tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78498261137429473772023-11-15T08:47:14.325-08:00ScriptureWhy did I become a rabbi? The rabbinate encompasses many of the things I love best: learning, meeting people and hearing their stories, observing and reflecting on the world around me, writing, and making meaning out of that which may seem meaningless. This is a record of my encounters with the people, places, and ideas in my milieu so far.JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-12424426596474579212016-10-13T09:57:00.002-07:002016-10-13T09:57:55.450-07:00Your One Wild and Precious Life - Yizkor Sermon<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">We are here today at Yizkor
to remember our loved ones. While we are in a large community, we will stand as
individuals and recall personal relationships with parents, siblings, children
and spouses. Maybe we are here today to remember our Mom. Or we are here to
remember our Dad. Or, our brother. Or, a sister. A child. Even if time
has passed, perhaps we are here to a shed a tear as we remember the Great Love
of our Life.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">On this day when we don’t
eat or drink, our day is made even more difficult, remembering our loved ones
who have passed. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">If they left us this year, </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">back when we were children,
</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">or any time in between, </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Yizkor brings up memories
and often tears. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">While we gather as
individuals, <b>look around</b>, right now this expanded room is the fullest it
will be all year. We join as one <b>community</b> to share our grief and pain. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">As part of an even <b>larger
community </b>we said goodbye to so many people this year who left their mark
on the national and international stage.</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">First lady Nancy Reagan,
Justice Antonin Scalia, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, and people in the arts
like Gene Wilder, Alan Rickman and Harper Lee. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Also included in the list
of those lost this year are two men - both of whom were profoundly influential
in their respective work on behalf of the Jewish people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want us to remember this morning; two men
who represent two models of Jewish renewal and resilience. One became American,
and built a moral message for Jews and for the world. The other built the
Jewish State. The world, and the Jewish people in particular, lost both Elie
Wiesel and Shimon Peres this year, <br />
Zichronam L’vracha, and the world is poorer for it. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The next generation will
never have the opportunity to learn first hand from their wisdom, like so many
of us did during their lives. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">In Unetane Tokef we read
“mi bkitzo umi lo b’kitzo” Who in the fullness of years and who before? At ages
87 and 93, Elie Wiesel and Shimon Peres lived a fullness of years, but our
world is now bereft because they have passed into the World to Come. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Elie Wiesel and Shimon
Peres lived very different lives. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">One started his life in
Transylvania which is now Romania, the other began in Poland which is now
Belarus. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">One lived through the Shoah
and documented his experience in a book he called <u>Night</u>. The other
escaped early enough, but members of his family were burned to death, locked in
a synagogue.</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">About 100 people attended
one of the funerals, across the river in Manhattan. Elie Weisel was laid to
rest in Westchester. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Shimon Peres’ funeral
attracted leaders from 70 nations and he was laid to rest at Mt Herzl in
Jerusalem, <span style="background: white;">in the Great Leaders of the Nation
section between former Israeli Prime Ministers </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Rabin"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Yitzhak Rabin</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Shamir"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Yitzhak
Shamir</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">.</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Shimon Peres and Elie
Wiesel knew each other. In 2013, one of these men presented Israel’s
Presidential Medal of Distinction, while the other received it.</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">When Shimon Peres put the
decoration on Elie Wiesel he praised him and said: "This is a great honor
and privilege for me to bestow upon you the President's Medal. The Holocaust
taught us that killing isn't done just with guns and weapons, but also with
apathy, and you Elie, are saving the world from that apathy. You are waving the
flag of humanity, preventing bloodshed and challenging racism and
anti-Semitism, as well as preventing war. You personally went through the most
atrocious horrors of humanity, and as a Holocaust survivor you chose to
dedicate your life to deliver the message – never again." </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Elie Wiesel thanked Shimon
Peres and responded trembling: "I'm completely overwhelmed. Israel is in
the center of my life, and even though I don't live in Israel, Israel lives
within me. I now see myself as an honorary Israeli. Life is composed of
moments, not only years, and this moment is worth an entire life."</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Both men loved Israel. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Along the way, both men
followed in the footsteps of Theodore Roosevelt, Lester B Pearson and Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. and were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">And, both men were singled
out by name last week by President Obama in his final Rosh Hashanah address. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Think about how sad we were
when these legendary men passed away. And we did not even know them personally.
</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">They were <b>not</b> <b><i>just</i></b>
giant public Jewish figures. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Both Elie Wiesel and Shimon
Peres were fathers, husbands and grandfathers. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We so often remember change-makers
by eulogies made by equally famous people. But we really get to know a person
by the words and thoughts of their immediate family. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">When Elisha Wiesel, son of
Elie Wiesel was asked by Tablet Magazine, <span style="background: white;">what
did your father want his legacy to the world to be? This is how he responded:</span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">He wanted
to be thought of as a good Jew. That was the only standard by which he measured
himself. In most conversations, it wasn’t about which president he met or any
of that—all of which was meaningful to him; he valued that he had grown to play
a role on the world stage. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">But he
looked at himself as his mother and father and grandparents would have
evaluated him. That was always in his mind, what would they think of him and
his life and what he had made of it. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">For him,
the guiding principle that governed that lens was always, “Have I been a good
Jew?” </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">That meant
many different things to him. If you unpacked what a good Jew was, it meant
being a good human being and a good father; a leader in the community when
leadership was needed; a good husband; someone who respected and brought
respect to the memory and traditions and name of his ancestors; someone who was
humbled by the concept of man’s place in the universe but still felt mandated
to fix the world; and someone who, when approached by people, would make time
to talk with them and make them feel welcomed and listened to.</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">----</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">You came to shul today for
Yizkor. You will recite the words “in loving testimony to their lives, I pledge
tzedakah to help perpetuate the ideals important to them.”</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Can you also stand and
recite the prayers with confidence that you are a “good Jew,” employing
Elie Wiesel’s definition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Are you a good human being?
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Have you been a leader when
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Are your actions worthy of
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">How have you brought
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">How do you think your
parents or grandparents would evaluate you and your relationship to Judaism? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">How do you perpetuate the
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">-----</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Moments before a young
Shimon Peres - then Shimon Persky - departed with his family to their new life
in Palestine from the Bagdanov station, he faced his grandfather Zvi Meltzer
for the last time. The Old Man cast a deep look into his grandson’s face and
with emotion he uttered his last words to the boy. They were “Be a Jew,
forever.”</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">At Shimon Peres’ funeral,
Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton spoke, as did the author Amos Oz,
Israeli current President Rivlin and Prime Minister Netanyahu. We got to know
the <b>real</b> Shimon through the words of his children who publicly said
farewell to their father. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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In his eulogy, Chemi Peres, his youngest child said:</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">You kept your promise to
your beloved grandfather, when you bid him farewell on your first stop on the
way to the Land of Israel. You never forgot what it means to be a Jew. And I
promise you that neither will I. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Elie Wiesel’s message: Be a
good Jew. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Shimon Peres’ message: Be a
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Momentarily, we will stand
and recite the memorial prayers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Saying the Yizkor prayers
is a way to<span style="background: white;"> continue the chain of tradition, to remember
those dear to us who we’ve lost, and to reinforce the fact that for thousands
of years, Jews have been transmitting from generation to generation the values
and the legacy of Judaism.</span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Yizkor is only recited 4
time a year. Today, and the final days of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. Only 4
days of the year are tasked with ritually remembering the past. </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The rest of Judaism is
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">When we
conclude Yizkor, take with you the lessons that your parents, children, spouse
and siblings taught you. Take the best of them with you when you exit this
sacred room and then </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">teach them to your children and grandchildren.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Just as the entire Jewish
people, and the entire world can learn from the lives of Elie Wiesel and Shimon
Peres, and take their best values with them, so too must you do that with those
who are gone ….</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">In <b>Yoni Peres’s eulogy </b>for
his father, he shared the following: </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">When asked what he would
like to have inscribed on his tombstone after death, Shimon Peres said, without
hesitation, “He was too young to die.” Think about that for a moment.</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">And then live every day of
your life with this idea in the back of your mind: or, as the poet Mary Oliver
would ask, “what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-60546784243099271302016-10-13T09:56:00.002-07:002016-10-13T09:56:54.809-07:00Disagreements for the Sake of Heaven - Kol Nidre 5777<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20pt;">In
the year 2000, I applied to and was accepted into a fellowship of people
from all over North America, applying to graduate school to become Jewish
Communal professionals.</span><span style="font-size: 20pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The fellowship
brings together students becoming cantors, rabbis, educators, social workers,
academics, and non-profit managers/CEOs from across religious denominations
into a community called the Wexner Graduate Fellowship.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Wexner Graduate Fellowship was created so that Jewish professionals from
different backgrounds and orientations might reach across boundaries of
religious observance, beliefs, and disciplines to create bridges and
friendships that otherwise might never have been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
the time, I thought the best part of the fellowship was that the program paid
for the majority of graduate school and brought us together for all-expense
paid conferences twice a year for several days of learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s true, having the Wexner fellowship
during graduate school was extraordinary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the gift of tuition and professional development pales in comparison
to what I’ve gained <u>since</u> then, in the last 11 years since I completed
the graduate fellowship and became a part of the Wexner <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Alumni</i></b> community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
alumni of the program include some of the most interesting and diverse leaders
in their respective fields of Jewish communal life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are right-leaning Orthodox rabbis and
secular humanist academics who have studied together and learned from one
another, each having gained an invaluable tool: how to listen to and accept
difference without becoming defensive, reactive, or closed-down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, we’ve learned not just to tolerate
difference, but to welcome it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve
learned that expanding the circle of those with whom we share ideas and challenges
strengthens us all, and it strengthens the Jewish people as a whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
could never have known in 2000 how my acceptance into this fellowship would
change me; how it would open my eyes and my heart to people who looked and
sounded and thought SO differently than I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
when I look around at our world today in 2016, I lament the uniqueness of these
skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vast majority of us have
limited capacity for anything or anyone different from us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We proudly wave our flags, declaring our
political and social affiliations in much the same way as we declare loyalty to
a favorite football team.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s me versus you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My team or yours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you win, I lose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I win, you lose.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And none of us seems to see that when we live
like this, we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i></b> lose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
dare say the discourse in our country in 2016 is less tolerant, less open to
difference, and more polarized than it’s been since the Civil War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, issues and ideologies have created
divisions in our society many times in the past, but the stark intolerance for
even a conversation with someone from a different perspective is strikingly
new.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is what worries me most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There exists a
social acceptability to refusing to accept or understand differences of
opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this acceptability of a
polarized society alongside threats of violence against those who disagree
makes it a particularly scary time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
Jews have a collective memory of an eerily similar time in history: Nazi
Germany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hitler rose to power and was
democratically elected by a populace mobilized to hate those who were
different; he promised to bring the people of Germany together with his
nationalist platform - using a combination of political acuity, deceptiveness,
and evasion. He advocated violence against anyone who disagreed with his ideas
or looked or sounded different than his ideal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
strikingly similar arena exists today, not just in national politics, but in
our own communal life as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You
may have read an article last week in the JTA, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
about something that happened to a colleague of mine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">She’s a
Jewish educator and a rabbi who has been the target of a smear campaign taking
aim at her love for Israel and professional integrity. She has received
hundreds of pieces of hate mail, aggressive phone calls, social media attacks,
attempts to have her fired from her job and even death threats. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
reason?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She supports a different
political position on Israel than do her attackers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the letters she received began with a
harsh critique of her political beliefs and then continued,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt;">“I regretfully must express my utmost hope that
you are hit by a car to put a stop to the injury you will cause the children
that I love.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt;">As the authors of the JTA p</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">iece note, “This was not an anonymous comment hiding in the murky
depths of a blog post somewhere. It was a signed letter fervently praying for
the violent demise of a leader in the community.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What
is this about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When did it become
socially acceptable to call for the death of someone whose ideology differs
from our own?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Have
we as a society forgotten what it means to be part of a democracy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be a citizen of a country founded to be a
place of refuge for those whose political or religious beliefs differed from
the mainstream?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It
is decidedly un-Jewish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our Talmud is a
compilation of disagreements between respected sages, each of whom were given a
voice in the text and canonized alongside one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Talmud includes even minority opinions,
opinions that were never instituted as law, opinions from sages more <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">and less</b> respected as scholars and
leaders of their time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The editors of
the Talmud as it exists today not only tolerated or valued differences of
opinion, they venerated them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more
ideas, the more scholarly debate, the more potential to learn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In
fact, the Talmud<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7849826113742947377#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> holds up as a model two
schools of opinion that historically disagreed about everything and
anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They disagreed about the
proper way to light a Chanukkah menorah; about the proper way to purify
something that’s been ritually contaminated; and the specifics of Jewish legal
divorce law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They disagreed about the
specifics of keeping kosher; the laws about appropriate behavior between men
and women; and about what constitutes legal marriage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And
yet, the Talmud teaches - boasting about the fact - that the two schools would
eat together, study together, and marry each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were brethren.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They placed high value on the opportunity to
debate and discuss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And these
disagreements did not isolate them from one other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They socialized, they co-mingled, they
respected one another and each one’s right to hold a different view.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Differences
of opinion were known as “disagreements for the sake of heaven” - which means
that their utmost hope was to sharpen their understanding of ideas and texts -
not to be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">right</i></b>, not to prove that the Other was <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wrong</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But to try to determine the best way to act.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Further,
the Talmud<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7849826113742947377#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> recounts a story where the
