We cannot merely pray to You, O God,
to banish war,
for You have filled the world
with paths to peace
if only we would take them.
We cannot merely pray
for prejudice to cease
for we might see the good in all
that lies before our eyes,
if only we would use them.
We cannot merely pray to You
to end starvation:
for there is enough food for all,
if only we would share it.
We cannot merely pray to You:
“Cast out despair,”
for the spark of hope
already waits within the human heart,
for us to fan it into a flame.
We must not ask of You, O God,
to take the task that You have given us.
We cannot shirk,
we cannot flee away,
avoiding obligation for ever.
Therefore we pray, O God,
for wisdom and will, for courage
to do and
to become,
not only to gaze
with helpless yearning
as though we had no strength.
So that our world may be safe,
and our lives may be blessed.
[From Mishkan
T’filah, World
Union Edition, as adapted from
Siddur Lev Chadash, as
adapted from a prayer by Jack Riemer, in New
Prayers for the High Holy Days, Prayer Book Press of Media Judaica,
Inc., 1971 – from Rosh Hashanah Morning Service draft, Central Conference of
American Rabbis, 2011]
This reading written by Rabbi Jack Riemer over forty
years ago calls on us to respond through word and deed to the specter of war,
to the persistence of hunger in our world, and to people who are overcome by
disease, inequality, violence and discrimination.
The first step in taking action is hearing the cries
of those who are in despair, who need our support to live in safety and
freedom.
Those calls for assistance often come first to the
faith community, which is seen as a source of comfort and
an agent of compassion and change.
In the past year, I have
joined other religious leaders in meetings devoted to hearing those cries for
help clearly and distinctly.
We have tried to determine in those gatherings how
clergy and congregants can effectively step forward to offer the appropriate
answer to people in need.
In those
meetings, I personally have heard about the plight of farm workers in New
Mexico who are ill-treated and underpaid for their back-breaking work.
I
have witnessed people lose their fight to keep their homes, where the bank
chose foreclosure over the homeowners’ honest attempt to modify their loans.
I have spoken with members of communities where
government officials had chosen to invest in jails rather than in schools.
Some of you have spoken with residents of Camp Hope who have a place to
stay due to the good graces of the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope as they
wait for the possibility of being matched with a new place to live to call
their own.
Donations flow from your hands to the Casa de Peregrinos food bank and
El Caldito Soup kitchen every month, offering a gift of nutrition and warmth to
local residents who depend on our generosity.
I have been in the presence of aspiring citizens seeking to be
full-fledged Americans someday.
I attended a hearing at the immigration
court in El Paso for a woman facing deportation who would have been separated
from her children born on American soil. Due to a flood of calls from people in our area and
around the country, and the wisdom of the court, her case was closed and she
can remain as a member of the local community.
Susan Fitzgerald and I had the opportunity to meet some of the
participants in a 285 mile walk for citizenship in California from Sacramento
to Bakersfield. That walk ended by
reaching its objective: a meeting with Congressman Kevin McCarthy. Even with major disagreements during
their conversation, the congressman indicated his intention to continue open
dialogue with the group .
Some members of Congress continue to be focused on the “rule of law” in
the current debate on immigration reform.
We, of all people, should remember that it was the “rule of law” that
kept thousands of Jews from finding a haven in the United States in the 1930s
and 1940s. Due to the immigration
quotas established in 1921 and 1924, the waiting list was years long for Jews
who sought visas to gain refuge in America. Some of them survived throughout World War II, but
others perished in the Holocaust.
In
this day and age, it is hard not to hear the cries and calls of humanity for
genuine concern, for an outstretched hand that can offer support and hope.
The question is, what do we want them to hear from us? What should be the response of
religious congregations? And how
does Judaism shape our approach to the needs of society and the world?
One of my colleagues, Rabbi Dennis
Ross, is a national advocate for reproductive choice. In his book ALL POLITICS ARE RELIGIOUS, Rabbi Ross characterized the voice of
the faith community that he believes people would hope to hear. Before laying out those principles, he
described the type of statements from religious leaders that too easily find
their way into the headlines. Too often, he said, people link religion
to the claims of certain clergy that a particular disaster, such as 9/11 or
Hurricane Katrina, happened because it was God’s punishment for a community’s
moral failures. We readily hear
about religious groups insisting that state or national laws or the curriculum
in our nation’s schools should match their own strict interpretations of
biblical or religious law and values. Rabbi Ross suggested an alternative religious message
that can bring about positive change based not in strict judgment but in loving
and open concern for all people. He proposed these principles that could guide
congregations in their work in the community:
·
caring for the
powerless;
·
softening harsh justice
with compassion;
·
affirming a positive
vision for the future;
·
upholding our right to
make our own moral decisions, without the interference of strict secular laws;
·
and strengthening the
separation between religion and government, while encouraging a variety of
faiths to contribute their views, but in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
Another leader in the American faith community
supports Rabbi Ross’ idea of providing a new vision for positive change. Rev. Jim Wallis is an evangelical
Christian who attended a church in Detroit when he was growing up. His church focused on personal
atonement for each member of the congregation. The inaction of his congregation in reaching out to
help struggling neighborhoods across town led him to see the necessity of
working for social justice and equality if he hoped to make real the message of
the prophets in the Bible.
In his book ON GOD’S SIDE,
Rev. Jim Wallis asserted, like Rabbi Ross, that religion has an
important role to play in public life. Wallis explained that religion uses politics all too
often to enforce its own viewpoint and its own interests, or tries to make its
own beliefs and standards the law of the land. Wallis asserted
that religion is at its best when it leads and proactively sets the agenda for
community action based in genuine concern for the welfare of all people.
