“Why the Midterms Terrify American Jews” – Eric Yoffie, Haaretz, October 17

Note: As always, Rabbi Eric Yoffie articulates as well as anyone the core values and central issues confronting the American Jewish community  and Israel. Today, he published in Haaretz his concerns about the mid-term elections and why he believes American Jews are so worried about the outcome.

I reprint his piece here in its entirety because many readers of this blog do not subscribe to Haaretz where his article appears. His piece is, I believe, important enough to disseminate beyond Haaretz readership. Please forward this to anyone you believe ought to read it.

 

“We know where bigoted, autocratic, indecent and parochial views like those of Donald Trump lead. U.S. Jews should be praying for every Democratic candidate canvasser to succeed: the American Jewish future depends on it

The midterm elections are less than three weeks away, and Donald Trump and his Republican party might even win.

The Republicans are certain to retain control of the Senate, probably adding several seats to their current majority. And while the Democrats are still favored to take the House of Representatives, their lead in the polls is small and shrinking.

What does this mean for American Jews? Nothing good. Mainstream American Jewry is terrified. (More on that in a moment.)

But it is not the Jews alone who are dismayed. Much of middle-class America feels panicky and threatened, fearing both for the future of the Republic and their own well-being.

In my home congressional district in central New Jersey, concern about a Trump victory has generated furious energy and a firestorm of anti-Trump activism. No one remembers when the district was last represented by a Democrat, but the race this year is fiercely competitive.

The Democratic challenger is impressive, smart, and articulate, and is running even in the polls.

His opponent, the incumbent, is a more-or-less moderate Republican. But like virtually all Republicans these days, he refrains from even the gentlest criticism of Donald Trump. The problem with this strategy, of course, is that Donald Trump is the only real issue in the campaign.

The waves of volunteers in my area who are registering voters and canvassing neighborhoods on behalf of the Democrats are an interesting bunch. Most of them have never volunteered before, and some are not even Democrats. But they know a threat when they see one, and when they look at Mr. Trump, they are incredulous at what he is doing to their country.

These volunteers, mostly women, are generally establishment types, not given to alarmism or conspiracy theories. But in Trump they see a man who is fully capable of leading America down the path to autocracy.

It is not the corruption that they fear; New Jersey is hardly a stranger to corruption. Neither is it Trump’s predatory tax policies, intended both to punish blue states and reward the extremely wealthy. Unfair taxation, while deplorable, has been around for a long time.

The volunteers are scared of other, more insidious things: Trump’s brazen, non-stop attacks on the media, intended to delegitimize any criticism before it is even uttered; his heartless and cruel treatment of children, tearing toddlers from their mothers’ arms at the Texas border; his contempt for the law, demanding that his Attorney General pledge loyalty to him rather than to the Constitution; and on and on.

These women are not radicals but they have become resisters. Are there no limits, they ask? Are there no basic democratic norms to which the President can be held? Can we not expect from him some measure of fundamental human decency?

And that is why the midterms have assumed such importance. These activists know that if the Republicans retain control of both the Senate and House, the floodgates will be opened. “I have been endorsed by the people,” Trump will proclaim, with some justification.

If that happens, Americans know what to expect. The President will likely fire Sessions and Rosenstein and terminate the Mueller investigation. He may pardon all those already implicated.

Other possibilities include ratcheting up anti-immigrant rhetoric, instituting a new family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexican border, encouraging more voter suppression at the state level, and pushing out James Mattis and the few competent staffers that remain in the cabinet and White House.

Perhaps he will even signal to the Russians that interference in another presidential election would not be seen as too big a deal.

Not long ago, any one of these actions would have been utterly unthinkable. Today, every one is possible, and many are likely. And the list is far from complete.

And that is the reason that volunteers in my district and around the country are working with such energy, every minute of every day, to win control of the House for the Democrats. They know that with a House majority comes investigative power, and that such power is the only check and balance available to combat an out-of-control president.

Without it, there might be nothing to prevent Trump from undermining our democracy in irreversible ways.

And what of the Jews? Among the volunteers, there are many Jews, both in my district and elsewhere. Most would probably say that they oppose Trump for the same reasons as everyone else.