conflict between these two houses came to a head and their opinions differed so
much that it seemed there existed two completely different Torahs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point, the Talmud teaches, “a divine
voice came down and said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘Elu v’Elu
Divrei Elohim Chayim,” </i>(which means “these and also those are words of the
living God”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The argument is
interrupted by a heavenly voice proclaiming that there is truth in both
opinions, even as the two ideas seemed to completely contradict one another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But,
lest we think that it’s like a “stale mate” in chess or a “draw” in checkers,
in which there is no conclusive end to the exchange, the heavenly voice
concludes,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“v’HaHalakha K’Beit Hillel”</i>.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Even though there was value - even
divinity - in both opinions, the law was to go according to this one only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">While
differing opinions on the matter were valued, the society had to rely on rules
to guide right action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ultimate
value, shared by both groups, was to co-exist in one society strong enough to
hold space for difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t
right to create two Torahs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They did not
crave autonomy or uniformity - but rather to live beside and among those with
whom they disagreed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
first half of the heavenly voice’s message provided the authenticity of two
very different schools of thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
the second half of the message allowed for the creation of a social fabric in
which both parties could co-exist with one standard of behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The opinion chosen <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i></b> the opinion not
chosen are both holy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are to learn
from both and to respect both as viable ways to understand things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we live by only one of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Our
ancestors knew how to argue without fighting. They never would have imagined
inciting violence against the opposition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They would not have understood the social, political, and intellectual
polarization that exists today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
world of the Jewish sages was a society deeply invested in serving God, finding
the way that best advocated justice, tolerance, and peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They valued opportunities to learn - not just
from those who shared their opinions and biases, but, all the more so, people
who looked at the same world with completely different eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They
would argue that a culture unwilling to tolerate difference is one that shuns
learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A group that demands
uniformity and is willing only to hear that with which it already agrees, is
one incapable of growing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A
modern orthodox rabbi and scholar, David Hartman, z”l, wrote a book whose
title, <u>A Heart of Many Rooms</u>, draws its inspiration from a text in
Tosefta Sotah suggesting that we place in one room those ideas and perspectives
with which we agree, and then in another room those with which we don’t
agree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what creates a heart of
wisdom: the ability to hold two differing positions - the holy and the profane,
the sacred and the mundane - in one heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Your heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As
November draws closer and the vitriol we hear likely becomes uglier and more
pointed, I want to encourage us all to remember the wisdom of the Jewish
tradition - the wisdom of a heart - and a community - of many rooms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Let’s
build a community - here at Am Echod - and in spaces throughout our lives -
where diversity and difference are cherished, where we find we can learn and
grow from an open conversation with those who see the world very differently
than do we.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Invite in the opportunity to
be challenged by those who look and sound different than you do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">these
and those are the words of the Living God.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And understand that when the election draws to a close, we must choose
one path to walk together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When
we embrace difference, we each grow stronger and wiser.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let this wisdom guide our steps and our
hearts.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Kein Yehi Ratzon / Shana Tova.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7849826113742947377#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Yevamot 14b<o:p></o:p></div>
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Eruvin 13b<o:p></o:p></div>
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JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-26630669261215052622016-10-13T09:55:00.002-07:002016-10-13T09:55:39.302-07:00On Hearing, Listening, and Seeing: Rosh Hashanah Day 2<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20pt;">The
following was posted on Facebook by Natasha Howell, a young woman of color, on
July 8, 2016, in Andover, Massachusetts.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"So
this morning I went into a convenient store to get a protein bar. As I walked
through the door, I noticed that there were two white police officers (one
about my age, the other several years older) talking to the clerk (an older
white woman) behind the counter about the shootings that have gone on in the
past few days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They
all looked at me and fell silent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
went about my business to get what I was looking for, as I turned back up the
aisle to go pay, the oldest officer was standing at the top of the isle
watching me. As I got closer he asked me, "How I was doing? I replied,
"Okay, and you? He looked at me with a strange look and asked me,
"How are you really doing?" I looked at him and said "I'm
tired!" His reply was, "me too." Then he said, "I guess
it's not easy being either of us right now is it." I said, "No, it's
not." Then he hugged me and I cried. I had never seen that man before in
my life. I have no idea why he was moved to talk to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
I do know is that he and I shared a moment this morning, that was absolutely
beautiful. No judgments, No justifications, just two people sharing a
moment."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
post was followed with the hashtag </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/lovewhatmatters"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">LoveWhatMatters</span></a><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
don’t know Natasha Powell but her post went viral.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Natasha
and the police officer moved past skin color and a police uniform. They
stopped thinking about their own agenda and engaged in active listening with
the Other. In an era where so many people talk <b>at</b> each other and <b>over</b>
each other, these two shared a sacred moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
I think this is why the post went viral. In a time when people don’t listen
anymore, Natasha and the police officer did just the opposite. People grabbed
onto a story of two people acknowledging and listening to one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
post reflects what I think is a universal theme of these Yamim Noraim we are
are reminded both subtly and <b>explicitly </b>that part of being in the human
family is to listen to one another. The dual acts of listening and hearing are
woven through our High Holy Days machzor, in the liturgy, Torah readings
and the haftorah, but they are most profoundly introduced through the shofar.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When
we blow the shofar, the bracha, the blessing that is recited is<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Barukh atah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha’olam, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivanu <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">lishmo’a</span></u></b><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
kol shofar.</span></b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Blessed are You, Lord our God, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">who makes us holy with mitzvot </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">and gives us the mitzvah of<b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">hearing</span></u></b><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
the sound of the shofar.</span></b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
piercing sound of the shofar forces us to stop and <b>listen</b> to it.
It is hard to ignore a shofar blast. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
don’t need to be able to see it in order to hear it. In fact, a shofar is
nothing special to look at. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
are not encouraged to adorn it and make it beautiful, like we are with so many
other mitzvot, such as our Sukkahs or our Shabbat tables. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With
a shofar, the <u>only one</u> of the five senses we need to use is our <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">hearing</b>. The shofar reaches our
ears like an alarm clock following a long slumber.<u> It is an alarm clock
where we can’t press Snooze and just turn off and go back to sleep.<o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
have to listen. <o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even
without the benefit of the sound of a shofar, Natasha and the police officer
did what the shofar instructs us to. It<span style="background: white;"> led the
police officer in our story to look past the color of Natasha’s skin and to
discover the spark of God in her, and listen to her, shutting out everything
else around them. The clerk, his partner, the protein bar; everything became
superfluous. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
did not need a shofar, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">but we do</b>. We
need the shofar to get past some of the images that inundate us. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That seldom happens in
this age of images. We spend so much of our day in front of televisions,
computers, phones and video games.<b><i> <o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt;">
<b><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Al chet<i> </i></span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">for
checking email and Facebook as soon as I wake up. <b>Al Chet </b>for keeping
the laptop on the table during precious family dinner. <b>Al Chet</b> for
watching our children’s lives unfold through our cameras instead of being
present, and listening to their first sounds, sentences and questions. For so
many of us, our lives take place through little screens in front of our eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The shofar tells us to put them away and really be present in
this moment.</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During these Day of
Awe we are reminded to rebalance our senses and focus on what really matters. We
are tasked with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">actively increasing what
we hear and decreasing what we see</b>.</span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And the shofar is not
the only sound that serves that purpose. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Through the haunting<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Unetaneh Tokef</i> prayer we are reminded
of the need to listen to those around us and to ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We all pause to <b>hear</b> the shofar. The message is clear.
It is unsettling because we afford ourselves so few opportunities to do
that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When it rains, we look and watch outside instead of listening
to the drizzle. When we are by a body of water, we look, but rarely hear the
sound of the waves crashing. Both of these sounds are both so gorgeous, but
they often go unheard in our daily rush. The shofar tells us there is another
way. But it takes work. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tekiyah</b>!
Do we make time in our lives to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>hear</u></b>
the beauty and power of nature? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is a dimension beyond hearing, and that is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">LISTENING</b>, when we use our ears to have
a dialogue with people that truly improve our lives. The message is clear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
must listen to what is unheard. </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our world , this
country, and Israel desperately need more listening. Our communities and
families need to slow down and find new ways to connect. We need moments. We
need times to slow down. We need clear spaces to listen to each other and
listen to ourselves. We need to make room to hear another voice speak.</span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During these ten days, the biggest gift we can give to
ourselves and to each others it to really take time to listen to ourselves, and
to each other. <o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Find a place away from the static and ask yourself, what must
I do in order to actually hear the people in my life? Try it as an exercise. It
will deepen your relationships with others. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We seem to have lost the ability to hear and, worse, the ability
to listen, in the buzz of 21st century life. The High Holidays in general
- and the shofar in particular -are an invitation to hit “system reset” on our
lives and our patterns of interacting in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I imagine this was the idea behind the poem,</span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Listen!” by Rabbis Jack Riemer and Harold Kushner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poem reads,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Judaism begins with the commandment: Hear, O Israel! But what
does it really mean to “hear?”</span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The person who attends a concert </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With a mind on business, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hears — but does not really hear. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The person who walks amid the songs of birds </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And thinks only of what will be served for dinner, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hears — but does not really hear. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The one who listens to the words of a friend </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Or a spouse or child, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And does not catch the note of urgency: </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘Notice me, help me, care about me,” </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hears — but does not really hear. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The person who listens to the news </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And thinks only of how it will affect business, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hears — but does not really hear, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The person who stifles the sound of conscience </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And thinks “I have done enough already” </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hears — but does not really hear. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The person who hears the Hazzan pray </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And does not feel the call to join in prayer, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hears — but does not really hear. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The person who listens to the rabbi’s sermon </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And thinks that someone else is being addressed, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hears — but does not really hear. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On this Rosh Hashana, O Lord, Sharpen our ability to hear. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May we hear the music of the world, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And the infant’s cry, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May we hear the call for help of the lonely soul, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May we hear the words of our friends, </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And also their unspoken pleas and dreams. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May we hear within ourselves the yearnings </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May we hear You, O G-d. </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For only if we hear You </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do we have the right to hope <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hear the prayers we offer to you this day, O G-d. And may we
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Shana Tova </span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-84084795866502948812016-10-05T17:22:00.002-07:002016-10-05T17:22:50.973-07:00The Day the World Changed - Rosh Hashanah Day 1 Sermon 5777<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Rosh Hashanah 5777 - Day 1<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">“The Day the World Changed”</span></u></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler</span></u></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">15 years ago, rabbis everywhere scrambled to re-write their High
Holiday sermons after September 11 happened. In 2001, September 11
occurred just one week before the first day of Rosh Hashanah. So by
September 18</span><sup><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">th</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">, 2001, the
beginning of the Jewish New Year, our headlines announced the possibility of
terrorism by mail (the Anthrax scare). The panic that ensued caused
Congress to be closed, and the antibiotic used to treat Anthrax disappeared
quickly as individuals - and government offices - stockpiled it. The FBI
conducted one of the most intensive and extensive criminal investigations to
locate and persecute whomever was responsible for the Anthrax mailing.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">September 11</span><sup><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">th</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">, 2001 became known as “The Day the World Changed”. At the
time, I think it meant that we no longer could imagine a world where we could
take our physical safety for granted just because we lived relatively
comfortable lives as citizens of a country known as the home of the Free and
the Brave. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We would no longer imagine that terrorism was something that
happened to <i>other</i> people, in <i>other</i> countries, away from us, our
workplaces, our schools, our homes, our places of worship.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">In 2001, police security became ubiquitous at synagogues on the
High Holidays. Congregants worried anew that it was not safe for Jews to
collect in large numbers in any one location. The High Holidays
themselves became a time of terror amidst our people and our community.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">There were televised readings of the names of the victims of the
terror attacks, front page newspaper coverage telling the stories of each of
the 2,996 people who died, stories of heroism and decimation at Ground Zero, a
unique kind of humanitarianism in New York City in particular, but in pockets
throughout the world, too, as we joined one another in a sense of camaraderie
and community. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We struggled to find meaning in our collective suffering - in our
fear, in our pain - we reached out to neighbors and strangers with kindness and
compassion.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The death toll may have been fewer than 3,000, but each of us, all
of us, were irrevocably affected by the events of 9/11. The Day the
World Changed. But did the world, in fact, change?</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Terrorism has existed here in our country and abroad for much
longer than 15 years. International terrorism has long been in
acute crisis mode and continues to this day to be so. But why is not this
day - or every day when terrorism reigns at home and elsewhere - a Day the World
Changed?</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Have we become numb to the suffering that exists all around us?
Maybe it’s just more information to process than any of us can take?
How do we go on having hope and faith in a world so torn by violence and
pain?</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Has the world changed? Or have we?</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We can go on YouTube and watch any number of violent acts
occurring live - with our mobile devices we can record and publish police
shootings, ISIS mass-executions, acts of terror committed against marathon
runners, the San Bernardino Health Department, elementary school, high school,
and college students, people dancing at a gay bar, people going to the movies,
people walking down the street or driving on the highway, people sitting at a
cafe, eating pizza, sleeping in their beds. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We say we stand with Paris, Tel Aviv, Orlando, Syria, Jerusalem.
