A Facebook Post-Retirement/Pandemic/Election Year Diary - July 8 to August 8, 2020

August 8, 2020

Cutting the payroll tax seems to mean no $$$ going into Social Security and Medicare.   Isn’t that special?   Thanks for the non-gift that will hurt many people and break a campaign promise, oh resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

August 8, 2020

I think someone forgot that there is no mask exemption for indoor peaceful protests, and that peaceful protests of the last couple of months mostly took place outside with people wearing masks (with some social distancing).   I also don’t understand how a press conference turned into a peaceful protest. 

   And.....it would seem to me that one side of negotiators in the coronavirus relief package may have been told to stonewall so that a certain person could portray himself as the hero (against his opponents) by signing executive orders to that would accomplish what one chamber had already proposed and passed weeks ago.   

   The art of the deal.  Such a deal.  

    😞

August 7, 2020

As Shabbat is about to begin, I must say emphatically:  this election campaign had better not turn into a “who’s hurting God and the Bible more” contest.   I have already seen that Pastor Robert Jeffress has said that Evangelical Christians who support Biden have “sold their soul to the devil.”  Well, thankfully, Jews really don’t believe in the devil, as such, so I am off the hook.  Many who have said “they want to keep God out of our schools” were unable to recognize that, if they believe that God is everywhere, then they have to believe that is God is already in the schools, and that if God could be kept out of the schools, God would certainly not be God.  Moreover, hurting the Bible and hurting God is not a thing, especiallly in a non-theocratic country, and also, if God is not a human being, then God cannot be hurt.  And if the Bible is a book, the Bible can’t be hurt.  We can talk about reading the Bible and following the Bible for those who are intellectually curious or for those who say they are religious.   In this nation, the Bible is not the only sacred text followed by people of faith.  So, “hurt the Bible” is a very narrow, non-diverse statement when it comes to religion in America.  It is a statement of judgment by a self-appointed religious authority that goes against the Establishment clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.   Hmm.  Let’s try to really protect and defend the Constitution.  

    I am going to exercise my religious freedom (First Amendment) in a few moments to observe Shabbat (“Remember/Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy”). 

    Shabbat Shalom!

July 30, 2020

For those who say “of course, Black Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter”: will you join those who oppose voter suppression through closing polling places (especially to prevent people of color and young people from voting)and taking legitimate voters off the rolls, and will you work against housing covenants that still discriminate against people of color?

July 30, 2020

Stop believing a man who would make false claims about mail-in voting and who would withdraw troops from an ally nation because he despises the leader of the host country and because he wants to please and appease a non-ally/ nemesis to whom he defers at nearly every turn.

July 29, 2020

So....

    Some people say that taking down a video with inaccurate information about hydroxychloroquine is a conspiracy and cover-up rather than a move to preserve their health,

     While tax returns that a certain resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue should have released as a positive gesture, like his predecessors, remain secret, and that is NOT a cover-up, and that people pursuing the release of that information believe in Fake News, of course. 

     What a nation we live in.

July 26, 2020

Watching the John Lewis’ casket being taken across the Edmund Pettus Bridge,  I am wondering if there are some people who want to take us backwards, to undo the work of John Lewis and others. 

     I believe that I have seen examples right before my eyes.   It’s up to us to stay on John Lewis’ side of that bridge.

July 25, 2020

As I prepare to lead a Torah study session for Temple Beth-El Las Cruces on the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy, I am feeling a little like Moses, who, in this portion, began to retell the history of the Israelites from his perspective.  It makes me wonder how, as the months and years go by, I would tell my own story in the context of the communities of which I have been a part.   

     In his commentary on the Torah, Richard Elliott Friedman notes that Moses is relevant to us because, while he was the first great man and leader in the Bible, he was also a regular human being, with weaknesses, a temper, flaws, and fears.   He was seen as humble for many reasons, perhaps, because we were able to see him not as perfect, but as someone who dealt with challenges that might relate, in some way, to what we face in our lives. 

     As I near the end of the first month of my retirement, I do feel like Moses, in some very small ways.   I remember most everything of my 39 years as a rabbi.   There were challenges, pitfalls, times when I didn’t do what I should have.  There were times when partnership with a community, and, specifically, members of those communities who shared with me values and goals, led to positive and productive results which created warmth and connection.  

     Hopefully, there will be adequate time to reflect, so that this new chapter will emulate the best of the past.   That is something that each of us can do, even before retirement.  Of course, retirement is simply a starting of a new chapter, perhaps, even, a new book.   May the chapters we generate in our lives bring us goodness, blessing and hope, as we look forward to the future.

