D’var Torah – June 15, 2012 – Wrapping ourselves in the warmth of community

“The Eternal One said to Moses as follows: 

Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them

to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments

throughout the ages; let them attach 

a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner. 

That shall be your fringe; look at it and recall

all the commandments of the Eternal One and observe them,

so that you do not follow your heart and eyes 

and give in to urge and temptation.”

The fringes on the corner of the tallit

Are attached to a sacred garment

In which we can wrap ourselves 

to physically feel warmth and God’s embrace.

Our heritage, our prayers, 

our presence with each other in community

And our mutual support for one another

Are like a tallit.

We feel that warmth when we truly care about each other

When we choose our words carefully

When we are long in patience

And quick in forgiveness

And when we act with kindness and selflessness.

Yet, there are times when we may find ourselves tempted 

to be like 10 of the scouts who entered the land of Canaan

To see what the future home of the Israelites was like, 

to collect information about the land and its people.

For two scouts, Caleb and Joshua, all looked well: for them, 

entry into the land was possible and they had limitless faith 

in their eventual settlement there.

But their 10 companions were overcome with fear. 

These supposedly courageous leaders saw a beautiful land

In which the Israelites would find no comfortable place 

amid fortified cities

And people who appeared to tower over them.

Sometimes, our uncertainties and challenges 

may lead us to be like the scouts

Who told their people to remain where they were, 

not to move forward.

Our apprehension may render us unable 

to see the positives, the joys that are around us, 

focusing only on the obstacles in our way.

From such a vantage point,

we may interpret communal or individual strengths as weaknesses,

and stress only failure in a sea of success. 

Still, it may be that the greater community is waiting 

for our personal contribution

To collective warmth and caring

Where our potential for optimism enables us 

to add to a shared sense of spirit.

We are commanded in the Torah to look at the fringes and to recall God’s commandments and acknowledge the godly paths we can follow.

Those paths inspired by mitzvot/commandments 

can help us move forward

When we act with conviction and compassion 

and when we recognize the special gifts

That each of us brings to community.

May we be scouts who see the goodness in one another

So that we can feel the warmth,

the communal embrace that can wrap around our souls

And unite us on Shabbat 

and throughout the days and years of our lives.  

That God's song may be with me - Reflections on Hava Nashira 2012 - June 11, 2012

Faculty members Rabbi Noam Katz, Merri Arian, and
Rabbi Ken Chasen (confirmed at my home congregation)
teach a song with Basya Schechter at right
looking on (and probably adding percussion)

    On May 31, 2012, I was ready for my first learning session at the Hava Nashira Songleading and Music workshop at Olin-Sang-Ruby Camp in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.  I had decided to attend a songwriting intensive with Basya Schechter, whom I had seen in concert in Lawrence, Kansas with her group, Pharaoh’s Daughter, in 2005.   After each member of our songwriting group shared something about his or her background in Jewish music, Basya gave us our first challenge: to compose a melody to go with a text.  I don’t know if she gave us these small pieces of paper at random or if there was a reason that we each received a particular text.   She gave me a sheet that bore the text of Psalm 42, verses 1 and 2:

Like a deer cries for water, my soul cries for you, God;

My soul thirsts for God, the living God;

When will I come to appear before God?

    I really didn’t know if I would be able to create a melody on the spot, but the notes came quickly as I sang the Hebrew text to myself.  When it was my turn to present what I had composed, I sang what became the beginning to a new song, to which I added other verses from Psalm 42 after I returned home:

By day, may the Eternal command kindness

so that, at night, God’s song may be with me,

a prayer to God, the God of my life.

I will yet praise God, my ever-present help, my God.

 You can find the completed song at this link (play the song "Tzam'ah Nafshi"on the player):

http://www.reverbnation.com/larrykarol

    I have been thinking about the meaning of that text in relation to the Hava Nashira experience. 

"Jamming" on Shabbat afternoon

 This year, my eleventh time attending this incredible workshop, provided opportunities to hear new music, to exchange newly-created songs with fellow participants, to perform in front of our peers, to “jam” on our favorite songs (Jewish and/or secular), and to build community that continues past these few days spent in Wisconsin.  I watched our talented faculty lead us in learning, communal singing and worship that easily elicited our enthusiastic participation. I marveled at the webs of relationships across Jewish communities that this event engenders and strengthens. 

