Shabbat Service Central Reform Temple
September 9, 2022
Rabbi Dr Michael J Shire
Heal Me Now!
It has become common practice in Synagogues to recite the healing prayer that we shared tonight but it wasn’t always part of the Jewish service. The Torah and Talmud emphasize our obligation to care for the sick and ailing. Abraham is often cited as the exemplar as he runs towards the three strangers who emerge out of the desert thirsty and hungry. His reward is to find out that they are in fact angels come to announce the birth of Isaac. It became a tenant of Jewish values that visiting the sick – Bikur Holim – was an obligatory Jewish practice. However this was in the main to provide physical comfort and care through bringing food and looking after the needs of the sick. Prayers for healing weren’t introduced until the time of the first prayerbook in the 10th century. A prayer for healing was introduced into the daily intermediate blessings of the Amidah – part of the 18 weekday benedictions – the Shemone Esreh. It read:
Heal us God and we shall be healed. Save us and we shall be saved; for it is you we praise. Send relief and healing for all our diseases, our sufferings and our wounds. Blessed are you God who heals the sick – Barukh Atah Adonai Rofe Haholim.
This prayer recited daily but not on Shabbat, since we don’t make requests of God on God’s day of rest, is primarily about the People as a whole and not about individuals. It also equates healing with being saved and ascribes all healing to God and only God. This was more of a medieval mindset that viewed sickness as a flaw that needed the human being to do better if she or he was to be saved by God’s healing powers. The idea that God could heal individuals of course goes back to Moses’ plaintive cry in the Torah when his sister Miriam contracts leprosy. He cries out in what must be the first spontaneous prayer in the Torah, O God, heal her now! El na ref a na la! There may have been plenty of times we have cried out in anxiety and fear over the sickness of a loved one saying in effect, O God, heal them now! Jewish rituals often respond to a human need and a fixed prayer for healing is no exception. So if we don’t think illness is a visitation from God for our sins and that we understand healing is not just down to God, what is it we are actually praying for?
The insertion of the Mi Sh’berach prayer for healing in our services suggests that we need a way to acknowledge our fears and frights over sickness of loved ones and that we know that healing is a complex process involving body and mind as well as reliance on those who are trained as medical and mental practitioners. The British Reform prayerbook introduces the healing prayer this way:
In sickness, I turn to you O God and seek your help. You create the healing powers that flow in the bloodstream of every living creature. You are the source of the knowledge and skill of doctors and nurses and of the dedication it prompts them to give of their best. From you comes the comforting care of my loved ones and the tranquility of spirit which I and they need at this time of distress.
Our understanding of health has changed over the centuries. Whereas health was considered to be a condition of human perfection with all limbs, organs and nerves working to peak condition, we now consider those without limbs or organs or nerve endings to live perfectly healthy lives. Health is no longer a condition of bodily perfection but rather it is a dynamic process of thriving. Whatever your condition, or capability or indeed mental capacity, you may be very healthy if you are thriving. So, the modern definition of health is ‘to thrive despite adversity’. To continue to lead a meaningful life, to be optimistic even with your limitations, to be hopeful with positive energy is to thrive. And we can all thrive despite our back pain, our diminished hearing or leg brace with wobbly knee. The same may be said for those with Down’s syndrome or on an autistic spectrum or indeed chronically depressed; to be healthy is to thrive despite adversity.
We also know now that the body and mind are interlinked and that physical healing is connected to our strength of will and our openness to possibilities. We know that we can support our own healing as much as Doctors and Nurses can do for us. It is therefore so important that our prayers for healing including ourselves for we all need to sustain our positive energy and resilience in the face of any adversity of body or mind we may face.
So our services offers us the opportunity to bring to mind those who are ill of mind or body and name them. More traditional synagogues will invite congregants upto the pulpit to whisper them in the rabbis’ ear. We however share them aloud with each other so as to find support from each other’s care and concern.
The story is told in the Talmud of Rabbi Yohanan who went to visit his friend Rabbi Hiyya who was ill. Rabbi Yohanan laid his hands upon him and healed him. But then Rabbi Yohanan fell ill himself and Rabbi Hiyya went to visit him. Rabbi Hiyya asked Rabbi Yohanan how he could heal others but not himself? Rabbi Yohanan answered, "Prisoners cannot release themselves from their own confinement."
Prayers for healing enable each of us to help others deal with the reality of their situation. For we may not all heal or heal completely. A friend of mine once told me that she loved the prayer for healing. She prayed it every week for her partner. Her partner had MS however and would never get better. He would never be cured and no amount of praying would change that. She said that she prayed for the strength and compassion to continue to look after her partner. She prayed that her partner would continue to see beauty in the world and to find life worth living.
Healing can mean wholeness, reconciliation, acceptance. It may mean an appreciation of the blessings we do have, despite the physical or mental illness we endure. Healing also refers to reconciliation between loved ones and overcoming pain of conflict. It can mean recovering after grief or loss. If we are caregivers, the prayer for healing brings us renewed compassion and patience for our sacred work. If we are doctors or nurses, the prayer may help us feel strengthened hope and fulfilment in the service and expertise we give to others. As a community, the prayer for healing can remind us that we are all seeking to thrive together, and we can lean on each other for support.
Mi Sh-Berach - May it be Your will, O God and God of our fathers and mothers, to send a complete and speedy healing, a healing of body and a healing of spirit to all who are ill among us.
Heal us God and we shall be healed. Save us and we shall be saved; for it is you we praise. Send relief and healing for all our diseases, our sufferings and our wounds. Blessed are you God who heals the sick – Barukh Atah Adonai Rofe Haholim.
