Until we are all free, we are none of us free - Passover Column for El Paso Jewish Voice - April 2019

       Temple Beth-El’s Tanakh Study Group, which meets most every Wednesday, has been studying the book of Ezra, and we are about move into the book of Nehemiah.  Before that, we had completed a two-year study of the entire book of Isaiah. 

        The Jews who left their temporary homes in Babylonia, to where they had been exiled around the time of the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem, were elated at the possibility of returning to Judea to become a people in their land once again.  They saw their journey (around 538 BCE) as a second Exodus, leaving their captivity to travel to the promised land.   They were grateful that the Persians, who had conquered Babylonia, provided them with an opportunity to return home. 

      Once they arrived, they found that people who had not gone into exile held their motives under suspicion.  Eventually, the returnees were able to fulfill their wish of building a new Temple and reestablishing their society.   

      It wouldn’t be as before.   Some Jews remained in Babylonia.  These Jews in Judea, under the leadership of Ezra the Scribe, gathered for public Torah readings.   They heard about —and studied—the experiences of their people entering Canaan after wanderings in the wilderness, establishing the kingdom of Israel that, unfortunately, split in two after the death of King Solomon. 

      I wonder if they were saddened by the fact that their march to freedom had ended in division.    Psalm 133, the source for “Hinei Mah Tov/How good it is,” seems to express a longing for the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, to reunite. 

      The Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom, around 720 BCE, resulted in refugees from the north seeking safety in the south.  It wasn’t exactly a fulfillment of the wish of Psalm 133, but it did demonstrate that descendants of the people who had originally left Egypt together still saw themselves as family. 

      Jewish history includes all too many examples of divisions between people due to ideology and theology, where some groups see themselves as the only ones who are dedicated to God’s true message and the right approach to living as a minority in many countries, and as a majority in the State of Israel. 

      Passover/Pesach has its own way reuniting us. Through disagreements and challenges to our well-being, we gather at the Seder table to recount a story of moving from slavery to freedom, interpreting liberty according to our own perspective. 

       Emma Lazarus, author of “The New Colossus” poem associated with the Statue of Liberty, once stated what she considered to be an essential view of freedom: “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”  

        It is incumbent on each of us, as the Haggadah says, to see ourselves as if WE were freed from Egypt, and to answer Emma Lazarus’ challenge of working for freedom everywhere.  

       May we address that task every day, inspired by the prayers, songs, readings, and rituals of Pesach.  

      

I was a slave...now I am free - column for the Temple Beth-El Las Cruces April 2019 Adelante Newsletter

On an ARZA Rabbinic Trip in January, 1966

   I was a slave. 

   Now I am free.

    What am I going to do with that freedom?

    I am going to choose work that I like to do, which will, in some way, bring me satisfaction, fulfillment and even joy.

I will wake up and look at the sun shining, or, if there is no sun, observe the clouds in all of their shapes and sizes.

I will try to make it possible to watch the sunset, and to marvel at the colors painted onto the sky as darkness begins to arrive.

I will read what I want to read, works that educate me, edify me, challenge me, and inspire me.

I will listen to music that I enjoy, but I will try to learn about music that moves other people as well.

I will sing what I want to sing, and, if I am given the gift, create music, perhaps with lyrics, that speaks to the essence of my soul.

I will consider how I was treated as a slave, and resolve to treat no one like that for any reason, be it a sense of renewed privilege, or a desire for revenge through exercising power over others.

I will remember how I helped my fellow slaves:  how I and others assisted all those who were unable to fulfill their assigned tasks, whether they were young, old, injured or in poor health due to the work conditions foisted upon them.

I will remember how the taskmasters looked at me with contempt and disdain, shouting at me words of derision, threatening me with punishment if I did not complete my quota for the day, declaring to me that I was nothing, and no one, undeserving of consideration.

I will remember how I viewed my taskmasters:  with anger and defiance, both touched with sadness that anyone could be so indoctrinated and brainwashed into thinking that I wasn’t human.