July 22, 2020

I don’t think that,  when people thought that a business man would make a good national leader, that they expected that person to run the country exactly as he did his business and organization.  There is no need to use the term “deep” for this appropriation of our country and its de facto transfer in to that organization.   This is shallow.  It is insidious.  It is everything that this person has ever said and done and imagined, including accusations against African-American men who were innocent, answering legal actions against him with stonewalling, praising contractors who did work for him and then not paying them, saying that they did a terrible job, and that they could take a pitifully small amount of payment or they would get nothing.   It is about someone believing that he can be in charge without needing to be accountable to anyone, that he can shift and change his story at will, and that he is always a victim and never a perpetrator (or bully).   And now, he can use others to impose a certain type of will based in physical force rather than working with others to solve problems and address concerns for the well-being of people in the country.   And now, he can claim that the number of lives lost from a pandemic could have been much higher, so that makes him successful.  

     I know that this person would not make it a week as a clergy person.  

    That is for sure.

July 19, 2020

Stop it with the “they said no masks, and now they are saying to wear masks.  Why did they change their mind?”  

The “no masks” statement in late February was intended to be sure that medical personnel in hospitals and clinics had masks.  

Once the spread of COVID-19 among us was recognized as a reality by mid-March, it became clear that the aerosol spread of the virus would be significantly prevented by wearing masks.   Your mask protects others from what might be in your system.  Another person’s mask protects you from what might be in their system.   

    Maybe some people think they have never carried germs that they have inadvertently given to someone else.   It’s inevitable that such a thing has happened.   Now, it’s happening big time.  

      So, I declare that my inhalers are NOT political, they are intended to control my asthma.   My blood pressure medicine is NOT political, it’s intended to keep me alive and safe.   My medication for my new lower back ailment (it’s been painful, folks) is intended to keep me COMFORTABLE and is NOT political. 

      My mask is intended to keep you safe and healthy when I am in your presence.    It is NOT, in any way, political.   So I ask that others wear masks to keep me (and people in their presence) safe and healthy.

July 15, 2020

Dear Gracious Giver of Knowledge (says one weekday Jewish blessing), 

     Franklin Graham says that You are truth, and science isn’t.   Why did You give us this knowledge, including to keep us safe and healthy, if we can’t use it to help one another? 

       Oh.....that IS why you gave us the ability to deepen our knowledge, and to be Your hands to bring healing when we are able?  

       Okay.  Thank you.

July 8, 2020

Sometimes a pandemic is just a pandemic - fatal, sadly, for some, challenging healthwise and emotionally, a crisis during which we must be cautious and resilient.  As for delusions that it’s all about you, you can stop.  Many of us are looking in other places for guidance, insight and comfort.

Travel lends perspective to history, present - Column for the Las Cruces Bulletin - August 7, 2020

     My childhood summers were spent traveling around the country.  

     From our home in the midwest, we could travel in all directions and arrive somewhere significant, interesting and important in our nation’s past and present.  

      My parents wanted my brother and me to learn about and appreciate the country to which our grandparents had immigrated to create a new life for themselves and their children. 

      We visited many state capitals, entering some of the capitol buildings, and, at the United States Capitol, we sat in Senate gallery on a day of relative quiet.   

      We explored the Rocky Mountains, ascending (by car) to the top of Mount Evans, and riding across the precarious bridge over Royal Gorge. Following Royal Gorge, we visited  Mesa Verde National Park, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Carlsbad Caverns, El Paso, and Ciudad Juarez. 

     Most years, we traveled east.     I remember President Abraham Lincoln’s home in Springfield (and his tomb).  We spent time at Gettysburg and Antietam to deepen our knowledge of major Civil War battles.   We saw the sites of the first battles of the Revolutionary War at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill in Massachusetts.   We toured President George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, and President Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello.   We visited the Statue of Liberty, as well as the Liberty Bell at Independence Hall.  We witnessed the wonder of Niagara Falls. 

     We went to the top of the Washington Monument, stood inside the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, and toured many of the museums associated with the Smithsonian.   We gazed at the memorial flame at the grave of President John F. Kennedy, and visited presidential libraries.  

         Rhonda and I took our son, Adam, to many places I had not yet visited, including the Grand Canyon, Ellis Island, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.   Adam and I also toured the Baseball and Basketball Halls of Fame.  

       The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the museum and memorial at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City challenged us to consider how to combat hatred in all its forms.   Rhonda and I did the same at the 9/11 museum in New York City.   