Wallis focused on a set of central religious teachings that can direct
our work for social justice, including:
·
caring most about what
happens to the poor and vulnerable;
·
protecting human life
and dignity;
·
promoting the actual health and
well-being of families.
·
lifting up the people
who have no political influence, including immigrants who remain undocumented,
low-income families and children, and the poorest of the poor globally.
From his unique position,
Rev. Wallis is able to see the value in both conservative and liberal
perspectives on how people can improve their lives. Wallis explained, “I believe the best idea of the
conservative political philosophy is the call to personal responsibility:
choices and decisions about individual moral behavior, personal relationships,
fiscal integrity, service, compassion, and security. And the best idea of the
liberal philosophy is the call to social responsibility: the commitment to our
neighbor, economic fairness, racial and gender equality, the just nature of
society, needed social safety nets, public accountability for business, and the
importance of cooperative international relationships.” To work for the ultimate goal, which
Wallis calls the “common good,” we
need to be personally responsible and socially just. Everyone needs to work together to combine the strengths of
these philosophies in order to improve the quality of life for everyone.
Both Rabbi Ross and Rev. Wallis outlined
values that resonate with people of many faiths as they seek to put their
beliefs into practice in the greater community. The Torah and Haftarah readings in our services this morning
and this afternoon echo many of those very principles that can lead us to work
for positive change.
The Torah reading for this morning from Deuteronomy Chapters 29 and 30
envisions all of the community standing together, people from all walks of life, all levels of status and
importance, in a moment of equality.
They were all commanded to choose “life and good.” Today, we can choose to seek and
work for “life and good” in our diverse community, focusing on human concerns
for the common good that unite us.
In the Haftarah, the prophet Isaiah declared to his people that the fast that
God wanted from them was not one where they meticulously fulfilled their ritual
obligations and then oppressed their workers and sowed conflict among their
neighbors. Isaiah assured
his people that their light would shine in the darkness, their night would be
bright as noon “if they removed the menacing hand, unlocked the shackles of
injustice and bondage, made sacrifices for the hungry and satisfied the needs
of the afflicted.”
In the Torah reading for this afternoon from Leviticus Chapter 19, we
are commanded to be holy as God is holy through our actions that can further
the common good. This biblical “holiness
code” directs us to honor our parents, share our food with the poor and
stranger, judge our neighbor fairly, refrain from gossip, treat people of all
ages with respect, practice honesty in business and love our neighbors as
ourselves. Verses 33 and 34 of Leviticus Chapter 19
proposed a universal version of the “golden rule”: “When strangers live with you in your land, you must not
oppress them. The strangers who
live with you shall be to you like citizens, and you shall love them as
yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” This broadly based standard
equated citizens and strangers in the context of a caring and welcoming
community. I would imagine that my
grandparents hoped for such a welcome when they immigrated to the United
States. That principle from
Leviticus can guide our approach to aspiring citizens who are now living among
us.
The Haftarah reading for this afternoon further advocates for the values
of openness and acceptance not only within a nation but also between nations
and peoples. The prophet Jonah
refused to deliver a message to the people of Nineveh to repent and change
their lives because they weren’t Hebrews like he was. He learned the hard way, after spending three days in
the belly of a DAG GADOL, a big fish, that God’s love and compassion extended
to everyone, no matter who they were or from whence they came.
The central values of today’s biblical
readings form the core of our message to the world, creating a society based on
honesty, equality, concern for all people, a willingness to listen and respond,
and a sense that faith must lead us to extend a helping hand to offer timely
comfort and action that can bring about positive change. We do have our work cut out for
us.
But I know that there are Temple members who are
already involved in ongoing efforts to strengthen our communal safety net, to
further equality, to eliminate prejudice and discrimination, and to assure that
our city, county, state and country are welcoming enough to offer current citizens
and aspiring citizens a sense of security and hope. I believe that my role in the community, and the role of our
congregation, is to apply the moral principles of the Torah and the ethical
proclamations of the prophets to assure that our light will have a fighting
chance to shine in the darkness, and our night will be bright as noon, because
of the work we do for the common good of our fellow community members and of
all humankind.
The words we recite today from the Tanakh can lead us to a place of
light, hope, balance and mutual respect if we continue to open our ears to
truly listen to each other and to hear the cries of people who need our help
and support. The prayers of
Yom Kippur continue to call on us to consider how we will be inscribed and
sealed in the Book of Life in the coming year. We have it within each of us to
share the light inside our souls that will provide warmth to our community and
to a world that needs our open hands and open hearts.
Please
join with me in a reading by James Conlon that calls on us to provide the world
with healing and hope:
I know
that poverty must cease.
I know this through the brokenness
and conflict in my heart.
I know
that protest is my most prophetic act
and that the world is longing
for a new soul, a new healing moment.
I know
that when we awaken to our origins
and become truly human
we bring hope to the children
and to the earth.
I feel called today
to bring the people together to break the bread
and tell the story.
I feel called today
to be a mystic in action,
aligned to the dynamics of the universe.
I feel called today
to give my gift,
to listen to the heartbeat of the broken world;
to heal the fragmentation of people
and planet.
I feel called today
to celebrate the wonder of creation
and respond to sacredness and the
challenges of life.
I feel called today
to participate in the work of my time,
to fall in love,
to feel at home.
I feel called today
to be inflamed with enduring hope,
to be at one with the universe,
to be touched by God.
I feel called today
To compose a new paragraph
for life.
[James
Conlon, From the
Stars to the Streets,
Novalis, 2007 – in Rosh Hashanah Morning Service draft, Central Conference of
American Rabbis, 2011]
May the paragraphs we write
in our Book of Life lead us to infuse the world and our souls with goodness,
holiness, blessing and peace.