This prayer recited daily but not on Shabbat, since we don’t make requests of God on God’s day of rest, is primarily about the People as a whole and not about individuals. It also equates healing with being saved and ascribes all healing to God and only God. This was more of a medieval mindset that viewed sickness as a flaw that needed the human being to do better if she or he was to be saved by God’s healing powers. The idea that God could heal individuals of course goes back to Moses’ plaintive cry in the Torah when his sister Miriam contracts leprosy. He cries out in what must be the first spontaneous prayer in the Torah, O God, heal her now! El na ref a na la! There may have been plenty of times we have cried out in anxiety and fear over the sickness of a loved one saying in effect, O God, heal them now! Jewish rituals often respond to a human need and a fixed prayer for healing is no exception. So if we don’t think illness is a visitation from God for our sins and that we understand healing is not just down to God, what is it we are actually praying for?
The insertion of the Mi Sh’berach prayer for healing in our services suggests that we need a way to acknowledge our fears and frights over sickness of loved ones and that we know that healing is a complex process involving body and mind as well as reliance on those who are trained as medical and mental practitioners. The British Reform prayerbook introduces the healing prayer this way:
In sickness, I turn to you O God and seek your help. You create the healing powers that flow in the bloodstream of every living creature. You are the source of the knowledge and skill of doctors and nurses and of the dedication it prompts them to give of their best. From you comes the comforting care of my loved ones and the tranquility of spirit which I and they need at this time of distress.
Our understanding of health has changed over the centuries. Whereas health was considered to be a condition of human perfection with all limbs, organs and nerves working to peak condition, we now consider those without limbs or organs or nerve endings to live perfectly healthy lives. Health is no longer a condition of bodily perfection but rather it is a dynamic process of thriving. Whatever your condition, or capability or indeed mental capacity, you may be very healthy if you are thriving. So, the modern definition of health is ‘to thrive despite adversity’. To continue to lead a meaningful life, to be optimistic even with your limitations, to be hopeful with positive energy is to thrive. And we can all thrive despite our back pain, our diminished hearing or leg brace with wobbly knee. The same may be said for those with Down’s syndrome or on an autistic spectrum or indeed chronically depressed; to be healthy is to thrive despite adversity.
We also know now that the body and mind are interlinked and that physical healing is connected to our strength of will and our openness to possibilities. We know that we can support our own healing as much as Doctors and Nurses can do for us. It is therefore so important that our prayers for healing including ourselves for we all need to sustain our positive energy and resilience in the face of any adversity of body or mind we may face.
So our services offers us the opportunity to bring to mind those who are ill of mind or body and name them. More traditional synagogues will invite congregants upto the pulpit to whisper them in the rabbis’ ear. We however share them aloud with each other so as to find support from each other’s care and concern.
The story is told in the Talmud of Rabbi Yohanan who went to visit his friend Rabbi Hiyya who was ill. Rabbi Yohanan laid his hands upon him and healed him. But then Rabbi Yohanan fell ill himself and Rabbi Hiyya went to visit him. Rabbi Hiyya asked Rabbi Yohanan how he could heal others but not himself? Rabbi Yohanan answered, "Prisoners cannot release themselves from their own confinement."
Prayers for healing enable each of us to help others deal with the reality of their situation. For we may not all heal or heal completely. A friend of mine once told me that she loved the prayer for healing. She prayed it every week for her partner. Her partner had MS however and would never get better. He would never be cured and no amount of praying would change that. She said that she prayed for the strength and compassion to continue to look after her partner. She prayed that her partner would continue to see beauty in the world and to find life worth living.
Healing can mean wholeness, reconciliation, acceptance. It may mean an appreciation of the blessings we do have, despite the physical or mental illness we endure. Healing also refers to reconciliation between loved ones and overcoming pain of conflict. It can mean recovering after grief or loss. If we are caregivers, the prayer for healing brings us renewed compassion and patience for our sacred work. If we are doctors or nurses, the prayer may help us feel strengthened hope and fulfilment in the service and expertise we give to others. As a community, the prayer for healing can remind us that we are all seeking to thrive together, and we can lean on each other for support.
Mi Sh-Berach - May it be Your will, O God and God of our fathers and mothers, to send a complete and speedy healing, a healing of body and a healing of spirit to all who are ill among us.
Shabbat Service Central Reform Temple
August 12, 2022
Rabbi Dr Michael J Shire
Rest Assured*
Rabbi Elimelech and Rabbi Zusha loved the feel of the holiness of Shabbat every week, from its beginning to its end. Rabbi Elimelech said to Rabbi Zusha: “Brother, we should put this Shabbat feeling to the test to see if it’s a genuine feeling that comes from God. Because if it’s not, then our worship of God is also not genuine.”
“Brother,” Zusha replied, “What should we do about it? How can we put Shabbat to the test?” Elimelech replied, “We should hold a Shabbat dinner, authentic in every detail, on a weekday, and we should sit among our friends and talk Torah. If we feel the sanctity of Shabbat, we will know that our way is not one of truth. But if we feel nothing, that will prove that our way is true.”
They did just that. On a weekday they held a Shabbat dinner, dressed in their best clothes and sat with other their friends to discuss Torah. They immediately had the same feeling of the holiness of Shabbat that they would feel on a real Shabbat. The next time they met, Rabbi Elimelech said: “So, brother, we failed the test, what are we going to do?” Rabbi Zusha suggested that they to consult with their rebbe, the Magid of Mezrich. They went together and shared their concern with him. The Maggid told them: “If you made a Shabbat dinner and put on Shabbat clothes then it’s only natural that you felt the holiness of Shabbat. You didn’t fail the test, you in fact proved that Shabbat feelings have the power to spread the light of the holiness of Shabbat whenever we need them. It is people that make the day holy not just the things we do to make Shabbat, so you have no reason at all to be worried.” You did not fail but rather you succeeded.