With rabbinic students
Rachael Klein and Bess Wohlner,
fellow Congregation B'nai Jehudah confirmands

     In light of the words of Psalm 42, I believe that one of our goals in attending Hava Nashira is to feel that God’s song is with us as we join our voices together and as we hear expressions of biblical texts, prayers and songs that express the depth of the Jewish spirit.  A second goal for each of us is to learn how music can help us as individuals, and enable members of the communities which we serve, to feel that God’s song is within us and accompanying us along our way.  Music can help us reach into our souls and outward to others to reveal the many ways in which we can grow closer together within our congregations, at camps and community centers, and between faith groups, seeing more clearly the spark of the divine in one another.

Erev Shabbat Song Session

    I am thankful for new friendships and for relationships that continue and deepen with my fellow “Hava Nashirites,” for the life connections that are brought to light (such as four of us present who were all confirmed at Congregation B’nai Jehudah in Kansas City – all rabbis or rabbis-to-be), and for the inspiration, the song, that we take with us as each Hava Nashira workshop concludes.   Todah rabbah to faculty and participants for being wise and supportive fellow travelers along our spiritual and musical life’s journey!

        

A Jewish Mother's Lasting Influence - from RJ Blog - May 22, 2012

Guest Blogger

by Rabbi Larry Karol

This past Friday night, I planned for an early Simchat Shabbat service with the inclusion of some of my favorite melodies. Julie Silver’s “Shir Chadash” melody began our worship, with Debbie Friedman’s recent “Shalom Aleichem” tune preceding the chatzi-kaddish. When we came to the prayer for thanksgiving in the T’filah/Amidah, I was set to sing my own “For Your Gifts,” an “embellished chatimah/conclusion” for the Modim prayer. I realized that it was eight years ago that week that I had composed that melody as the beginning of a path of a remembrance for my mother, Ruth Karol.

At her funeral, my brother, Rabbi Stephen Karol (of Temple Isaiah in Stony Brook, N.Y.), and I had spoken about her extensive involvement in Temple life over the years, mainly atCongregation B’nai Jehudah in Kansas City, Missouri. She taught Religious School; served as Sisterhood President after many years as gift shop chairperson, Ways and Means Vice-President, and a Board Member; led a large chavurah group along with our father, Joseph Karol; and developed a “Mix and Mingle” program for senior adults. She believed in Sisterhood, and she primarily believed in the importance of Temple as a place for building Jewish identity and connections and seeking the support and solace of community. Her intentions were always pure, her heart was in the right place, and her efforts had a great effect on several generations of congregants.

As I sang “For Your Gifts” at our service this past Friday, I introduced it with comments about how, in my experience, women had made a significant impact in the Reform movement. That was borne out further while I was at the Hava Nashira songleaders workshop at Olin-Sang-Ruby Camp several weeks after my mother’s death in 2004. In a songwriting workshop, it was Debbie Friedman who sent the participants out to find a place where we could sit and create an idea for a song. She told me, “Larry, you should write about this,” pointing to the k’riah ribbon that I was still wearing on my pocket. I didn’t realize that Debbie knew just how to challenge me to do the right thing.

I created a melody for the phrase from Psalm 118, “Zeh hayom asah adonai nagilah v’nis-m’chah vo – this is the day that the Eternal has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” I had also written a list that summarized the eulogies for my mother in single words: challenging, serving, leading, helping, creating, sharing, rejoicing, remembering, visiting, traveling, kvelling, worrying, healing, hoping, encouraging, teaching, hosting, loving, mourning, overcoming, renewing. Several weeks later, I translated each thought into Hebrew, strung them together in two verses, and the song was complete. It remains, for me, a tribute to the leadership of Jewish women in musical creativity (with my gratitude to Debbie for leading me at the moment in the way I needed to be led) and in dedicated service to a congregation and a strong belief in a temple’s role in nurturing the greater Jewish community.

Those values have continued to come alive as my wife Rhonda (a Jewish educator and graduate of the Brandeis Hornstein program in Jewish communal service) and I modeled and transmitted our passion for Judaism to the Reform congregations I have served. Our son, Adam, had the opportunity not only to experience our commitment to Jewish life, but also the enduring involvement of Grandma (and Grandpa) in temple life. As Jewish men and women in the Reform movement strengthen their ties to Jewish life and their congregations, I have great faith that the principles that I learned from my parents will continue in the coming generations.