    My rabbinic convention in 2017 took us to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.  We paid our respects at the graves of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King.  We sat in the original Ebenezer Baptist Church, and then attended a service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church across the street.  We were welcomed at the center of the The Names Project/AIDS Quilt.  

      Adam and I attended the 2004 dedication of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, commemorating the United States Supreme Court decision to end racial segregation in America’s schools (a short distance from our home). 

     This list is woefully incomplete.  There are many places to explore locally and in our state that are integral to the American story, offering reminders to recognize narratives told from different perspectives, to which, I know, I need to listen. 

     I know, also, that I need to pray.  These words conclude a prayer for our nation in the Reform Jewish prayerbook, Mishkan T’filah:  “Help us all to appreciate one another, and to respect the many ways that we may serve You. May our homes be safe from affliction and strife, and our country be sound in body and spirit.” 

       May we truly appreciate one another, especially at this time of challenge, and may we add new and positive chapters to our shared story.

Prayer on the Tenth Anniversary of the attacks on 9/11/2001 - 09112011

Avinu Malkeinu/Parent and Sovereign of All:

As we mark a decade since September 11, 2001, we turn to You for guidance 

and support. Help us:

• To remember the individuals who died in the murderous attacks who had names and dreams, life stories and loved ones-- each of them an Image of God, a unique individual, an entire universe.
• To recall with profound gratitude the heroism of first responders, their bravery and caring devotion to society-- as well as the compassion and chesed of ordinary citizens who turned to help both strangers and friends.
• To restore the unity of the human family, which more than ever must manifest the kinship of humanity and interdependence.
• To reject prejudice, hatred, and violence -- in words and in deeds --countering them with a vision of pluralism, mutual dignity, and respect.
• To relate to survivors of terror worldwide, with deepened understanding and support, and extend our open hearts and outstretched arms, to be as helpful and possible.
• To reprioritize, on the basis of many faith traditions, the allocation of resources, especially during challenging economic times so that health, safety, housing, education, and other basic needs are protected.
• To continue to honor and support those who have bravely served in our country’s defense
• To reinvest in programs and services that aid the indigent, the suffering, and the traumatized, and build ever-stronger bridges of civil discourse and positive intergroup relations.
• To rekindle Hope and Trust -- especially but not only in our young people – in a caring community, and in a just and merciful society.
• To replace hateful tribalism with constructive community, xenophobic exclusion with principled outreach, so that the social contract is enhanced and the bond of all humanity deepened.
• To respond to this and every anniversary of 9/11 by building a better life, of health, happiness, justice, and peace, repairing our broken world through Torah, learning, contemplation, and deeds of lovingkindness. 

So may we do – let us say amen. 

For NewCAJE (Virtual) 2020 - August 2, 2020

For NewCAJE (Virtual) 2020

August 2, 2020

What song do you want to sing? 

One of equality and understanding 

One of confession and forgiveness

What song do you want to sing? 

One that is filled with wisdom 

One that inspires insight

What song do you want to sing? 

One that brings a smile to our faces

One that engenders a desire

To move forward, to dance 

To cross the narrow bridge 

Without fear.   

What song do you want to sing? 

One that tells the story of our past

One that can chart to course of our future

As learners, as teachers, as guides, as leaders 

And as partners in confronting a challenging time

With the richness and resilience of the heritage

Which we so proudly share and practice. 

What song do you want to sing? 

One that enlivens our spirits

One that opens our hearts

So that the presence of the One

Will suffuse our souls

And engulf us with warmth and love. 

What is the song we want to sing? 

One that will resound beyond 

Our lives limited by circumstance

One that will sustain connections 

And Friendships 

Between us

that can transcend miles and years

An hymn of reunion. 

An anthem of healing and hope. 

That is the song that WE want to sing.  

I am like a young Israelite - July 21, 2020

I am like a young Israelite

standing with my family and community

Waiting to cross the sea

As Pharaoh and his soldiers

Continue their fast approach 

To steal our freedom

Or to take our lives 

For what they would see as

A brazen escape from slavery. 

And there are voices among us

Telling us to surrender

To bargain and barter

To go back to that place

Where generations had been worked so hard

That they could not even enjoy

Quiet moments with family at the end of the day. 

Those voices believe 

That our normal should be

The work

The oppression

The deference we had to show

The submission to a people 

Who believed their objects of worship

Were more powerful than ours.

But we know that we can’t go back. 

