do ordinary things extraordinarily well.

Rabbi Sidney Greenberg

The Big Role of Little Things - “Few of us are ever asked to do great things but, we have many opportunities in life to do little things in a big way. Rabbi Leo Baeck wrote: “Piety…respects the little – the little person, the little task, the little duty. Through the little, religion meets the greatness that lies behind.”

Rabbi Sidney Greenberg

“Be There” - The Kotsker Rebbe commented on the verse in Deuteronomy, “and God said to Moses, “Go unto the mountain and be there!” Why is it necessary to add the words “be there.” The Rebbe answered: “Sometimes you can be on the mountain and not be present at that moment. We can be here in synagogue today but not really be here. We can be at home with our family and not really be there. As we sit in synagogue today, let us truly “be here” – reflecting on our lives, concentrating on our prayers, thinking about our family, ourselves, our future, our vision of life. Today, let’s “Be there.”

Rabbi Paul Kerbel based on Rabbi Hillel Silverman

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 54 “Love the Stranger” - “Though others may discriminate against the Jew and not recognize “the stranger” as a human being – you – as a Jew, a son of Israel, must not fail to recognize every stranger as a human being. In Mitzrayim you learned that God protects the stranger!”

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch

“Learn to do Good” - “Learn to do good. Devote yourself to justice. Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan. Defend the cause of the widow.” Isaiah 1:17

“What is Good” – “He has told you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: Only: to do justice, to love goodness and - to walk humbly (modestly) with your God.” Micha 6:8

“The Ten Commandments of Character”

1. Know your weaknesses 2. When ethics and other values conflict, choose ethics 3. Treat all people with kindness, and with the understanding that they, like you, were created in the image of God 4. Be fair 5. Be courageous 6. Be honest 7. Be grateful 8. Practice self-control 9. Exercise common sense 10. Admit when you have done wrong, seek forgiveness and don’t rationalize bad behavior

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

“How To Be a Mensch” –

1. Help people who cannot help you 2. Help without the expectation of return 3. Help many people 4. Do the right thing, the right way 5. Pay back society blog by Guy Kawasaki

“If We Do Not Teach Torah” - “We either teach Torah or something else at any moment, “when we lie down and when we rise up.” If we do not teach Torah enough of the time, the opposite of Torah will prevail in the world.”

Professor Arnold Eisen, Taking Hold of Torah

“The Mission of the Jews” - The mission of the Jewish people has never been to make the world more Jewish, but to make it more human.”

Elie Wiesel

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 55 Reflections on Our Prayers

On Unetaneh Tokef - The U’netaneh Tokef concludes with the statement that there are three ways to avert the severe decree: Teshuvah (repentance), tefillah (prayer/service to God) and tzedakah (charity).

Repentance entails one’s relationship with one’s self; Prayer focuses on our relationship with God; Charity helps us direct our relationship with our fellow human beings.

The vav before each word is called a ‘conjunctive vav.’ These are not three separate actions we can take, each individually capable of averting the severe decree. They are inter-related and concern the depth of our repentance, the quality of our prayer and ultimately the significance and generosity of our charity and of our good deeds.”

Rabbi Hillel Silverman

Al Chait – ‘For the sine we have committed’ – There are forty plus sins enumerated in our confessional, “Al Chait.” For the most part they do not deal with major crimes such as murder, grand theft, robbery or idolatry. They also do not refer to ritual transgressions; there is no “al chait” for eating a cheeseburger or not building a sukkah! ‘Al Chait’ is concerned with the sins of ‘good people.’ Many of the sins listed are subtle and reflect parts of our life that we could fine tune but if ignored, will not lead to jail. Gossiping, wanton looks, lust, slander, distorting words, hardening our hearts. These are not major crimes committed by master criminals. But as we reflect on the ‘Al Chait” let us realize that they are not minor sins either. These sins are about the transgressions of ‘good people’ (us!) but we can’t stay ‘good’ if we do not take these transgressions to heart.

Rabbi Paul Kerbel adapted from a comment by Rabbi Hillel Silverman

Reflections on Tzedakah

The wife of the Rabbi of Ropchitz asked her husband: “Your prayers were lengthy today. Did you succeed in bringing it about that the rich will be more generous in their gifts to the poor?” The Rabbi replied, “Half of my prayers have been answered. The poor are not willing to accept them.”

We only keep what we give away – Rabbi Hillel asked his students, “If a person has 1,000 dinars and give 300 to the poor, how much does he then have? “Seven hundred”, the students replied. “Not so” said Rabbi Hillel. “He truly only possesses the 300 dinars he gave to tzedakah. He may lose the other 700 by accident, or, in a business venture, or he may leave it to his children. Therefore know that all that a person truly possesses for eternity is the money that person gives away.”

Tzedakah is not merely giving; it is sharing, bonding, relating and connecting. Tzedakah weaves a new fabric of human relationships. As we share with others, our true divine image emerges from within.”

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 56 Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer, The Tzedakah Treasury

“If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say that they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable contributions exclude them.”

C.S. Lewis

Yom Kippur

“Global Teshuvah” - Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik taught that, “Unless we engage in Global Teshuvah, our atonement is ineffective.” I love this idea of Rabbi Soloveitchik. I believe he is teaching us three lessons: 1) On Yom Kippur we are not alone; we pray with our community. We support one another and help one another through- out the day. 2) We have a responsibility beyond our own lives and that of our family; what happens to Jews in Israel and around the world matters to us and we have a responsibility to help Jews wherever they are; 3) Global teshuvah teaches us to care about the world at large; to care about the repentance of people of other faiths and religions; to care about making our world a better place. Yom Kippur is a day not just for personal, but for global teshuvah.

Rabbi Paul D. Kerbel

God Comes To Us – In contrast to the rest of the year where we search for a sense of God’s presence, according to Rav Soloveitchik, “On Yom Kippur, God comes forward to meet us. He takes us by the hand and shows us how to do teshuvah. He removes all obstacles and transforms an otherwise tortuous road into a straight highway.”

