Rabbi Jon's Website and Blog

A Wiser Response to Islam and the Boston Bombing

I have been thinking about all kinds of things in the week and a half since the bombing at the Boston Marathon.  Our minds have been drawn to all kinds of questions, from the basic ones about where such evil comes from in the human soul, to policy questions about immigration and surveillance.

As a Jew, I'm sensitive to the questions about Islamic-fundamentalist terror in two ways that pull in different directions.  Obviously, Jews have lived this terror up close through decades of attacks against Israelis and other Jews.  When such terror reaches the U.S., any of us who have spent time in Israel feel like we're experiencing something familiar.

And as a member of a religious minority, I'm aware of how anything bad that a member of the group does sheds a terrible light on the group as a whole.  So I fear that Muslims in general will be demonized again in America because the terrorists here were Muslims, who apparently were motivated by matters in the Middle East and the interpretation of Islam peddled by radical clerics.

As I think about this more, I came across this level-headed essay by Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post.  Definitely worth a read:

A better way for America to integrate Muslims

By Fareed Zakaria, Wednesday, April 24, 7:53 PM

As we learn more about the brothers Tsarnaev, we are inclined to ask larger questions about their apparent descent into terror. What does it tell us about radical Islam, Russian immigrants, Muslim communities and the breakdown of assimilation? The most accurate answer might turn out to be: not much. Larger phenomena might be at work — but these two young men might not reflect any rise or intensification of trends. It seems they are just two alienated youths who turned toward hate and then, allegedly, to murder.

That was the point the brothers’ uncle Ruslan Tsarni made when he called his nephews “losers.” He was arguing against the notion that the boys represented a larger community. He and his family, after all, were part of the same Chechen migration to the United States and are well-adjusted, law-abiding and thoroughly American. (click to read the entire piece)

Boston

The bombings in Boston this week were attacks on our own community.  From God's point of view, so to speak, this week was no more horrible than any other.  Monday was hardly the only day when people were killed by human beings with no regard for the sanctity of life, for any of the reasons one group terrorizes another or for no reason at all.  And yet, it's a fact that for us, this was here, this was home.

If we're shaken up, it's not only the shock, and our fear for the safety of people who we know.  When someone succeeds in killing in this way, our foundations shudder.  We live always in a combination of belief and unbelief in the notion that people are good enough, that we are not just restrained from hurting each other but actually would rather treat others well and make each other's lives better.  The bomber or bombers make us wonder whether human goodness and the sense of responsibility are truly that strong.

The response of faith is:  Yes, it is.  One person can kill and maim hundreds, and one small group can kill thousands in the blink of an eye.  It takes longer than that for one person to save hundreds, or for one small group to rescue thousands from death or suffering.  But the Torah says in this week's parasha that our holy acts are not just symbolic, but powerful.  "You shall be holy, as I Adonai your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2).  Our holiness and goodness can equal God's.  As God's acts are powerful through their holiness, so too our own.

To let ourselves be distracted or demoralized now means we would overlook an opportunity to do a mitzvah, and that would prove prove the bombers right.  It's not just that small things matter.  Small things are big.  We have to work harder at mitzvot than the bombers work at destruction.  But our power is like God's power, and therefore greater.

That power was evident within an instant of the first explosion, and magnified after the second one.  Many people have remarked on the fact that some people nearby did not run away, but almost instinctively ran toward danger to pull debris off of people, to bind horrifying wounds.  As my colleague and teacher Rabbi Shai Held wrote this week:  Saving lives, running to people in great danger who might have already died -- this is what it means to imitate God in holiness.  This is what people not only can do, but actually did this week.  No matter how many plotters will be discovered in the Boston bombing, the heroes will far outnumber them.

May our own response, and God's comfort, be with all of the victims of the bombing in Boston and with all their families and loved ones.

 

 

A Must Read on Israel and Palestine

Yesterday's New York Times Sunday Review section published an important analysis and proposal from Dennis Ross, who has served Republican and Democratic presidents as an emissary to the Middle East.  It is a realistic, hard-headed take on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and the supporting maps/diagrams are very helpful.  He suggests a path forward, with steps that both sides can take even as they are skeptical of each other.

