May it be a summer of peace, re-creation and blessing for one and all.

The “Gaza Flotilla” was a deliberate provocation and its organizers were playing a dangerous game—one for which they bear ultimate responsibility for the tragic loss of life. Sadly, a number of well-meaning human rights activists were co-opted by those with a more radical agenda. Even more sadly, Israel did not handle the situation well–at all.  Let us hope that diplomatic efforts defuse the tension in the days ahead.

I encourage you to continue to follow the story through Ha’aretz, The Jerusalem Post and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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May 12

I recently came across this Buddhist teaching: “After you have achieved Enlightenment, return to the marketplace and treat everyone you meet with compassion.”  I was struck by its beauty–and also by a Jewish counterpoint.

The Buddhist teaching reminds us that the ultimate purpose of “Enlightenment” is not personal, but communal. Enlightenment’s fruits must be shared with those around us if they are to be genuinely meaningful.

Judaism concurs but might phrase the proposition differently.  Rather than saying, “after you attain Enlightenment return to the marketplace,” Jewish practice never really leaves it. For the most part in Jewish life, “Enlightenment” takes place not in some secluded setting but within “the marketplace” itself.

Jewish teaching bids us, in countless texts and teachings, to treat everyone we encounter with consideration, compassion and respect. This is what leads to “enlightenment,” menschlichkeit and a better world for all concerned.  And again, it takes place during–not after–the time we seek the higher path.  I wish us all a good—and compassionate—journey.

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March 28

Some further thoughts on the current state of affairs between the US and Israel. Whatever else there is to say, the Netanyahu government, through its clumsy handling of the Jerusalem settlement issue, has allowed the world’s focus to be diverted from the core defining issue of continued Palestinian rejection of Israel as a Jewish democracy. Whatever one’s political sympathies, it must be recognized that this is a diplomatic failure of the first order.

The US and Israel are strategic partners and that partnership is not about to be broken.  At the same time we should recognize that the US is currently pushing both sides from their respective comfort zones to see if they are serious about reaching an agreement–soon. We should hope for the sake of all concerned that they are.

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March 22

How long has it taken us to become a country in which health insurance cannot be withdrawn from people who become sick?  How long has it taken us to become a country where people do not have to fear bankruptcy and fiscal ruin when they become seriously ill?  How long has it taken us to become a country in which people are protected from the harmful policies and practices of insurance companies more interested in their profits than they are in providing actual insurance? How long has it taken us to become a country in which people cannot be denied insurance protection because of “pre-existing conditions?”

Until now it seems. Long overdue and for all the bill’s flaws–and they are many and serious–not a minute too soon.  Glory be.

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March 17

Some thoughts on the current contretemps between Israel and the U.S. on settlement expansion. From a response to a congregant who questioned whether or not Israel has a friend in the White House.

It’s definitely a mess and as a proud Zionist and supporter of Israel, I regret to say that [the current issue] is one that is entirely of Israel’s making.  Regarding friendship it is essential to remember that great powers (and even small ones) do not have friends, they have interests.  When those interests are at stake, they take precedence over whatever may pass for diplomatic “friendship.” Embarrassing your most important patron and ally the way Israel’s Interior Ministry did is not a way to sustain any form of “friendship,” diplomatic or otherwise.

If there is good news on this it is that the US remains committed to a two-state solution that will enable Israel to function as a Jewish democracy with a Palestinian neighbor hopefully functioning as a viable Arab democracy. I am more certain of the Obama Administration’s commitment to this than I am of the Netanyahu Administration’s. But time will tell.

I encourage you to go to www.haaretz.com or www.jpost.com for Israeli reactions to the issue.

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January 22

It seems that there is no better way to get the world’s attention than by televising a cataclysmic tragedy.I’m writing this in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake. It has been a horror of the first magnitude, as we are all aware. When the earth moves, as it has been doing since time immemorial, those of us who build our homes on its unsteady and unpredictable foundation (pretty much all of us) are upended and uprooted. And those are just the survivors.

I wonder why people act so surprised. What will we do if/when the next “big one” hits, say in California? Or when the next monster hurricane comes through South Florida?

The first question is “Will we be prepared?” Not in the sense of having enough drinking water, batteries and emergency supplies. Rather in the sense of having enough emotional reserve to enable us to focus on what we need to do to survive and aid others without wasting precious mental energy wondering “How could this have happened?” or “How could G-d do this to us?”

The answer to the first question can be answered by anyone who studied Earth Science in grade school. The answer to the second is more complex.