We say we support international journalists reporting abroad, government
officials doing their jobs, women and children, people of color just going
about their daily lives. We believe that All Lives Matter.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">But how do we go about integrating our ideals of a world at peace
- a world not torn by violence and pain - with our world, the world we live in
today?</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">When does it all become too much? When do we have to turn
off the news, avoid reading headlines, delete certain people and political
ideologies from our Facebook newsfeeds? </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Where can we turn for comfort, for hope, for faith?</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We come here, to our community of faith; to our friends and
families, to the traditions of our parents and grandparents. To the words
uttered for generations and generations of our ancestors, each of whom lived in
an age of violence and pain before ours.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We pray to <i>Avinu Malkeinu</i>, our God, and we ask for justice.
We beg for mercy. We cry out for compassion. We start here. We
start every year right here, in our <i>machzor</i>, our High Holiday
prayerbook, because the themes of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur remind us, year
after year, that we have the opportunity to renew our dedication to healing, to
helping, to hoping.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We pray to God for the strength to go on living for another year;
we pray for the people we love and those we will never know. We pray for
neighbors and strangers, people in far away lands and closer to home than we
know, with skin colors and religions different from our own. And we pray
for those we sit beside and among. We pray for ourselves.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">But what does it mean <i>to pray</i>? In 21</span><sup><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">st</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> century North America, many of us don’t know
why or how religion can possibly help us, how it can possibly help our
children, our community, our world.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">What if we don’t believe in God? What if we don’t know what
it means to believe in God? Why are we even here today? What role
might a synagogue (or a rabbi, for that matter) play in a modern world?
Isn’t all of that stuff just ancient history?</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Well, yes. And that’s the point. It’s ancient history
that’s still terribly relevant today. And it’s been relevant in every age
and in every generation. These are the words that link us across time and
space - to all who came before and all who will come after us - each struggling
to understand and integrate our ideals of peace with the violence and pain we
see all around us. These are the words that generations of individuals
and communities have turned to when it seemed as if there was nowhere to turn.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We look inward, we look to our sources of wisdom, we look to our
leaders, we look to one another for guidance, friendship, and support as we
navigate this business of being human in an imperfect world.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">And that’s ultimately why we come to Rosh Hashanah services and we
open up this ancient book with unfamiliar words and ideas, in a language we
don’t really know.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Because today the world isn’t that different than the worlds that
preceded it. Our world frightens us, makes us feel alone and disempowered
and afraid, too. There is so much we don’t know and so many things we
wish we could change. We want the world to be better for our children and
grandchildren - for the generations that come after ours.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We start by opening our lips, and slowly, slowly the music, the
rhythm of the liturgy, the words and ideas themselves, and the silence between
the words begin to crack open our hearts: we allow ourselves to open to the
harsh realities we so often must shut out in order to stay sane in this insane
world. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The synagogue is a place where we can be safe to voice our fears,
our hopes, our dreams, our pain. The words of the liturgy may be in a
language we hardly know, but it’s designed to give words to feelings we hold
inside for which we don’t have words.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Let’s look at just one example from one of the central prayers of
the High Holidays: <i>U’netaneh Tokef.</i></span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The great shofar sounds, and a still small voice is heard. </span></i></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Whose is this still small voice? Is it ours? Is it the
voice of our unconscious mind? Is it the quiet whispering inside our
hearts that so often guides us in the right direction in our lives but we so
rarely listen or allow it to be heard aloud? Today is the day to listen
to that voice, to give it permission to lead you. It may be quiet, but
it’s urgent. It’s essential to helping to direct you and your life to the
path you’re meant to be on.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">What is <i>your </i>still small voice inside saying to you?</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Listen to it now. Is it urging you to make a change in your
life? What does that small voice inside say to you just beneath your
conscious awareness?</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Today let the great shofar sound and let that cry into the silence
release your still small voice. Let the cry of the shofar give your heart
permission to say what it needs, what it wants in this life. Let the
blast of the shofar announce your truth.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">All who enter the world You cause to pass before You, one by one,
like a flock of sheep. As a shepherd musters his sheep and causes them to pass
beneath his staff, so You pass and record, count and visit, every living soul,
appointing the measure of every creature’s life and decreeing its destiny.</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We so often feel like sheep - but without a shepherd, without a
leader to guide us toward safety and sustenance. And so we evoke this image
on the High Holidays and we assign God the role of shepherd: seeing us, knowing
us, remembering us.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Let this day, the first day of the Jewish New Year, be the first
day of your renewed life - your life rededicated to those people, places, and
passions that mean the most to you. Let this be the day that begins a new
year for <i>you.</i> Let it be an invitation for you to go out and become
your best self.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Howard Thurman</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">, an influential African-American author,
philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader, was known for
saying</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">,</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">“Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask
yourself what makes <b>you</b> come <b>alive</b>, and go do that, because what
the<b> world needs</b> is <b>people</b> who have come <b>alive</b>.”</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">He’s right. And though it may be naive to
think that each of us becoming our best selves can change the world into a kind
of utopia, it’s also true that the stories of kindness and generosity that
poured forth after 9/11 are the balm that soothes the wounds in our hearts and
spirits after a tragedy.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We cling to these stories - the wounded healers
reaching out to one another in love and compassion - reminding us that there is
yet goodness in the world. And there is hope. Becoming our best
selves is the healing salve we can offer the world when life seems unfair, scary,
random, chaotic, violent.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We open our arms and our hearts to one another.
And we make every day The Day our World Changed. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">My prayer is that we help the world each day to
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JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-60544570331311411002016-10-05T17:18:00.000-07:002016-10-05T17:18:20.333-07:00What is the Value of a Human Life? - Erev Rosh Hashanah Sermon 5777<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Erev Rosh
Hashanah 5777<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What is the
Value of a Human Life?” <o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rabbi Julie
Pelc Adler<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
stand on the cusp of a new year, 5777.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
are we leaving behind in 5776?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
is it we most need to hear tonight?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
mentor of mine once suggested (mostly joking) that instead of a sermon, we
should leave 10-15 minutes of silence at this point in the service so that each
individual person could think about what message<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> he or she</b> most needed to hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then they could give themselves the sermon they wanted and everyone
would be happy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
this half-joking suggestion also speaks to something much bigger, and actually
much more important.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is
there one message that can speak to us all?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
makes each of us unique?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What serves as
a connection across and between us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are
we each so different from one another so as to merit our own, individual sermon?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
are the particulars of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my story</i></b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my heart</i></b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my
pain</i></b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my joy?</i></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What challenges
have I alone faced precisely because there is no one like me in the whole
world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
sermon honors the reality that no one else in the world has experienced love,
loss, grief, and gratitude in precisely the way that I have?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
yet - <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is there something in my story that connects me to everyone else?</i></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not just everyone else in this sanctuary, but everyone else
in the world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What about my story is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">universal</i></b>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What can the particulars of my life say about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the
human condition</i></b>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">About the times
in which we live?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">About the <u>society</u>,
the <u>struggles</u>, the <u>successes</u> of our time?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When
I think about the year that’s just passed, there is a theme to many of the
headlines that have graced the front pages of our newspapers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This theme raises a common question that I
believe must linger in our hearts and in our minds, especially as we approach a
new year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That question is: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WHAT
IS THE VALUE OF A HUMAN LIFE?</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
to me seems to be a more important <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">spiritual</i></b> question than any
other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes: a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>spiritual question</u></b>… not simply a political one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is also a particularly <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Jewish</u></b> question.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
we know, Jewish tradition teaches us that human life is valued above everything
else: to save a life, one can break other laws valued highly in the Torah - like
keeping Shabbat, observing Yom Kippur, and keeping kosher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The obligation to save a life is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pikuach nefesh</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The phrase “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pikuach nefesh</i>” is derived from the Biblical verse, “neither shall
you stand by the blood of your neighbor<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7849826113742947377#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
of the first things we learn in the Torah, just after people are created in the
first chapter of Genesis<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7849826113742947377#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
is that human beings are created in the image of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that there is something special,
something sacred, something unique to each human life that is divine - that is
like God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If
we are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">created in the divine image</b>;
if we hold <u>that truth</u> to be self-evident, then where does it leave
us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And how does this jibe with the
social, economic, and political realities in which we exist today?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
was fortunate enough to hear a podcast of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On
Being with Krista Tippet</i> wherein she talks with Ruby Sales, a civil rights
veteran and public theologian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ruby
Sales was compelled at an early age to think personally about this question
when a seminary student named Jonathan Daniels leapt in between her (a 17 year
old girl at the time) and a bullet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was killed instantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
so the question of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">whose life mattered</i></b> became extraordinarily personal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ruby
Sales went on to found a nonprofit in Jonathan Daniel’s memory, called The
SpiritHouse Project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She, herself, also
went on to study theology and became a seminarian herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
questions of justice, meaning, and the value of a human life have woven through
all the work she’s done since that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
what about the rest of us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of us
have never been physically saved because someone else took a bullet in our
stead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do we come to understand the
value in and meaning of a human life?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Listening
to Ruby Sales, I came to understand that her story - that part which is
particular to her, and also that part that asks a much more universal question,
points to the fact that there is a<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
spiritual crisis</b> in America today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
have not learned - and we don’t know how to teach the next generation - how to
harmonize the “I” with the “we”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When do
we concern ourselves only with our own needs, our own safety, our own
well-being </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and when do we expand our
circle of concern to include a larger group of people, people who are like us,
and people who are different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For
the most part, in American culture, we are taught to focus on our own
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We believe that a person can get
ahead in life if only he works hard enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We all know the idiom, “it’s every man for himself”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second half of this idiom, though, is
less often quoted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The full quote is “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">every
man for himself and the devil take the hindmost</i></b>”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
second half of the phrase, extends the idiom to its logical conclusion,
something we’d often rather not consider.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because if we only focus on ourselves and preserving our own individual
success, then what happens to those left behind?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let the devil
take the hindmost - </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">or, let the
devil take those we’ve left behind.</span></b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
arch-enemy of the Jewish people is Amalek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Throughout the Torah and later Jewish literature, Amalek appears as the
example of the worst kind of person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
are told that Haman (the villain in the Purim story that we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">BOO </i>when his name is mentioned) is a
descendent of Amalek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what makes
Amalek so terrible?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
are told that Amalek was the first of the tribes to war against the Israelites.