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik

“It Is Never Too Late” –

The last word has not been spoken, the last sentence has not been written, the final verdict is not in.

It is never too late to change my mind, my direction, to say no to the past and yes to the future, to offer remorse, to ask and give forgiveness.

It is never too late to start over again, to feel again, to love again

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 57 to hope again…..

Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis

A Reflection Before Neilah - “It is at Neilah that the verdict written in Heaven for all human beings is sealed, whether for good or ill. So, we must remain very alert during Neilah. The culmination of the Ten Days of Repentance is Yom Kippur and the culmination of Yom Kippur is Neilah – and everything depends on this verdict at Neilah….if not now, when? So even if we are weak on account of our fasting, let us gather our strength to pray with a clear, pure mind, and to accept in truth the steps necessary for our complete teshuvah… whoever comes to be purified is helped (by Heaven); and we will thus have our good verdict sealed in the Book of Good Life.”

The Hafetz Hayyim

Rabbi Paul David Kerbel Congregation Etz Chaim Atlanta, GA

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 58 WHAT CAN WE KNOW Rabbi Wayne Allen

Immanuel Kant, the great German philosopher of the eighteenth century, articulated what he believed were the three great questions human beings can ask. According to Kant, the three questions are: What can we know? How should we live? And, to what should we aspire? I believe that each of these question still resonate for us today as human beings and especially today for us as Jews. I will focus on one of these three critical questions over each of the two days of Rosh Hashanah and Kol Nidre night. Today I begin with Kant’s first question, “What can we know?”

What can we know? Everything and nothing. We would be tempted to respond ‘everything’ because science and technology are daily extending the frontiers of human knowledge. And yet, we could very well say ‘nothing’ because our knowledge is tendentious at best. Mathematicians tell us that the universe is random, even chaotic, despite our best efforts at ordering it. There is no understandable thread that connects everything together. Mathematicians since Godel have argued that there are some propositions that are not provable. Natural scientists since Einstein tell us that time and space are relative; they are mere functions of our position in the universe relative to others. Social scientists like Sumner and Mead have told us that to have roots in a tradition or culture is to see the world from a limited perspective or point of view and that all our beliefs are historically and culturally conditioned by this rootedness, so that none can have universal significance. Social relativism has become the corollary of scientific relativism. In sum, we are overwhelmed by the view that what we CAN know is quite limited and what we DO know is shaded and shaped by who we are. In sum, we cannot be certain about anything.

Our modern sense of uncertainty is highlighted by C. S. Lewis in his fantasy novel “Perelandra.” Lewis describes the journey of a man named Ransom to the planet Venus, called “Perelandra” in the novel, an idyllic world of islands floating on water and covered with exotic foliage. Ransom meets only one humanoid, a green- skinned woman who tells him of her own God, Maledil, and his command that she search for a man of her own kind who also inhabits this world. Ransom and the woman talk until he complains that the floating islands are making his stomach queasy and suggests that they move over to the fixed land. The woman is shocked by this suggestion and tells him that Maledil has commanded that no one should set foot on the fixed land. This is the one thing she is forbidden to do. Ransom’s response troubles and confuses her, for he says that on his world, on earth, everyone lives on the fixed land and no one believes it is wrong. Is it possible, she wonders, that there are different meanings of right and wrong and that Maledil commands one group of people to do one thing and others to live differently? In her confusion she is tempted to move to the fixed land: if others can do it, why can’t she?

As the dialogue continues, Ransom suddenly realizes that are re-enacting the story of Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and he is playing the serpent! He is tempting Eve to do the one thing that God has commanded her not to do, namely, eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

In the Biblical version, the first woman eats the fruit and shares it with the first man.As a consequence of their disobedience, they are forever banished from the Garden. Eve succumbed to temptation and sinned. But in “Perelandra” Lewis is suggesting another, more modern interpretation of knowing good and evil. The new knowledge that tempts us to sin is the realization that there may be many more than one right or wrong way of doing things, and that therefore our way may not be the only “right way.” It tempts us because it weakens our commitment to our own beliefs.

Such a realization that other points of view may be right in their own ways brings an end to moral innocence: the secure feeling that the rights and wrongs learned in childhood or Hebrew school are the only correct and true ones. It hurls us out of moral innocence into moral confusion, out of the Eden of childhood into the real world of conflict and ambiguity, tempting us to think that since rules are not absolutely unchallengeable, perhaps none is absolutely binding. Once exceptions are admitted for any rule, its absoluteness is questioned. Once we are awakened to the truth that our way of looking at the world may be one of many, we are

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 59 challenged by uncertainty. And if certainty is unattainable, absolute values are impossible.

To grasp this reality is to learn something about the complexities of good and evil, but it is learning that comes with a bitter taste. Having tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in this conspicuously modern manner, we live beyond the Garden. Beliefs formerly held may survive, but they can no longer be looked upon with the same certainty and innocence. The university student who first encounters the Documentary Hypothesis realizes this. Some people have not crossed this divide, even in the modern world. But those who have crossed it cannot easily go back, any more than they can go back to believing that the earth is flat or situated at the center of the universe.

Some are not troubled by a denial of absolute values. Voltaire, for example, once said that those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. We Jews in this century are especially aware of this danger. The problem with absolute values is that it may very well encourage fanatics, those who are certain they have the truth. But, says Leszek Kolakowski, in his brilliant essay “The Idolatry of Politics,” to reject the possibility of absolute values merely to ward off fanaticism may be a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Accordingly, philosophy professor Robert Kane in his 1996 book Through the Moral Maze: Searching for Absolute Values in a Pluralistic World, warns against equating absolute values with certainty. We can believe in absolute values in the sense of what is good from every point of view without supposing that our beliefs are certain, much less that we have the right to impose them on others. Belief in them need not imply fanaticism or authoritarianism.

