Rabbi Jon's Website and Blog

Judaism and Michael Sandel's "Justice'

Yesterday I had the privilege of teaching a session at Limmud Boston, an extravaganza of Jewish learning that drew probably several hundred people from around the region.  My session was a "Jewish Dialogue with Michael Sandel's Justice."  Justice is a Harvard undergraduate course, a PBS series, a book, and a website as well where you can watch the lectures and get many of the course readings and discussion guides.

I'll shortly post the audio of my session.  Of related interest, especially if you've found me here because you were at the session yesterday, is a video of a talk that one of the participants mentioned yesterday between Professor Sandel of Harvard and Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of Great Britain.

Judaism and Justice - A Conversation Between Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and Professor Michael Sandel from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

Acharei Mot-Kedoshim: Do Ritual and Ethics Need Each Other?

This week we reach the very middle of the Torah.  In the parashiyot of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim, we read the central chapters of the middle book of the Torah (Leviticus, Vayikra).  Needless to say, position matters -- nothing in the Torah is where it is without a reason.

Some scholars look at Leviticus Ch. 16 as the center of the Torah.  This chapter details the biblical ritual of Yom Kippur, when the Kohen Gadol would enter the Holy of Holies to purify it from a year of Israel's sins.  Others regard Ch. 19 as the true center.  This is the "Holiness Code", in which the Israelites are commanded, "Be holy, for I Adonai your God am holy."

We could regard the two views as one.  Both address the relationship between the day-to-day actions of the community, and certain key rituals.  The Yom Kippur ritual is a response to the whole ethical (and spiritual) life that the community has lived.  It was a necessary periodic purification, on a large scale -- at the very center of the Israelite camp, where God's presence was most felt.

Chapter 19 elaborates the interconnection of ritual and ethics.  The laws in this chapter completely interweave -- revering parents, observing Shabbat, leaving food in the field for the poor, the proper manner of eating sacrifices, loving your neighbor, not eating blood, honest conduct of business.  It's not ritual, then ethics, or the other way around.  The Torah is not presenting us with a difference.

Do we need both?  One part of the answer is easy.  One of the participants in Noreen's class quoted Shakespeare:  "The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose."  Nachmanides said:  It is possible to be a scoundrel within the boundaries of Torah.  So yes, ritual on its own does not guarantee goodness or holiness.

Can you be good or holy without ritual?  Obviously, yes.  But here's how I look at it:  If you're trying to be more ethical, rituals can help.  It's easier to be thankful if every day or every Shabbat you have a prayerbook with the Modim section in the Amidah:  "We are thankful to You..." with a list of the many blessings.  It is easier to watch our speech if you regularly say:  "Adonai, guard my tongue from evil."  It is easier to pursue justice if you recall regularly a God of justice, who rescued us from slavery.  It is easier to do teshuvah, to make ourselves change, when we have set times in the year that remind us to do it.

Does that mean rituals are a crutch?  I'd say they are more of a tool.  What's wrong with that?

Food Links

What I mentioned in my Torah introduction a couple weeks ago:

• KOL Foods -- Kosher, organic, pastured/grass-fed beef, lamb, and poultry available for shipping to New Hampshire and Massachusetts (among other places)
• LoKo -- Local kosher, free-range chicken from a farm in Massachusetts -- fresh, you put in some time on the farm (we've got a group from the synagogue working on setting up a time to go together)
• Tav Hayosher -- ethical certification of kosher restaurants, mostly in New York, some in Chicago, Philadelphia, and at University of Maryland, through the Orthodox group Uri L'Tzedek
• Magen Tzedek -- new Conservative movement initiative to offer certification that kosher food providers meet high standards in workplace environment, health, environmental impact, corporate governance
  

A Milestone in Kosher for New England

I got this in my inbox today from my friends at KOL -- Kosher, Organic, Local:

KOL Foods is pleased to announce the launch of our Online Store!
 
We are so pleased to be able to offer our products just in time for Rosh Hashanah.  Glatt kosher, grass-fed beef and lamb as well as pastured poultry are now available for online order and home delivery.

Click here to SHOP KOL FOODS!

KOL Foods puts kosher meat and ethics on the same plate so you can feel good about the meat you eat.  Everyday we work to create a new food system that supports sustainable animal production, treats farmers and workers fairly, and improves the health of families and communities.  KOL Foods is dedicated to changing the face of industrial animal farming by making grass-fed, non-industrial kosher meat widely available.

Shanah Tovah,
The KOL Foods Team

Why We Matter

I was already thinking about how rich were the two weeks from before Purim to just after in our Jewish community.  There were so many gatherings, large and small, for celebration, learning, and tikkun olam.

Then the backdrop of Bernie Madoff's guilty plea and the AIG bonus flap made me appreciate all the more what a blessing our synagogue and Jewish community are, for ourselves and for the world.

While the bosses at AIG were caught enriching themselves despite their role in our economic carnage...a group of five members of this congregation began a monthly lunch group to talk about ethics in the workplace.  This kind of group becomes a place of honesty and trust, where people can talk openly and confidentially about real dilemmas.  And hopefully strengthen the integrity already present in each other. 

While foundations and governments are cutting back on support for crucial services...two tzedakah collectives met through our congregation.  One is a group of seventh graders, this year's Bar and Bat Mitzvah class.  The other are seven women who call themselves the "Jewish Mothers' Giving Circle."  Between them, the groups met with local nonprofit leaders, legislators, and foundation professionals.  They talked about how to contribute their time as well as hundreds of dollars in ways that strengthen organizations and tie us more closely to the causes we care about.

While we still deal with the fallout from people whose business decisions were about the shortest-term gains in the market...our fourth graders and our high school students took up the mantle of the ages, and led us in Shabbat prayers and Purim celebration.

While many face unemployment or underemployment alone...our congregation is working with the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire and reaching out to area churches to plan a series of workshops and possibly "success groups" for people looking to build their skills, networks, and motivation.

While in many places people are afraid or isolated...our Sisterhood gathered in fellowship to celebrate Vashti, a biblical figure who was not afraid to stand up, in preparation for Purim, which celebrates Jews' overcoming fear and banding together.

While the people of Darfur and other places on the globe still struggle against vicious tyrants...nearly fifty people gathered on a Sunday afternoon to study the story of our people’s Exodus from slavery three thousand years ago.  And to think about how it applies in our world, how we stand with those who are Moshe and Miryam to their own people today.

I believe these things matter.  I believe in the ripple effect, the centrifugal force of our actions out into the world.  If we keep at these things, and invite more and more people in, we will make a large difference.  We already do for ourselves, and we eventually can for our society and the world.

Rosh Hashanah Sermons

Here are links to my two Rosh Hashanah sermons:

• First day -- On Being Judgmental
• Second day -- A Spiritual Lens on Economic Life

Below are some more particulars on the theme of Judaism and business, which I referred to on the second day.  In a related vein, I am seeking to start at least Business Ethics Group for employers.  The group would meet monthly during lunch at a workplace.  There would be a presentation of a workplace dilemma by a participant along with study of a framing text.  If you are interested in participating or hosting the group, please contact me.  

Heksher Tzedek: Conservative movement initiative to promote Jewish ethics for kosher food producers

Timberland:  read about their approach to corporate social responsibility

Fair Trade certification (and our local King David Coffee Roasters)

For details on the Agriprocessors kosher meat production story:

• timeline of alleged violations through March 2008
• May 2008 immigration raid

I did obliquely mention in my spoken remarks that the "Organic" certification from the government does not always guarantee all the environmental benefits that we imagine come with organic farming.  This article by Michael Pollan was where I first learned about that.