After studying that second question for many years I have come to the following conclusion: I don’t know. At the same time, I believe that those who claim a more definite answer are further off base than I am. We have heard people say that the earthquake hit Haiti (or the hurricane hit New Orleans or the tsunami hit Indonesia, etc.) because God was punishing the people there. Then there is the view, Biblically based I might add, that no earthly mortal knows the mind of G-d well enough to say. (Moses, Isaiah and Job, for starters, are in that company.) I encourage people to run, not walk, away from people who claim to know G-d’s thoughts better than those Prophets of old.

Still, if “G-d is truly everywhere,” then where is G-d in tragedies like these? The answer to that is relatively easy as well. G-d is in the response of the decent people who moved heaven, earth and rubble to rescue, feed, clothe, shelter and heal the victims.  To cite but one example, G-d was in the Israeli Army’s rapid response team who, upon notice of the catastrophe, dispatched a mobile field hospital to Port au Prince and immediately got busy doing G-d’s work. It’s not easy to be recognized as a “Light Unto the Nations” these days but that act associated the phrase with Israel in fair-minded people around the globe.  We should take pride, be inspired by the example–and yes, be grateful for the favorable PR.

Disasters are inevitable.  They are a fact of life on the planet we inhabit and they come to touch all of our personal and family lives. We would be wise to carve out the psychic-spiritual space we will need to cope with them before they occur.  And we should be prepared to do G-d’s work for others at a moment’s notice as well.

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Dec. 31

168.  Does that number mean anything to you?  It should.  I’ll give you a moment to think about it.

At a recent conference I attended at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, one of the presenters, a former CEO of a major corporation, wrote the number “168” on the board and asked if it meant anything to us. We collectively scratched our heads. Finally, someone in a large room filled with rabbis and synagogue executive directors came up with the answer: 168 is 24 x 7–the number of hours in a week.

The CEO went on to teach us a truth that is self-evident, though many of us disregard it nonetheless.  No matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, none of us has more than 168 hours to do everything we need to do, everything we want to do, everything we hope to do, during each and every week of our lives.

Let’s pause/shudder and reflect on how many of those hours we put to less than optimum use. How much time do we really need to be watching television?  How much of our online time is productive as opposed to wasteful? How much time (and this one was painful for me) should we be devoting to watching other people play games e.g. our favorite sports teams?  Etc., etc., etc.  I don’t go to the movies that often but I saw one this week that I had hopes for (Avatar.) The special effects were spectacular but when all was said and done I said to myself, these are 2 ½ hours of my life that I am just not getting back.

My pledge to you on the RDA Blog, indeed on the entire website, is that I will do everything I can to make sure you say that the time you spend here will be worthwhile, good use of a small portion of the 168 hours we receive every week.

May it be a healthy and happy 2010, filled with useful productivity and blessing, for one and all.

Best and shalom, R

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Dec. 20

Thought I might as well offer a few words on Tiger Woods.  His statement that he was going to take a leave of absence from professional golf to work on “becoming a better husband, father and person” struck me as powerful.  While it hardly negates what led up to it, if he is sincere, it is grounds for wishing him and his family well.

Forgiveness is essential in Judaism. Without it, we would have an unrecognizable faith. It is the focus of our year’s holiest days and observant Jews pray for it three times each weekday.  Judaism understands that it is a given that human beings will sin, sometimes grievously. But without repentance, the Rabbis taught, it would be impossible to sustain community, friendship or family.

Genuine repentance is neither easy or cheap.  It requires at least three elements.  1) Recognition by the wrongdoer of the wrongdoing. 2) Sincere regret and apology to those hurt. 3) Cessation and non-repetition of the behavior in question.

Sometimes, even when those steps are taken sincerely, too much damage is done for a relationship to be repaired,.  How it will play out in Tiger’s family, only time will tell.  (It is a shame that he does not have the ability to work this out in private but we’ll leave that topic for another day.)  In the meantime, if the rest of us learn what not to do–and what we need to do when we do what we shouldn’t do–he will have given us all a valuable object lesson.  Too bad that for him it was such an expensive one.

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Dec. 17

So on this morning’s NYT Op-Ed page, Paul Krugman and David Brooks weigh in on the Senate health care bill.  What was interesting to me about their respective analyses was that while both fully discussed the shortcomings and complexities of the proposal, Krugman noted that the bill would prevent insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and from cancelling it when people got sick.  Brooks did not mention this at all and if I am not mistaken, it has been absent from virtually all of his writing on health care reform this year.

As disappointed as I have been with all the legislative sausage-making, and there is a huge amount to criticize, the provisions that will prevent insurers from denying coverage to those who need it most make passage of the bill imperative.  These same provisions should also greatly reduce the number of people who fall into bankruptcy because they have no, or too little, health insurance.  That these kinds of things happen in a country like ours is simply inexcusable.