Three things - Annual Message for Temple Beth-El Las Cruces, NM- May 8, 2012

     In just about every service in which we read from the Torah, we sing the words of Shimon Hatzadik, Simeon the Righteous to a melody by Israeli composer Chaim Zur.  This saying is one of the many sets of “three” teachings contained in the Sayings of the Sages, Pirkei Avot.   We know this one well in English and in Hebrew: The world is sustained by  - or stands upon – three things – on Torah, on worship, and on loving deeds” - OR - Al sh’loshah d’varim  ha-olam omeid. Al hatorah, v’al ha-avodah, v’al g’milut chasadim. 

     This is more than an ancient teaching, and more than a mere “filler” that we sing as we are undressing the Torah after it has been carried around the sanctuary.   It expresses the very foundation of everything we do at Temple.  Imagine that you are an anthropologist or sociologist who is reporting on the life of a Jewish community, and all you have to go on is this saying from Pirkei Avot.   You are charged to observe Temple Beth-El in Las Cruces for a week.   What would you see?  You would see our Religious School begin each new week on Sundays with bright faces of children engaging with enthusisasm in TORAH – Jewish learning.  You would see the containers in the entry foyer for contributions to the Casa de Peregrinos food pantry and the El Cadito soup kitchen. The donations of food brought by congregants express the value of G’milut Chasadim,  performing loving deeds. You might see students bringing tzedakah to their classes to be given to a cause of their choice.   On Monday, you would see me and Paulette in the office,  getting everything set for the week as the Mah Jong group arrives. Currently on Monday nights, the Proverbs class focuses on a classic wisdom book from the Bible.  On Tuesday, the Knitting group would be in the library while the office bustles with activity.  On Wednesday, the breakfast group features speakers on a wide variety of topics, followed by the Torah study group. Both gatherings touch upon TORAH in its broadest sense.    Hebrew school in the afternoon and the Judaism: Roots and Rituals class in the evening round out TORAH on Wednesdays.   On Thursdays, Paulette and I might be finishing up the Adelante newsletter or preparing for an important program or for the monthly board meeting that evening. You might come upon the ways-and-means committee meeting that night in recent weeks. You would see Linda Kruger and others working in the Library during the week, further organizing our still-growing collection of books and resources.  There may be members coming in to set up the Social Hall just right for an upcoming event.  Then comes Friday, when we make final preparations for Shabbat.  On Friday evening, as Shabbat begins, we experience our main time of AVODAH, worship that gathers us together to pray, to sing, and to be a community in person.  On Shabbat morning, the Talmud study group engages in lively discussion as it has for years. The service that follows on Shabbat morning includes peer study of the PARASHAT HASHAVUA, the Torah portion for the week.    The handouts prepared for this meeting tell the rest of the story, including special programs and holiday celebrations.   The weekly eblast, the Temple website and the Temple facebook page keep members near and far current with what is happening here. For all that we do, the foundation is TORAH, AVODAH and G’MILUT CHASADIM – studying and discussing together to share our ideas and accumulated wisdom, praying and singing as a community to give voice to feelings deep within our souls about life and its value and meaning, and extending our hands to help each other and to improve the quality of life for our community and the world. 

     Pirkei Avot Chapter Two includes a series of “three teachings” from five students of first century rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai.  The “set of three” that resonated with me the most was by Rabbi Yosay Hakohein.  He taught: “Let your friend’s property or money be as dear to you as your own.  Discipline yourself to learn Torah, for it is not something you inherit. And let your every deed be for the sake of heaven.”     The first of those declarations directs us to think about our fellow community members as being in the same position as we are – having to use their resources and wherewithal for personal sustenance and well-being.  Temple’s involvement in CAFÉ – Communities in Action and Faith – bears out this teaching.  CAFÉ encourages us to engage in one-on-one or small group conversations about the values and causes in the greater community that matter to us as individuals and as a congregation.  Such discussions, along with our lively discourse in our study groups, have the potential to illustrate these words of Maya Angelou: “I note the obvious differences between each sort and type, but we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”  The Transition Committee, headed by Jim Rosenthal, has been greatly helpful for me and for Rhonda in this area.  It has enabled us to smoothly integrate into the congregation to foster a high level of mutual respect, understanding and kinship.  My installation in December marked an important point in that process.  The Transition committee has been and is essential for us to continue to understand each other and to keep us on the same page.