Read here.

Rabbi David Hartman z"l

On Sunday, Am Yisrael lost a true a gadol, a great man and teacher:  Rabbi David Hartman.  Rabbi Hartman, originally from Canada, made his home in Jerusalem, and created the Shalom Hartman Institute.  SHI is a modern Orthodox, progressive think tank that generates unbelievable work on moral and political thought, the meaning of Zionism, and theology.  SHI convenes Jewish scholars from all streams of Judaism and beyond Judaism, thinkers in all fields of humanities and social science, from around the world.  They bring Talmud and Midrash alive, as probing texts for the existential dilemmas of modern life and modern Israel.

Rabbi Hartman's books are academic but pulsing.  He was an outspoken, sometimes solitary voice for Klal Yisrael, the whole of the Jewish people within Orthodox Judaism and Religious Zionism.  I myself saw him as an Orthodox rabbi take an aliya in an egalitarian Shabbat service on a college campus.  He embraced and taught rabbis of all denominations; he was a conscience for the State of Israel.  He believed in the role of women in modern Jewish religious life.  He was a dynamic speaker and teacher, erudite and funny, and he believed in the transformative power of Talmud Torah, the study of Torah.

You may not have ever heard of him, or perhaps you did hear his voice through the Israel-related columns of Tom Friedman in the New York Times.  Here are some words of remembrance from my friend and colleague, and Hartman Institute faculty member, Rabbi Rachel Sabath-Halachmi in The Times of Israel:

David Hartman was a powerful, brilliant, restless, demanding, inspiring, impatient and loving giant. There was nothing not fierce about David Hartman, one of the most – if not the most – influential thought-leaders of our time. His embrace of Jewish tradition, the State of Israel, the Jewish people, Christians, Muslims, and every human being was both fiercely loving and incessantly demanding. Impatiently he engaged every text and every person with an urgent question which must be answered now – as though all of Judaism and the future of the Jewish people and humanity itself depended on the unknowable answers. But no one could possibly embrace other human beings and wisdom itself as fiercely and as passionately as he did.

Every year, for more than 30 years, hundreds – and now tens of thousands – of academics, rabbis, lay leaders, Christian and Muslim scholars, Israeli educators, high school students and IDF officers came to sit at his feet at the Shalom Hartman Institute. Through them, millions of people have been influenced and challenged by his mind and his redemptive vision for religious pluralism, the State of Israel, and the Jewish People.

It was nearly 25 years ago when I first studied Talmud with David Hartman at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He picked up a piece of Talmud, held it to his nose, and screamed at us: “Can’t you smell it?? Can’t you smell the inconsistencies and ambivalences of the sages about women??” And then he would slam the big book of Talmud down on the table and read and reread the same lines over and over again. Exhausted, he would then call on a student to read it another ten times, until he thought we began to hear the cacophony of the voices of the sages arguing over the centuries, understand the logic and illogic of their arguments, and the interpretive task at hand.

It took another 10 years of study, rabbinic ordination, and numerous courses with other Hartman scholars of Talmud and philosophy before I moved to Israel and dared to enter into his Beit Midrash – study hall – at the Hartman Institute. The rules of engagement demanded a total willingness to learn, struggle, critique, love, and think seriously about every text and every aspect of human existence. He hated it when we agreed with him. If we couldn’t challenge him he couldn’t respect us. His Beit Midrash was a culture of constant debate, mutual respect, searing critique and big embraces. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, the brilliant scholar and iconoclast, and Krister Stendahl, the radical Christian Harvard Divinity School dean, were there too, not only in text but in person. David taught and argued with all of them in the same impatient, demanding, loving way. Being in his Beit Midrash was all-consuming, terrifying, and wildly inspiring all at the same time.