And when the people were leaving Egypt, Amalek attacked those lagging behind -
the weakest and most vulnerable in the community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people in back were likely the elderly,
the smallest children, people with disabilities, and those who were injured.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
so, in some ways, American culture (with its emphasis on individualism and
self-protectionism) encourages us to become like Amalek. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most
of us - white, heterosexual, middle or upper-middle class people - have never
been forced to think about whose life matters, and whether one life (or lives)
matters more than another’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
this particular question has become harder to answer since Biblical times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, we can choose to surround ourselves
with only people who look and think the way that we do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Though
we may have instant access to global news and information, we only hear news
from the perspective we already share.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we don’t like or support a certain viewpoint, we can
exclude those messages from our newsfeeds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We’ve created for ourselves an insular and self-perpetuating
circle of like-ness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We only see and
interact with those people with whom we already agree.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How are we to ever meet the Other, to hear his or her story,
to find common links between ourselves and those whose lives look and sound so
different from our own?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How can we come to see that their lives matter too?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And,
to compound this, community does not exist where it once existed and so we have
fewer and fewer opportunities to come to know people who are different than we
are. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
generations past, there were gathering places where people would come together
to talk and share stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coffee
break, the park bench, the waiting room, the people on the train or bus sitting
beside us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
now even in these public spaces, we don’t talk to one another anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are not looking out or interacting with
the Other; we are looking down… at our phones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We in the 21<sup>st</sup> century may be more technologically savvy and
industrialized than ever before, but we’ve never been so isolated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can send text messages across the ocean in
a moment’s time, and never before have we as a society been so lost, so lonely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
isn’t just a secular challenge or a political one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s
a deeply spiritual problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it
exists across racial, socio-economic, and religious lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t know the Other, and so we don’t come
to value his or her life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Torah teaches us that we are required not just to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> people who are different than we are - but we’re <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">responsible</i></b>
for one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are responsible for
taking care of the Other, protecting their rights, advocating for their safety,
even if we don’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">like</i> them or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">agree</i> with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
would argue that a connection to God and to a spiritual tradition can start to heal
the deep chasms in our world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
spiritual mindset and a deep appreciation for all life can revolutionize the
way we interact with one another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
are taught over and over in our tradition to give the Other the benefit of the
doubt; that each life contains within it an entire world; that we must remember
that we, too, were once slaves in Egypt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Learning
to care about and for the Other is embedded throughout our most sacred
teachings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We learn that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">each
and every life is of infinite value. </i></b>And, perhaps even more powerful is
the notion that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">each life is connected to ours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
what does that really mean?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does it
translate into real world scenarios from the 21<sup>st</sup> century?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Believing
that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">each
of us - and our lives - matter</i></b> has the potential to be a game-changer
in almost every arena in which we live and work.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></i></b>It can change how we speak about people we don’t know or like;
it can change how we use social media and technology; it can literally help to
rescue our society from the consequences of some of its most deadly and
dangerous habits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
if, as we learn in Deuteronomy 6:7, to really teach it to our children, it can
quite literally save their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Out there, our kids will enter a world
where <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Drug overdoses
kill more young people than do cars or guns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The perception
of invincibility that accompanies youth pulls our kids into friendships and
activities that can threaten their lives - both physically and emotionally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bullying online
and in person remains a pervasive problem and, without a solid spiritual
foundation, can lead kids to think that the bully is right, that their lives<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
don’t</i></b> matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Plus, they can
be in danger from both law-makers and law-enforcement if they happen to be
black or latino - or have dark skin - or seem threatening to those with power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
it’s not just the kids who are at risk here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We all live in
a society where human beings seem disposable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Where what we
do and how hard we work means nothing if our employers decide our salaries are
too high, or the company decides to find cheaper labor, or younger laborers,
elsewhere. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We, too, can
fall into believing that we don’t have infinite value - that we’re not young
enough, or thin enough, or tall enough, or strong enough to be of value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We believe that
we can - and will - be replaced<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How
do we develop a theology and life practice that can sustain us in the 21<sup>st</sup>
century culture of utilitarianism <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-
where we’ve been taught that we are only valuable because of what we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i></b>,
not <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who
we are?<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
believe we can begin by taking down some of the boundaries that separate us
from one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whether
we live and work with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">closed doors or in
cubicles</b>; whether we interact and communicate with even those with whom
we’re most intimate mainly by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">voice
message, text message, or email</b> - we can start by reaching out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Society
as we know it has destroyed intimacy and community as it used to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of us worry that our kids won’t know how
to have a conversation - much less a relationship - without using text
messaging as a mediator.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Understanding
the profound value of human life and that each of us are created in the divine
image is to give our kids - and ourselves - the tools to live fully human lives.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
be a person of faith - to teach hope even when darkness seems inevitable - is
to provide a possibility of refuge in what otherwise could seem like a
meaningless void.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is to give those
who feel that they don’t have a place in the world a message that they <u>matter</u>
- their lives matter and serve a purpose in this world, for all lives are
inter-connected. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What if each of our children walked away from his or her
childhood with an intrinsic understanding that his or her life and every other
life <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mattered</i></b>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What if they went off to the workplace, or to continue their
educations, knowing that no matter what happened in the public arena, God loved
them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
spiritual orientation and a religious foundation can make real the idea that each
life, each soul is sacred and important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
Ruby Sales teaches:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Religion for
me was the ground I stood on, that positioned me to stand against the winds”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
our world today, there is so very much wind threatening to drag us to the
ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We feel financial pressure,
professional stress, familial expectations, and impossible standards of beauty
and success with which to measure ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
in the political arena, our fears and doubts are exploited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Demonization is the rhetoric from both
sides:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>anger and vitriolic rage come
from the right and the left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We feel
displaced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We want so much to believe
the promises they offer because it’s hard to know what can save us from the
sense of hopelessness we feel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
are witnessing something now in the public sphere that we need to pay real
attention to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
what we need most is the public voice of theology to address the human
condition. It's the human condition that needs to be addressed, not just the
political positions, not just the candidates themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
need to talk about what it means to be human. To speak about the universal and the
particular with the same tongue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because
when I talk about what it means to be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me</i></b> alongside that which can be
generalized to the human condition, that’s where we can come to find truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
must speak about what it means to be connected to others, what it means to have
responsibilities to others besides ourselves and our immediate circles/families.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When
we ask this of ourselves, our friends, our acquaintances, and even (or
especially) the opposition, then we can begin to create healing in ourselves,
in our communities, and in the larger world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May
it come to be so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Shana
Tova.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7849826113742947377#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Leviticus 19:16<o:p></o:p></div>
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Genesis 1:27<o:p></o:p></div>
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JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-10789311303903518092015-10-16T07:48:00.001-07:002015-12-10T08:47:31.878-08:00October 16, 2015 - Righteous in a Generation<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Parashat Noah - October 16, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in Lindenhurst</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;">In surfing the internet, I recently came
upon a website called “Mentsch-craft”, a site designed to explain and clarify
what it means to be a mentsch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On this
website, a ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mentschcraft Manual’</b> is
available with suggestions and examples of what a mentsch might do or say in
complicated moral or ethical scenarios. What would a mentsch do in such a
situation?</span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Mentsch is a Yiddish word for a person who
thinks and acts in ways that make the world a little more just, good, and
compassionate. Mentschen aren’t born, they are made—self-made. The philosophy
of the website is that everyone has the ability to be a mentsch.</span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 5.0pt;">
<span style="color: black;">It asks:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What is the most difficult situation you have faced lately?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did you handle it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would a mentsch do in that
situation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were you a mentsch then?</span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">In our Torah portion this week, we are introduced to a character who may
or may not qualify as a mentsch according to the standards of the Mentschcraft
website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are told, </span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“This is the line of Noah -- Noah was a righteous man; he was <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">blameless</b> in his generation” (Genesis
6:9). </span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">The first line of this parsha is setting up a pretty big
expectation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The main character of this
story is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">blameless</b>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does it mean to be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">blameless</b>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did this
righteous person DO to deserve such a description?</span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">God announces that God will end the world, and Noah is informed that he
and his family will survive, while all other creatures will perish. God
explains that Noah is the last remaining “righteous person”, and he alone
merits survival. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Noah does not argue at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
simply begins work building the ark to save himself and his immediate family.</span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Does this mean that in Noah’s generation, there is truly no Godliness
left on earth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">What must God have told Noah about these people in order to convince him
that he is truly the only one worthy of salvation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: black;">Ironically, God describes these supposedly wicked people with tenderness
and sensitivity. God says to Noah, “for my part, I am about to bring the flood
-- waters upon the earth -- to destroy <u>all flesh in which there is a breath
of life from under the heavens</u>; everything that is in the earth shall
expire” (Gen 6:17). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">God is describing these creatures by saying that they have inside them a
“breath of life from under the heavens”. <u>When God tells Noah his plans to
destroy the world, is God giving Noah a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">decree</b>,
or is God asking Noah a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">question</b>?</u></span><u><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="color: black;">It seems to me that God is asking Noah a fundamental identity question:
what kind of man are you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Righteous and blameless in your generation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">Will you be interested in your own self-preservation, or will you be
concerned with all life -- all creation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">Will you listen to the orders of others without asking questions or
challenging assumptions, or will you forget that you, too, have “a breath of
life from under the heavens” inside of you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">Noah’s response to the flood is a telling answer to God’s question: “<u>And
Noah did according to everything God commanded him, so he did</u>” (Gen
6:21).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">This statement of obedience is repeated a few lines later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, the second time this response
appears, it, too, comes immediately following another of God’s threats to wipe
out all creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God says: “I will blot
out all existence that I have made from upon the face of the earth.” God is
asking telling Noah again, this time in different language, “everyone else
shall die and only you and your family will survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will blot out everyone who is not in your
immediate circle of responsibility.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">Although God seems careful to rephrase God’s plan for the flood, <u>Noah
repeats the exact response as his last:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“And Noah did according to everything God commanded him” </u>(Gen
7:5).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: black;">We often have a choice between doing what others expect of us and
choosing the path of resistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">We live in a world where decrees are given to us every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These decrees may not come directly from
God’s mouth to our ears, but we are bombarded by messages in society, problems
in our world, and other creations of God which need our attention and
concern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">We often dismiss God’s creatures, the other “flesh in which there is a
breath of life from under the heavens” as <u>not our responsibility.</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">Noah set a precedent for walking past a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">homeless</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">man</b> without
smiling or making eye contact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Noah was
the first to neglect the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">environment</b>,
dismissing it as “not his problem”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Although he took two of each animal into the ark with him, he was not
the first <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">animal rights activis</b>t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was willing to walk away from every
creature in the world, walk away from their pain and struggle without a
backward glance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">As long as his family, his life, his own needs were taken care of, there
was no need for him to worry about saving anyone or anything else.</span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: black;">The first line of the Torah portion is “<u>this is the line of Noah</u>
-- this is the legacy of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his
generation.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does it mean that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">we</b> are the offspring of Noah?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we righteous and blameless in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>our</u></b> generation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;">It seems the text is pointing out the choice Noah made-- and asking each
of us to give our own answer to God’s question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What kind of creatures are
we?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does it mean to be human? </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: black;">My hope and prayer is that we learn from Noah’s example that being
righteous and blameless is the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>minimum</u></b>
requirement for our standards of behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Each day, we are given opportunities to answer the question, “what kind
of person are you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you compare to
those in <u>your</u> generation?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I believe that we can set the standard higher than did Noah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that we can, through acts of
kindness, reaching out to others not in our immediate circle of responsibility,
becoming active in our local, national, and religious communities, and working
to repair the world -- we can truly transcend Noah’s limits and not only become
righteous and blameless in our own generation, but become mentsches -- people
who make the world a little more just, good, and compassionate.</span><span style="font-family: "davidd";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Shabbat Shalom!</span><span style="font-family: "davidd"; font-size: 20.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-54984602987285890672015-10-06T14:25:00.001-07:002015-12-10T08:48:35.588-08:00 October 9, 2015 - The Obligation to Enjoy Pleasure<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Parashat Bereishit - October 9, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in Lindenhurst</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">In
the World to Come we will be held accountable for every pleasure we saw with
our eyes in This World, but chose not to enjoy. (Jerusalem Talmud, Kiddushin
66d) When I first heard this teaching I imagined God waging a divine
finger and saying: “What about that organic kosher cream puff? I sent you a
cream puff and you didn’t eat it, what were you thinking?”</span><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">A
friend’s teacher taught me the full implications of this teaching. My friend
tells the story about having used this quote from the Talmud in an academic paper
he wrote in college. Many years later, after they had become friends, she told him
that when she was reading his paper, she had she just met someone and fallen in
love. Both of them were in their sixties and neither of them expected the
intensity of the pull they felt towards each other at that moment in their
lives. However her boyfriend had just been diagnosed with an advanced cancer
and they both were unsure if it was wise to start a new relationship when it
was unclear how long they would have together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">But
when my friend’s teacher read these ancient words, she realized that it was a
sacred obligation to seize the pleasure of each other's company; even if they
only had one moment together. </span><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">My
friend talks about how his teacher’s boyfriend died less than two years after
they met and that this teacher cared for her boyfriend through the last days of
his illness and eased his death through extraordinary acts of kindness and
radical compassion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">The
Jerusalem Talmud tells us that we are accountable for shunned pleasures,
because to ignore pleasure is also to shut ourselves off from the realty of
pain and the obligations of caring for the world and each other. </span><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">This
week we begin to read the Torah anew with </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: , serif;">Parshat
Bereshit</span></i><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">There
are two primary accounts of the creation of humanity in our portion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">In chapter one</span></b><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;"> Adam is created by