But my view is that the fear quotient among Jews is probably higher than it is for most Americans. After all, as a dispersed and vulnerable minority for much of their history, Jews have more experience than most other Americans with demagogues and autocrats. Decimated by the Holocaust, they also have a fuller understanding of how fragile modern democratic governments are.

And the result of this experience is that Jews crave the stability and security that attracted them to America in the first place and enabled them to thrive here. They prefer solid, established, middle-class governments. Rank populism scares them. Massive income inequality rattles them. Leaders who play coy with white supremacists frighten them to death.

But a solid, steady America is not Trump’s America. After almost two years of a Trump presidency, American Jews see an angry and divided country, a leader who thrives on chaos and disruption, a governing tone of incitement and petulance, and an America that has been turned upside down before their very eyes.

And if Jews know anything, they know this:  When large segments of the electorate are filled with rage, normal standards of decency and civility fall quite easily, almost without notice.

Does this mean the emergence of anti-Semitism? Well, yes and no.

On the one hand, America is not an anti-Semitic country. Anti-Semitism exists here, but mostly on the fringes. On the other hand, anti-Semitic hate crimes rose almost 60% last year, the largest single-year jump on record.

This trend has attracted attention in my congressional district. In the last few months alone, swastikas have been painted on the walls of local high schools, KKK and other white supremacy literature has been distributed throughout the area, an explosive device was planted in a Jewish cemetery, and the home of a Jewish congressman was defaced.

Each incident, by itself, would likely be seen as “low level.” Collectively, they constitute a worrisome trend.

And the best explanation for what is happening is the nature of Trump’s leadership. The President, it should be noted, is not an anti-Semite and has not attacked the Jews. But he has shown no reluctance to attack and offend African-Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, and immigrants.

In expressing bigoted ideas about other minorities and foreigners, the President has crossed a threshold not even imagined by any other modern President. And the result is that the lowlifes on the anti-Semitic fringe have been emboldened to come out from under their rocks and go after the Jews. And Jewish voters, in my area at least, have taken notice.

And finally, Israel. Support for Israel is strong in my district, and the President’s decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem won wide backing. Some Jews will vote for Trump’s party for that reason alone.

But most will not. Israel, after all, is an important consideration for American Jews on election day, but rarely the only – or even the decisive factor. And in any case, the idea of Trump as Israel’s savior doesn’t quite compute for many Jews, even enthusiastic Israel supporters like me who praised the embassy move as long overdue.

Let’s be brutally honest here. Trump has an allegiance to the Kremlin, expressed at Helsinki and elsewhere, that is so bizarre that we must wonder if he is even an American patriot. And let’s remember what Russia is doing right now: Allowing Iran to become entrenched in Syria, limiting Israeli intervention against Iran on Syrian soil, and colluding with Iran to evade American sanctions on Iranian oil. Is this really the best time for President Trump to be turning America into a Russian-proxy state?

The bottom line is that Trump is an America Firster, an isolationist, a nativist, and a protectionist. Trump has never really believed in American leadership in the world. And without such leadership, Israel will never be secure.

What Israel needs is an ally in America that is the dominant world power, militarily strong, and committed to prudent globalism. What Trump offers instead is a narrow parochialism that is simply untenable – dangerous for America, dangerous for the world, dangerous for Israel, and dangerous for the Jews. Right-wingers who pay attention to Trump’s bluster and think only of the embassy are being bamboozled.

For all these reasons, most American Jews will vote for Democrats this November.

For all these reasons, masses of American volunteers of all faiths and ethnicities will work until the last possible moment to assure a Democratic House of Representatives in the midterms.

And for all these reasons, if we value our democratic rights, fear the Trumpian drift toward autocracy, care about repairing our social fabric, and desire to recreate a real sense of American community, let us hope and pray those volunteers succeed.

Everything – including the fate of the American experiment and the welfare of the Jewish community – depends on the outcome.”

Eric H. Yoffie, a rabbi, writer and teacher in Westfield, New Jersey, is a former president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Twitter: @EricYoffie

https://bit.ly/2P3rvKM

 

 

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“The Ban on Lara Alqasem Is a Gift for BDS, and a Disaster for Israel” – by Jeremy Ben-Ami, Haaretz

Note: The following is a clear and compelling statement why Israel’s policy of denying entrance to pro-BDS activists is wrong-headed and counterproductive strategically and democratically.