This Hasidic story retold by Martin Buber seems deceptively simplistic but at its core is the fundamental philosophical speculation of how we control our own time and control of the world around us.
Perhaps the single most practical thing Judaism has offered to the world, is the distinction between the working week and a day of rest. This concept of Shabbat first conceptualized in the Hebrew Bible has been applied by every Civilization through the ages to provide a cessation in the unceasing drive to have, to own and to obtain more! For as Abraham Joshua Heschel stated in his Classic work, ‘The Sabbath’, Shabbat is rather a time to be, to become, to be open to wonder. As we all struggle with the boundaries of work and rest, blurring that distinction has only been exacerbated by the devices and machines we are addicted to, what a gift Shabbat can be to all of us. To cut back on consumerism, to take a break from addictive behaviours, to give the natural world some breathing space and rekindle attention to relationships in our lives. Shabbat is a much needed universal gift to all people. It was in fact immigrant Jewish workers in 1908 in a New England mill that first demanded and won a five day working week.
But before we give Shabbat away to everyone else, we need to understand and honour it’s meaning in our own community. That has been difficult because so many of us were taught the notion of a coercive Sabbath – one where we were required to give up everyday things and activities. The Talmud cites 39 types of activity to cease on Shabbat. A new book by Professor Nehemia Polen entitled ‘Stop, Look, Listen’ offers a different perspective on the notion of a day of rest. Polen argues that Shabbat is far from restful – there is so much to prepare, perform and do as prescribed by Jewish custom. So rather than thinking of it as a day of rest, Polen suggests we honour this Jewish gift of Sabbath by overcoming anxiety and tension; to stop, look and listen and allow Shabbos to let you rest assured . How can we make a Sabbath of Peace for ourselves?
Shabbat is a time for the hear and now, not the far away. It is coming home from a journey and sinking into that favorite sofa or armchair. It is looking with fresh eyes at everything around us and listening anew to those we love, to beautiful sounds of music or birdsong and to our own inner voice.
Shabbat is introduced to us in the Torah one month after the Exodus from Egypt. The Matza that was baked on leaving is running out and there is little food in the wilderness. So God sends Manna from heaven to sustain the people. We are told that on the 6th day they are to collect a double portion which is to last over the Sabbath. This is why Jews traditionally have two challot on their Shabbat table. The preparing, settling in, finding nourishment are the original sources for the meaning of Shabbat. Shabbat is not simply rest but rather awareness and attention to what really matters in your life and how to recover its meaning and purpose at week’s end. To rest assured.
Shabbat is a clearing of space and time that opens the heart to blessing and holiness, to transcendent presence. It’s purpose is to enhance dispositions of joy, gratitude, hospitality, generosity, kindness, acceptance, appreciation, optimism and hope. Don’t worry about the Do’s and Don’t’s of traditional practices. Think rather of the feelings that Shabbat engenders as Rabbis Elimelech and Zusha discovered can appear with the correct spiritual intention. There is an incredible lightness of being as we yield to an inwardness for the sake of higher pursuits and transcendent values.
Shabbat is a gift, a unique Jewish gift though we have shared it with the world. Whether we sit here in our sanctuary, or at home, we can make the best use of this gift by stopping for these moments of peace, looking at something or someone as if for the first time and I find it helpful to look up once in a while particularly if outside, and then listening to our inner voice, dreams and wonderings.
Favour us, O lord, with happiness and peace
And hear our Sabbath prayer. Amen
*Acknowledgement to Rabbi Nehemia Polen for this concept in his book ‘Stop, Look, Listen; Celebrating Shabbos through a Spiritual Lens’, Maggid Books, 2022.
“Brother,” Zusha replied, “What should we do about it? How can we put Shabbat to the test?” Elimelech replied, “We should hold a Shabbat dinner, authentic in every detail, on a weekday, and we should sit among our friends and talk Torah. If we feel the sanctity of Shabbat, we will know that our way is not one of truth. But if we feel nothing, that will prove that our way is true.”
They did just that. On a weekday they held a Shabbat dinner, dressed in their best clothes and sat with other their friends to discuss Torah. They immediately had the same feeling of the holiness of Shabbat that they would feel on a real Shabbat. The next time they met, Rabbi Elimelech said: “So, brother, we failed the test, what are we going to do?” Rabbi Zusha suggested that they to consult with their rebbe, the Magid of Mezrich. They went together and shared their concern with him. The Maggid told them: “If you made a Shabbat dinner and put on Shabbat clothes then it’s only natural that you felt the holiness of Shabbat. You didn’t fail the test, you in fact proved that Shabbat feelings have the power to spread the light of the holiness of Shabbat whenever we need them. It is people that make the day holy not just the things we do to make Shabbat, so you have no reason at all to be worried.” You did not fail but rather you succeeded.
This Hasidic story retold by Martin Buber seems deceptively simplistic but at its core is the fundamental philosophical speculation of how we control our own time and control of the world around us.
Perhaps the single most practical thing Judaism has offered to the world, is the distinction between the working week and a day of rest. This concept of Shabbat first conceptualized in the Hebrew Bible has been applied by every Civilization through the ages to provide a cessation in the unceasing drive to have, to own and to obtain more! For as Abraham Joshua Heschel stated in his Classic work, ‘The Sabbath’, Shabbat is rather a time to be, to become, to be open to wonder. As we all struggle with the boundaries of work and rest, blurring that distinction has only been exacerbated by the devices and machines we are addicted to, what a gift Shabbat can be to all of us. To cut back on consumerism, to take a break from addictive behaviours, to give the natural world some breathing space and rekindle attention to relationships in our lives. Shabbat is a much needed universal gift to all people. It was in fact immigrant Jewish workers in 1908 in a New England mill that first demanded and won a five day working week.