   Rabbi Yosay’s counsel to “discipline yourself to learn Torah” reminds us that, no matter what our background, we need to create our own foundation of knowledge and experience.  My 30 years in the rabbinate prior to coming to Las Cruces prepared me well to be your rabbi.  Serving as your spiritual leader means understanding how you see yourselves as individuals within this Temple and as members of this Jewish community.  I am not the same rabbi that I was a year ago, and that is a good thing, because it means that you have changed and challenged me.  Partnership in worship and study is, for me, at an all-time high in my rabbinate here at Temple Beth-El.   There is even more that we can do to energize committees that deal with education, membership, fundraising and special programs.  The new Temple Board and I will be reviewing the valuable ideas contained in the Temple Beth-El future planning document created two years ago.  We will also continue conversations with congregants in informal settings to help us set our course for the coming years.  “Discipline yourself for Torah” also means that our partnership in applying Jewish tradition to our lives needs to be based on regard for each other and for the teachings of our heritage.  I try to be flexible with certain rituals and standards when I believe that principles like “love your neighbor as yourself,” “we are all created in the divine image,” and “do not separate yourself from the community” might override other considerations.  I also want you to know that I may not readily answer emails on Shabbat because Shabbat, in certain respects, is important in our life and home. It can be important as well in the life of any congregation.   For most Reform congregations, some degree of Shabbat practice and worship has always been axiomatic and essential.  Find out what Reform Jewish camps do on Shabbat and you will see what I mean. 

    Finally, Rabbi Yosay said, “let all your deeds be done for the sake of heaven.”  Judaism teaches us to strive for goodness at all times and to recognize that everything that we do has a higher purpose.  David Katowitz, a consultant with the Synagogue Strategies group, advises congregations mostly on financial issues.  Yet, the questions he first asks Temple leaders are about something very different. Here are the questions that he believes every Temple member should consider:

What does Temple mean to you?  How has Temple impacted your life?  What is your vision of Temple in five years?   How can we strengthen Temple to be an even more vibrant sacred community?”  The deepest and most significant questions about a congregation are in the realm of the sacred.  Once a Temple creates a holy community, a KAHAL KADOSH, then everything that the congregation does, by definition, can be for the sake of heaven, reflecting the highest values of Jewish life.   That is a charge that all of us can fulfill together.

    In so many ways, the pictures that I shared on the handouts for the meeting reflect the many dimensions of our KAHAL KADOSH, our holy community at Temple Beth-El.  Those photos show that every face, every person is important to Temple life.   This congregation, from the start, had an immediate impact on Rhonda and me as we began to set down and deepen our roots in southern New Mexico.  That process continues with each new day.   Paulette has been a great support in the office. Mark Steinborn has been a generous breakfast partner and a concerned and committed comrade in leadership.  Those who serve on the Temple Board and committees; our Religious School faculty and students and parents; study group participants; Sisterhood, Mensch club, and Beth-El Temple Youth leaders and members;  the Temple choir; and everyone who has attended worship and Temple programs have enriched my life greatly over these last 11 months.  As I told the Religious School families and teachers on Sunday, Rhonda is the one faculty member who has followed me wherever I have served as rabbi.  I am fortunate to have her by my side with her wisdom about life and her passion for Judaism.  You should know that when our son Adam left here in December following my installation, he said, “I am glad I came, because now I know for sure that you are in a good place.”  I promise to continue to give of my energy and talents to you and I trust that you will offer your best in return as we join together to sustain and enhance this sacred community.

     There is one more “teaching of three things” that I want to share tonight.   Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel said, “The world sustains itself by three things: by justice, by truth and by peace.”  In that spirit, let us always strive for respectful decision making, fairness, honesty and openness. All of those approaches and qualities combined will lead us to peace and completeness at Temple Beth-El that will continue into the future.  So may we do – and let us say Amen.      

Favorite Proverbs - April 30, 2012 (from the Temple Beth-El Adelante for May 2012)

Favorite Proverbs – gems from the focus-text of one of our TBE study groups and why they apply to us today!

Proverbs 3:27-28 - Don’t hold back bounty from one who earned it when it’s within your hand’s power to perform. When you have something that can be helpful, don’t say to your friend at the moment you are asked,―Go and come back, and tomorrow I’ll give.  How many times have we seen someone withhold their support when they have the ability and wherewithal to be helpful in a cause through their energy or generosity? There may be reasons that a person can’t give at a particular moment, but this saying seems to refer to individuals who would like to make it appear that they are giving, but that, when an urgent need arises, they are unwilling to come forward. The values of tzedakah, righteous giving, and g’milut chasadim, performing acts of lovingkindness, require us to follow the words of the sage Hillel, “If not now, when?”