The voices among us 

Disparaging our liberty

Declaring loyalty to past comfort

Cannot see that we might find security and safety

By creating a new context for our lives

By shifting our paradigm 

From obeisance to a human authority

To trust in a higher authority 

That inspires us to gain new wisdom and knowledge

And develop our own ingenuity 

On how to live

On how to survive

On how to thrive.

And now, that higher authority 

Calls on us to use our knowledge and skills

To lead us to a new place 

Where a silent predator 

Will not be able to touch us 

But we must listen to the voices 

That will take us forward

And not backward, 

where we might still face

Threats to ourselves and our lives.  

So may we step into the sea

So that the waters will part

When we are ready

When the wise among us know

That we will be able to stand safely 

with one another 

Unmasked, unfettered

And we will walk across the dry land

Together.

244 - A Prayer for United States of America

Eternal One, 

Protector of the persecuted

Creator of our intrinsic equality, 

Heal our wounds. 

Bridge our divisions. 

Implant insight in our minds.  

Uncover the brutal truths of our histories, 

The actual motivations concealed 

With the intention to revise the stories of the past, 

Turning victims into perpetrators

And perpetrators into individuals who could claim

Grievance without real cause. 

O Shield, who guards and enables 

our continued existence

As a nation, 

Guide us to begin with foundational realizations

Of the need for fairness and equity

Within a nation in its youth, 

But foster in us added enlightenment 

Beyond the vision of those early leaders

That will, finally, lead us forward, now

To the equality, in Your eyes, O God, 

Of every human being, 

One to another, 

No matter where he or she was born, 

No matter what occupation or career in which he or she engages, 

No matter the outward color of his or her skin

No matter how he or she expresses his or her faith and beliefs,

As we acknowledge the richness and significance

of the various cultures 

That comprise our collective tapestry.  

Eternal God,

Protector of our very souls, 

Creator of the essence of our spirits 

Which connects us in ways we cannot begin to imagine, 

Heal our wounds. 

Bridge our divisions

As we celebrate another year around the sun. 

Thoughts on Retirement, Leadership and Service - Column for Las Cruces Bulletin on July 3, 2020

At this writing, I am approaching my final week as rabbi of Temple Beth-El of Las Cruces, moving into the title of Rabbi Emeritus on July 1, 2020. 

     June 6, 2020 marked the 39th anniversary of my ordination as a rabbi by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

     I served as a student rabbi at a congregation in Illinois every other weekend for three years, as well as working at the congregation where I grew up (in Kanas City) as a rabbinic intern for three summers.   All of that training, plus my classes at rabbinic school, offered opportunities to accumulate the knowledge and to develop the skills I would need as a congregational rabbi. 

     The operative words on my ordination certificate indicated that I would teach, “YOREH,” and decide or judge, “YADIN.” 

     After 39 years, I can say that I have done both in ways that I did not expect or imagine. 

     Most any clergy person has the responsibility to guide his or her congregants in the teachings of the particular faith group and denomination/branch which he or she represents.   

      That can involve modeling practices that enliven holiday and life celebrations and developing supportive acts that assist people in need in the greater community.  

       Spiritual leaders may feel compelled to interpret the values of his or her tradition regarding how to approach issues of the day.  Current questions might include:  how do we best apply the principles of our tradition to combat racism, to end discrimination, and to promote acceptance of all individuals as children of God who were created in the divine image?   And, how can we safely re-open our houses of worship? 

     In religious congregations, leadership includes striking a balance between the spoken word and music during worship.  It requires sustained efforts to nurture a productive partnership between clergy and lay leaders.   It is about being warm and welcoming to newcomers and long-time members alike.  

     When conflicts arise, leadership involves both “teaching” and “deciding.” First, it is important to outline a range of faith perspectives on the issue at hand.   In some cases, a final decision might come from the clergy person.  In others, it is a board vote, after hearing the views of lay leaders and clergy together, that provides a final determination.  

     A few years ago, I was waiting to make a turn onto a major street in Las Cruces.  Before the light changed, I noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of me that taught an important lessons about leadership: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”     

     I later learned that the quote was attributed to guitarist/singer/songwriter Jimi Hendrix.  

      That statement teaches that leadership is not just about the power and authority that comes with holding a certain position.  It directs leaders to take responsibility for their actions and to make decisions based on love, concern and respect for the people whom they serve.  

      And, of course, it is possible to lead without holding an official position or title. 

     So may we find ways, in our daily lives, to set an example, to teach, and to choose the right course of action, always based on the timeless values of goodness, consideration, compassion and love.