But we must take Kane even further. It is not just that we CAN have absolute values; we MUST have absolute values even though we do not have certainty. We cannot be certain that God exists but we must believe in the values that our tradition ascribes to God’s commands. We must believe that wanton destruction of lives and property is absolutely forbidden. We must believe that treating the opinions of others respectfully is absolutely required. We must believe that taking responsibility for our actions is absolutely required. We must believe that exercising self-restraint is absolutely demanded. We cannot be certain that Judaism has a monopoly on truth. But we must believe that the noble values that inhere in our tradition are absolutely operable. Even in the absence of certainty, failure to live with absolute values will reduce us to what Bernard Williams calls a “vulgar relativism” in which nothing is binding and everything is permitted.

The rabbis of the Talmud (Nedarim 81a) imagined God saying “Halevai otee azvu v’torati shamaru” - “would that the people have forsaken Me but kept My Torah.” I would apply this to mean that even though we cannot be sure that God exists, we must still believe in absolute values - Jewish values - for they bring order and purpose to our lives.

For this New Year that is fresh with possibilities, let us not become victims to our doubts but beneficiaries of the blessings that come from living with absolute values that can bring us - and the world - closer to salvation.

Rabbi Wayne Allen Provost of the Canadian Yeshiva and Rabbinical School

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 60 THE WILL TO LIVE Rabbi Emeritus Amiel Wohl

The Scroll of Remembrance is a holy document because it contains the names of our beloved. So many great, inspirational lives. So many good friends. So many beloved people. This world and the next world – the Olam Ha Zeh and the Olom Ha-Ba – the worlds are linked and we can feel it.

Rabbi Akiba said, “Deal graciously with the departed that good may be dealt with you.”

This is the sixth portal – the Memorial, the Yizkor Service – part of the Repentance system.

And our quest at this Memorial hour is for pardon- mechila – and we know that seeking our beloved brings us closer to God and the possibility of forgiveness – of Divine Pardon – and the peace that can bring.

Have we lived up to the expectations of our beloved departed? Do their hopes and ideals continue to live through us? Are we fulfilling their goals?

The category of Yizkor is a dominant part of Judaism in which the generations are linked together and through which God is reminded of the Covenant.

Parents call to mind their children, the eyes of trust, the sweet dependency. We remember how we took the hands of our little ones and led their faltering steps through all their childhood years. Children remember their parents. Can we ever repay the years of anxiety, the anguishing nights of prayerful watching? The mother on whose breast we whispered many a heartache, the father who toiled so sacrificingly for our welfare and sustenance.

Husbands reach out their hands to wives and wives breathe a prayer for husbands. The dear companion whose confidence and trust sustained and strengthened, partner of failure and success, loss and achievement. That one to whom, when all else failed, we might turn to find an ever-loving welcome, and ever-steadfast hope.

There is not one among us who does not mourn for some loved one – sister, brother, friend. We have all of us lost dear ones bound to us by ties of blood or friendship.

When I look out in front of me and see you – and through you the myriad who have built this people and this day; when I perceive the depths of meaning, the creative spirit that has fashioned this people and this Yom Kippur day when each and all strive to rise a little higher on the rungs of divinity and humanity, this for me is not merely a day of awe and reverence and sacred remembrance, but also a day of joy – that I live among you, stand with you for the perpetuity of our heritage, for the preservation of our gifts, for the enrichment of our souls.

I was visiting a Nursing Home and an attorney, now 96 years of age, shared his writings with me. As he says, he has mingled with the other patients to see and observe their behavior and their reactions and has tried to penetrate their minds and their feelings generally.

“These are patients of all ages suffering from all kinds of ailments ranging from asthma to the most serious maladies. Most of the patients are confined to bed, some are able to walk. Some patients suffer from excruciating and recurring pain which, at times are unbearable. Others suffer from cancer. Some have one lung, some have diabetes and some have phlebitis, cirrhosis of the liver, and many other ailments too numerous to mention.

It is pitiful to see patients with one of two legs amputated, learning to walk with artificial limbs or crutches, and yet all of the patients who are afflicted have the courage and the hope of recovery. They all have a common denominator: The ‘Desire to Live.’

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 61 This desire to live permeates the wards, rooms and the individual. It is everywhere. It is interesting to see the cheerfulness of many of the patients. They are told not to worry – that there is always a chance of recovery.

Doctors and nurses try to teach the body to heal itself and the patients should be as active as possible and learn the strategy of living. Patients try to keep up their spirits and courage and look forward to their recovery and happy future life. The mood is hope in tomorrow. The desire is to live. “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” (Isaac Hyman)

The will to live. The hope in tomorrow. God has implanted these aspirations in the human heart.

The will to live – the need to believe.

“…The will to attain immortality is precious in the eyes of the Lord. In your passage through life, take hold of an added prayer, a good deed or a page of the Torah, so that your journey will be of benefit to you.” (Nahman of Bratzlav)

Our innate longing for the continuation of personality, for the powers and the joys we have known here on earth are strong within us! To lose the earth you know, for greater knowing; To lose the life you have, for greater life; To leave the friends you loved, for greater loving; To find a land more kind than home, more large than earth – whereon the pillars of this earth are founded. Toward which the conscience of the world is tending- A wind is rising, and the rivers flow. (Thomas Wolfe)

May each one of us be propelled in holiness and comforted by the precious memories of our beloved departed. Amen.

Rabbi Emeritus Amiel Wohl Temple Israel of New Rochelle New Rochelle, NY

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 62 TORAH COMMENT OR SERMON SPARK – DAY ONE TORAH READING Rabbi Neil Sandler

“Vadonai pakad et Sarah” – “God took note of Sarah…” (Genesis 21:1)

In the Torah Reading on the first day of Rosh Hashana, God takes note of Sarah and fulfills the divine promise of a child to her. In similar fashion, God’s concern for individuals is highlighted throughout our High Holiday liturgy. Images of divine judgment of individuals abound. Moreover, as a people, in the Zichronot portion of Musaf, we appeal to the Holy One to remember us as God has previously remembered our ancestors and to count their worthy actions in our favor. On the High Holidays, it seems, we desperately want God to pay attention to us as individuals. But apparently not all of us desire such divine attention all the time.