He was a indefatigable warrior for the State of Israel and its significance for the Jewish people and the world and demanded that it live up to the ethical standards set out for it both by the revelation of Sinai and the crematoria of Auschwitz. He was a warrior for the status of women in traditional Judaism, he was a warrior demanding higher standards of knowledge and Zionist and spiritual commitment from liberal rabbis, he built an institution with the highest standards of intellectual excellence. He invested in and believed in people and their capacity to rise to their potential. He wasn’t afraid of anything or anyone, except how he would be judged by God and by history.

He screamed and laughed and cried – sometimes simultaneously in the middle of a lecture, or a meeting, or even just in a daily encounter about the news or a new book. He would walk into my office nearly every day to argue about something. When missiles were falling on Israel and suicide terrorists were blowing up buses and cafes in the neighborhood, more than once he walked in and screamed at me, “Why do they hate us so much?” Or in quieter times he would walk in and pick up some recent work of theology lying on my desk and say, “Why can’t they do theology more seriously?!” But he also listened carefully as I offered a tentative response. And then, disgusted or quieted by whatever answers I gave, he would shoot off another litany of questions – this time asking after my husband and children by name, how our little Reform shul was doing, and why wasn’t I writing more academic stuff and how was I feeling. Being with, studying with and working for David Hartman was a unique experience of being simultaneously constantly challenged, rebuked, and loved. Nothing could have been more inspiring.

While most of us – his hundreds of thousands of students – may have failed to fulfill his demands, we may yet fulfill the dreams that he inspired in us. And in this way, his Torah and the loving power of his embrace will continue to pour forth from Jerusalem.

 

The Israeli Elections

I have been looking for some good things to recommend reading after this week's election in Israel.  There is not a whole lot yet, but I put in a couple of links below.

For background:  Israel is a pure parliamentary system, with a single house called the Knesset with 120 seats.  Each Israeli votes in national elections for a political party, and seats in the Knesset are allocated proportionally based on the national vote.  There are many political parties, and in Israel's history no party has ever won an absolute majority.  So governments are always coalitions of parties.  The head of the largest party in the coalition becomes the prime minister.

A simple breakdown of the election results:

• 43 seats for the parties of the Right, which are either skeptical of or opposed to peace talks with the Palestinians -- this is Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's bloc
• 18 seats for the parties that represent charedi or "ultra-Orthodox" Jews, which tend to be interested in securing economic benefits and other privileges for the most religious Israelis, as well as the application of their interpretation of Jewish law in Israel
• 48 seats for the parties of the Left, which are anywhere from interested in to actively advocating intensified peace negotiations with the Palestinians, but which generally emphasized social and economic reforms in this campaign -- this includes Yair Lapid of "Yesh Atid" (There Is a Future), a new party with 19 seats (see below)
• 11 seats for Israeli Arab political parties, which traditionally do not become part of governing coalitions but often support governments of the Left

Superficially, if you count the religious parties as "conservative" you would think that the split was 61 seats for the Right and 59 for the Left. But Israeli politics is not built on the same binary system as the U.S., where (to simplify) Left=economic equality, civil rights, progressive social policy and dovish foreign policy and Right=pro-business, individual freedoms, traditional religion and hawkish foreign policy.  Sometimes the ultrareligious parties support the foreign policy of the Israeli Left in exchange for specific benefits, for instance.

It does not look like Netanyahu wants a 61-vote government of the "Right" and the religious.  Instead, there might be a "center-right" government led by Netanyahu, which could lead to economic reforms within a pro-business framework, a cautious but skeptical approach to the Palestinian peace talks, an assertive posture toward the threat of nuclear Iran, and a change to include more ultra-Orthodox Jews in the military or national service in some form.

On the whole, the Israeli papers suggest that voters were more focused on internal economic issues than the foreign policy questions that we think about most.  In some ways the election was a stalemate, to the surprise of many.

Here is a New York Times profile on Yair Lapid, the surprising new leader of the Israeli political center.