To be clear, I am opposed to BDS (the Boycott, Divestiture and Sanctions movement against Israel) for the same reasons stated in Jeremy Ben-Ami’s op-ed in Haaretz below.

Israel is, after all, a democracy and the best way to shine a light on ideas that are repugnant to most pro-Israel activists and Israelis is to allow them to be expressed freely and then criticized forthrightly in the public square. Persuasion, not suppression, is what has driven democracy and Jewish tradition over the centuries.

Israel has detained an American student Lara Alqasem (age 22) whose grandparents are Palestinian because of her former activism (2014-2017) in the BDS movement, arguably an anti-Israel movement. Yet, she had applied and was accepted for study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. What better way to show a young student what Israel is really all about than to permit her entrance to live in Israel and learn about its vitality and democratic diversity.

For the Haaretz article, go to https://bit.ly/2PwAgK1 or read Jeremy Ben-Ami’s open letter to Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Security Erdan below:

 

Dear Minister Erdan:

I am aware that, as Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Security, your portfolio includes managing Israel’s response to BDS. Over the years, you and other officials of the Israeli government have met with J Street and with other liberal Jewish leaders to ask for advice on countering the global boycott divestment and sanctions movement.

Allow me to say to you today, in no uncertain terms: What you are doing in the case of Lara Alqasem is not only morally wrong, it is the most un-strategic and damaging move that the state could make if it hopes to minimize support for BDS and promote Israel’s interests and standing around the world.

J Street is a pro-Israel, pro-peace organization that supports a two-state solution and opposes occupation. We oppose the BDS movement because it doesn’t recognize the Jewish people’s right to self-determination, it doesn’t support a two-state solution and it makes no distinction in its fight between occupation and the existence of Israel itself.

As progressives who fight for democratic values, diplomacy and peace, we are well-positioned on campuses and in our communities to make the case against boycotts – even as we oppose many of the policies that your government is implementing.

We firmly believe that the only way for Israel to effectively counter BDS, on campus and beyond, is to pursue and reach a two-state peace agreement that resolves the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and brings an end to the occupation.

Targeting BDS supporters – or those who merely have critical political views – and banning them from entering Israel does not counter their arguments or stem the global tide of concern for the Palestinian people. Like other anti-democratic actions by your government, it empowers Israel’s fiercest critics and undermines pro-Israel, pro-peace advocacy.

What exactly is the threat posed by allowing a 22 year-old American student to study for a year at Hebrew University? How will she harm the economy? How will she damage the strongest military in the Middle East? What is so frightening about someone who seeks to learn more about Israelis and Palestinians?

The only harm being done to Israel right now is the terrible damage to its reputation as a democracy that results from detaining a young student in a holding cell at the airport, for days and weeks on end, because of her political beliefs.

Subjecting those who wish to visit and study in your country to ideological litmus tests cuts at the very heart of the values on which the U.S.-Israel relationship is based and threatens to further shred the ties between us. This is the kind of action we have come to expect from authoritarian regimes – not from fellow democracies and allies.

Let me give you my clearest and simplest advice on how to counter BDS and advance the long-term interests of your country: Drop the case against Lara Alqasem.

Let her study at Hebrew University. Invite her to share her views with you. Encourage her to see the many things in Israel of which we are so rightly proud. Respect her right to tell you and your colleagues what she believes that you are doing wrong. Recognize that the right way to deal with speech you don’t like is to counter it, not silence it.

Let me be equally clear that the surest way to damage support for Israel and build up the BDS movement is to continue to interrogate people about their political beliefs at the border, to penalize young students and to promote laws – both in the Knesset and in the U.S. Congress – designed to criminalize boycotts and non-violent political protests.

Perhaps that is your strategy: instead of treating the BDS movement as the pesky but largely toothless challenge it is, your government treats it as a strategic threat to distract Israelis and Israel’s supporters from the real threat posed to the country’s future by the ever-deepening and never-ending occupation.

I hope that is not the case. But if that is the goal, it is doomed to fail.