But before we give Shabbat away to everyone else, we need to understand and honour it’s meaning in our own community. That has been difficult because so many of us were taught the notion of a coercive Sabbath – one where we were required to give up everyday things and activities. The Talmud cites 39 types of activity to cease on Shabbat. A new book by Professor Nehemia Polen entitled ‘Stop, Look, Listen’ offers a different perspective on the notion of a day of rest. Polen argues that Shabbat is far from restful – there is so much to prepare, perform and do as prescribed by Jewish custom. So rather than thinking of it as a day of rest, Polen suggests we honour this Jewish gift of Sabbath by overcoming anxiety and tension; to stop, look and listen and allow Shabbos to let you rest assured . How can we make a Sabbath of Peace for ourselves?
Shabbat is a time for the hear and now, not the far away. It is coming home from a journey and sinking into that favorite sofa or armchair. It is looking with fresh eyes at everything around us and listening anew to those we love, to beautiful sounds of music or birdsong and to our own inner voice.
Shabbat is introduced to us in the Torah one month after the Exodus from Egypt. The Matza that was baked on leaving is running out and there is little food in the wilderness. So God sends Manna from heaven to sustain the people. We are told that on the 6th day they are to collect a double portion which is to last over the Sabbath. This is why Jews traditionally have two challot on their Shabbat table. The preparing, settling in, finding nourishment are the original sources for the meaning of Shabbat. Shabbat is not simply rest but rather awareness and attention to what really matters in your life and how to recover its meaning and purpose at week’s end. To rest assured.
Shabbat is a clearing of space and time that opens the heart to blessing and holiness, to transcendent presence. It’s purpose is to enhance dispositions of joy, gratitude, hospitality, generosity, kindness, acceptance, appreciation, optimism and hope. Don’t worry about the Do’s and Don’t’s of traditional practices. Think rather of the feelings that Shabbat engenders as Rabbis Elimelech and Zusha discovered can appear with the correct spiritual intention. There is an incredible lightness of being as we yield to an inwardness for the sake of higher pursuits and transcendent values.
Shabbat is a gift, a unique Jewish gift though we have shared it with the world. Whether we sit here in our sanctuary, or at home, we can make the best use of this gift by stopping for these moments of peace, looking at something or someone as if for the first time and I find it helpful to look up once in a while particularly if outside, and then listening to our inner voice, dreams and wonderings.
Favour us, O lord, with happiness and peace
And hear our Sabbath prayer. Amen
*Acknowledgement to Rabbi Nehemia Polen for this concept in his book ‘Stop, Look, Listen; Celebrating Shabbos through a Spiritual Lens’, Maggid Books, 2022.
Shabbat Service Central Reform Temple
July 22, 2022
Rabbi Dr Michael J Shire
To Build and to be Built Up
As some of you may know, I have just returned from Israel as part of a Rabbinic Leadership Seminar at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. 150 rabbis of all shades – Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Renewal and Reform gathering together to deliberate on the nature of Liberal Zionism and its connection to Judaism.
I have been travelling and visiting Israel for 50 years. My parents took me on my first family visit at Pesach 1973 which was of course just months before the Yom Kippur war that year. I went back on my own every few years after that working the land, digging the archaeological treasures and studying at the Hebrew University. It was a time to build and to be built up by those experiences; livnot u’l’hibanot. For me coming from cold England, it was experiencing for the first time a country in the Tropics. There was a actually a hamsin – a hot sand storm raging as we got off the plane and walked to the terminal in the old Lod Airport. To enter the ancient streets of Jerusalem, Acco, Caesarea with the Bible in mind was particularly exciting heightened by having read those famous novels of the ‘70s – James Michener’s the Source and Leon Uris, Exodus. It was also seeing a country in development, where absorption of immigrants was a huge task as the population kept doubling every decade with housing, roads, agriculture and making the desert bloom. Most especially it was meeting cousins for the first time, of whom our shared grandparents had all left Germany in 1938 and never seen each other again, let alone their children or grandchildren. These were sweet encounters of adults and children speaking different languages but celebrating Pesach together at a kibbutz seder with all of the agricultural and biblical significance heightened and understanding what a festival of freedom meant to Jews who had escaped Europe to find a home in a sovereign Jewish state. It really seemed to bring to life the words of our prayerbook – Ki M’tzion tetze Torah u’dvar Adonai Yerushalayim – For out of Zion shall come forth Torah and the word of God from Jerusalem.
However the innocence of that teen experience belies the current realities of today’s Zionism and the geopolitical reality that we all need to address for everyone – Jews and Palestinians in that shared land. One on the one hand we are the generation blessed to live in a time when there is a Jewish State after 2000 years. On the other hand, it is upto us to ensure that State represents the Judaism that we have struggled to maintain over those 2000 years.
Our seminar addressed this very theme: To what question is Israel now an answer to? The questions that early Zionism sought an answer to were; how to keep Jews safe and and how to give Jews sovereign power over their own destiny. In many ways that Zionist project has been successful and largely answered these two questions in less than a 100 years. For those who witnessed the birth of the State, the ingathering of the refugees from Europe and Arab countries and those who share in the memory of the fragility of keeping it alive, this is quite remarkable. I do so wish we could sit back and enjoy it as it is.
But there are now other questions for which Israel has to become an answer. This is now the work of a Liberal Zionism and is probably the most crucial challenge of 21st century Judaism.