the abstract divine word in the image of God and commanded to have dominion
over the rest of creation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">In chapter two</span></b><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;"> “</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: , serif;">adam</span></i><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">”, the earthling, is created out of the
“</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: , serif;">adamah,”</span></i><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;"> the dust of the
earth and commanded to till and safeguard the Garden of Eden. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">It
is the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Adam of chapter two</b> who asks
God for a partner to love and care for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">The
great modern Jewish thinker, Rav Jospeh Soloveitchik, pointed out that the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">first</b> Adam emphasizes humanity's
creative God-like nature, capable of transforming the world. The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">second</b> Adam reflects our animal-like
side who seeks to delight in the pleasures of the world: freshly grown produce,
love and companionship.</span><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">We
often think about global social justice from the perspective of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Adam of chapter one</b> – we see that the
world is broken and feel compelled to fix it using our creative, domineering
capacity to make change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this way of working alone can easily
lead to a sense of hopelessness. After all, despite how much we do or give, we
know that next year when we come back to </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: , serif;">Parshat
Bereshit</span></i><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">
the chances are high that the world will still need fixing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">An
1880 report on famine in India notes: “There is an abundance of food procurable
even in the worst districts at the worst time… they starve not from the
impossibility of getting food but for the want of money to buy it.” A statement
which is as frustratingly relevant today, as it was 136 years ago.</span><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">This
year as we begin the Torah again, let us also think about world change from the
perspective of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Adam of chapter 2</b>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">What
if instead of talking about justice work with the language of “what we ought to
do…” we framed it in the language of being drawn to social change because of<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> delighting in our world and its capacity
for transformation</b>? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">Yes,
our world and the humanity that lives within it are broken but we are also
startlingly resilient. </span><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">The
two sides of human nature described in our parasha cannot be separated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">As
my friend’s teacher realized - to be <u>open</u> to the pleasure of the
fullness of this world is also to be <u>vulnerable to its pain</u>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 17.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">To
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">see and hear each pleasure </b>that our
world offers us naturally leads us to be compelled to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">care for and protect that world</b> and<u> one another</u>. </span><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt" , serif;">In
the coming year, may we take <u>pleasure</u> in our world at the same time as
we <u>expose ourselves to its pain</u> – so that in the <b>World to Come we will not be held accountable for refusing to </b>engage
in the hard long-term <b>work</b> of global
social justice or the divine <b>delight</b>
of an organic, kosher cream puff!</span><span style="font-family: "bookmanoldstyle" , "serif"; font-size: 22.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: BookmanOldStyle;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-74156008708916647882015-10-02T05:48:00.003-07:002015-12-10T08:49:11.365-08:00October 2, 2015 - The Fall Holidays and the Hokey Pokey<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot - October 2, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in Lindenhurst<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
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<u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">What if the
hokey pokey <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>what it’s all about?</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">I saw this
saying on a bumper sticker, and ever since then, I’ve been certain that this is
a very wise, very <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jewish</i> idea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">Think about it:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">You put
your whole self in,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">You put
your whole self out,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">You put
your whole self in,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">And shake
it all about!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">On <u>Rosh
Hashanah</u>, we put our whole selves <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">in</b>:
we reflect on our thoughts, behaviors, and relationships – we take an inventory
of our <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">whole selves</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, on <u>Yom Kippur</u>, it can be argued
that we take our whole selves <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">out</b> –
we don’t eat, we don’t drink, we don’t bathe or anoint ourselves; we don’t
engage in physical or sexual activities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">And now, it
is <u>Sukkot</u>, the next holiday in our busy autumn of Jewish festivals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">Sukkot is all about turning
ourselves around, shaking ourselves about.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">On Sukkot,
we leave the comfort of our daily lives and literally dwell outside in flimsy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sukkot</i>, intentionally temporary and
fragile compared to the temperature controlled, well-lit and insulated houses
we normally choose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">On <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sukkot</i>, we invite neighbors and guests
to our table – there is even a tradition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ushpizin</i>
– inviting unseen guests – like our ancestors, people from our collective and
personal histories who are not physically alive anymore, into our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sukkot.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">On <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sukkot, </i>we move from introspection,
solitude, fasting, and theoretical new years’ resolutions to the realm of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">action.</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">We go
outside to build <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sukkot.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">We are
commanded to <u>gather together</u> the four different species of plants into
our hands: the three branches of the leafy lulav is pressed against the skin of
the etrog and (as we just did in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sukkah</i>
outside the temple tonight) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we shake it all about!<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Tradition
teaches that the etrog and lulav represent a person. The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">palm </b>looks like a backbone, a spine. The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">myrtle</b> leaves remind us of our eyes. The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">willow</b> leaves appear like a mouth. And the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">etrog</b> is shaped similar to a heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">In
the hokey pokey – we take one part of our bodies at a time: first one arm, then
the other, then our legs, our front sides, our back sides, our heads, then
finally <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our whole selves </i></b>in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
we were to follow the order of the spiritual interpretation of the significance
of the parts of lulav and etrog, we would instead put our backbones in / then
our eyes / our mouths / then, our hearts, before we’d <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shake it all about</i></b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">What
would it mean to participate in life and in community with each of these parts
of our bodies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To really put our
backbones, our eyes, our mouths, and our hearts <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in</i></b> as we lived our daily
lives?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">1)</span></u></b><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";"> What might it mean to
put our <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">backbones</b> IN?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "bookman old style";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">We’d better decisions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "bookman old style";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">We’d have better
boundaries with ourselves and those we love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "bookman old style";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">We might give <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">more</i> to our community <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">or</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>we might give <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">less</i>!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "bookman old style";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">We would use our
strengths – that part of us which <u>holds things together</u>, our literal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">backbones - </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for good in the community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">2)</span></u></b><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";"> What might it mean to
put our <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">eyes</b> IN?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "bookman old style";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">We’d use our special
skills to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i> things in a new way,
enlightening those around us with our unique insights<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">3)</span></u></b><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";"> What might it mean to
put our <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">mouths</b> IN?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">-
We’d be more thoughtful about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the words
we speak</i>, and the words we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">refrain</i>
from speaking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">-
We’d avoid gossip, we’d <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">reach out</i> to
those in need, we’d offer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">words of
kindness</i> and support to our friends and neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">4)</span></u></b><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";"> What might it mean to
put our <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">hearts</b> IN?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">-
We would <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love</i></b> with our whole hearts, we’d “dance like no one was
watching”, “love like we’d never been hurt”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">-
We’d give only as much as we received; we’d respect our emotional selves and
care for our own hearts, never being reckless with our own hearts or the hearts
of others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">What
would it mean to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shake them all about</i></b>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">We
would do everything completely differently than is usually our pattern!<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">I
really think the hokey pokey <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>what
it’s all about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Other
people seem to agree with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Down the
street from where I used to live in Venice, California, there is a recovery
house for people recovering from addictions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every morning, as I walked by, I could hear them singing the hokey pokey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first I thought it was just a kitchy part
of their morning routine – or, as a fellow passerby remarked, “it must be an
exercise in playfulness, or a way to get them all to practice following
directions”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I now believe that
these recovering addicts are coming to understand a fundamental truth about
life, about change, about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">teshuvah</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">You put your whole self in,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">You put your whole self out,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">You put your whole self in,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">And shake it all about!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Shabbat
Shalom!<span style="font-size: 22pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-39137650420109229742015-09-25T09:24:00.001-07:002015-12-10T08:49:50.205-08:00 September 25, 2015 - Water and Joy<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Parashat HaAzinu/ Erev Sukkot - September 25, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in Lindenhurst<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times";">This coming Sunday evening, we begin
the holiday of Sukkot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Sukkot is maybe our best holiday.
After all, amidst all our myriads of commandments pertaining to social justice
or ethics or morality or elegant subtleties of ritual practice, only one time a
year are we literally commanded to be joyful and only joyful: Sukkot. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">That’s a commandment we should all
be able to get behind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">And Sukkot has layers, too-- it’s
not just about the party. We build our Sukkot not only as reminders of the way
our ancestors harvested their crop at this time of year, and not only as and as
reminders of how we dwelt in temporary shelters during our wandering in the
wilderness after the Exodus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">We wave lulav and etrog not only to
mark the fruitfulness of this time of harvest, but also to remind us of the
praying for rain that is so integral to the holiday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">One of the things we forget most
often today about Sukkot is that it is really about rain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Traditionally, we don’t just make
the blessing over the lulav and etrog and then <u>point</u> it in all directions:
we <u>wave</u> it, <u>shaking</u> it so the fronds of the palm branch shift and
brush, the willow and myrtle rustle. And the sound that it makes is the sound
of rainfall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">In ancient times, there was a water
offering made in the Temple, when water was poured out at the corner of the
altar, praying that the late autumn and winter rains will fall. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">This offering was at the center of a
massive public rejoicing, called the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">simchat
beit ha-sho’evah</i>, the rejoicing of the house of drawing [water]. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">The Rabbis of the Talmud say: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">anyone who had not seen the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">simchat beit sho’evah</i> had never truly
seen joy. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">There was feasting, drinking, music,
and games.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">The Zohar teaches us that though we
are judged on Yom Kippur, the decision sealed by Ne’ilah, the “verdict” is not
final until after Hoshanah Rabba, the end of Sukkot. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">For this reason, prayers for
prosperity, life, health, growth-- all parts of the prayers for rain-- are all
continued through these days and weeks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Rabbinic literature identifies water
as a symbol or metaphor for Torah (one quenches the thirst of the body, the
other quenches the thirst of the soul. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Just as we cannot live without
water, Jews cannot live without Torah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">It also meshes well with the
Kabbalistic imagery of the outpourings of Divine energy radiating from God - being
like water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">So it makes sense that Sukkot,
ending with Hoshanah Rabba, melds virtually seamlessly into the following
holiday, Shmini Atzeret, on which we say Geshem, the great prayer for rain, and
after which we begin adding the phrase "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mashiv ha-ruach u-morid ha-geshem</i>" (“Who makes the wind blow
and the rain fall”) to the Amidah prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Part of what makes Sukkot so
amazing, and so interesting, is the way in which <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">water</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">rejoicing</b> come
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, in doing so, they reflect
the <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 12.05pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times";">physical seasons of the year<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times";">the agricultural concerns of our
ancestors<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 12.05pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times";">and also the spiritual imagery of
our tradition <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">It is the perfect reflection of the
balance that Judaism tends to strike, finding meaning in both the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">physical</b> and in the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">spiritual</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times";">And so it is - almost
immediately after Yom Kippur we go outside and build <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sukkot</i>: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not because we are
done with prayer, introspection, and preparation for a new year</b>… but
because the logical next step is to take what we’ve learned and apply it to our
lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times";">Shana Tova!<span style="font-size: 22pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-79056523089903901252015-09-22T07:06:00.002-07:002015-12-10T08:50:42.011-08:00Yom Kippur 5776 - Why Shabbat Matters<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Yom Kippur 5776 - September 23, 2015<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in
Lindenhurst</u></b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Let us proclaim the sacred power of this day for
it is awesome and full of dread.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">The angels in heaven rush about dismayed—they
are seized with fear, with trembling. They cry out, “Behold! The Day of
Judgment!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Who shall live and who shall die.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Who by fire and who by water.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Who shall be secure and who shall be troubled.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">On Rosh HaShanah it is written and on Yom Kippur
it is sealed.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Every year we return to
this text penned nearly 800 years ago. We read our lines in this divine
drama where God, the Divine Judge stands on high documenting and deliberating
over all that we are and all that we have been and records our fate in the Book
of Life. In these moments where we imagine ourselves standing at the
precipice of fate, we become keenly aware of High Holy Days past, present, and
future. This moment becomes all of history in one breath, one note—this
is all there is, this is all there ever was, this is all there ever will be. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">The genius of these Ten
Days of Repentance is in this dramatic resonance—this ability to connect us to
the experience of the infinite. Through this entire season, we feel truly
connected to Jewish history and experience, to our ancestors thousands of years
back and to our descendants thousands of years into our future. Is it no
wonder that we keep coming back, then, year after year after year? How
many experiences in our daily life connect us so poignantly to all of Jewish
history? When else do we feel this connected to the infinite?</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">We imagine romantically
that, once upon a time, we had daily encounters with the mystery of the
universe. Once upon a time, we felt a sense of awe throughout the year.
Once upon a time, The high holy Days were not the entirety of our Jewish
life, it was merely the pinnacle of it. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">BUT, the reality—the
truth—is that if the High Holy Days is our CENTRAL experience with Judaism, or
with the Jewish community or, for that matter, with God, then we are missing
out.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">A rabbi and a soap-maker
once went for a walk together. The soap-maker said to the rabbi: “What good is
Judaism? After thousands of years of teaching about goodness, truth, justice,
and peace, after all the study of Torah, and all the fine ideals of the
Prophets, look at all the trouble and misery in the world! If Judaism is so
wonderful and true, why should all this be so?”</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">The rabbi said nothing.
They continued walking, until he noticed a child playing in the gutter. The
child was filthy with soot and grime. “Look at that child,” said the rabbi.
“You say that soap makes people clean, but see the dirt on that youngster. What
good is soap? With all the soap in the world, that child is still filthy. I
wonder if soap is of any use at all.”</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">The soap-maker protested,
and said, “But Rabbi, soap can’t do any good unless it is used!”</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">“Acha! Exactly!” cried the
Rabbi. “So it is with Judaism. It isn’t effective unless it is applied in daily
life and used!”</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">For Judaism to work, to be
relevant in our lives, it has to be applied to our lives and on a regular
basis. While immersing ourselves in the rites and rituals, prayers and
melodies of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are all well and good, what does this
do for us in the middle of January? Where is that feeling of history and
meaning and connectedness throughout the rest of the year? Judaism was
never built to be a twice a year event—on the contrary, we have a stunning
tradition that has the potential to bring a sense of history and meaning and
connectedness to our everyday life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">We have rites and rituals
that can transform our day, our week, our entire year. But we must be
willing to use them—to apply them to our day, our week, our entire year.
And so, you ask, what are these magical rites and rituals that,
supposedly, can transform my ordinary existence into a life of meaning?
How can Jewish history possibly be relevant to my regular life? Why
should I waste my time and energy on some arcane traditions—can they really
make me feel connected?</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">The simple answer is, yes.