Yes, it needs to be improved as time goes on but for now, this is an historic opportunity that we cannot afford to miss. Do what is right senators–thank you.

P.S. I have written more extensively on this topic and if you are interested you can find it at the 8/28/09 entry here.

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April 2010

During this month we mark two major events in Jewish history.  Unlike most of the other historic days of which we take official note, each of these took place within living memory.  I refer of course to Yom Ha-Shoah and Yom Ha-Atzma’ut–Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel Independence Day. They are observed on 27 Nisan and 5 Iyar–this year on April 11 and April 20, respectively.

It is hard to even imagine Jewish life during the last 60 years without these events as context.  Where would we be had there been no Shoah?  Where would we be were there no State of Israel? We cannot hope to even begin to answer those questions adequately.

The Shoah attuned us to anti-Semitism’s many forms and expressions. It also made the world undeniably aware of man’s enormous capacity for cruelty and horror. The State of Israel is history of another kind: miraculous rebirth, resurrection, renewal and now prosperity against seemingly insurmountable odds.  No, we are not the same people we were just a couple of generations ago.

The Holocaust and the modern State of Israel are inextricable from our modern Jewish identities. Let’s mark this season of memory and celebration with due regard for their momentous importance.

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April 1, 2010

At Passover we focus on the story of the Exodus. There is a great deal of scholarly debate over its historicity.  But be that as it may, its humanitarian messages of justice and liberation, as well the effect that those messages have had on history, cannot be disputed.

Exodus is the first classic source to teach that G-d is on the side of the oppressed, not the oppressor.  It holds that the human rights of the people take precedence over the ruling privileges of the king. It has inspired the belief that every human being, no matter how low his or her social status, is entitled to be free to serve the Highest–as a matter of Divine Right.

At the same time Exodus points out the shortcomings inherent in all earthly kings.  The Pharaoh possesses a vastly over-inflated sense of self, not to mention a serious case of arrogance and paranoia.  Not coincidentally, he was also guilty of genocide—the mass slaughter of the Hebrew male children.  We have seen such qualities in other rulers throughout the ages, most of them meeting an inglorious end. We can readily see why Exodus has been held as a banner by oppressed people throughout the ages.  And why at the same time, it has been considered subversive by many rulers.

Exodus also introduces the name of G-d, “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh,”  usually translated as “I will be what I will be” or “I am what I am.”  It is a challenging concept because it posits that G-d is best understood as a verb, continually ongoing, rather than the more familiar idea of G-d as a simpler noun.

We meet the Prophet Moses near the beginning of Exodus, and he is central to most of the rest of the Torah. Rarely is he more praiseworthy than he is here however, intervening on the side of peace when there are struggles between an Egyptian and a Hebrew, two Hebrews, and later on, two Midianites.  To Moses, justice was justice and peace was peace, regardless of the nationality of the people in question.

Finally, Exodus lays down an immutable Biblical principle:  come what may, G-d gets the final word. Ultimately, all of our lives are accountable before the Highest.

Any one of these principles can redirect a life.  Taken together, they have guided history–for good–for millennia.  I invite you to reacquaint yourself with the Book of Exodus this season.

Best wishes and shalom to all.

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December 27

In this week’s Torah portion Vayechi, towards the end of his life, Jacob blesses his twelve sons.  In the midst of it, seemingly out of context, he addresses his Creator and says, “L’yeshuatcha kiviti H’–I hope for Your deliverance, O G-d.” (Gen. 49: 18)

In later years the Rabbis designated “hope for deliverance” to be a key component of Jewish faith.  In fact, it is almost a definition of faith. We all know that the world around us conspires to harden us, making us cynical, selfish and even bitter. Likewise, we all know people who have succumbed to these spiritual afflictions. If we are honest, we likely recognize a measure of them in ourselves as well.  Again, this is an understandable, even a rational response to our difficult and tumultuous world. But it is not the only response.

To be able to say, that in spite of everything, we live with faith and hope for deliverance, may not be a default reaction but it is a legitimate one. Yes, it requires a certain inner strength and vision. But to be able to uphold eternal values in the face of temporal pressures is what faith is all about.

Our Patriarch Jacob possessed such faith. It blessed his life and sustained him through hardships that most of us could scarcely imagine let alone endure. The hope for deliverance, the trust and belief that right will triumph in the end–and the commitment to work to make it so–are at the heart of Judaism.

When we live with such faith, keeping ourselves from becoming cynical and despondent is only the first benefit. A life of grounded blessing can follow in its wake. Faith is not only a gift we give to God–it is a gift we give to ourselves and everyone around us. And oh by the way, it is also free.