Our colleague, Michael Gold, shared the following story. A man, well into his eighties used to go to the synagogue every day to daven. Suddenly and seemingly without reason, he stopped going. The rabbi called to check on him and to see if he was alright. He responded to the rabbi’s inquiry, “I’m fine, Rabbi. I am getting old though, I have lost many of my friends, and I kept waiting for God to take me. As the years went by, I thought that maybe God had forgotten about me. Actually I am perfectly happy that way. I stopped going to the synagogue because I do not want to be in a place where God notices me.”

The story may cause a brief chuckle. How naïve of this elderly gentleman to think that his absence from “God’s House” might have any bearing on the length of his remaining time on earth! But the story is more profound than that reading of it.

I wonder why this man went to shul on a daily basis. Did he really wish to pray or did he just enjoy the opportunity for fellowship? Did he want to talk with God and connect with the Holy One? If so, why couldn’t he continue to pray for what he wanted even though that desire eventually appears to be his own death?

In one regard the story is clear. Here is a man who appears to be ready to die. To him, God “taking note” (of him) means allowing him to join his friends in Gan Eden. That outcome, it seems to him, would be reflective of divine understanding and compassion. Of course, this elderly gentleman could have been angry at God. After all, it seems that God has “forgotten” his worthy servant who served him for many years by allowing him to remain alive rather than join his deceased friends! But he is not angry. In fact, he is OK with a God that, to his way of thinking, no longer takes note of him. Now this elderly gentleman simply wishes not to go anywhere, like the synagogue, where God might “take note” of him and bring an end to his life.

How do we feel about God taking note of us? What does the notion of “God taking note” of us mean?! Do we hope the Holy One will take note of us in the manner this Torah Reading and our High Holiday liturgy suggest…directly intervening in our fate now and in the future? What does such a desire reflect about our theology? Or, conversely, are we like that old man? Would we prefer to live our lives without God noticing us?

God took note of Sarah. Will God take note of you, me and our people?

RABBI NEIL SANDLER Ahavath Achim Synagogue Atlanta, Georgia

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 63 FOUR POEMS ON REPENTANCE Rabbi Brad Bloom

Chapter four Ecclesiastes

I built my company A tower piercing Through the dense clouds And when I sold it I received a seat A golden chair At the table of monarchs.

I liked to walk In my sculpture garden Where Henry Moore and friends Gazed upon me And I upon them. Ah the beauty of success!

My back began to hurt Pain rushed through my bones Moving me to distraction Which I could no longer bear. Then a surgery I never recovered from In a reflection I could no longer See myself which is when My descent began

I died a few weeks ago And now all I do is reflect: Eyes see time in reverse The moments of the past The quietude afforded me Now which I ignored in life The thoughts I left behind They were too shy To visit me in the previous world.

I found a companion here, Kohelet, I read his book And I felt the emptiness The” sacrifices of fools.”

What is wisdom? A mirage, the worship of work The deity of my hands? Or was it A gust of wind that Pressing against my face Left without fanfare?

I read Kohelet’s book And looked into a mirror

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 64 Of memory hearing The tumult of sounds and voices Wisdom is sight Without eyes, Listening without ears I remember the house I lived in And the house of God I never entered. Wisdom is a prayer For the unborn The youth who will Pick up a smooth round Stone by the riverside That fits perfectly Into a hand Whose snap of the wrist Will cast it across The serene waters To behold the ripples That propels the stone To its many destinations.

Chapter One

The stone craves eternity Lying peacefully near a cactus Biding its time Until a desert wind swirls through Carrying it to another hopeful spot.

The stone sees that the sun still shines The waters of a nearby stream smile And mountains whose peaks point Towards heaven become sentinels Steadfast and sage- like While looking down upon creation.

The future will not forget this stone Nor will I release it from my grasp Or cast it into another garden of forgotten Stones waiting for deliverance.

Creation is a circle without beginning Or an end When memory understands That the repetition of time is the breeze Backtracking through a sacred canyon.

Listen, dear stones, certainty Is an idol perched upon an altar Made of you And the wisdom you seek Is an illusion carved into Your crevice by

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 65 By my own breath.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Two

I am all the ages of human kind Voices and wisdom of the years Speaking through the languages of man I once inhabited And have since forgotten Because what I only See is what I am And that dear friend Is the folly of my life.

Was work my wisdom or The jobs I had The friends who Surrounded me And their rancor Or my own indulgence Which set me on a crooked pathway: At times lost To the truth And to what end?

Now I search for the smallest things The morsels of insight I desire and no longer Shall I wear the crown A diadem of a good name Or the garments of pride Which glistened with the Wisdom I thought was mine.

My bones ache And I walk haltingly My eyes dim And I hear sparingly My back is curved And I stretch hesitantly But my appetite For truth does not abate For I have learned That the service I perform next To the altar of confession Has become the sacrifice I offer to the Holy One And the work of my conscience Is my day of atonement Where the fast of my soul Restores the years I once lost Which I gather in the harvest of this lifetime.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 66 (Inspired by Ecclesiastes Chapter two)

Ecclesiastes chapter three

Questions: To every insight in the world There is a question that precedes it. Questions that refuse to disappear Which rankle us like a stone Inside our shoes Or irritate us like a mosquito bite Just ask the question And the answer will dull the pain.

Questions of doubting and questions of believing Questions of living and questions of dying Questions of searching and questions of discovering Questions of writing and questions of speaking

Questions of children and questions of parents Questions of praying and questions of silence

Questions of tearing garments and questions of sewing garments Questions of humility and questions of pride

Questions of fear and questions of faith Questions of Jews and questions of others

Questions of God and questions of questions Questions of forgiveness and question of stubbornness Questions of returning and questions of leaving

Do we ever tire of asking questions? Take comfort Remember that answers are no better For your life is a tapestry of questions No longer fearing them But embracing the possibility of being And it is this reality That is your calling. Are you ready?