6:20-21- Keep your father’s command and do not abandon your mother’s teaching. Bind them on your heart at all times, garland them around your neck. What are some of the lessons you learned from your parents that remain with you? I learned from my father the importance of patiently paying attention to detail in creating something, and from my mother, perseverance and commitment. What did you learn from your parents?

9:10 - The beginning of wisdom is reverence of the Eternal One and knowing the Holy One is discernment.  This is a statement about God, but it is, even more, a statement about us as human beings. This is a way of saying, “Be humbled by the wide-ranging and diverse world that you live in, and the many types of knowledge that you don’t yet know.” Having discernment and wisdom does not only mean knowing what you know – it is also knowing what you don’t know.

11:1- Cheating scales are God’s loathing; a true weight-stone is God’s pleasure.    Honesty in weights is mentioned in the book of Leviticus as well. This reference to honesty in ancient commerce still applies today. It calls for us to be truthful in all types of business, contracts, and negotiations. No one should misrepresent their own abilities and past employment or the value of something they are going to sell (a modern version of NOT turning an odometer to a lower total on a used car – or portraying a forged document or artifact as authentic).

12:19-True speech stands firm always, but a lying tongue for a mere moment.   In this day of the primacy and longevity of both true and false statements on the internet, how does this statement apply to our lives today? Even without the internet, a lie repeated in communal conversation, on television news or in a newspaper can easily persist as a seeming truth. We have to be careful and discerning regarding the statements we hear. It may not only be true speech, but true action, that can dispel a rumor or a falsehood, so that a lie’s “life of its own” remains as short as possible.

17:1 - Better a dry crust with tranquility than a house filled with feasting and quarrel.      What is more important – possessions or peace?   This verse sees having a modest but tranquil household, where everyone gets along with each other, as preferable to one that is abundant in possessions and parties but also teeming with strife, disrespect and conflict. Peace prevails over possession in this proverb.

20:28- Let a ruler keep faithful trust that the seat of leadership be upheld in faithfulness. We need only look at the headlines in our area to see how some leaders breached the trust of their constituents. In any election year, we look for candidates who, we believe, will make sound decisions on our behalf, who will stay true to their views and explain any changes in their perspective, and who will remember that he or she is always in a relationship with us. Some people may see positions of leadership as being defined by the power they offer a person when, in fact, what is even more important, is the set of responsibilities that come with being a leader, including preserving the public trust. Being a leader means being wise, humble, hopeful, and being able to inspire, teach and unify a community.

Serving royalty every day - April 24, 2012

Proverbs 22:29: Do you see people who are skilled in their work? They will serve before royalty; they will not serve before obscure people.

      When we came upon this verse in our congregational Proverbs study group, I was taken aback for more than a moment.   There is something in this verse that points to greatness, but it seems to do so with a tinge of elitism.   One could interpret this verse to mean that people who do their work well only if they end up serving the most important leaders in society, who have greater value than the "common people."  

   This bothered me, partially because I have served for most of my rabbinate in small congregations.  There may tend to be a lingering sense in American life that "large" means great.  Some people still may believe that larger synagogues in larger metropolitan areas are necessarily great due to their size and location.  They may very well be great, but greatness is not tied only to the size of a community.    My years spent serving congregations of 100-150 families have taught me, over and over, the positive impact that a few people, or even one person, can have on the lives of others, or on my life.  Over the years, there have been many fulfilling and spiritual moments in prayer and song and "aha" insights that emerged from "small but mighty" study groups.   While I have officiated at the same number of Bar/Bat Mitzvah services over 28 years as some large congregations have in the course of two years, working with every student has been a joy.  Small congregations and communities offer the possibility of minimal distance between clergy and congregant.   While no city where I have served has had a population greater than 200,000 people, I have had a chance to meet Senators, congressional representatives, governors, members of the President's cabinet, one future president, mayors, and individuals who made significant contributions to American life.  

    However, none of those encounters with public officials are the essence of my rabbinate.  If I and other rabbis serving small congregations and communities are doing our tasks well and with skill, then, in light of the Proverbs verse, we must be serving royalty.  We can take this verse to mean that every one of our members has the potential to make a valuable contribution to the well-being of a congregation and to our lives.  I would like to think that no one is obscure - and that serving with skill means finding a way to be sure that no one FEELS obscure or insignificant.   