There is the question of the moral use of the sovereign power that Israel now holds. This is perhaps the most troubling aspect of our aspirations for Zionism. To be a Sovereign People was not to rule over others and indeed take away their rights and historic claims to the land. During our Covid shutdown I read the historical account of 1948 as told by historian Benny Morris. There is much to know and relearn about the ways in which the Zionist project succeeded and how we got to the Middle East conflict today. Much like our rethinking here of the birth of European occupation on the American Continent with the 1619 project, enslavement of people of colour and genocide of native Americans, Zionists have to come to terms with the impact of the success of our Sovereign power and find an answer to those moral questions.
There is the question of the position of the Jewish people vis a vis the State. Engagement with Israel is one of the most active projects of the organized Jewish community – From birthright trips to family visits and next year for Israel’s 75th anniversary, CJP has organized trips for hundreds of Jews from Boston to visit. Whether these engagement projects with Israel are having the impact they want is still in doubt? Last year’s public letter from students in all of the American rabbinic schools criticizing Israel’s actions reflects the growing dissatisfaction from future American leaders with Israeli government policy and the 50 year military occupation of conquered territory. We have yet to answer the question of the relationship of the worldwide Jewish People with the State.
There is the question of the place of diversity of Jewish practice and belief in the Jewish state. While I was there, Zoe, the granddaughter of our colleague Cantor Louise Treitman was interrupted in her Batmitzvah ceremony at the Kotel – the Western Wall by a nasty group of haredi – ultra Orthodox followers tearing up siddurim and loudly disturbing poor Zoe’s Torah reading. The Rabbanut in Israel wields ungodly power over the lives of people being born, marrying, getting divorced and dying. This is a real scandal of the State that needs to be dismantled from the arrangement that David Ben Gurion set up in 1948. Yet, last Shabbat I was in Caesarea overlooking the cobalt blue Mediterranean with hundreds of secular Israelis who had turned up for a Kabbalat Shabbat service on the beach organized by the local Reform synagogue. With a woman rabbi and a lively band playing, the sun set over the Med as everyone turned towards the West as we sang Lecha Dodi!
Then there is the major question of two peoples living in one land. Up to now those on the left have advocated for a two state solution which has gone nowhere under the current leadership on all sides. However, there is now emerging from the grass roots, a new concept of confederation much like the European Union where commerce, free movement of labour, monetary policy can all be governed by an Abrahamic Union of Jews and Palestinians. Former Israeli President Rivlin spoke of 4 tribes now occupying this land; secular Jewish Zionists, religious Zionists, Palestinian Arabs and ultraorthodox Jews and they are all now mixed up together. As I heard it from ordinary people in all of these groups, physical borders delineating peoples is an outdated form of Nationalism. Identities and cultural differences can be distinguished by different kinds of divisions in one geographic entity, as long as, as a Palestinian told me, there is dignity for all and the opportunity to put bread on the table for all. I visited one such attempt at confederation in an area South of Jerusalem where an Israeli town, an ultra orthodox Jewish settlement and a Palestinian village are cooperating together for the first time, economically, socially, commercially and in terms of their mutual security. It was truly an inspiring concept and interestingly they all hold equal disdain for their respective governments and authorities. This bottom up approach seems to hold some hope for a growing coexistence, much like it did in Northern Ireland as Catholic and Protestant mothers and wives forced the political reconciliation that has held for 30 years. Is this an answer to the question of two peoples living together in one land for as a settler rabbi expressed it; the land does not belong to us, we all belong to the land.
Finally, there is the question of the Jewish dream. It was Herzl who famously declared ‘if you will it, it is no dream’ - Im tirzu – ayn zo agada. Within 50 years of that statement, a Jewish State was born with a revived language and literature and renaissance of Jewish culture and Israeli know how and technology in a Start-up Nation. But for the young teenager now growing Jewishly what is there left to build and to be built up by? What is the Jewish dream today that will inspire and create new vistas and have answers to both our Jewish and Universal values for all Peoples. How will we bring holiness from this narrow strip of land bridging Europe, Asia and Africa that has been the answer to questions of Jews, Christians and Muslims over thousands of years. Could this be a place where humanity can dream a better world together and turn those dreams into reality. Can an Abrahamic Union be an answer to that question? We pray for the day when Torah will truly come forth from Zion and the words of God from Jerusalem.
I have been travelling and visiting Israel for 50 years. My parents took me on my first family visit at Pesach 1973 which was of course just months before the Yom Kippur war that year. I went back on my own every few years after that working the land, digging the archaeological treasures and studying at the Hebrew University. It was a time to build and to be built up by those experiences; livnot u’l’hibanot. For me coming from cold England, it was experiencing for the first time a country in the Tropics. There was a actually a hamsin – a hot sand storm raging as we got off the plane and walked to the terminal in the old Lod Airport. To enter the ancient streets of Jerusalem, Acco, Caesarea with the Bible in mind was particularly exciting heightened by having read those famous novels of the ‘70s – James Michener’s the Source and Leon Uris, Exodus. It was also seeing a country in development, where absorption of immigrants was a huge task as the population kept doubling every decade with housing, roads, agriculture and making the desert bloom. Most especially it was meeting cousins for the first time, of whom our shared grandparents had all left Germany in 1938 and never seen each other again, let alone their children or grandchildren. These were sweet encounters of adults and children speaking different languages but celebrating Pesach together at a kibbutz seder with all of the agricultural and biblical significance heightened and understanding what a festival of freedom meant to Jews who had escaped Europe to find a home in a sovereign Jewish state. It really seemed to bring to life the words of our prayerbook – Ki M’tzion tetze Torah u’dvar Adonai Yerushalayim – For out of Zion shall come forth Torah and the word of God from Jerusalem.
However the innocence of that teen experience belies the current realities of today’s Zionism and the geopolitical reality that we all need to address for everyone – Jews and Palestinians in that shared land. One on the one hand we are the generation blessed to live in a time when there is a Jewish State after 2000 years. On the other hand, it is upto us to ensure that State represents the Judaism that we have struggled to maintain over those 2000 years.