In the meantime, know this: the majority of Israel’s supporters in the U.S. will not give up on our efforts to promote a two-state solution, to end the occupation and help secure Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people.

And we will not keep quiet while the misguided policies of your government do such serious damage to the interests of the State of Israel and to the values of the Jewish people.

Jeremy Ben-Ami is president and founder of J Street, the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement. Twitter: @JeremyBenAmi

 

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“The Chosen Wars – How Judaism Became an American Religion” by Steven R. Weisman – A Review

Steven R. Weisman does the American Jewish community and anyone interested in who we are and how we came to be who we are a deep favor. His history of the American Jewish experience (publ. 2018 – 266 pages) is a wonderful read. He covers the beginning of our history in the new world when Jews first arrived on American shores in New Amsterdam in 1654, spends much time on the dynamic 19^th century, and brings it all into the present.

Weisman’s readable narrative is comprehensive. His nuanced discussion of events and trends as they reflect the influences of the American experience on our community gives insight into how we evolved from before the American Revolution through the Civil War into the industrial age and twentieth century as we strove to be at once American and Jewish.

He describes how we acclimated to the new world in every generation without losing a sense of Jewish meaning. He discusses radical and conservative religious, ideological, and practical responses to the myriad of challenges Jews encountered coming from Central Europe, Germany, Russia, and Sefardic lands over a period of two centuries.

Weisman discusses at some length the emergence of the American Reform movement, the founding of the Conservative movement, and how orthodoxy struggled to survive and then staked its ground as immigrant waves from Eastern Europe arrived during the twentieth century.

The title of the book (“The Chosen Wars”) is Weisman’s thesis. So often, there is a tendency to look back with nostalgia on our history and smooth the edges of controversy. To do so, however, is to mischaracterize history itself and especially Jewish history. He shows that we Jews were and continue to be argumentative and rarely unified even as we have aspired for unity.

He writes in the epilogue:

“Judaism’s flourishing in America was not foreordained or inevitable. Neither was it free from conflict and animosity. On the contrary, the disputes among Jews in America were emotional and personal. They were also very American…The Jews shaped their experience in America, and they were shaped by the America they found. The push and pull for Jews followed a historic tension.”

Steven R. Weisman is vice president for publications and communications at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He previously served as a correspondent, editor and editorial board member of The New York Times. He is the author of “The Great Tax Wars: How the Income Tax Transformed America.”

I recommend this volume highly. If you want deeper understanding about who we are as an American Jewish community, how we got here, and what contemporary challenges we face, this book will not only frame it all for you but inspire you with the hope that, indeed, we are NOT the ever-dying people.

When prayer is projected onto large screens in place of using prayer books

Several years ago I attended a session at the Biennial Conference of the Reform movement (the Union for Reform Judaism) on the visual benefits of projecting the prayer book and the weekly Torah portion onto large screens in place of prayer books. It was at the time a new way to draw a congregation together while freeing the pews of books and papers. Though I understood the benefit of having the text available in plain sight to everyone present, especially in a large congregation, and the ability to add new songs and poetry that are not contained already in prayer books, I was uncomfortable with it and preferred then and still prefer to have an actual prayer book in my hands.

Having said this, at my congregation we use large screens for prayer twice a year, on the mornings of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at our family services with pre-school age through first grade children, their parents and grandparents. All the 700 in attendance need to do do is look forward towards the bimah and there they can read/sing the blessings and view colorful illustrations and photographs. For this particular population, projected prayer works well.

It’s one thing, however, to use projected prayer and illustrations/photographs for small children and their parents, and it’s quite another to use it in place of prayer books at Shabbat services for elementary school-age students, teens, and adults.

In recent days on the private Reform Rabbi List-Serve called RAVKAV where rabbis talk to each other about anything and everything of current concern, there has been a thoughtful discussion about the benefits and deficits of projected prayer in place of using actual siddurim. I found the discussion provocative and engaging, and so I shared some of the posts (I removed the writers’ names to maintain confidentiality) with my fellow clergy in my congregation. I received the following statement from our cantorial soloist and music director, Shelly Fox. Shelly is a 2^nd year cantorial student at the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR) here in Los Angeles. She is a world class singer and a thoughtful, evocative and sensitive Jew and prayer leader. I share her words with her permission:

“It’s one thing to project the words to prayers and enable people to follow along and lift their faces out of a book and sing together, but once we start talking about projecting imagery and then taking it further and using a large screen LED TV for clear, bright images, now we’re getting into the territory of another screen to watch.

