Rabbi's Chronicles

Pride in One's Work

2009-07-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

When I was a student in rabbinical school in Cincinnati, I wrote the annual Purim spoof. A few years after I left Cincinnati and was an ordained rabbi, a friend happened to tell me about that year’s play and said, “Stuart, it was even funnier than anything you ever wrote.” As they described the play to me, I realized that in fact, the play was one I had written several years earlier for our class in Jerusalem. I was somewhat disappointed that it was being performed without proper attribution.

Fast forward a few years later.

I was visiting family in Miami when my sister-in-law returned from a baby naming and told me that the rabbi had read a beautiful and moving poem at the ceremony. She proceeded to show me the booklet with the poem that had been used in the service. Imagine my surprise when I read the poem and realized it was one I had written when my oldest son, Ezra, was born.

I mention these incidents because recently, a congregant told me about a sermon they heard delivered by a rabbi from a nearby synagogue in our area. As the member was telling me about the topic of the sermon, I realized that I had already read the sermon. It was written by someone else, not the rabbi who delivered it.

I cannot help but feel disappointed when colleagues deliver a sermon they have not written as if it was an original piece of work. Unfortunately, with the advent of the internet, this is becoming more commonplace. Some justify it by the many demands on our job and pulls on our time. But congregants rightfully feel robbed of authenticity when work that is not original is presented as if it were. My personal feeling is that if that is the case and a sermon written by someone else is delivered, then they should indicate this and give attribution.

Traditional Jewish sources place an emphasis on quoting “b’shem omro,” in the name of the one who spoke. The rabbis were meticulous about insisting on this. When you read a passage of the Talmud, sometimes you go through three or four names before you get to the actual text because so many rabbis are citing their teachers and other rabbis. They discuss the sin of genavat da’at, plagiarizing, long before copyright laws or Nilli Vanilli were around.

People occasionally ask me how I go about preparing a sermon. I relish the challenge of sharing with congregants the message of Judaism as it applies to our lives and of how it speaks to me. I prefer the old fashioned way of looking in books, although I do use the internet for some of my research. If it is for the weekly Shabbat service, I usually begin by reading the section of the Torah we will be reading that particular week, along with commentaries from between six - twelve different books. I also read a wide variety of newspapers, journals, magazines, books and articles of a religious as well as secular nature, (not to mention my collection of books of humor). Sometimes I already have an idea of what I want to speak about and will look to see if there is a way to tie the theme or topic into that week’s Torah reading, and sometimes the idea will emerge from the text or a commentary I have read.

The High Holidays are a much longer and more arduous process. I think about High Holiday sermons and collect articles and potential topics all year round and in the upcoming months I will begin working on the themes I want to address this coming year. I find that it takes anywhere between 20 – 40 hours to write, research and edit each of the six sermons I give on the High Holidays. It is intense, but gratifying to impart a message from our tradition at a time when people are receptive and anxious to be inspired or touched.

I often feel as if I am painting a picture and think of it as creating a work of art. And as true of any work of art, while imitation may be the highest form of flattery, we especially value and appreciate original art more than reproductions.

Prayer for Educaton

2009-05-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

Governor Martin O’Malley recently asked me to participate in the “National Day of Prayer.” I was asked to write a prayer for education. Here is the prayer I wrote and delivered on May 7, 2009.

We gather together today to pray for our nation and our community, for the well-being of the citizens and people of this great state.

We pray for guidance.
We ask that You accompany us and walk with us on our quest to find solutions to that which ails our society.

Help us find the answers to overcome the afflictions and challenges we face and to dispel the darkness of ignorance that can so easily engulf and overwhelm us.

Strengthen the will and resolve of those who teach.
Make them worthy instruments, conveyors and conduits of Your wisdom --

Help us to appreciate the generosity of their spirit and the importance of their work.
May we see and recognize the long hours and effort they expend to disseminate knowledge and how they thereby uplift and enrich and improve the lot of all.

Grant blessing to the students and disciples, as well:
to all who study, to all who engage in research and the pursuit of knowledge.

For Education is the key to unlocking the potential inside each and every one of God’s creatures.

Education is the key to enlightenment, to ameliorating suffering and to eradicating poverty, ignorance and prejudice.
Education opens new vistas, expands our horizons and gives birth to new worlds and endless possibilities and opportunities.

The Talmud asks: Who is wise?
And then answers its own question: One who learns from every human being.

So we pray:
May we be wise.
May we wise enough to learn from anyone and from everyone.