Our seminar addressed this very theme: To what question is Israel now an answer to? The questions that early Zionism sought an answer to were; how to keep Jews safe and and how to give Jews sovereign power over their own destiny. In many ways that Zionist project has been successful and largely answered these two questions in less than a 100 years. For those who witnessed the birth of the State, the ingathering of the refugees from Europe and Arab countries and those who share in the memory of the fragility of keeping it alive, this is quite remarkable. I do so wish we could sit back and enjoy it as it is.
But there are now other questions for which Israel has to become an answer. This is now the work of a Liberal Zionism and is probably the most crucial challenge of 21st century Judaism.
There is the question of the moral use of the sovereign power that Israel now holds. This is perhaps the most troubling aspect of our aspirations for Zionism. To be a Sovereign People was not to rule over others and indeed take away their rights and historic claims to the land. During our Covid shutdown I read the historical account of 1948 as told by historian Benny Morris. There is much to know and relearn about the ways in which the Zionist project succeeded and how we got to the Middle East conflict today. Much like our rethinking here of the birth of European occupation on the American Continent with the 1619 project, enslavement of people of colour and genocide of native Americans, Zionists have to come to terms with the impact of the success of our Sovereign power and find an answer to those moral questions.
There is the question of the position of the Jewish people vis a vis the State. Engagement with Israel is one of the most active projects of the organized Jewish community – From birthright trips to family visits and next year for Israel’s 75th anniversary, CJP has organized trips for hundreds of Jews from Boston to visit. Whether these engagement projects with Israel are having the impact they want is still in doubt? Last year’s public letter from students in all of the American rabbinic schools criticizing Israel’s actions reflects the growing dissatisfaction from future American leaders with Israeli government policy and the 50 year military occupation of conquered territory. We have yet to answer the question of the relationship of the worldwide Jewish People with the State.
There is the question of the place of diversity of Jewish practice and belief in the Jewish state. While I was there, Zoe, the granddaughter of our colleague Cantor Louise Treitman was interrupted in her Batmitzvah ceremony at the Kotel – the Western Wall by a nasty group of haredi – ultra Orthodox followers tearing up siddurim and loudly disturbing poor Zoe’s Torah reading. The Rabbanut in Israel wields ungodly power over the lives of people being born, marrying, getting divorced and dying. This is a real scandal of the State that needs to be dismantled from the arrangement that David Ben Gurion set up in 1948. Yet, last Shabbat I was in Caesarea overlooking the cobalt blue Mediterranean with hundreds of secular Israelis who had turned up for a Kabbalat Shabbat service on the beach organized by the local Reform synagogue. With a woman rabbi and a lively band playing, the sun set over the Med as everyone turned towards the West as we sang Lecha Dodi!
Then there is the major question of two peoples living in one land. Up to now those on the left have advocated for a two state solution which has gone nowhere under the current leadership on all sides. However, there is now emerging from the grass roots, a new concept of confederation much like the European Union where commerce, free movement of labour, monetary policy can all be governed by an Abrahamic Union of Jews and Palestinians. Former Israeli President Rivlin spoke of 4 tribes now occupying this land; secular Jewish Zionists, religious Zionists, Palestinian Arabs and ultraorthodox Jews and they are all now mixed up together. As I heard it from ordinary people in all of these groups, physical borders delineating peoples is an outdated form of Nationalism. Identities and cultural differences can be distinguished by different kinds of divisions in one geographic entity, as long as, as a Palestinian told me, there is dignity for all and the opportunity to put bread on the table for all. I visited one such attempt at confederation in an area South of Jerusalem where an Israeli town, an ultra orthodox Jewish settlement and a Palestinian village are cooperating together for the first time, economically, socially, commercially and in terms of their mutual security. It was truly an inspiring concept and interestingly they all hold equal disdain for their respective governments and authorities. This bottom up approach seems to hold some hope for a growing coexistence, much like it did in Northern Ireland as Catholic and Protestant mothers and wives forced the political reconciliation that has held for 30 years. Is this an answer to the question of two peoples living together in one land for as a settler rabbi expressed it; the land does not belong to us, we all belong to the land.
Finally, there is the question of the Jewish dream. It was Herzl who famously declared ‘if you will it, it is no dream’ - Im tirzu – ayn zo agada. Within 50 years of that statement, a Jewish State was born with a revived language and literature and renaissance of Jewish culture and Israeli know how and technology in a Start-up Nation. But for the young teenager now growing Jewishly what is there left to build and to be built up by? What is the Jewish dream today that will inspire and create new vistas and have answers to both our Jewish and Universal values for all Peoples. How will we bring holiness from this narrow strip of land bridging Europe, Asia and Africa that has been the answer to questions of Jews, Christians and Muslims over thousands of years. Could this be a place where humanity can dream a better world together and turn those dreams into reality. Can an Abrahamic Union be an answer to that question? We pray for the day when Torah will truly come forth from Zion and the words of God from Jerusalem.
Inaugural Service Central Reform Temple
July 1, 2022
Rabbi Dr Michael J Shire
Holiness is Becoming
I'm delighted to be with you on this first of July and my inaugural service at Central Reform Temple. The 1st of July is an appropriate moment for a new transition. However it happens to also fall on the Torah portion of Korach in the book of Numbers. Korach, the rebel, who tries to undermine the leader of the community, Moses, and inspires an insurrection, which fails dramatically when God opens up the ground to swallow up Korach and his followers. I hope this is not symbolic for our new beginning together! But there is a message here in the Torah for all of us. Korah complains to Moses that he is setting himself up above the ordinary people and quoting the book of Leviticus, which is of course the Torah that Moses has shared with the people, suggests that all the people are holy, not just Moses and Aaron. For Leviticus 19 states, K’edoshim tiyu – You shall be holy for I your God am holy. This Korach suggests that all the people have been given a holy task and that Moses should not aggrandize himself above them.