Through the celebration of festivals throughout the year, a plethora of
traditions, and adding Shabbat into our lives, we really can find historical
relevance, meaning and a feeling of being connected to each other as well as to
the infinite.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Festivals</span></u><u><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">The High Holy Days, Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are intense!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They have extraordinary melodies, liturgical poetry, and high drama:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>each year we imagine a divine court
room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ask the question: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who shall live and who shall die! </i> I
even love the severity of it all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
feels very <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">real </b>and it connects me
to my vulnerability, reminds me that I have the power to change my life, that I
can push myself to make things right with anyone with whom I have tension or
conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">But if this were <u>the all</u>
of my Jewish life?! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">This is the hard stuff, the
scary stuff, the depressing stuff. These are the rituals we do out of
guilt and, at times, out of shame. While there is great meaning in facing
our guilt and coming through the severity of tradition—there is very little joy
in it—what about the fun?</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Judaism was never meant to
be a religion dominated by guilt and restrictions and discomfort. We Jews
are about the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">joy</b> and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">fun</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">celebration of life</b>. We are commanded to have glorious feasts
for nearly every occasion and to even get drinking a few times a year. We
love to sing and dance and rejoice whenever possible. <u>We have more
words in Hebrew for joy and happiness than any other emotion</u>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Each</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";"> of our holidays - from Sukkot to Simchat Torah; Hanukkah to
Purim; Passover to Shavuot; gives us the opportunity to connect with our
history - but through the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">happiness</b>
of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">giving</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">thanks</b> and rejoicing in all that we have experienced, all that we
are and all that we have. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">We have been given this amazing
heritage as a gift, filled with fun and joy—let’s not limit ourselves to only
the seriousness and severity any longer. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Traditions</span></u><u><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Franz Rosenzweig, the
influential 20th century Jewish theologian, argued that the point of the
mitzvot and Jewish traditions are to bring us closer to God. Therefore,
he argued, if a particular Jewish practice does not bring you closer to
God—does not “ring a bell” for you, don’t do it. The catch is, however, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">how are you going to know if a particular
mitzvah or tradition works for you unless you try it first?</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Adding something Jewish to
your daily life does not have to be a completely daunting experience. You
do not have to completely overhaul your daily schedule or even your kitchen
appliances all at once! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">If you <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">want</b> to make a dramatic change, I will of course be happy to help
you in any way—but living a more Jewish life does not demand that you change
your life into something that looks like Orthodoxy. Adding meaning to
your every day existence can begin with the simple things:</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Say sh’ma at night before you go to bed.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Or, say it in the morning, when you wake up.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Have a mezuzah on your door and kiss it when you
leave and return to your home.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Make a <u>habit</u> of giving tzedakah—in other
words, have a tzedakah box in your home and, for example, put a quarter in it
every day.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">In fact, have Jewish stuff—have a tzedakah box
and Shabbat candlesticks and Jewish art.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">If someone were to walk
into your home, would they know you were Jewish?</span></u><u><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Be thankful every day and, even try to say a
blessing when you can</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">When you are at the grocery store and you have a
choice to do so, buy something kosher. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Subscribe to a Jewish magazine or e-zine or
daily e-mail (like the Forward, or the URJ’s 10 minutes of Torah, or Zeek, or
Sh’ma - a Journal of Jewish Ideas)</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Shabbat<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></span></u><u><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Out of all of the
traditions that you can incorporate into your life, the top one, the easiest
one, quite possible the best one has got to be—Shabbat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Somewhere along the
timeline of modern American Jewish history, Shabbat fell out of fashion.
For that matter, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">rest</b> has
seemed to fall out of fashion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Within the last couple
hundred years we started thinking of Shabbat as a burden, a task, a set of laws
to follow. We let all of the technicalities associated with traditional
observance cloud our vision of all that Shabbat has been and could still be.
In its most basic understanding, Shabbat is merely a day of rest and joy;
our tradition has always understood that not only do we need to rest by
sleeping every night, we need waking rest as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Throughout the week we are
workaholics; we take orders from everyone around us; we are
obsessed with being the perfect success but more often than not, we see only
how we have failed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Throughout the week we <u>do</u>
and <u>create</u> and <u>invent</u> and <u>push</u> and <u>drive</u>....
But on Shabbat, we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">reflect</b>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">We rejoice in the fact that
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not everything is in our power</b> and this
gives us permission to <u>let go</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
don’t have to try to be perfect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can
rest with things <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">as they are</b>; we can
accept <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ourselves</b> <u>as we are</u>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">On Shabbat we focus on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">being</b> instead of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">doing</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Shabbat is one of the
greatest gifts that Judaism has brought to the human race—a time of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">family</b>, a time of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">rest</b>, a time of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">being</b>, a
time of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">joy</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Yet it is a gift that we,
the Jewish community, tend to put in the closet and forget about. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">I think we need to recover
and reclaim Shabbat as our rightful inheritance - not because Shabbat needs us,
but because <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">we need Shabbat</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">We live in a world of
constant busy-ness, constant motion, constant visual and audio
stimulation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sound bytes and emails and
text messages blur past us, making it seem like life is speeding past us faster
and faster.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">We need to stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>We need time to slow down, once a week,
every week</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to look into the
eyes of those we love and listen to them tell about their day, their week,
their life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">It is time to bring Shabbat
into our homes because Shabbat helps us maintain our sanity as well as our
humanity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">It is time to make Shabbat
for ourselves as well as for our families because Shabbat brings us closer to
those in our homes as well as to Jews all over the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">As the great Israeli author
Ahad HaAm once said, “More than the people have kept the Shabbat, the Shabbat
has kept the people.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">And, again, making Shabbat
on a weekly basis does not mean having to overhaul your life and everything
that you do. It can mean:</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Not picking up the mail on Saturday</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Lighting candles on Friday night.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Making time for family and friends</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Having dessert</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Taking a nap</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Learning something new</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Trying something new</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Having a glass of wine</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Taking a walk</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Counting your blessings</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Let Shabbat transform you
and your experience of the world around you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Make space to be rather
than to do. Make Shabbat.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Ultimately, it all comes down to the rabbi and the soap maker.
We have to <u>use</u> Judaism and <u>apply it</u> to our lives in order
for it to “work”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Don’t let the High Holy Days be the beginning and end of your
Jewish experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Try being and doing Jewish all year long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">As you leave the synagogue at the end of Yom Kippur, know that you
take your Judaism with you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Try to see the world through Jewish eyes; understand this world according
to Jewish values; and care for yourself and those around you with a Jewish
heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">Embrace Judaism in your everyday life and your everyday life will
be transformed into something truly sacred.</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 21.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-12442158952731310152015-09-22T07:05:00.001-07:002015-12-10T08:51:27.814-08:00Kol Nidre 5776 - Toward a Renewed Understanding of Humility<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Kol Nidre 5776 - September 22, 2015<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in
Lindenhurst<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><br /></u></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Jimmy Fallon, the usually irreverent host of the
Tonight Show, was in the hospital this summer for ten days. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I started losing it halfway through,”</i>
he told the crowd on his first night back on the air. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I started reading books about the meaning of life.” </i></span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">And which book did he show the audience?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Man’s
Search For Meaning</span></u> by Viktor Frankl. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Frankl was a</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";"> Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the
University of Vienna Medical School when WWII broke out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, he spent 3 years in various
concentration camps, including Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, and Dachau. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">His work after the Holocaust focused on trying
to understand how people can endure suffering and survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his book, <u>Man’s Search for Meaning</u>,
he describes how finding meaning in life allowed some people to survive the
horror. Frankl believed that a higher meaning gave people something
to stay alive for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Though he’s hardly known for being the most
serious person on television, Fallon spoke honestly and solemnly about reading
the book and highlighting it on his Kindle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">He concluded after reading the book: “This is
the meaning of my life. I belong on TV... I’m here to make you laugh. I’m here
to make you have a good time … That’s my job. That’s why I’m here. I want to
spread the love.”</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">And, after sharing these insights on National
Television, Jimmy Fallon did something else profound that evening. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">He thanked people. He thanked his doctors by
name. He thanked the nurses, his wife and family, and his comedian friends who
reached out to him with what I can only assume was comic relief. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">In Jimmy Fallon’s own search for meaning during
a challenging time in his life, he exhibited the attribute of humility. </span><i><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "times";">“True humility is not thinking less of
yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "times";">” wrote</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";"> </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times"; text-decoration: none;">C.S.
Lewis</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Jimmy Fallon took the time that
particular evening </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "times";">to <u>contract</u>
his sense of self in order to acknowledge the strengths of others. </span><span style="background: rgb(219, 237, 254); color: #373e4d; font-family: "times";"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">The human trait of humility is connected to many
of our greatest leaders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">At the end of the Torah we read that no one was
ever as humble as Moses.<sup> </sup>The rabbis in the Talmud write that one
shall strive to be as humble as Hillel.<sup> </sup>And, when Rabbi Yehudah
haNasi, the master organizer of the Mishnah died, his contemporaries believed
that nobody could be humble like he was. As the Talmud put it, “<b>When Rebbe
died, humility disappeared.”<sup> </sup> </b></span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">The importance of humility has been woven into
the thinking of our greatest theologians and philosophers. In the tenth
century, Rabbeinu Baachya wrote, "It follows that all virtues are
secondary to humility, which is the head and front of them all."<sup>
</sup>According to Louis Jacobs, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">greatness</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">humility</i>, in Hebraic tradition,
are <u>not</u> incompatible. They complement each other. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The greater the person, the more humble he is expected to be and is
likely to be</b>.”</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Humility is one of those words that we often use
but rarely define. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We often mistakenly
define humility as someone who is self-<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">less</b>,
someone who thinks <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">less</b> of herself
than she thinks of others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">But that’s not humility. Humble people are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>confident and competent in themselves so much
that, as a result, they have space in their hearts to focus on helping others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Humble people just don’t feel the need to boast
about themselves. Instead, their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actions</i>
are a reflection of their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ideals</i>.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Borrowing language from the business world,
humility requires a shift from an<b> ego system </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">to an <b>eco system. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></span>An
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ego</b> system is one that cares only about
one’s own wellbeing, whereas an <b>eco </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">system </span>is when one cares about the wellbeing of <b>all</b>, <u>including</u>
oneself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">When operating in an <b>ego </b>system, we are
driven by the concerns and intentions of only ourselves. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When operating using an awareness of the <b>eco
</b>system, we are driven by the concerns and intentions of the <u>whole</u>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">To me the most interesting
difference here is that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">humility</b>
requires self-confidence and self-awareness </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "wingdings";"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i>
self-depreciation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Humility is having a
quiet inner strength that enables the focus to be elsewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The greatest leaders are often humble - and
it’s not because they find value only in others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, they are able to be humble because
they have the internal resources and confidence in their own merits so that
they can make it their business to bring out the strengths of others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Last year, Rabbi Lord Jonathan
Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of England, shared two stories of individuals who
made a great impression upon him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">He wrote that as Chief Rabbi,
he and his wife were expected to hold dinner parties, and not just for members
of the Jewish community. There was one guest who not only thanked the hosts but
also asked to be allowed to go into the kitchen to thank those who made the
meal. The person who did it was John Major, then British Prime Minister. He
called that an example of humility.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">The second story he shared was
about Prince Charles visiting a synagogue on its 300th anniversary. What
impressed Rabbi Sacks is that this man, the next in line to the throne, spent
as much time talking to the young men and women who were doing security duty as
he did to the guests. According to Rabbi Sacks, Prince Charles made them feel
as important as anyone else on that special occasion. Again, another example of
humility. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">There has been a shift in our
culture that encourages people to shout out to the world: LOOK AT ME. There’s
not a lot of time or energy invested in thinking humbly or seeing ourselves as
part of a collective whole.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">But Judaism is often counter
cultural.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We Jews are asked to emulate
God and to approach life as best we can in the divine image. Tradition teaches
that even as God was creating the world, God was humble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">In a passage in the Talmud
(Megillah 31a) we find: <i>Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘Wherever you find the
greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, there you find His humility. </i></span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">In the tenth century, Rabbeinu
Bachya ibn Pekuda dedicated an entire section of his book <u>Duties of the
Heart</u> to explaining one’s obligation to have humility before God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">“Pride…” he wrote, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">can be of two types: one disgraceful and the other - praiseworthy...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">The praiseworthy type is when a person is proud of his wisdom
or righteous deeds, and considers them a great favor - [a gift from God]. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">This pride assists humility, and adds to it, as it is
written, "humility brings about fear of God."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">For Rabbeinu Bachya the other kind of pride, the
one he considers to be disgraceful - is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">negative
pride; </i>it’s only this kind of pride that is antithetical to humility.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">But, positive pride, on the other hand, <u>assists</u>
humility and enhances a sense of <u>gratitude to God.</u> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Once one feels confident and proud, it’s
possible to direct attention elsewhere. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Negative pride is the type to
avoid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Negative pride is about arrogance,
selfishness, and obsession with self. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s “Big Me”, and there is a lot of it in our
world today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Positive pride (and humility)
are not in vogue today. David Brooks, near the beginning of his book <u>The
Road to Character,</u> writes that there has been a <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">shift in culture<i>:</i> a shift from a culture of<i> self-effacement</i>
to a culture of<i> self-promotion. </i>Today, we are expected to shout: “recognize
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">my</b> accomplishments, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">look at me</b>!”</span></span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Humility, on the other hand,
can offer self understanding. When we acknowledge that we make mistakes and
feel the gravity of our limitations, we find ourselves stretched and are able
to see the value that <u>others</u> provide in the world. <b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Humility</span></b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";"> does not disregard the
self - it allows us to transcend it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Humility gives us a gift of perspective, a unique kind of vision and
honesty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">We
see ourselves as part of a whole, as an important member of a society, where our
strength does not negate or disregard the strengths of others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">The High Holiday liturgy
reminds us over and over again to take a step back, and distance ourselves from
the Big Me mentality. When we recite the Amidah, we say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“oz byadcha, u’gvura b’yeminecha</i>”, (for we know that true sovereignty
is Yours, power and strength are in Your hands). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">As we
look toward Yom Kippur and a new year, let us commit ourselves to<b> </b>strive<b>
</b>toward a <b>renewed understanding of humility. </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And let us, in turn, renew<b> ourselves </b>to
recall our place in the world. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Shana tova </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 22.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-11475908059048310052015-09-14T18:13:00.000-07:002015-12-10T09:08:03.573-08:00Rosh Hashanah Day 2 5776- The Puzzle of Community<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Rosh Hashanah Day 2 - September 15, 2015<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in
Lindenhurst<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Shana Tova. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">It’s the 2<sup>nd</sup>
Day of Rosh Hashanah today, and, as is the case in many, many communities,
we’re a much smaller group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think
there’s the tendency to want to look around the room and cast suspicion on
those who make choices different than our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">But it’s impossible
to know another’s life, another’s reality, another’s choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">And, in truth, it’s
the diversity in our community that creates strength.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not about everyone doing the same thing
at the same time - or believing the same thing, or making the same
choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">In many ways, a diverse community is like a
jigsaw puzzle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve ever tried to
piece together a large jigsaw puzzle, then you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">The pieces in a big puzzle are a multitude of
shapes and colors: red and yellow and blue and green and white and black and
brown. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Some have bits of red and yellow. Some have bits
of yellow and blue. Some have yellow and red and brown. Some pieces share
colors and others are completely distinct. But when all the pieces are finally
placed together, a singular picture is created. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">The sum of all of 1000 or 500 (or sometimes only
10!) pieces create a whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">All together, they create one image. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">One. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">If only the same could be said for the Jewish
people today! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Instead, the Jewish community is divided on so
many issues, and it sometimes seems that the rhetoric has never been as ugly as
it is now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">The Jerusalem Talmud tells us “Just as no two
physical appearances are the same, similarly, no two opinions are the same.”