I will look around my community where I now live and ask myself:

How can I show consideration to my fellow human beings in any given situation?

How can I help and stand up for people whose life experiences have put them in dire straits?

How can I lift up people whose souls have been destroyed by others for the sake of power, greed, or bigotry?

How can I show appreciation to people who serve me in their work, giving them a momentary gift of gratitude that will enable them to make it through their day with a good feeling about themselves?

How can I join with others to create a world without exploitation and inequality?

How can I further mutual understanding and respect among people of different backgrounds?

How can I act with kindness and compassion, where doors too often close on opportunities to achieve personal well-being?

How can I learn from the times when I have been the object of bigotry, oppression, discrimination to assure that other people never have to face those obstacles to a safe and secure place in society?

   In every generation, says the Passover Haggadah, we should view ourselves as if WE went free from Egypt. 

   Once we were slaves; now we are free.

   We should never forget that for a moment. 

Invocation for Temple Beth-El Las Cruces Board meeting - Purim’s Lessons - March 21, 2019

Eternal One, 

Creator and Sustainer of All,

Help to those in distress, 

Support to those targeted through hatred

Inspiration to those who seek to treat others with respect and love, 

Enable us to see the Divine Image in which every person was fashioned. 

Teach us to engage in dialogue even when it might seem impossible. 

Grant us the patience to sustain conversations 

to the point of finding common ground. 

Remind us that face-to-face discussions 

can turn misunderstandings into newly shared perspectives. 

Keep us far from accusations that have no basis

Distance us from information about any person 

that has no grounding in fact or reality.

Empower us to overcome barriers 

that assist assist the insidious spread of fear and animosity. 

Unite us in our resolve to build a community 

that reflects the vision of Your Oneness,

Where cooperation, compassion and partnership 

facilitate the formation of lasting bonds of relationship and friendship. 

Be with us, 

And walk alongside us in our work to make our sacred space

And this entire world 

A true Bayt-El, a house filled with Your presence. 

Amen 

Still...In My Image - D’var Torah for Vayikra 5779 - March 15, 2019

   The Eternal One called to Moses and spoke from the Tent of Meeting....and then hesitated. 

   “Moses,  I will command you about the sacrifices in good time.   I must teach you about the future.”

     Moses had been ready to take God’s instruction about ritual. He was taken aback.  “What future?  Whose future, Eternal One?”  

   “Not just the future of your people,” God said.   “The future of all humankind.”  

    “What do you see, my God?  After all we, the children of Israel, have been through, I want to know.”   Moses waited for God’s reply. 

     After a brief silence,  God’s words came to him in a whisper.

   “I am going to teach you to love all people as you love yourselves.  I will declare to you that you must see the oneness of you and your fellow human beings as a reflection of my Oneness.   I have already taught you that your hearts and hands should be open to the stranger and the poor.” 

     “In the distant future, there will be many nations in the world, and you and your people will be few in number compared to everyone else.  You will have my teachings as your guide, principles that you can share with the world.   I see moments when times of peace and calm in communities will be violently interrupted by attacks by certain individuals who believe they can speak for Me by using a deadly weapon to murder people who are different from them, people they don’t understand whom they have condemned to death in their minds and hearts.” 

    Mose was indignant.  “But, Eternal One, that action violates your commandments not to commit murder and not to bear false witness.” 

     “You have learned well, Moses. You speak rightly, and it is your voice that must echo throughout your generations to remind your people - and all people - to overcome the hatred in their hearts in order to see all people as My children - and your brothers and sisters.   One of your descendants will teach that every human being is a beloved creation because I made you all in My image.  Will you impress that on your descendants?  And Moses, you are one of the most humble people who will ever live.  Remind your people - and all people - never to see themselves as greater or better than anyone else and that they can do just that by walking humbly with Me and with each other.  