Korah however has misunderstood an important component of Leviticus 19. It does not say, all the people are holy. Rather it says K’doshim tiyu – You shall be holy… It is rather a call to become holy though action, belief and character. Korah thought, after Sinai and revelation, the work was done and now the people could revel in their freedom and liberty. But he, like others in our contemporary society, should have understood that in Leviticus 19 God says they are not special by virtue of being part of this holy community, it's not that they're special because they were born a certain way, it's not that they're special because they align themselves with the Torah but rather it is a call to become something special. it's a call to do better, to find a way to make everyday special, every relationship special, every sacred encounter exceptional. It takes work and effort to do the holy work that is required.
There is a cartoon pinned on my colleague’s door at Hebrew College. The top panel depicts a rabbi exhorting his congregation with the words, who wants change? In the congregation, everyone’s hand is up enthusiastically! In the bottom panel, the rabbi is asking, ‘Who wants to change’? Everyone in the congregation is looking sheepishly away!
K’doshim Tiyu seems to me to be a wonderful way to begin this very special relationship between Rabbi and congregation. I have always thought of a congregation having three pillars; Beit Midrash, Beit Tefila, Beit Knesset – House of Learning, House of Prayer and a House of Fellowship. In fact, my first errand after receiving Devon and Dick’s call to become your rabbi was to go to Staples and find a note book with tabs. That way, I can keep notes under each Bayit -each house or pillar of the congregational work. As a teacher I love the work of the Beit Midrash – the house of learning. Together we can uncover the wisdom of a 2500 year old literary tradition with all of its interpretations and hidden meanings still to be uncovered. The work of the Beit Tefila – the house of prayer will take place here in this sacred space drawing upon ancient and contemporary liturgy but perhaps most importantly the service of our heart. I look to Andrew and our wonderful singers to enhance our worship with their beautiful music and voices that “ascend the brightest heaven of invention”! The Beit Knesset – the house of fellowship is the heart of our community. One that I hope will always be a place of fellowship and support for all who enter and I look forward to becoming part of it.
What I quickly learned was that there are actually more than just three pillars of this community. Rev Pam brought me upto speed on what I am calling a Beit Shituf – A House of Partnership and Sacred Covenant and Jill introduced me to the work of the Emanuel Center and what I will call the Beit Tikkun – the House of repair and restoration of human dignity. I was fortunate that Staples’ notebooks have multiple tabs!!
I know how the community that has been built here over many years through different leaders and rabbinic spiritual guides particularly recently through the sterling work of Rabbi Howard Kosofsky. How important it has been for these friendships to be nurtured, developed, supported and enhanced during these difficult two plus years. Members of the congregation and particularly the Board of Trustees have spent themselves in the service of this Beit Knesset over these last two years and they deserve our appreciation and gratitude so that we can be here today to continue the good work.
But we cannot rest on our laurels. Kedoshim Tiyu! Benjamin Zander, The Boston based orchestra conductor tells the famous story of the rabbi’s gift in his book, The Art of Possibility. This is the story of the monastery that has fallen on hard times and no longer attracts visitors to pray or monks to work in the monastery gardens. The Abbot unsure of what to do, goes to the local rabbi to seek some advice but the rabbi has none to give. However as the Abbot is about to leave, the rabbi offers a gift of wisdom and suggests that one of the monks might very well be the messiah. Returning to the monastery and relaying the wisdom of the rabbi to his community, the monks begin to wonder, which one of us could very well be the messiah and they treat each other with greater generosity and kindness. Word spreads that the monastery is a warm and appreciative community, caring for each other with extraordinary gentleness and empathy. Visitors come again to stay and learn, new monks are eager to join and the community is rebuilt and restored to greater heights than before. As we build on the strengths of the past, we will continue to develop our capacities of support, empathy, kindness and responsibility for others.
Building Sacred community is our work to do together and we have three great teachings of the Hebrew Bible that have so inspired Western Civilization to guide us. That we are all created in the image of God – b’zelem elohim, is an obligation to respect and celebrate our diversity; of colour, of gender, of sexuality, of faith. To love our neigbour as ourself – ve’ahavta l’reacha camocha is to reach out beyond ourselves with empathy and kindness and that tzedek tzedek tirdorf – to go out and pursue justice so that all can receive the blessings of life, health and dignity in an uncompleted world. We have seen this past week how we cannot take these three principles for granted. We will have to continue to work for justice for women’s reproductive health, for the health of our planet, for the democratic principles that have developed and expanded liberty for the past 250 years in this country. We follow these principles in conjunction with our sacred partners at Emmanuel Church and know that we are interdependent with all faiths to bring about a more just society here and everywhere. As we try and navigate our way in a changing world tossed by the storms domestically and internationally, we need to keep anchored to these fundamental principles and values of our age old faith. So like Moses and Aaron in this week’s parasha, we will not be cowered by those who believe only they hold absolute truth. Rather we will take up the fight and resist their insurrection against our democratic and Torah values.
So as we go on this new journey together and receive the blessings of this sacred community, let us renew our commitment to work for holiness together so that we can hold firm to our values, enact them for the repair of the world around us and treat each other and those we love and know with extra kindness and love. After all, one of us might just be the messiah!
The Jewish ideal is a sacred community.
The successful beginning then, is not to find God in an instant, or even a day or a month or a year.
Sacred community begins with a modest but firm commitment to the project of our generation.
To transcend ethnicity and seek out the Holy in such things as the ways we speak, the blessings we say, the truths we discover and the homes we have or seek to find.