Rabbi Brad Bloom Congregation Beth Yam Hilton Head, SC

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 67 ISRAEL ACTION NETWORK HIGH HOLIDAYS MESSAGING COUNTERING THE ASSAULT ON ISRAEL’S LEGITIMACY

Israel Action Network High Holidays Messaging – Countering the Assault on Israel’s Legitimacy Dear Colleagues,

Israel faces a relentless assault on its legitimacy as a Jewish and democratic state. The High Holidays provide an ideal opening for rabbis to engage with their communities around this issue. It offers an opportunity to inform and educate our communities about this threat and strengthen their connection with the Jewish state.

Here is the background: The campaign to impugn Israel’s legitimacy has its roots in the international NGO (Non Governmental Organization) gathering that took place alongside the 2001 U.N. Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa. This network of NGOs sought to paint Israel as a pariah/apartheid state deserving of political and economic isolation and demonization. The Reut Institute, an Israel based think tank, has identified the source of this global network as the red/green alliance of radical elements of both the middle east resistance movement, i.e. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the western European left. Reut concluded that “while Israel’s delegitimizers come from relatively marginal forces in Europe [and the Middle East], their effectiveness stems from their ability to engage and mobilize others.” They target groups and individuals who are concerned with social and human rights, and their intent is to blur the lines between the legitimate criticism (that should occur within all vibrant democracies) and attacks that deny Israel’s existence any legitimacy.

The High Holidays and Sukkot are well placed moments in our calendar to respond to these issues. As the “Letter of Hope,” – a message to Methodists and Presbyterians asking for them to reject divestment and signed by a broad coalition of 1,500 Rabbis from across all religious streams – showed, Rabbis can provide moral leadership and are among our most effective messengers. Furthermore, efforts to delegitimize Israel have an impact on how people feel about their Jewish identity. As a result, to assist in your preparation we offer the materials below for your use during this season and beyond.

Our core messages are as follows: • Understanding the aims, goals and strategies of those seeking to delegitimize Israel and why it is different from legitimate criticism of government policy • Explaining why the North American Jewish community should be concerned • Giving methods to stand up against delegitimization • Linking the challenge of delegitimization and High Holidays themes

An informed and engaged American Jewish community that shares support for the democratic Jewish state of Israel as well as deep empathy for all of those who suffer and wish for peace are essential to effectively counter this insidious global network.

If we do not stand up for Israel and justice, who will?

Leshana tova tekatev v’techatem,

Geri Palast Managing Director JFNA/JCPA Israel Action Network

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 68 What is delegitimization? • Delegitimization negates and seeks to deny the right of the Jewish people to live in a sovereign democratic and Jewish state in its historical homeland.

• Delegitimization is intended to brand Israel as a “pariah” nation, to isolate Israel from the international community and make it increasingly difficult to support it economically and politically.

• The effort to undermine Israel’s right to sovereign statehood is not new and has roots in the Soviet Union’s push to have the United Nations General Assembly pass the infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution in 1975.

• A new phase in this campaign was the notorious 2001 UN Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. The proponents of the current campaign build on the themes developed at this conference by deliberately equating and associating in the mind of the public Israel with Apartheid South Africa, Nazi Germany, and other ‘illegitimate’ national and political movements. By equating Israel with these repugnant evils, it embeds a notion of Israel that is often difficult to shake.

• Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) are tactics used by delegitimizers to isolate Israel, and how they put their ideology into practice. They seek to co-opt universities, pension funds, churches, labor unions to join in their efforts.

Examples of delegitimization

Economic:

• Brooklyn’s Park Slope Coop asked its 15,000 members to consider boycotting all Israeli products, as part of the international BDS movement. A protracted campaign and counter-campaign drew mainstream media headlines and television coverage, although this measure was finally defeated.

• In late 2011, the Bay Area chapter of the national US Social Investment Forum (US SIF), considered a measure to divest from corporations that are “benefiting from the Israeli occupation”.The US SIF is the leading industry association for socially responsible investment (SRI) and a major player in the multi- billion dollar SRI industry.

Faith-Based Organizations: • The General Assemblies of both the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church USA considered multiple divestment resolutions against Israel in 2012, which we were able to defeat.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 69 Academic Settings: • A “Penn BDS 2012 National Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Conference” was held February 2012 at the University of Pennsylvania. The conference’s audience and speakers were a mix of students, academics, community members and professional activists working to promote boycotts, divestment and sanctions from the state of Israel.

• In late 2010, a student group, Princeton Committee on Palestine, called for a boycott of Sabra brand hummus products at Princeton University.

• A conference entitled “Israel/Palestine and the One-State Solution” was held at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in early 2012, featuring speakers advocating for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which wouldnot result in two states for two peoples.

• A group of students attempted to prevent Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, from speaking at the University of California, Irvine in 2010 by interrupting his address with shouts of “you are a war criminal” and other inflammatory remarks.

Culture & Arts: • At the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, 50 activists, including actors Jane Fonda and Danny Glover, boycotted the festival and signed a ‘Toronto Declaration’, which condemned Israel as an “apartheid regime” and dismissed a showcase of diverse Tel Aviv films as “Israeli propaganda.”

How is delegitimization different from criticism?

• Criticism is a natural function of any democracy. Its purpose is to strengthen democracy by questioning leaders and holding them accountable for their actions. In contrast, the purpose of delegitimization is to undermine the justification for Israel’s existence and thereby destroy a country.

• Regarding Israel, delegitimization includes questioning the validity of Israel’s founding, demonizing Israel and equating its policies with Nazism, apartheid and racist ideologies, holding Israel to double standards, and promoting a one-state solution (Israel’s demographic dissolution).

• Israel is a pluralistic and democratic society, which provides it with a method of self-correction. Israelis have a range of views on the conflict and we should build bridges with those that seek peace who can, and have, had a positive impact upon government policy.