The expression “two Jews, three opinions" comes from somewhere..<i>. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Our tradition teaches us about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">machloket l’shem shamayim</i>, a dispute for
Heaven’s sake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Our tradition also teaches that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eilu v'eilu divrei Elokim chaim</i> (these
and these are the words of the living God) or, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">all opinions are the words of God.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Our tradition trusts that many opinions can
exist at the same time on a particular subject. Our most popular commentator
Rashi nearly always interpreted verses in the Torah differently than his
colleague, Ibn Ezra. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">The Talmud is a multi volume book which is full
of argumentation. Our tradition seems to encourage - no, champion! - differences
of opinion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">But these cherished differences can only remain
part of a unified puzzle if each looks to the other with respect (and even
reverence).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Listening to those with whom
you disagree and hearing the voice of God takes work; it takes patience; it
takes a keen sense of perspective; it takes humility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">And there is far too little of this kind of
reverent listening happening in the Jewish world today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Let’s review a few of the larger issues that are
currently dividing the Jewish people. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it a good deal or a bad deal for America,
for Israel, for the global community? As in every synagogue this morning, there
are people sitting in this room who are passionately in favor and those who are
passionately opposed to the deal. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">And then there’s Israel. </span><span style="font-family: "times";">And
<span style="color: black;">American Politics. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">We could stand here all morning and list the
many topics about which the Jewish people are currently divided and subdivided.
But, instead, I want to ask you to take a leap with me. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Imagine that we are all jigsaw puzzle pieces
that can fit together to create one image. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Try to imagine that there <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i></b> something that could unite
us, something that could gather up those seemingly disparate puzzle pieces and
place them carefully, deliberately, back together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">This might seem crazy, but I think there’s
actually something that could bring us back together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s something accessible to each and every
one of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t expensive, it isn’t
something only available to the elite among us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">The thing that can unite us is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">prayer</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Each of us, to the best of our ability, can <b>pray</b>.
We don’t even need this machzor to do it. All of us can pray. Individually, or in
groups of ten people, in gatherings like this, and gatherings ten times the
size, we can pray. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Prayer is not something that other people do,
it is not reserved for Jews who look a certain way or who speak a certain
way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">I hope that since you are here on the second day
of Rosh Hashanah, you believe that too. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">In an article last year, Andrew W.K., who
answers an advice column in the Village Voice, received this question:</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Hey, Andrew</span></i></b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">.</span></i><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">….I'm going to make this
short and to the point. My older brother was diagnosed with cancer last week. My
whole family is...trying to deal with the news. Everyone is trying to find
different ways to help, but something my grandmother said has really got me
angry. She said we should all just "pray for my brother," like prayer
would actually save his life. Just thinking about it now makes my fists clench
with frustration. We need to actively help my brother and do actual things to
save him, not kneeling on the ground and mumbling superstitious nonsense. I got
into a fight with my grandmother and the rest of my family about this and now I
feel worse than ever. I need to get them to see that praying and religious
mumbo jumbo doesn't help. How do I explain this to them?</span></i><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Thanks for reading this,
Not Gonna Pray</span></i><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Andrew’s response was as follows-</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Dear Not Gonna Pray, …</span></i><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">I'm deeply sorry to hear
about your brother's diagnosis. I'm sending you my thoughts, and my heart goes
out to your brother and your whole family. Guess what? That was me praying for
you. I think the idea of "praying" is a lot less complicated, a lot more
powerful, and a little different than you may realize. In fact, I'll bet you're
already praying all the time and just don't realize it. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">(</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">and then he goes on)</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">I remember the first time reading the article
and wanting Andrew W.K. (Jewish or not) to be one of my Rabbis. There was so
much wisdom in his words. Andrew believed, like I believe, that prayer is not
only about the words in the prayer book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">It <b>can’t </b>be, in fact, because every
published prayer book is different. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
as you know, there are even countless alternatives for specifically <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jewish</i></b>
prayer books<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> just for the High Holidays</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">One might think that there’s only one way to
pray, only one set of correct prayers, and only one way to sing each song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we know this to be untrue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Some prayer books include much more poetry. Some
have gender neutral language. Some include illustrations, more Hebrew, or fewer
English readings. It does not really matter because whether we open our prayer
books or not, we can unite by our prayers. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">We may have walked into this Sanctuary with
polarizing ideas about the outside world. Some of us might have entered without
knowing a single word of Hebrew. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">In spite of that, because we are all here, we
can unite together with our prayers, and become one community this morning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">In the Talmud, Rabbi Eliezer
said: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">If a person prays only according to the exact fixed prayer
and adds nothing from his own mind, his prayer is not considered proper. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(B<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">rachot
</span></i>28a).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Already two thousand years ago
the rabbis understood the importance of praying with the book closed, but with
the heart and mind open.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Wherever our thoughts go today with
private requests - moments of gratitude, expressions of anger or grief or loss
- <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if we direct these thoughts to God,
then we will all pray <u>together.</u> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">The prayers that we have
received from our ancestors are important and set the tone for the solemnity of
starting a new year. It is very powerful to say the words our ancestors have
recited for generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prayer book
tries to give language to that which we feel but cannot express.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">The ancient rabbis knew we were
human beings with hearts and souls and personal yearnings and desires. They
taught us to value both <i>keva</i> —the <u>fixed</u> structure of the liturgy
- <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and also <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kavana</i>, the spontaneous, unscripted prayers in our hearts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both are integral to Jewish prayer. When we
pray, <u>both</u> are necessary. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">From where I stand, I see a rainbow of people
sitting in the pews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this rainbow isn’t
just about the color of our skin, or our clothing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are all different from one another: we have
diverse interests, concerns, passions, fears and areas of expertise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">The person sitting next you might differ from
you in their political beliefs, religious practice, or educational background. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But you have something in common with your
neighbor. You both can pray; you both can talk to God. You can thank God or you
can tell God how angry and sad and lonely you are. Everyone can partake
in that. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Prayer is for all of us. This morning we connect
ourselves to every other Jew who is praying today and who has ever prayed. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">So, certainly during the rest of the service
today - but, perhaps even more so - throughout the next 10 days and for the
rest of the year (!!), I invite you to try to pray. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">If the words on the page don’t work for you,
talk to God <b>however you can</b>. Use your heart. Use your soul. Leave your
chair and stand in a corner if you need more space. Talk to God. Ask. Thank.
Acknowledge. Praise. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">We can all do it. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times";">Our souls and our thoughts will reach God
together. And for a brief moment on Rosh Hashanah, when God is looking very
closely at each person, we will be seen together, as one. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Shana tova. </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 22.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-55673322112744549072015-09-14T18:06:00.000-07:002015-12-10T09:08:30.011-08:00Rosh Hashanah Day 1 5776 - Blessed is the Knower of Secrets<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Rosh Hashanah Day 1 - September 14, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in Lindenhurst<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times";">I’ve always loved the Torah and
Haftorah readings selected by the rabbis to be read on Rosh Hashanah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love them because in so many ways they’re
unexpected: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Rosh Hashanah is one of the days
of the year when the most people come to synagogue and hear the Torah and
Haftorahs read aloud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so you might
expect that the rabbis would have chosen something dramatic and extraordinary
like receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, or a list of the very
particular laws that make up what is known as the Holiness Code, or even the
story of the Creation of the World in the beginning of the book of Genesis for
all to hear this morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They chose a narrative that describes the
emotional life and personal challenges faced by a human family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">On the 1<sup>st</sup> day of Rosh
Hashanah it’s traditional to read the story of Sarah, a woman who had no
children despite God’s promise to the contrary. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Previously, we’d heard that she gave her
maidservant, Hagar, to her husband so that he might have children through her,
instead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We imagine - though we do not
yet hear directly - her longing, her jealousy, and her outrage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We want to cry out on her behalf, “that’s not
fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s not right!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">And then, today, on the 1<sup>st</sup>
day of Rosh Hashanah, we read the narrative wherein Sarah <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>learns of her pregnancy in old age, her
laughter, and the birth of her son, Isaac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then we watch as she observes her son with Hagar’s son,
Ishmael.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her voice waivers with
jealousy, fear, and then her demand that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael into
the wilderness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Torah portion we
read today is a story of the emotional life - the longing, the sorrow, the conflicted
heart of one woman - Sarah, and those in her inner circle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Sarah was a very prominent woman
- the wife of Abraham - but she, like her husband, is described in the Torah
using language that could describe any of us: the language of the human heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though in many ways, her situation was
extraordinary, she becomes for us on Rosh Hashanah a mirror for our own lives,
our own emotions, our own struggles to make sense out of the hand we’ve been
dealt.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">*<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">And then, the story from the
Prophetic literature chosen by the rabbis to read as the Haftorah is, in many
ways, parallel to the story of Sarah. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
the story of Hannah, and it is just as unexpected and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">extraordinary</b> in its <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ordinary-ness</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again we read about the emotional life and
personal challenges faced by a woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And again, the feeling in her heart is that of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">longing.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">And, like Sarah, Hannah is
longing for a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She, too, has
watched with envy as her husband’s other wife enjoyed the fruits of her
fertility while she herself felt left empty and alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">*<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">On the first day of Rosh
Hashanah, we read both the Biblical and Prophetic stories of real people -
women - with hearts broken, crying out to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We read of families: husbands, wives; mothers, fathers; children, siblings.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">I think this is because we, too,
stand before God (and beside one another) today with hearts filled with
emotion: sometimes grateful, sometimes sorrowful, often longing. I believe the stories
of Sarah and Hannah are meant to give us language to articulate what we most
want and need.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">We are all here today with
different prayers, different dreams, different wishes for life in the New Year
before us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">I suspect there is not a single
one of us in this sanctuary today whose heart is not heavy - or filled with
longing - for some reason. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">- There are those who have a
family member desperately fighting a disease.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">- There are those who carry the
emotional weight of caring for an elderly parent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">- Others might have a child
suffering from addiction or mental illness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">- We may be struggling
financially and worry about paying bills, or living beyond our savings<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">- We may be waiting for approval
from our health insurance or Medicare for a procedure we need but cannot
afford.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">The Hasidic master the Ba’al Shem
Tov taught, “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Everyone has in him
something precious that is in no one else</b>.”<i> </i><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Sometimes, that something
precious can be invisible to others, and horribly painful. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">The simple truth is that none of
us really knows the details of each other’s lives. We all arrive at Rosh
Hashanah standing at a crossroads of some kind. If we are here, we have taken
the day off work, or changed our schedule. And we are all in the middle of
something complicated that challenges us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Our ancestors Sarah and Hannah
were women who cried out in their longing, women who desperately wanted
children. They were women whose pain was hidden from everyone but God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">It’s possible that one of the
reasons we read these stories is as a reminder to keep hope alive: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">The first thing we read from the
Torah on Rosh Hashanah (in the very first verse) is that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God took note of Sarah, as
promised”</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We might say that
Sarah’s is the story of an answered prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps we read this story to remind us that we, too, might keep praying
- hoping beyond hope - that our prayer, too, might be answered like Sarah’s
was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether we are praying for healing,
or success, or help, or fertility - God just might <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">take note of us, remember us</i></b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">But I think it’s something
deeper, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think we read these
stories because they point to an even more universal human experience: that of
the invisible, or silent, emotional life of the Other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">And so today on Yom Hazikaron,
the Day of Memory, the biblical name for Rosh Hashanah, I think it’s important
to remember that the pain experienced by our ancestors living centuries ago,
and the pain experienced by our neighbors living nearby, and the pain that we
ourselves experience is sometimes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not
visible to those around us</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">It’s important to remember that
people experience hardships and sorrow and they are often standing or sitting
right next to us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">“Everyone has in him something precious that is in no one else.”</span></b><span style="font-family: "times";"> The Baal
Shem Tov’s words ring true today as they do everyday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Our personal narratives, because
they are our own, are, by extension never entirely known by anyone else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned a teaching by my colleague and
friend, Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bozdin. She teaches that:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">The Rabbis of the Talmud, in
tractate Brachot, codified a <i>bracha</i> that is recited upon seeing a large
faceless crowd:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "times";">“<i>Baruch Atah Adonai
Eloheinu Melech HaOlam … Chacham HaRazim</i>.<i> </i></span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">“Blessed are you Lord Our God
King of the Universe, knower of secrets”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Most <i>brachot</i> have an inner
logic. Even when we see a rainbow, we recite a <i>bracha</i> remembering
the covenant – to remember Noah and the flood. But why when one sees a
crowd do we call God the “knower of secrets?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">The Rabbis knew the effect of a
crowd results in a loss of personal identity. When you stare out into a massive
crowd of thousands it becomes difficult to see individuals. A bracha that acknowledges
God as the “knower of secrets” reminds us that, to God, we are never nameless,
never faceless, never unknown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">But, taking this one step
further, it’s also a reminder to us that just as nobody truly knows the secrets
of our lives, so too should we remember that everyone else in that crowd is
carrying stories and sorrows hidden from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">our</b>
view.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Empathy can happen only when we remind
ourselves of these truths, and reach out to one another in compassion and
forgiveness for that which we could not have known.</span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">We need to ask rather than
assume. When we ask “how are you?” we need to wait patiently for the answer to
come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">We need to slow down and listen