Alan Dershowitz has had communications with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and thinks there is opening for new negotiations between Netanyahu and Abbas

My Prayer at the Governor's Inauguration

Thanks to the suggestion of our congregant, State Senator Bette Lasky, I was invited to be one of four clergy members offering prayers at the inauguration today of New Hampshire's new governor, Maggie Hassan.  I was honored to be included, to take part in special moment in our democracy, and to represent the Jewish faith and community.  After the ceremony, a non-Jewish person asked me if I would share my words.  So here is the "blessing of thanksgiving and peace" that I composed and offered just before Gov. Hassan took the oath of office.

Holy One

Life of the Universe, Who gives us life

Merciful One, Who weaves all of us together in love

Known by many names, or none

We thank You for this gathering of freedom and peace.  Each person in this state is a migrant from tyranny, be it four hundred years ago in family memory, or in person just last year.  Just to sit here, sisters and brothers, citizens and those who govern us, is a miracle that so few like us have known in the whole history of humanity.

Let us be thankful today, for two things unusual and one more obvious, that bless us through those taking solemn oaths today.

Let us be thankful for ambition.  It is said in the Talmud that one day, the people captured desire and envy and threw them into a cage -- but that day no work was done, no egg was laid, no child conceived.  Thank you, our leaders, for your powerful ambition, which has driven you to campaign and lead, and will push you to succeed.  May you always tie those ambitions to your visions, and to the true needs of all our citizens.

Let us be thankful for opponents.  In Hebrew, the word for gratitude is the same as the word for conceding to a better argument, and it is said in the Jewish tradition that a wise person should be a lover of rebuke.  May the fire of your opponents' passion not boil you in frustration, but rather rekindle your own passion.  May those who vie with you, around meeting tables covered with numbers or in speeches in this chamber, sharpen you.  May you from time to time find through your opponents sparks of truth that only others carry.

I know you are thankful for the opportunity to serve our state and its people, as we are thankful to you. New Hampshire is a state full of civic service, but here, uniquely, it is your duty to serve all of us at once, every day.  This is a large responsibility, but may it enlarge you -- may it lead you to be even more than you are now, on the verge of these oaths.  May your path of service stir within you unknown stores of wisdom and creativity against the most complex problems we face.

For our new governor, Maggie Hassan; for our leaders new and returning; and for this gathering of peaceful community, I offer this blessing:

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech Ha-olam, Shehecheyanu V'kiy'manu V'higiyanu Lazman Hazeh -- Praised are You, God, Weave of all time and space, Who gives us life, and keeps us alive, and has brought us to this new season. Amen.

A Week After the Newtown Shootings

Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav famously taught:  The whole world, all of it, is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is not to be afraid at all.  Kol ha-olam, kulo, gesher tzar m'od, v'ha-ikar lo l'fached klal.

What does it mean to live in the world when we know that any day and any place could be where the next random act of violence occurs?  Rabbi Nachman acknowledges:  The whole world, all of it, is a very narrow bridge.  Nothing we do today can change that.

We will try to see to it that places, especially childrens' places, are as safe as they can be -- that doors are locked and reinforced, that plans to make security tighter are not left on the shelf.  We will look again at the laws that permit a citizen to own assault-style weapons.

We will, maybe, think about how we do and don't care for the most challenging cases of mental illness.  If we are all in the image of God, why has God allowed some people to suffer with the most intractable mental illnesses, which resist every form of therapy and love people have come up with so far?  As hard as it would be to come up with effective forms of gun regulation, it is infinitely harder to see how to help or control a human being seemingly lost to the urge to harm others.  Why, God, have you created us in this way?

A very narrow bridge.  We can and should do what we can, to widen and reinforce the bridge.  But Rabbi Nachman reminds us that there can be no illusion of a life with no risks and dangers.

His advice seems very extreme:  Do not be afraid at all.  I can't imagine he means that we shouldn't feel fear ever.  Or that we shouldn't worry about our children when we send them somewhere for the day or the summer.  I think his message is what the father of 6-year-old Emilie Parker z"l, Robbie, said:

As we move on from what happened here, what happened to so many people, let it not turn into something that defines us, but something that inspires us to be better, to be more compassionate, and more humble people. Let us please keep the sentiments of love that we feel for our families and the compassion that we feel for others, even complete strangers, and keep them with us at all times, not just in times of sorrow and tragedy.