Sacred Community is not just what we want. It is what we need.
and it beckons us now more than ever to return, to find it.
Korah however has misunderstood an important component of Leviticus 19. It does not say, all the people are holy. Rather it says K’doshim tiyu – You shall be holy… It is rather a call to become holy though action, belief and character. Korah thought, after Sinai and revelation, the work was done and now the people could revel in their freedom and liberty. But he, like others in our contemporary society, should have understood that in Leviticus 19 God says they are not special by virtue of being part of this holy community, it's not that they're special because they were born a certain way, it's not that they're special because they align themselves with the Torah but rather it is a call to become something special. it's a call to do better, to find a way to make everyday special, every relationship special, every sacred encounter exceptional. It takes work and effort to do the holy work that is required.
There is a cartoon pinned on my colleague’s door at Hebrew College. The top panel depicts a rabbi exhorting his congregation with the words, who wants change? In the congregation, everyone’s hand is up enthusiastically! In the bottom panel, the rabbi is asking, ‘Who wants to change’? Everyone in the congregation is looking sheepishly away!
K’doshim Tiyu seems to me to be a wonderful way to begin this very special relationship between Rabbi and congregation. I have always thought of a congregation having three pillars; Beit Midrash, Beit Tefila, Beit Knesset – House of Learning, House of Prayer and a House of Fellowship. In fact, my first errand after receiving Devon and Dick’s call to become your rabbi was to go to Staples and find a note book with tabs. That way, I can keep notes under each Bayit -each house or pillar of the congregational work. As a teacher I love the work of the Beit Midrash – the house of learning. Together we can uncover the wisdom of a 2500 year old literary tradition with all of its interpretations and hidden meanings still to be uncovered. The work of the Beit Tefila – the house of prayer will take place here in this sacred space drawing upon ancient and contemporary liturgy but perhaps most importantly the service of our heart. I look to Andrew and our wonderful singers to enhance our worship with their beautiful music and voices that “ascend the brightest heaven of invention”! The Beit Knesset – the house of fellowship is the heart of our community. One that I hope will always be a place of fellowship and support for all who enter and I look forward to becoming part of it.
What I quickly learned was that there are actually more than just three pillars of this community. Rev Pam brought me upto speed on what I am calling a Beit Shituf – A House of Partnership and Sacred Covenant and Jill introduced me to the work of the Emanuel Center and what I will call the Beit Tikkun – the House of repair and restoration of human dignity. I was fortunate that Staples’ notebooks have multiple tabs!!
I know how the community that has been built here over many years through different leaders and rabbinic spiritual guides particularly recently through the sterling work of Rabbi Howard Kosofsky. How important it has been for these friendships to be nurtured, developed, supported and enhanced during these difficult two plus years. Members of the congregation and particularly the Board of Trustees have spent themselves in the service of this Beit Knesset over these last two years and they deserve our appreciation and gratitude so that we can be here today to continue the good work.
But we cannot rest on our laurels. Kedoshim Tiyu! Benjamin Zander, The Boston based orchestra conductor tells the famous story of the rabbi’s gift in his book, The Art of Possibility. This is the story of the monastery that has fallen on hard times and no longer attracts visitors to pray or monks to work in the monastery gardens. The Abbot unsure of what to do, goes to the local rabbi to seek some advice but the rabbi has none to give. However as the Abbot is about to leave, the rabbi offers a gift of wisdom and suggests that one of the monks might very well be the messiah. Returning to the monastery and relaying the wisdom of the rabbi to his community, the monks begin to wonder, which one of us could very well be the messiah and they treat each other with greater generosity and kindness. Word spreads that the monastery is a warm and appreciative community, caring for each other with extraordinary gentleness and empathy. Visitors come again to stay and learn, new monks are eager to join and the community is rebuilt and restored to greater heights than before. As we build on the strengths of the past, we will continue to develop our capacities of support, empathy, kindness and responsibility for others.
Building Sacred community is our work to do together and we have three great teachings of the Hebrew Bible that have so inspired Western Civilization to guide us. That we are all created in the image of God – b’zelem elohim, is an obligation to respect and celebrate our diversity; of colour, of gender, of sexuality, of faith. To love our neigbour as ourself – ve’ahavta l’reacha camocha is to reach out beyond ourselves with empathy and kindness and that tzedek tzedek tirdorf – to go out and pursue justice so that all can receive the blessings of life, health and dignity in an uncompleted world. We have seen this past week how we cannot take these three principles for granted. We will have to continue to work for justice for women’s reproductive health, for the health of our planet, for the democratic principles that have developed and expanded liberty for the past 250 years in this country. We follow these principles in conjunction with our sacred partners at Emmanuel Church and know that we are interdependent with all faiths to bring about a more just society here and everywhere. As we try and navigate our way in a changing world tossed by the storms domestically and internationally, we need to keep anchored to these fundamental principles and values of our age old faith. So like Moses and Aaron in this week’s parasha, we will not be cowered by those who believe only they hold absolute truth. Rather we will take up the fight and resist their insurrection against our democratic and Torah values.
So as we go on this new journey together and receive the blessings of this sacred community, let us renew our commitment to work for holiness together so that we can hold firm to our values, enact them for the repair of the world around us and treat each other and those we love and know with extra kindness and love. After all, one of us might just be the messiah!
The Jewish ideal is a sacred community.
The successful beginning then, is not to find God in an instant, or even a day or a month or a year.
Sacred community begins with a modest but firm commitment to the project of our generation.
To transcend ethnicity and seek out the Holy in such things as the ways we speak, the blessings we say, the truths we discover and the homes we have or seek to find.
Sacred Community is not just what we want. It is what we need.
and it beckons us now more than ever to return, to find it.