to stories. And in the process, we will become more sensitive to the mysteries
and secrets otherwise hidden from view. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">If we respond and interact to
people with compassion and empathy, then this will truly be a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beit Adonai</i>, a House of God, and we will
be able to dwell in it, <span style="background: white;">all the days of our
lives. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Shana tova. <span style="font-size: 22pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-66799943435458999782015-09-13T20:35:00.002-07:002015-12-10T09:07:37.259-08:00Erev Rosh Hashanah 5776 - Ma Tovu: I Am My Prayer<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Erev Rosh Hashanah 5776 / Sunday, September 13, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in Lindenhurst<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";">Ma Tovu: I Am My Prayer<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times";"><br /></span></u></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Here we
are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the cusp of a new year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New rabbi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the Talmud, Rabbi Ishmael teaches, </span><i><span style="font-family: "times";">“Kol Hat’khalot Kashot”</span></i><span style="font-family: "times";">: All
beginnings are difficult.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">We
should know; we all encounter new beginnings every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>New job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New pets at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New route to drive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New place to get coffee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New stage of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New transition to get used to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">But
still, I think Rabbi Ishmael is only partially right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, all beginnings are difficult because
they signal an end of the era that came before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">A
loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A letting go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A saying goodbye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes the endings are sad even when we
know they’re the right thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order
to start something new, we need to acknowledge the loss of what was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">But
new beginnings are also exciting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We go
shopping for new clothes or supplies for that new job; we get new school
supplies: crisp new notebooks, perfectly sharpened pencils, shoes without
scuffs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We meet new people and can start
anew, leaving behind the traces of mistakes, embarrassing incidents with former
co-workers, forgotten birthdays or deadlines or promises.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">And,
in our case, on Erev Rosh Hashanah we start the journey wherein we have the
opportunity to start anew with God, with one another, and with ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are given the gift of the opportunity to
clean our slates: the year 5775 is now over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The triumphs, the disappointments, the joys, the sorrows, the gains and
the losses are now all in the past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">We
stand poised to open to the first page of the book titled 5776.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will be written on these pages?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who will be the main characters this year?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where will the action take place?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you stand here one year from now, what
will be in your heart and on your mind?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What will be the things you’ll cherish?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What will you regret?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">The good news is, you’re the one with the pen in
hand. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Imagine
you’ve gone shopping for new supplies for the endeavor called The Year 5776.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">What
would you want in your briefcase or backpack so as to prepare for the year
ahead?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">If you
were to write a Supplies Needed list, what would you be certain to get?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">And,
the supplies for your new year need not be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">things</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They need not be items you’d buy at Target or
on <u>amazon.com</u>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">For
example, here is my shopping list, the list of things I want to be sure I put
into my virtual shopping cart: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">First,
I’d want to be sure to get <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HOPE</i>.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Hope
is what enables us to even look forward into a new year and imagine that it can
and will be a good one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll need <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">hope</b> this year to help me to think
positively, to believe that some of the most problematic challenges our world
is facing might actually improve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hope
is what protects me from despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because it’s easy to look at the state of the environment, global
climate change, governmental corruption, wars and violence, school children
being shot and killed, natural disasters, and feel despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To believe that there’s nothing that can be
done to improve the state of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And that’s where HOPE comes in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I’ll be shopping for hope in abundance for this new year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the first thing I’ll need because I
believe it’s the precursor for everything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Before I can start to make changes or rededicate myself to the things I
most value, I’ll need HOPE to remind me that it’s all possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></i>get better<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Next,
I’m going to need <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PATIENCE</i> </b>in this new year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because once I can see that change is possible and I look around me to
find all of the many big and small things that need loving attention, it’d be
easy to get overwhelmed and lose patience with the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After I have enough hope to believe in the
potential for change, I’ll need PATIENCE because the work will be hard and the
journey long. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Third,
I’ll be seeking <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CALM</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Calm is something
that’s hard for me to find, especially when faced with the grand task of
improving myself, my life, and the world around me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But CALM is necessary, even more so, when the
challenges are real and difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Calm
is what provides perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Calm lets
me slow down, rest, regain energy, and refuel for the work still to be done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And without calm, I know I’ll burn out, I’ll
give up, and then I’ll find myself right back where I started.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Fourth,
I’ll be sure to try to find some <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">TIME FOR PLAY</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Play is where most big problems actually need
to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find that if I’m not playing, I
come to take myself and everything around me too seriously and I run the risk
of getting completely overwhelmed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Play
is where the problems can become abstracted, tossed about, set aside for a
moment, only to come back home where they might actually find resolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>PLAY might appear on the outside like it’s a
break away from problem solving - but - the truth is - it’s where the best
problem solving takes place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>PLAY gives
the brain and the heart permission to get a little perspective and to re-enter
the situation in a new way: perhaps allowing us to see everything differently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">In the
past year and a half, I’ve learned how essential <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">GRATITUDE</i></b> is and how lost
I’d be without it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rabbis teach that
we’re to say 100 blessings every day - in an effort to pause throughout our
daily routines and offer thanks for the many gifts - big and small - in our
lives. In January of last year (2014), I started a daily gratitude practice
called “365Grateful”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every day, I take
a photo with the camera on my phone of something that makes me grateful, then I
post it online with the # of 365Grateful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s been transformative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes I find I’m grateful for the blessing of Wireless
Internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes (like last week),
I’m grateful that my neighbor found our dog wandering in someone else;s yard
and brought her home safely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other days
I’m grateful for the changing leaves on the trees, summer rain storms, my family,
my friends, a good Hot Chocolate with marshmallows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My life is still the daily grind of work to
complete by externally imposed deadlines, laundry to fold and put away, emails
to return… but I find that GRATITUDE has made <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">me</b> different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so I know
(I <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i></b>)
how much I’ll need gratitude in this new year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Finally,
when I go “school supply shopping” for my new year, I’m going to need <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FORGIVENESS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></b>Forgiveness is what I’ll need when I
inevitably can’t - or don’t - (or other people can’t or don’t) measure up to my
expectations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll need to forgive
myself, my partner, my kids, my students, my teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll need to forgive God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because life is rarely what we want or expect
all the time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">What
about you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will you need for the
journey ahead?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">There’s
a line in the liturgy that I’ve always loved - but I think is especially
poignant in light of the idea of starting anew on the High Holidays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a line that’s otherwise buried in the
fifth line of a prayer known as “Ma Tovu”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Ma
Tovu is a prayer acknowledging how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">good</i>
it is to be right here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this sanctuary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this moment in history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this moment of our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here and Now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">And
then in the fifth line of the prayer is this gem: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“V’Ani T’filati”</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I am
my Prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>I AM MY PRAYER?</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>What does that mean?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">It
means that I - We - Each of us - All of us - have the power to become a
prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To make our lives into a
prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t have to wait around
passively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can’t</i> wait around passively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have to make the changes in our lives, in
our expectations, in the way we speak, in the way we act… so that at the end of
the day - at the end of the week - and at the end of the year, we can look back
and see that our lives have become the prayer we were seeking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">What
changes do you want to see in your life right now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">BECOME</span></b><span style="font-family: "times";"> those
changes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">What
do you most wish would be true in the world around you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times";">EMBODY</span></b><span style="font-family: "times";"> them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dedicate your time-- your life -- to those
causes, those people, those relationships, those goals you most desire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Because
You Are Your Prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">It’s a
radical thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a very Jewish
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We believe that it’s our job to
make this world better, to actively seek peace, to repair brokenness, to offer
gratitude for the blessings all around us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Tonight
we are on the cusp of that reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
stand here at the beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let go of
what was. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times";">On Erev Rosh Hashanah, there is the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">potential</b> to start anew but we don't actually get a clean slate
until after we've done the work of the High Holiday season. The essence of
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is that the clean slate is something you earn from
your efforts of introspection, improving relationships with other people, self
betterment, committing to trying to be a better member of society. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Step
proudly and boldly into this new opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Make
the year 5776 the year you <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">become</b>
the answers you most seek.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">L’Shana
Tova. May there be much goodness for
each of us in this new year.<span style="font-size: 22pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7849826113742947377.post-14354536423642195292015-07-30T17:49:00.000-07:002015-12-10T09:14:50.951-08:00July 10, 2015 - A Year in the Life<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="an_num:27:18"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black;">Parashat Pinchas - July 10, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></a></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black;">Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in Lindenhurst<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></span></div>
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">Shabbat Shalom!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">I’m so pleased to be here tonight, the first Erev Shabbat service
as your new rabbi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been just about
exactly one year since I first encountered this community and began to think
about the possibility of serving as a rabbi here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was last year on July 15<sup>th</sup>, in
fact, that I came here to meet with members of the search committee and
board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was very newly pregnant with
our second child, our daughter, Maya (who’s here tonight, now 4 ½<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>months old!) and the timing wasn’t right for
me to begin something new.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">Since that date last summer, though, we have all cycled through an
entire calendar year of seasons, Jewish holidays, and Torah portions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, as Fortune would have it, we’ve cycled
tonight right into the one Parasha that encapsulates it all: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Parashat Pinchas.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The portion describes the cycle of one Jewish
year and highlights each of the important milestones we’ve encountered along
the way: it describes the holidays one by one and outlines the unique
observances for each, beginning with the most frequently observed and then
proceeding to the annual cycle of holidays: It begins with the daily offerings;
then proceeds to describe Shabbat; then the Monthly new moon celebrations; and
finally, Passover; Shavuot; Rosh Hashanah; Yom Kippur; Sukkot; and Shmini
Atzeret.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">How perfect that as we, at Am Echod, are approaching the one year
cycle since we began a conversation that brought us to this moment, the Torah,
too, cycles back to describe each of the events that have occurred in the life
of the Jewish community since last July. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">But just as the Torah couldn’t possibly trace my personal journey
through this past year: pregnancy, childbirth, and then welcoming a new baby
girl into the covenant of the Jewish people, it also couldn’t possibly know
what has happened in each of your lives this past year: <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">Who among us have lost someone we love? <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">Who has started or ended a job?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A friendship? A significant relationship? <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">Who has bought or sold a house?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A business?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">Who has welcomed a new member of their family?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">Celebrated a simcha?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">This kind of knowing takes time - and effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the stuff of building community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what we do when we reach out to one
another in good times and in hard times to see how we might help and support one
another.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">This is the Torah that we must write together. And I am so looking
forward to journeying with you through the next cycle of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How will we celebrate and mourn and mark the
passage of time together?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">I will look forward to helping to forge this path alongside you -
and want very much to get to know each of you better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please reach out by phone or email and let’s
make a date to talk more about your life, your joys, your sorrows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what I’m here for!<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">In another section of the Torah portion, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pinchas</i>, we learn about a transition in leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Up until now, the People have only known one
leader, Moses, as they journeyed from Egypt, through the wilderness, and toward
the Promised Land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now there will be
a new leader, Joshua, who will become the new leader of the People.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joshua is described in Numbers 27:18 as “a
man in whom there is spirit”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">What does it mean to have a new leader?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does it mean to <b>be</b> a new leader?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does it mean to have <b>spirit?<o:p></o:p></b></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: "an_num\:27\:18";"><span style="color: black;">There’s a transition period as the new leader must gain the trust
of the People.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joshua is given the charge
to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chazzak v’amatz</i> (often
translated as “may you be strong and courageous”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would add that </span></span><span style="color: black;">the People, too, must be strong and
courageous as they open their hearts to welcome someone new.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">So may it be with us, new rabbi,
new congregation, as we journey forward together.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Shabbat Shalom!</span><span style="font-size: 20.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span>JuliePelcAdlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13592437374322912882noreply@blogger.com0