I cannot imagine what it took to say these words, as a grieving parent.  But they are the definition of what it means to live on this very narrow bridge without fear.  As Robbie Parker said it, not just today or this week when the fear is present and raw, but at all times.

Rabbi Nachman said:  The whole world, all of it... A lot of us are shaken by the Newtown shootings because the victims were mostly children, because it was a school, because it was a close-knit community.  Because it was New England, or America.  People like "us."  Let's not forget that all over the country, and all over the world, children and people of all ages are murdered senselessly.  Random violence, tribal and sectarian brutality, the murderous oppression of today's tyrants.  If we mourn here, we must mourn for the other places as well.  If we take action here, we must not turn our backs on what we can do for other places.

Tragedies like Newtown remind us of what is most important, and shake out the questions that are most essential in our lives.  If I can help you talk out or think about any of those questions, in their theological and spiritual and ethical dimensions, don't hesitate to call.  If you have a reflection of your own to share, add it as a comment here.

L'shalom,

Rabbi Jon

First Reaction: Palestine and the UN

Yesterday, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to give Palestine the status of a "nonmember observer state", represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization, within the territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that bordered Israel before the Six-Day War of 1967.

This is truly a first reaction.  I decided to read a few things last evening:

• the text of the speech delivered today by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority
• the speeches delivered on Sept. 13, 1993 at the White House by Mahmoud Abbas, Yitzchak Rabin, and Yassir Arafat

The earlier speeches were delivered when, unexpectedly, Israel and the PLO decided on mutual recognition and the first phases of a face-to-face process of negotiations.

I wanted to read the speeches sympathetically, as gestures of peace from all sides.  I wanted to read with understanding that the Palestinians, for all kinds of reasons, have lived an often terrible existence since 1948, and have lived with poverty and restrictions especially lately.  You may already well know that I favor a state for Palestinians, and view the increasing settlement of the West Bank by Israel as a profound obstacle to peace.

I wanted to try to read with sympathy even though I read these speeches as a Jew, as part of the family of Israel, worried for Israel's safety today.

It is typical in speeches before the world, in speeches outside one's own land, to make gestures of peace and understanding even to one's opponents and enemies.  It is what Prime Minister Rabin, zichrono livracha, did in his speech in 1993.

President Abbas yesterday did no such thing toward Israel.  In his speech, Israel is at best something that is there.  He said nothing at all about Israelis and their homes or hopes.  He extended no olive branch, did not so much as admit that Palestinians and Arab countries have participated in wars, have been fighters against Israel.  When I looked back at his speech in 1993, when he was the P.L.O. foreign minister, essentially, it was the same.  Even on a day when things looked brighter for everyone.

And I am afraid of what this means, that the Palestinian leader most regarded as the partner for negotiations with Israel cannot bring himself even to any of the niceties or cliches about what peace would mean for Israelis, or what Israel means as a homeland for its people.

Others will elaborate on the incredible version of history that President Abbas put forth.  How unbelievable that he would invoke the U.N. partition resolution, passed by the General Assembly on the same day 65 years before -- which would have created the Palestinian state on far better terms, had the Arabs only accepted it as the Jews did.  In President Abbas' speech, the Palestinians are peaceful people who were "ethnically cleansed" from their homes, who have never engaged in war or terror, whose leaders have always stood for fundamental human rights.

Read the speeches I've linked for yourself.  This is my first reaction, and I share it in great worry and sorrow.

Fighting in Israel This Week

(Also e-mailed to our congregation:)

Dear Friends:

As Israelis prepare for Shabbat today, a large part of the country has been under attack.  Rockets from the Gaza Strip have landed in cities all over southern Israel, and have been fired toward the southern approaches of Jerusalem and at Tel Aviv.  Israel has responded, so far largely through air attacks on Hamas targets.  As of now, we do not know whether this will escalate even more into a major military operation.