     In recent days, magazines and websites are compiling lists of America's "top rabbis."  I see these efforts of "ranking rabbis" as productive when those lists include some of the very rabbis who have taught me some of the most valuable lessons I have learned.

    Still, I find myself trying to reconcile the "top rabbis" list with Proverbs 22:29.  When I do, it takes the verse to a place where I don't really want it to go in creating a narrow measure of success.   Then I turn to Rami Shapiro's translation of Proverbs 22:29, which can be helpful to all of us in defining our own greatness: "A hard worker can stand tall before kings; there is no greater  honor than honest labor."

     And, finally, there is this Talmudic saying that puts us all on the same level:

“I am a creature of God and my neighbor is also a creature of God.
I work in the city and my neighbor lives in the country.
I rise early for my work and my neighbor rises early for work.
Just as my neighbor cannot excel in my work,
I cannot excel in my neighbor's work.
Will you say that I do great things and my neighbor does small things?
We have learned that it does not matter whether a person does
much or little as long as one directs one's heart to Heaven.”

    So, every day, may we see the royalty and greatness in those we serve and within ourselves as we continue to do our work with dedication, enthusiasm and sincerity. 

No one superior - April 20, 2012

     Seven candles were lit on the candle table on our bimah this past Wednesday night.   Yesterday was Yom Hashoah, our day of Holocaust Remembrance for victims and heroes of that challenging and tragic time in human history.  At our program on Wednesday evening, we watched a short film about rescuers of Jews who had no question in their mind that any action they took to save Jews from the Nazis was the right choice.   The rescuers saw in those they sought to save fellow human beings who had been denied their humanity by a diabolical evil.  These CHASIDEI UMOT HAOLAM, RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS, courageously opposed that evil and its associated acts of cruelty with no fear for their own safety.  Those who were hidden and protected likely saw in the eyes and sensed in the hearts of their helpers that there was still a spark of human decency left in the world.  Perhaps they felt that even a spark was enough to thwart any plans for the total elimination of Jews and the continued murder of other targeted groups of people designated for death because of who they were or what they believed.

    In his address on Yom Hashoah on Wednesday, Israeli president Shimon Peres offered these sobering thoughts about the past and the present:

“I am proud to be an arch enemy to the Nazi evil. I am proud of our ancestors' legacy being absolutely opposed to racism.  I am proud of our belief that there is no one human being superior to another.  There is no superior race, only deep roots.  I am certain that this is how our children and grandchildren will be brought up; as the Kaddish is on their lips, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is in their hearts.  My friends, a million and a half Israeli citizens are not Jewish. We are obligated to make sure that none of them are ever discriminated because of their nationality or religion. This is the essence of the existence of the State of Israel. Israel is a defense shield, a safe haven and a great spirit. Had the State of Israel existed during those days, I am convinced that things would have been different. We have paid a high price but we have not lost faith.  We have gathered unusual capacities which emerged from the depths of the Holocaust and from the peaks of our legacy. We have a commitment towards the betterment of the world and respect for humanity.”

(See President Shimon Peres' full speech on April 18, 2012)

    President Peres echoed the ideals of Israel’s Declaration of independence in his address.  There was no threat, no demonization, only a call for human decency that Israeli leaders and citizens can and should realize in their legislation and in their actions towards each other.

     And we can do the same here.  In an election year, levels of demonization tend to run high.   One religious leader in Peoria, Illinois compared the president to Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.  Comments have focused on the religious beliefs of the president and the apparent nominee of the republican party.  There is no doubt that the demonization will, unfortunately, continue in some corners of our nation, but let us pledge not to add to it.  Let us promise ourselves that we will seek to engage in calm discussion with people who both agree and disagree with us.   Let us remember to be guided in what we say and do by statements like “love your neighbor as yourself” and “we are all created in the divine image” or just “be kind and good human beings.”

Touro Synagogue - Newport, Rhode Island

    And let us recall how the first President of our nation, George Washington, responded to the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island in 1790, setting a foundation for how diversity and respect can work in the United States of America: “All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.” Washington concluded his letter by wishing that all Americans would “continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig‑tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

(See the full text of George Washington's letter)

   The first President of our nation and the current president of Israel share a vision – most certainly an ideal that is not always realized, but one that can continue to serve as a goal and a beacon if we truly desire to live in freedom.   May we know, soon in our day, mutual respect, understanding, and peace.