   Moses proudly proclaimed,  “I will pass on your teaching, so that my descendants will cry out and protest when people are violent with one another in words or deeds, needlessly disrupting or taking lives, due to unnecessary hatred in their hearts.” 

     God listened to the leader of the Israelites.  And God knew that Moses would make this come to be.  

   .  

Jewish American or American Jew? Reconsidered - March 4, 2019 (Post on Facebook)

When I was in youth group, one of the discussions we had focused on this question: “Are you a Jewish American or an American Jew?”  

   When a professor at NYU with whom I was at a 7 week Jewish summer camp in 1970 said in a magazine article several years ago that she engaged in this same discussion in her youth group in a major city far from mine, I knew that it was on people’s minds. 

     It was two years after the war of 1967 (Six-Day War).   It was still a time when, even after the events of that week drastically changed the map of the Middle East, there was still a concern for not only the persistence/existenceof Israel, but also for Jewish survival.   

     A lot has happened since then, but the questions remain. 

     So....am I an American Jew? 

    Yes, because being Jewish is at my core spiritually and historically.   My ancestors lived mostly in a village in Lithuania at the time the Declaration of Independence was signed.    That puts being a member of the worldwide Jewish community at the core of my identity. 

      Am I a Jewish American? 

      Yes, because I am an American citizen who grew up in a thriving midwestern city, the same city in which my parents were born and raised.  I vote in elections.  I do what I can to improve the well-being of the general community in which I live.  

     I don’t know that I can tell you which one of these terms alone really captures my identity.    You might think that I should just say I am an American.   I could do that, but I don’t because it doesn’t describe “all of me.”  

     Now, what about that “allegiance” question that is coming up these days?   

      I am an American.  

      I am an American Jew/Jewish American who sees it as his duty to bring Jewish values of freedom, education, justice, generosity, fairness, compassion and peace into our local and national community.  

       I am also an American Jew/Jewish American who sees the land of Israel as a place that figures into my history and also into my present, because I have family and friends in the State of Israel, and also because, as a member of one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, Israel is the place where the other large Jewish community resides.    It’s like a large extended family. 

       Allegiance, for me, is reserved to the country of which I am a citizen.   

       Support and concern is appropriate for all sorts of people, in include those who are  family and who are like family. 

      Of course, family members don’t always get along, and sometimes they don’t even speak, but they are still family.   

       We have seen that fellow citizens also don’t always speak with each other.   Hopefully,  they try to do so for the good of country. 

       As for me, I will hopefully be able to keep the lines of communication open with citizens in the greater community  from a wide range of backgrounds.

        And I will try to stay in touch with and to understand people who are part of my extended family, individuals from many countries with whom I am connected in the past and in the present.    And I may try to engage them in substantive dialogue when necessary. 

      And perhaps, as is stated in Psalm 85:11, “Love and truth will meet; righteousness/justice and peace will embrace/kiss.”  

      Hopefully...one day.

Help us to be builders - Invocation for "Exploring our Temple" leadership session at Temple Beth-El Las Cruces on March 3, 2019

Eternal God,

Sustainer of our lives,

The Creator who has fashioned

our world and all existence,

help us, like You, to be builders

and contributors

to the gathering places

of our community.

May we be like the Israelites,

who responded to the call to bring

gifts for the construction of the

ancient Tabernacle.

The Torah says that they were people

ASHER NADVAH RUCHO

who had given themselves a willing spirit

and people

ASHER N’SAO LIBO

who had lifted their hearts and minds

by donating the raw materials

that would become a meeting place

between You and the community

and a site that the people would associate with

holiness and with Your ongoing presence.

Help us to be builders of community

who encourage participation,

who inspire a willing spirit through respect and friendship,

who lift our hearts whenever we renew our commitment

to the well-being of our congregation. 

Bless this time we spend together today to remember the past

and to honor the present

so that we can dedicate ourselves to guaranteeing a bright future

for us, our children, and the generations to come.