Fifty years ago to the day, John Lennon released the ground-breaking album, "Imagine." The titular song is a mainstay in Peace Protests and calls to end acrimony. While not every phrase of Lennon's utopian vision can be tagged with Jewish belief or practice (I'm thinking about "…and no religion too…"), his words echo thousands of years of Jewish teaching and a vision of a future in which all are united. We offer a similar Jewish universal sentiment in the prayer, "Aleinu." At the end of the prayer we triumphantly proclaim, "Ba'yom HaHoo Y'hiyeh Adonai Echad u'Shmo Echad," On that Day (the day of the messianic age) God will be One and God's name will be One. Ultimately, the Jewish vision of a world redeemed isn't about everyone under the flag of Judaism, it is about a world at peace. When Lennon mentions countries, religion, and possessions, he is raising up that which has prevented us from "living for today," sometimes even causing great harm. Lennon's vision of a world … [Read more...]
Our Place in Time
This coming Monday night begins Rosh HaShanah, and with it, our first step into the New Year. I want to let you know just how hard your Temple Emanu-El staff, and clergy, and lay-leadership are working to make sure that you have safe, and spiritually meaningful High Holiday options. This time of year always has an exciting energy to it. But this year, with the additional worship services that we are offering, including the outside option at Brook Run Park, we have an added layer of logistics and uncertainty that is new territory for everyone. That being said, I anticipate this year's worship to be some of the most powerful, connective, and profound that any of us have ever experienced. Due to Covid concerns, about half of our congregation has let us know that they will be with us Online, and the other half has let us know that they will be with us in person, spread out over the three in-person day-time services. For me, as long as you are with us somehow and you can create a … [Read more...]
Be a Fish Head This Year
When I was in college out in Los Angeles, I didn't have the ability to come home to Kansas City for the High Holy Days. Thankfully, the Jewish community of Los Angeles took me in as one of their own. My friend and I even received an invitation to a Second-Day Rosh HaShanah seder from a rabbinical student that we didn't even know that well, but who wanted to extend his family's kindness and welcome us to the table. Now, what makes this story worth telling (besides the obvious lesson of the impact one can have on inviting an acquaintance to a holiday meal) is that I, in my blindness to anything but Ashkenazi Judaism, had missed the fact that I was walking into a Persian home. Among many obvious factors that could have clued me in, the top one should have been that I was invited to a Rosh HaShanah seder and not a Rosh HaShanah dinner. I was very much surprised, but quickly delighted to see the spread: pumpkin seeds, scallions, string beans, black eyed peas, dates, pomegranates, … [Read more...]
Walking the Walk
The news from Haiti is bleak. The images that we see are of regular people, families, desperately trying to put their lives together after a major earthquake and tropical storms. Our hearts go out to them. They ache to 'do something' to assuage their pain, and such a tragic situation. Temple Emanu-El has a partnership with IsraAid, a group of Israeli first responders who go to places like Haiti on the heels of natural disasters to help. They often are literally the first 'boots on the ground', and have become experts on how to set up medical tents, do mass food and water distribution, bring in engineers along with search and rescue teams, and provide the baseline counseling amidst the trauma. Our people's mission, since time began, is to engage the world at its most broken parts, to mend and heal it as best as we can. I don't want to romanticize the situation, for that would cheapen the harsh reality that the Haitians are facing; but I am so proud that IsraAid is there, and I am so … [Read more...]
Justice For All
Tzedek, tzedek tirdof, these are the words at the beginning of our Torah portion this week, Shoftim. There are more than a few opinions on how to translate those words, but the core meaning is: justice is very important, and as a Jew, you ought to pursue it. The bookend to this parasha are the laws concerning vengeance-the short-term, emotion-filled side of finding wholeness. On the one hand we begin with the dispassionate value of justice for all and on the other hand we end with the fiery emotion to mete vengeance on those who have done wrong-two sides of what makes a society fair. On the side of vengeance is the feeling that there must be punishment against the wicked, and on the side of justice: wholeness for the afflicted. My favorite medieval Jewish commentator, Avraham Ibn Ezra, says that the meaning of the command to seek justice is to pursue it whether it will end up good or bad for you. Today, we might call Ibn Ezra's definition for justice the same as the definition for … [Read more...]
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