• If you are unsure whether an organization is questioning Israel’s legitimacy, ask yourself the following question: Does the organization or person voicing the criticism or pursuing the policy, share a commitment to a two-state for two peoples solution that will result in a democratic Jewish state living beside an independent state of Palestine? Are they as zealous in their criticism and critique of other injustices as they are in their criticism of Israel, or do they unfairly single out Israel for their criticism?

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 70 Why the North American Jewish community should be concerned and needs to respond • Sadly, the effort to delegitimize Israel has stifled serious discussion and understanding of the Jewish state. By blurring the lines between demonization and legitimate debate, much discussion, within and outside of our community has become polarized and lacking substance.

• We should never fear debate about Israeli government policies or politics – this is healthy, democratic, and Jewish. It should concern us all that our ability to discuss Israel is becoming hijacked by those advocating approaches that perpetuate the conflict and lay all the blame for the current situation on the Israeli people.

• We must ensure we know the facts, visit Israel, engage with the issues, and stand up for a negotiated solution to the conflict that results in a Jewish and democratic state of Israel living in peace alongside am independent Palestinian state.

• The opposition by the Jewish community to Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions and other acts of delegitimization is threefold: 1) they are ineffective in helping both sides reach a peaceful negotiated solution to the conflict 2) they tap into historic discrimination and singling out of the Jewish people for punitive economic measures, and 3) they play into the larger delegitimization strategy.

• This is our common ground; this is our ‘big tent’. And inside that tent, we should have a fresh and invigorating debate that is aimed at Israel’s well being, not its undoing.

How to stand up against delegitimization

• We, the Jewish community must mobilize and partner with outside organizations. We must work to gain allies from non-Jewish religious groups, business leaders, labor leaders, political leaders, scholars and other influentials to speak on our behalf.

• We must also proactively educate our friends and ourselves about the tools of delegitimization. Only when we are aware of the attack and understand its motive, can we effectively respond.

• We must state clearly that efforts such as boycotts, divestment and sanctions, as well as the corrosive characterization of Israel as a pariah state akin to South Africa or Nazi Germany divide; they empower the extremists and are detrimental to peaceful coexistence.

• We must share the knowledge that the Israeli government has called for a two-state solution and offered to negotiate without preconditions. Peace needs partners. We want to support efforts that lead to

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 71 negotiations, reconciliation and ultimately, two states for two peoples living in peace and security.

• We must reconsider the traditional “Israel Advocacy” messages which resonate with us, but do little to persuade those vulnerable to the messages from the delegitimizers. Our messages need to recognize the complexity of the conflict and the challenges Israel faces both internally and externally.

• We must listen to the sincere concerns of others, raise our voices in the name of all who suffer, and look for a solution that will bring peace and reconciliation for all parties.

• We must also be committed to creating a safe space for conversation that increases the tolerance for diverse opinions on Israel. We must be clear that criticism of Israeli government policies - including settlements – is within the bounds of acceptable discussion. We must ensure that within our own community, we are able to discuss these hot topics, and not allow those who seek to demonize the Jewish State to silence our voices or the voices of the Israeli people.

• The best example demonstrating how we remain united against delegitimization despite our differences was the “letter in hope”, which brought together over 1,500 Rabbis, representing every religious stream, every state in the US, and a diverse range of political perspectives to oppose divestment resolutions that were debated this year in the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches. That both resolutions were defeated in no small measure is attributable to the continuing consensus within the Jewish community on this issue.

• We must understand that many who love Israel may engage in some limited actions of moral or economic protest, such as settlement boycotts. We ask true lovers of Israel and peace to reconsider those actions in light of the larger context of how these actions are exploited by delegitimizers. However, either way, we recognize and seek their partnership in our mutual goals of peace and securing the legitimacy of a Jewish and democratic Israel.

• We need to focus more on generating constructive alternative measures, such as investing in campaigns for peace and Israeli-Palestinian dialogue opportunities. Such actions will likely draw support away from BDS–often formulated as the only option to protest.

• You can engage further in this issue through connecting with our partner organizations, such as the JFNA and JCPA’s Israel Action Network (IAN). IAN brings together the mainstream Jewish community to counter the assault on Israel’s legitimacy. A few channels include:

o Website: www.israelactionnetwork.org

o IAN Insider newsletter: [email protected]

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 72 o Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IsraelActionNetwork

o Twitter: https://twitter.com/IsraelActionNet

Countering the apartheid allegation

• A central argument of the delegitimzers is likening Israel to Apartheid-era South Africa. This allegation is factually and morally incorrect.

• Apartheid-era South Africa was a state-sanctioned system of racial separation and discrimination which dominated nearly every aspect of daily life between 1948 and 1994. This is not even remotely the case in Israel, where there is one law for all citizens and minorities have full political rights. These rights are enshrined in Israel’s legal system, including its founding document – the Declaration of Independence.

• Israel, like every other liberal democracy, faces challenges in ensuring fair and equitable treatment of its minority citizens. Nevertheless, Israel’s track record compares favorably with other pluralistic democracies, especially when considering how precarious and vulnerable the state was for much of its existence. Freedoms we all cherish, such as freedom of press, speech and religion, are centerpieces of Israeli law.

• Israel’s non-Jewish minority have always had voting and other political rights. Arab Israelis have been elected to Israel’s parliament (the Knesset) in every election since the founding of the state and have held important posts within the government, the military, and the legal system.

• The situation in the West Bank is not comparable and must be viewed within the context of the ongoing conflict. Check points, security roads, identification cards and security barriers separate Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza from Israel’s citizens, providing physical security from the threat of attacks. A balance is required to ensure security for Israelis while working to ease pressure on Palestinians. This issue is constantly debated in Israel, and the High Court has heard many Palestinian submissions. Rather than misusing the concept of ‘apartheid’, critics should look for means to work with people of goodwill on both sides to advance towards a negotiated two-state solution.