I think that when people see a TV screen they shut off their brains. They get lulled into watching, not doing. I also think that prayer is both communal and personal and to give everyone imagery to watch takes them out of their own heads. It’s my same argument to musical settings of prayers in what I call “interpretive English.” I am not opposed to singing prayers in English but it bothers me when a prayer isn’t a direct translation[i.e. from the Hebrew, Ladino, or Yiddish] but is the songwriter’s impression of the prayer. I want the freedom to interpret a prayer how I feel it, which can change on any given day or at different times in my life. Giving someone a specific image to look at while praying cuts them off from their own inner dialog. …I think this is part of a larger trend of the dumbing down of our society. The less people think for themselves, the less they engage in critical thinking. We will have a nation of people plugged into (lulled by) screens and that leaves them vulnerable to whoever wants to control them, be it for good or for ill.” 

I agree with Shelly. After all, we Jews are Am haSefer – The People of the Book. I always prefer holding a book in my hands. I don’t read books on Kindle and though it’s more convenient to download books especially when traveling instead of carrying them in my luggage, I prefer the latter to the former.

A colleague wrote to me after I posted Shelly’s response on RAVKAV. He agreed with her saying: “We are a book culture — which means that we should be able to browse through a book and study it. The last thing we need is to strengthen our addiction to screens.”

 

Reform Judaism doubles down on Israel engagement and Reform Zionism

Our Reform movement has taken the drift among some American liberal Jews seriously and is stressing the importance of the peoplehood and State of Israel as intrinsic to the fabric of American liberal Jewish identity.

 

Read this article – it’s important!

 

http://jewishjournal.com/analysis/239498/reform-judaism-doubles-zionism/

High Holiday Sermons 2018-5779 – Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles

The following are my farewell sermons after serving Temple Israel of Hollywood for 30 years. This is my last High Holiday season before my retirement at the end of June, 2019. These are highly personal sermons, but they reflect the greater themes and challenges that Judaism presents us during the High Holidays, and were the best personal reflections on a forty-year rabbinate and thirty years at my home congregation.

For all TIOH Rabbis’ Sermons in 2018, go to

https://www.tioh.org/worship/rabbis/clergystudy  These include sermons by Rabbi John Rosove, Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh, and Rabbi Jocee Hudson

The following are the sermons I delivered, the final High Holiday sermons I am ever likely to deliver:

Rosh Hashanah 5779  – “Carrying forward the Life of Our People”

Video Direct Link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqcY1nwo0tc

Text – https://www.tioh.org/images/Worship/ClergyStudy/HH_Sermons/John_Rosove/5779/Carrying_Forward_the_Life_of_Our_People-RH2018.pdf

Kol Nidre 5779 –  “What I Wish for You”

Video Direct Link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPHP_ui4YQ4

Text – https://www.tioh.org/images/Worship/ClergyStudy/HH_Sermons/John_Rosove/5779/What-I-wish-for-you-RJohn-KN-2018.pdf

Yom Kippur Yizkor 5779 – “Midrash on the Death of Moses”

Text only – https://www.tioh.org/images/Worship/ClergyStudy/HH_Sermons/John_Rosove/5779/Midrash-on-the-Death-of-Moses-RJohn-YK-2018.pdf

 

 

Teshuvah – Hope over despair

The central theme of the High Holiday season is t’shuvah (return, turn, response), a process that brings us back to our truest ourselves, our families, friends, community, the Jewish people, Torah, and God. T’shuvah is ultimately an expression of hope that the way we are today need not be who we remain tomorrow.

T’shuvah is a step-by-step process of re-engaging with our highest selves, of turning away from negative and destructive tendencies (i.e. yetzer hara – the evil inclination) and embracing that which is good in our nature (yetzer hatov – the good inclination), such as living according to the virtues of humility, gratitude, generosity, compassion, and loving-kindness.