May the words of wisdom be sweet in our mouths and in the mouths of all your children so that all who engage in study shall find grace and fulfillment.

In the words of the ancient, yet contemporary Amidah prayer recited three times every day by Jews around the world:

Atah honen leadam da’at, You graciously endow mortals with intelligence, wisdom and understanding. Grant us knowledge, insights and discernment.
Baruch Atah Adonai, Praised are You, Lord, honen haDa’at, who graciously grants the gift of intelligence, knowledge and wisdom to all.

Letter to Director of Theater J

2009-04-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. Roth,

I have been reading about the controversy over the production, “Seven Jewish Children.” I find it most disturbing that our local JCC would want to put on a play with such negative portrayals of Israelis and Jews and such harsh judgment. Why not just put on a dramatization of “Protocols of the Elders of Zion?” There are more than enough people who hate Jews. We do not need to aid their causing by giving them extra ammunition. This play, which originally premiered in England, was deemed anti-Semitic by a theater in Ireland. It is beyond me why our own JCC would put on a production that is considered too toxic and anti-Semitic for a European venue. The fact that the author wanted all contributions to go to a fund for Palestinian children says a great deal about the orientation of the author and the intent of the play.

I would hope that more careful consideration is given to the impact of staging anti-Semitic plays.

Attack in Venezuela

2009-03-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

After the recent attack and ransacking of a synagogue in Caracas, Venezuela, I went with another rabbi to the Venezuelan Embassy to meet with representatives of the government. We met with the Charge D’Affaires since there is currently no Venezuelan Ambassador here in Washington, as he was expelled sometime last year.

The attack was not the first time that the Jews in Chavez’s Venezuela have felt the brunt of anti-Semitism and been subjected to violent attacks. Chavez has issued highly inflammatory statements critical of Israel and has embraced, both literally and figuratively, Iran’s Jew hating president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. We stated our belief that there is a connection between the highly inflammatory anti-Semitic rhetoric of Chavez and the atmosphere created by him.

I opened the meeting by telling the diplomats, “A midrash (a commentary on the Bible) likens the Jewish people to a lamb. It tells us that the lamb is a very delicate animal and that whenever any one part of the lamb is hurting, the entire lamb feels the pain. I then went on to say, “This is why we are here. We are here to express our concern for the plight of our fellow Jews. We are here to protest the way they are being treated. We are here because we feel their pain.”

To me, one of the unique aspects of being a Jew is to understand our responsibility to care for our fellow Jews, especially those who live in repressive countries. In this way, they are never alone, and we are truly a people.

Perhaps that is why it is no wonder that the representative said to us that immediately after the incident occurred, he told his staff to be prepared to hear from representatives of the American Jewish community.

Perhaps he also was aware of the midrash about the lamb.

Israel Ambassador Sallai Meridor

2009-03-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States recently attended Shabbat services at our synagogue, Congregation B'nai Tzedek. He clearly is comfortable in a synagogue – something that unfortunately cannot be said for all Israeli diplomats.

It was truly an honor for us to have him at our services. His message was very a very simple and profound one. Ambassador Meridor told a story about Prime Minister Golda Meir who spoke to a group of American Jewish leaders during the height of the Yom Kippur war. Those of us who remember that time recall that it was a very dark period in Israel’s history, as Israeli troops were caught by surprise and the outcome was not yet definite. Golda told the delegation of American Jewish leaders that the best thing they could do would be, “Keep your children Jewish.”

That message is as true today as it was then. Hearing these words from the soft spoken Ambassador of Israel, especially in the context of a service when we celebrated the bar and bat mitzvah of two children, was especially poignant.

Weather & Elections in Israel

2009-03-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

I recently returned from being in Israel. I was there when elections were held, the first elections which followed the recent campaign Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

The weather on Election Day was a strong downpour. And then, the morning after the elections a heavy fog covered much of the country. I couldn’t help but think the fog was a perfect metaphor – for the meaning and outcome of the elections was like the fog, also not clear.

A journalist friend of mine told me that the day before the election, a friend of his went into the hospital for hear surgery. Right before the operation, the surgeon asked the patient who he was going to vote for. The man, lying on the table, looked up at the doctor and said, “Whoever you are going to vote for.”

Nothing like democracy, even when the outcome is foggy.

Visiting Shuls While on Vacation

2008-05-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Many people tell me they like to visit synagogues when they are out of town or on vacation. I encourage you to do so. It is a great way to meet people and to see how much Jews have in common with each other, regardless of where we live.