• Israel today is also a pluralistic and democratic society, which provides it with a method of self- correction. Those promoting the Apartheid allegation are simply exploiting this term to tell an anti-Israel story that undermines Israel’s right to exist by falsely equating Israel to racist and genocidal regimes.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 73 Linking Combating Delegitimization to the Festivals

Rosh Hashanah – a call to action • The High Holidays are a time for reflection, reconsideration, and renewal of our ties to our people. This is time to consider our roles collectively and individually as both Jews and global citizens, individually and collectively.

• We must each individually examine what Israel means to us. Does it represent the contemporary and historic homeland of the Jewish people? Is it just a far off country that with which we have little connection? Is it a place where we have family and friends or an emotional connection? Is it a country that embodies the values of tradition and freedom that we hold so dear? Is it an issue that is complex and that we tend to avoid?

The Shofar

• The shofar is the oldest of all Jewish symbols and artifacts.

• It is a call to wake up, and be alert. It is a call to action, to repent, to atone, to improve and reflect on our own actions and behavior.

• The shofar was used to communicate, to herald and signal Jewish pride.

• Today the shofar is a wake-up call for us as individuals and as a community. What are we called to do to both stand up for Israel in the face of the assault on its legitimacy and stand up for peace in the face of human suffering?

• This year, the shofar’s message can be a call for unity in support of the democratic and Jewish state of Israel and for renewed efforts to reach out and speak out when those of ill-will demonize Israel. We must use our voices, to promote peace and understanding, in the place of boycotts and sanctions.

Abraham’s big tent • On Rosh Hashanah, we read of Abraham. He famously had a tent with four doors, welcoming in all passersby to the north, south, east and west. So too, at this time of year, we must remember the importance of our own ‘big tent’ and the importance of being accepting of those with different views than ours as long as the support a democratic Jewish state of Israel or strategies for achieving a peaceful solution. Together, we are entering into the tent of Abraham and entering in peace.

Israel as the scapegoat (Yom Kippur)

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 74 • In the Yom Kippur service of Temple times, we learn of the original scapegoat, the goat that the high priest sent out into the desert with the sins of the Israelites incorporated as part of that goat. The scapegoat was a savior for the people. Today, a scapegoat generally means a person or entity singled out for unmerited negative treatment or blame.

• Today, those who demonize or delegitimize Israel single it out as a scapegoat for issues ranging from peace in the Middle East, to human rights abuses to disproportionate use of military force. These arguments and labels are one-sided and provide no context acknowledging ongoing security issues and attacks, the existence of a thriving and evolving democracy, or the complex challenges and animus facing Israel’s necessary partners for peace.

• Today, in the post Holocaust era, anti-Semitic motifs are often cloaked in unbalanced attacks on Israel, and can include rhetoric analogizing Israelis and Jews to Nazis or utilizing racisit caricatures and imagery.

• Those who seek true peace and reconciliation for Israelis and Palestinian, as well as peace in the region, understand that there are complex issues facing all parties, and that there are multiple narratives and at least two sides to the story. Thus, all concerned people can both embrace and critique the strategies, policies and behavior of the parties without resorting to slander and libel, “scapegoating”, as their tools.

• Israel, like all democratic countries, faces the problems and policy disagreements regarding security, communal cohesion, religious tolerance and policy conflicts on domestic and international issues. Yet Israel and Israelis have shown the will to address these issues whether through peaceful protest, advocacy or the courts just as we do here. To scapegoat Israel is neither just nor useful in achieving peace and security two peoples, or any people, for that matter.

Yom Kippur and self awareness

• On Yom Kippur, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and pray first for himself, then for his family, then for the whole people.

• This teaches us that first we must be sure of ourselves, then we must be sure of those around us, and only then can we speak on behalf of our wider community, and perhaps our whole people.

• We must look to build partnerships with those around us, and gain allies from non-Jewish religious groups, business leaders, political leaders, scholars and other influential voices to speak on our behalf – delegitimizing Israel is an attack on freedom, and so not just the Jewish community’s problem.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 75 • We must also educate our friends and ourselves about the tools of delegitimization.

• We must maintain a coordinated effort and remain vigilant of the threats and assaults on Israel’s legitimacy.

• The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Jewish Council of Public Affairs (JCPA) have formed the Israel Action Network (IAN) to provide the Jewish community with tools and strategies to counter the distancing and the slow degradation of the image and reality of Israel and Israelis.

Succot – a time to come together

• Succot’s symbolism reminds us of the importance of unity and community.

• The lulav and etrog, four very different fruits and leaves, with very different qualities, smells and tastes – are used together as one. This reminds us of the importance of uniting the entire community in opposing delegitimization.

• Succoth is a time to remember that this world is temporary, just as the Succah is a temporary structure – yet we all enter in it together as a community.

• Often delegitimizers of Israel suggest that the Jewish community supports their marginal views. We must show, as Succoth reminds us, that we are one community and have a shared common ground.

• We share a belief in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish, democratic state.

• We share a belief in Israel’s right to live in peace and security with its neighbors.

• Shalom, peace, of course finds its roots in the Hebrew wordShalem , complete. We cannot of course have peace if we are divided.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 76 A UNITED JEWISH RESPONSE TO EUROPE’S DEBT CRISIS As Rosh Hashanah approaches, learn how JDC is bringing hope for a brighter year ahead to European Jewish families and communities hit hard by a painful financial crunch that has stunted growth and torn holes in social safety nets across the continent.