The t’shuvah process often begins with a sense of despair, hopelessness, and sadness, the feeling that we’re forever stuck where we are and are unable to change the nature, character, or direction of our lives. Judaism, however, rejects stagnation, pessimism, and cynicism, and urges us to transcend those impediments that prevent our personal transformation and the creation of a more hopeful future.

In the story of the prophet Jonah that’s read on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, the prophet descends into hopelessness and despair and then when all seems its most bleak, he turns his life around. Jonah is an unrealized prophet who runs from himself, from civilization, from moral responsibility, and from God. Every verb associated with his bleak journey into the netherworld uses the language of descent (Hebrew words with a root that includes these three letters: yod-resh-daled). He flees from God’s command to preach to the Ninevites down to the seashore. He boards a ship and goes down into its interior. He lies down and falls into a deep sleep. He’s thrown overboard down into the waters by his terrified ship-mates. He’s swallowed into the belly of a great fish, and there he remains for three days and nights until out of darkness and from desperation Jonah realizes that he wants to live and not die. At last he cries out to God to save him.

God responds by making the fish vomit Jonah out onto dry land and into the light of day. Jonah agrees this time to do God’s bidding and preach to the Ninevites to turn away from their evil ways. While the town’s people don sackcloth and ashes (a sign of their humility and willingness to change), God provides Jonah with shade and protection from the sun’s intolerable heat. Jonah, however, is mortified because he doesn’t believe in change and is convinced that the Ninevites are destined to fail in their penetance. In Jonah’s mind, the Ninevites’ success makes him appear the fool, more evidence that Jonah didn’t understand the first principle of t’shuvah, that change is possible if there is acknowledgment of wrong-doing and a will to fashion a new way of being in one’s life.

T’shuvah is never easy. It’s for those who are strong of mind, heart, and soul, who are willing to suffer failure, but also to get up, own what we’ve done, acknowledge our wrong-doing, apologize unconditionally to those we’ve hurt, and recommit to our struggle for greater enlightenment, step-by-step, patiently, one day at a time, one hour at a time, and even one moment at a time.

When successful, t’shuvah is restorative and utopian, for it enables us to return to our truest selves and overcome the past for the sake of a better future.

A Prayer for Peace in the New Year

May we hold lovingly in our thoughts / those who suffer from tyranny, subjection, cruelty, and injustice / and work every day towards the alleviation of their suffering.

May we recognize our solidarity / with the stranger, outcast, downtrodden, abused, and deprived / that no human being be treated as “other” / that our common humanity weaves us together / in one fabric of mutuality / one garment of destiny.

May we pursue the Biblical prophet’s vision of peace / that we might live harmoniously with each other / and side by side / respecting differences / cherishing diversity / with no one exploiting the weak / each living without fear of the other / each revering Divinity in every human soul.

May we struggle against institutional injustice and governmental corruption / free those from oppression and contempt / act with purity of heart and mind / despising none / defrauding none / hating none / cherishing all / honoring every child of God and every creature of the earth.

May the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and all peoples / know peace in this New Year / and may we nurture kindness and love everywhere.

L’shanah tovah tikateivu

Rabbi John L. Rosove – Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles

The Rider and the Elephant

”What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.”

So is it recorded in The Dhammapada, a collection of sayings of the Buddha who lived 2600 years ago.

Shakespeare expressed the same idea: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” [1]

Are they both right, that we are mind over matter?

Not according to Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He writes that the conscious, reasoning part of our mind has only limited control over what we think, feel and do. [2]

The problem, he says, is that the mind is divided into two parts that often conflict. We are like riders on the back of elephants. Our conscious and rational mind has only limited control of what the elephant beneath us does.

The elephant represents our gut feelings, visceral reactions, emotions and intuitions. The rider is like the ‘press agent’ for the President (i.e. the elephant) who rationalizes whatever the president says.

The elephant and rider each have its own intelligence, and when the two work together, they reveal human brilliance. However, they don’t always work together.

As we approach the High Holidays, we Jews turn and return, break from habits that keep us from change and growth, and respond in new ways to those around us, to events in the world, and to our own lives.