While on vacation in Puerto Rico, I attended Friday night services at the Chabad synagogue and at the Conservative shul on Saturday morning. After Friday night services, we had a Shabbat dinner at the shul catered by the Rabbi’s wife. It gave us the chance to meet people from the Island and to enjoy the conversation afterwards. At the Kiddush after Saturday morning services, I met and schmoozed with and many nice people.

The Jewish journey is such that it has carried us through many lands throughout many ages. Some of the people I met told me that they had immigrated to Puerto Rico from Cuba in the 1960’s. Their families had originally come to Cuba as refugees from Turkey, and the Turkish migration was prompted by the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. It is amazing how Jews manage to preserve our identity despite all our travels and travails.

Not only did I enjoy services, have a couple of good meals, learn some history and meet some interesting people, but there was another benefit as well. That night my wife and I went to a local restaurant for dinner. As we were sitting there, in walked some of the folks I had met earlier in the day in shul. They warmly greeted us like old friends. Suddenly, because of going to Shabbat services while on vacation, I no longer felt as if I was a stranger who knew no one in a strange city. I felt connected to both some specific people and to being a part of the Jewish people.

The question, though, is if someone from out of town came and visited our synagogue, would they find you among the “locals” they would meet?

While Having Lunch with my Son

2008-05-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

Sitting in a restaurant having lunch with my son recently, near a Metro stop, I noticed that most people walked by and ignored the Green Peace activists who were attempting to hand out their literature. I told my son that after we finished eating lunch, I was going to go and speak with them since it seemed that no one was giving them the time of day.

He told me that I shouldn’t waste my time on this, but instead could use my time better by studying Torah.

I explained that just that morning I had taught in our Wednesday morning Pirke Avot class the verse which says, “Always greet your fellow human beings with a friendly countenance.” By speaking to them, I was going to fulfill the mitzvah I had just taught earlier in the day.

A Child’s Question

2008-01-30T14:35:00.000-08:00

When I was leading the services for our religious school, a child raised her hand and told me that her parents had told her that Jews constitute less than one percent of the world’s population. She told me she did not believe her parents since it seemed that there were a lot more Jews in the world than that.

Indeed, it is amazing how few Jews there are in the world in light of our impact on society relative to our numbers. The most recent issue of Vogue magazine listed the hundred most influential people in the United States. Rather than the one to three as one would expect based on our percentage of the population, a full 50%, one half of the 100 are Jewish.

So, what did I respond to the little girl? I told her that even though it may not seem that her parents are correct, they are. I also told her how important it is for us to be sure, since we are such a very small minority and we do have such a positive impact on the world, to make sure that the Jewish people continue to survive and thrive.

In a Mall in Virginia

2008-01-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

I happened to be wearing my kippah recently when I was in a shopping mall. A young girl working at one of the cart-like booths in the mall approached and asked me if I speak Hebrew. I told her I did but did not have any time to speak with her about whatever product it was that she was selling and that I wasn’t interested in buying anything from her.

She immediately reassured me that she was not interested in selling me anything.

She then proceeded to ask me in Hebrew, what time Shabbat begins, since it was Thursday.

After I told her, she explained to me that since she is inside the mall, she cannot know what time sunset is and when Shabbat begins. It was important to her to know since she does not smoke on Shabbat. This young Israeli girl, far away from home who violates Shabbat by working, selling and handling money on Shabbat, nevertheless knows that there are certain observances she maintains. Since the prohibition against making fire on Shabbat is such a fundamental one, it is her means of staying connected to her faith, heritage and family.

As I have always said, something is better than nothing.

An Unusual Funeral

2008-01-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

I was recently asked to officiate at the graveside internment of an elderly Jewish woman who had been married to a non Jew for over 65 years. Living in a remote area far away from the Jewish community, her children had not been raised as Jews.

I knew I would not be able to say kaddish since the only two Jews at the cemetery were myself and the deceased.

This is unfortunately not the first time I have officiated at a service where the individual who was being buried was the last in a line of Jews for that family. It is so easy for the link in the chain of tradition to be broken, which is one of the reasons I am so obsessed with Jewish continuity and Jewish survival.

The story could end here, but it turns out that her niece had officiated at the earlier part of the service, since she is a minister. I asked the niece how it was that she was related to the deceased, and she told me it was her mother’s sister – meaning that in reality, she was also Jewish.

As we left the cemetery, I turned to her and said, “I bet you would make a wonderful rabbi. I hope you will consider coming home.” I have since received an email asking me for resources. I guess it’s never too late to come home.