Photo: Monica and her grandparents are among the “new poor” Jewish families in Bulgaria who are struggling to make ends meet with shrinking pensions and mounting debt. Credit: Sarah Levin.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 77 JDC is helping communities in Greece, Bulgaria, and the Baltic countries provide emergency relief and recovery tools to their members and sustain vital Rafael and Sara had been supporters elements of Jewish life. of the community day school in Like all of Greece, the 3,000-member Jewish Athens when the loss of their family community in Athens is in financial crisis, with additional austerity measures likely in the business forced them to make the months ahead. Skyrocketing unemployment and heart-wrenching decision to pull bankruptcies derailed hundreds of Jewish families, their two children out. With full leaving once-thriving community institutions struggling to stay afloat. These include two scholarships, the children are now synagogues, a highly regarded day school for some back in a school that, according to the 150 children, a welfare program, an old age home, principal, will give them knowledge and more. Cuts in pensions and health programs and rising taxes added to the problem, forcing many of Hebrew and of “our traditions, our donors to curtail their involvement in the community religion, and our history.” In small just to keep a roof over their families’ heads. communities where it is hard to With its reserves fully spent, the community was preserve Jewish life, he continued, forced to look outward for help to meet ongoing expenses—and aid out-of-work Jews now unable to “it is not just the learning at our provide for themselves and their children. school that is essential. The contact with other Jewish families cements Applying a Century of Relief Expertise community ties….” Through support from the Jewish Federations of North America, JDC assembled a global consortium to help Greek communities meet these difficult challenges. Food aid, help with rent, and tuition assistance have become a lifeline for families in distress—and are helping to ensure their children a Jewish future. About JDC The actions in Greece followed the pattern established in the Baltic countries after the global financial down- The American Jewish Joint Distribution turn, when spiking unemployment thrust young Jew- Committee (JDC) is the world’s leading ish families into poverty and JDC stepped in to help Jewish humanitarian assistance organization. meet basic needs. It imported its Argentinean Job JDC works in more than 70 countries and in Center retraining model, along with communal holi- Israel to alleviate hunger and hardship, rescue day celebrations and scholarship aid to keep people in- Jews in danger, create lasting connections to volved in Jewish activities. Jewish life, and provide immediate relief and long-term development support for victims of JDC is doing the same in Bulgaria, where its commu- natural and man-made disasters. nity partner saw a 35 percent increase in the welfare caseload last year as soaring prices and layoffs crippled Visit us at www.JDC.org many of the young families who had been supporting a thriving community. Now JDC is helping to supple- ment meager incomes, and enabling these same fami- lies to keep their homes heated through winter—and their children connected to Jewish life.

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 78 THE ROAD TO ALIYAH BEGINS WITH SMALL STEPS

In a nation where there are Jewish senators, governors and Supreme Court justices, it can be hard for us to imagine being 18 and afraid to walk down the street wearing a yarmulke or a Star of David. But in some parts of the former Soviet Union, including many cosmopolitan cities, cultural alienation is still a reality for some.

“It is extremely anti-Semitic, socially” says 18-year-old Boris of his native Kiev. Boris arrived in Israel last November as a participant of MIR, a Jewish Agency program formerly known as Sela, which allows high school graduates to spend a year in Israel taking intensive Hebrew instruction (ulpan) while also attending post-secondary academic classes. A majority of the participants then join the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) followed by degree study at an Israeli university.

Along with Hebrew, Boris is studying computers, history and languages at Nitzana, the Jewish Agency’s sprawling educational campus and conservation center in the northern Negev. Nitzana hosts a number of programs in addition to MIR, including The Jewish Agency’s Masa Desert Sports Challenge for post-university adults from around the world; week-long conservation retreats for Israeli school groups; a program for at-risk youth; and Derech Eretz, a year-long, pre-IDF prep program for high-achieving youth from Israel’s periphery.

At Nitzana, young adults representing all segments of global Jewish society live with one another, dine together, share holiday celebrations, and join one another in social and recreational activities.

Places like Nitzana represent major steps along a path towards Aliyah, but they are not the first exposure to Israel for most of world Jewry. Because of The Jewish Agency’s global presence, the Jewish identity-building process is begins much earlier in childhood than it used to for most. For Boris (like many younger Jews from the former Soviet Union) the spark that eventually blazed the path to Aliyah was lit when he somehow found himself at a holiday event at the Jewish Cultural Center in his native city. There, a Jewish Agency emissary (Shaliach) befriended him and his family and encouraged him to attend a Jewish Agency camp for a week.

“Today in the former Soviet Union we are working with absolutely assimilated youth of absolutely assimilated parents of absolutely assimilated grandparents,” Natan Sharansky, The Jewish Agency’s Chairman of the Executive, recently told leaders of the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FCJ). “Some of these 12 and 13-year-old boys and girls, who are at our camps, find out that they are Jews two or three days before they come.”

In a recent study, The FJC found that young Jews are 55 percent more likely to feel attached to Israel if they have attended a Jewish camp. The Jewish Agency is working to replicate this impact in the former Soviet Union. Last year, more than 6,000 youth in the former Soviet Union spent a week at a Jewish camp staffed by Israelis along with local Jewish peer leaders.

jewishagency.org

The Orchard Fall 2012 - Tishri 5773 79 At the camps, children and teenagers are introduced to local Jewish history, Jewish customs, Zionism and Israeli culture. The Jewish Agency camping experience is often their first immersive exposure to Jewish community and their first step onto an identity-building continuum that now includes Taglit-Birthright Israel and Masa. Sharansky added that many parents don’t see any need to tell their children they are Jewish since there is no longer state-sponsored anti-Semitism. They send their kids to camp because it is free and, like in North America, they see camp as an opportunity for their children to get out of the city. But, for children in the FSU, an intense and new feeling of belonging often emerges at camp in a very short time.

“Over the 10 days, the kids discover that they can be part of a very exciting, very interesting history and a very big family,” Sharansky added.

Boris recalls, “When most kids arrive at camp, they don’t even know they are Jewish. They come because it’s free. But at camp, they begin to understand they are Jewish and what that means. I started to take part in Jewish life and learned more about the Jewish people.”

After camp, participants return home to communities where they are once again in the minority. But they emerge secure in knowledge that they are not alone as Jews; that there is a Jewish home for them, and that they will soon have the opportunity to experience Israel. For Boris, living in Israel, at Nitzana, means finally feeling a sense of belonging as a Jew.

“Here I can feel Jewish freely,” he said.

jewishagency.org

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