In this moment, each of us has a few responsibilities.  One is to reach out to Israelis we know, to let them know we are concerned for their safety and wellbeing.  Another is to stay informed, and not to rely only on television news or the local papers for information.  The Israeli press is a thorough and independent source of information.  I look primarily at two Israeli newspapers that are available in English online -- The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz.  I urge you to bookmark them and read them daily.

Especially in New Hampshire, we have a third responsibility, which is to be able to speak knowledgeably about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  (A couple years ago I posted an overview with some maps online, for you or to share.)  You may have friends who ask you what is going on.  Or who express outrage at Israel.  What do you say?

Being informed through good news sources is one part.  Having a perspective to share is another.

We have to stand by our brothers and sisters in Israel.  Israeli civilians have been killed by rockets.  Many hundreds of thousands are sleeping in bomb shelters this week.  Their government is acting this week to defend and protect them.

Hamas is a terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip.  Their charter calls for Israel's destruction, and they fire rockets indiscriminately toward Israeli towns and cities.  The Israeli Defense Forces attacks military targets, and sometimes individuals who are responsible for the rockets.  Palestinian civilians are not the target of Israeli attacks, though even this week they have been killed nearby.

It is important for others to know that when we say these things and stand with Israel, we are not giving up our humanity. Palestinians are human beings, created in God's image, and their suffering is real.

I hope and pray that calm and peace will come quickly.  Our thoughts are particularly with the Israelis we know, the family members and friends from our congregation who are living in Israel.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Jon

Which Election Are You Involved In?

I have a lot of thoughts about the upcoming elections, so I'm going to use the blog to say some of the things that aren't in the form of Divrei Torah.

We seem to be going through two different elections.  In one election, President Obama is out to destroy the American way of life.  He has sympathy for terrorists and is ashamed of our country.  He hates Israel.  Mitt Romney, in this election, hopes to be president so he can help himself and his rich friends pay almost nothing in taxes.  He would rather persecute working people, and he belongs to a suspicious religion that is some kind of cult.

The other election is about different approaches to the problems of millions of people without work, personal wealth still wiped out from the housing crash, the high costs of medical care, the relevance of religious principle to public policies, etc.  There are profound differences of principle about this, and also different practical approaches.

It would be hard enough to sort out the real election, even if the ridiculous one were not in the way.  While more of the vitriol is coming from the right, and it is better funded there, liberals are not immune.

I think it's imperative to find some antidotes.  One thing is that we should all watch both President Obama's and Governor Romney's acceptance speeches this week and next, and listen for both substance and principles.  There will be bashing -- and even more from Biden and Ryan, though we should try to watch those too.  But the two speeches will be illuminating.

Another antidote is to get to the actual policy proposals as much as possible, and spend as little time watching the cable news horserace coverage.  During the last couple days, I've been trolling for as much as I can find about Medicare, which is shaping up as one of the major differences.  Here are some things I've found:

report from the Federal Government's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about savings achieved or achievable for seniors and the government by the Affordable Care Act -- I take this as something like an Obama campaign document

Versions of the "Ryan Plan" for Medicare:

• Ryan-Wyden Plan outlined by Rep. Ryan and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) last year
• Ryan-Rivlin Plan (Alice Rivlin is a former Democratic budget official)

Gov. Romney's campaign page about Medicare

testimony from Kavita Patel of the Brookings Institution (liberal think tank) before a House subcommittee this summer on using innovation to reduce Medicare payments to doctors

testimony from Scott Gottlieb of the American Enterprise Institute (conservative think thank) before a House subcommittee this summer critiquing the Independent Payment Advisory Board for Medicare

There is a lot of tachlis (practical, bottom-line material) in these, and also some good articulations of principle about responsibility, community, and liberty.  You'll be surprised perhaps, because a lot of this does not correspond to the caricatures in the silly election.

I'm looking these days for more material on the ethics of medical care, for senior citizens and for all of us, from Jewish sources and others such as the Catholic bishops of the U.S.

Isn't that much better?