The goal of t’shuvah (i.e. turning, returning, and responding) is to restore ourselves to where we know we should be, to our loved ones, families and friends, to colleagues and community, Torah and Judaism, goodness and God. This season reminds us that we ought to look beyond our material needs to our spiritual ones and focus on that which elevates us to be just “a little lower than the angels.” [3]

Haidt reminds us that when the Rider and the Elephant are at cross purposes – we ought to retrain the elephant, and that’s not so easy. The elephant is wired by nature,  nurture and ingrained patterns and it doesn’t seem that it matters what our conscious minds, our reason and good yetzer (inclination) are telling us. The rider often has little control over the elephant beneathe our legs.

Haidt urges the rider to talk directly to the elephant.

Was Shakespeare right that “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so”?

I answer this way – that the challenge of this season isn’t to insist that the rider have the final word, but to redirect the elephant’s impulses to be more in tune with the rider’s vision and purpose. Haidt suggests three means to do so:

• Meditation – to quiet the mind and detach from whatever drives us towards dysfunctional and destructive behavior;
• Cognitive therapy – to dig into our motivations, unconscious impulses and hidden agendas, and “unpack” the baggage that we carry, the memories and hurts that taught us that the world works in such and such a way, and that if we’re to survive we better behave accordingly;
• Biochemical support – I’m not a psychiatrist, but those who think that drug therapy would be helpful should consult with qualified mental health professionals.

Each strategy has its place. There’s no one means to effect t’shuvah. Change and growth don’t come suddenly. T’shuvah involves a deliberate step-by-step process taken over time with patience and perseverance.

The elephant operates from a subterranean unconscious mishmash of forces. Given its size and weight, it’s likely that we may only be able to direct it forward slowly. What’s necessary is to retrain ourselves that we might become more optimistic and positive.

“Life is what we deem it,” is the truth of t’shuvah. We CAN redeem ourselves, but it won’t be easy!

Notes:

[1] Hamlet – Act 2, Scene 2

[2] “The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom” and “The Righteous Mind – Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion”

[3] Hebrews 2:7 based on Psalms 8:5

 

Rabbi Aaron Panken – A huge loss to our movement and the Jewish people

Rabbi Aaron Panken, Ph.D., z”l

This weekend, Rabbi Aaron Panken, President of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, was killed in a plane crash and this tragic death has stunned the Jewish world.

Aaron was a mensch, a scholar, a gentle man, husband, father, son, and brother. At age 53, the words of the Book of Samuel immediately come to mind – “Eich naflu hagiborim – How the mighty has fallen.”

Since becoming President of HUC-JIR four years ago, Aaron carried forward the work of the Reform movement’s starship educational institution with intelligence, gentleness and kindness, and with insight and vision about the future of liberal Judaism in America and Israel. He led the four campuses of HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem. In the last year, Aaron ordained the 100th Israeli Reform Rabbi. He was set to ordain the graduating senior class this week at the American campuses.

He is being mourned widely as a scholar, mensch, and friend. His death is a huge loss to the Reform movement and the Jewish people.

My sympathy extends to his wife, Lisa Messinger, their children Eli and Samantha, his parents Beverly and Peter, his sister, Rabbi Melinda Panken (Glenn Cohen) and their family, his father-in-law Martin E. Messinger, and his sisters-in-law Daryl Messinger (Jim Heeger), Rabbi Sarah Messinger (Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat), and Alice Messinger and their families.

Funeral services will take place on Tuesday, May 8, at 1:00 pm at Westchester Reform Temple, 255 Mamaroneck Road, Scarsdale, NY.

A live webstream of the service will be available on the WRT website at www.wrtemple.org

Even as we mourn the loss of our colleague, teacher, and friend, the vision that Rabbi Aaron Panken brought to Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion remains a source of hope and comfort to those who mourn and the Jewish community. Rabbi Panken’s family requests donations in his memory be made to help fulfill Aaron’s vision for his beloved HUC-JIR at huc.edu/memorial or by mail to Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, One West Fourth Street, New York, NY 10012.

Messages of condolence to the Panken family may be sent to:

Lisa Messinger and the Panken Family
8 Stonewall Lane
Mamaroneck, NY 10543

May Rabbi Aaron Panken’s family find comfort among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.