A good week to all.

December 17

During Chanukah the Torah readings center around Joseph–and it is fitting that they do. After being sold by his brothers and ultimately landing in an Egyptian prison, Joseph becomes the prototypical “successful Diaspora Jew.”  He is bright and industrious. He rises up from slavery and the dungeon to sit at the right hand of Pharaoh. He is, as Genesis tells us, much favored by God.

But like many Diaspora Jews, Joseph has an awkward relationship with his heritage. He swears by the name of Pharaoh and dresses like an Egyptian. He marries the daughter of the Egyptian high priest and gives his children names, Ephraim and Menashe, that distance him—and them–from his ancestry. In short, he does everything he can to leave the memory of his family and its traditions behind.

Given the way they treated him this is understandable. Especially when the benefits of adopting the ways and culture of his adopted land were so great. But ultimately, this is a fool’s errand. When Joseph’s brothers show up on his doorstep, he understands that it is his greater destiny to be one with his people.

We know the part of the Chanukah story that tells how the Maccabees fought the Syrian-Greeks who were intent on eliminating Judaism.  It is less well known that they also had to fight against assimilationist or “Hellenizing” Jews who were, like Joseph, ready to abandon their heritage in exchange for the promise of total acceptance by the larger culture. As it was in Joseph’s day, as it was during the Maccabees’ day, as it is in our day, it was a false promise.  Maybe for a little while it can work. But eventually, always, our brothers will be at our door.  And we cannot, we may not, close it in their face.

Chanukah reminds us that our status as a minority is something to be celebrated–kept always, hidden never. We light the menorah and “publicize the miracle” for all to see.  It reminds us, as well as our neighbors, of the heritage we embrace with pride–in every year, in every land and in every age.

Happy Chanukah and Shabbat Shalom.

December 17

This week we are observing the Festival of Chanukah. Though technically a “minor” festival, and often perceived as child-centered, there is nothing juvenile about its message.

Chanukah is the victory, as the prayerbook reminds us, of the few over the many, the weak over the strong, and the believers in freedom and the one G-d over the tyrant and idolatry. It’s also about the miracle of our survival. That’s all pretty grown up stuff. “Stuff” that has been the hallmark of the Jewish people all through history.

And it doesn’t stop there. In not always happy ways, Chanukah is also about assimilation, of power corrupting, even of Jew vs. Jew.

These themes too, are with us to this very day. It’s way more than kid stuff. For all of us.

There’s much more to Chanukah than we can go into in a short post. So let’s narrow our focus and take away some essentials.

Chanukah is our winter festival. We love it and when we learn about it, we realize that it holds its own and then some against any holiday of any people you might care to name.

Chanukah is about pride, Jewish pride. The pride that says even though everyone else is doing their thing, we are proud and happy to be doing ours.

Chanukah is about Justice and Freedom. About the menorah reminding us to be a Light unto the Nations. And it’s our job, as the song has it, to not let the light go out.

A joyous Chanukah to one and all.

A brief post and suggested links on the Gaza Flotilla affair are on the RDA Blog.

How are Jewish and Buddhist teachings similar?  How do they differ?  See a mini-example in the May 12 entry of the RDA Blog.

“Continuing Our Jewish-Muslim Dialogue” was the theme as we hosted our friends from the Anatolia Cultural Center on April 9.  Read the message here.

We recently shared a great time with period music from the 1960’s.  Some “Musings” on that pivotal decade are linked here.

New thoughts on Netanyahu’s handling of the Jerusalem settlement issue on the RDA Blog of March 28.

Health care reform!?  Check out the RDA Blog from March 22.

There’s an entry on the RDA Blog on the current flareup (March 17) in relations between the US and Israel on settlement policy.

Speaking notes from our 26th annual joint service with the members of Boca Raton’s oldest African-American Church, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist. It took place on Martin Luther King weekend and you can click on the link here.

In addition, we held a service of Recovery and Rededication for those in 12 Step Programs at CBI recently and I had a few words to offer.  Click on them here.

Also some thoughts and reflections on the Haitian Earthquake on the RDA Blog.

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Also posted is “Highlights of the Jewish Decade” an end of the year–and end of the decade–review of what we’ve experienced in the last ten years.

What does the number “168″ mean to you?  The RDA Blog entry here explains why it should mean a lot.

You can click here for a short article on Muslim-Jewish relations that I wrote for our December synagogue newsletter.  It was written before the tragedy at Ft. Hood–which may have made it even more important. Hope you appreciate—

You can find additional notes of my recent talks, writings and sermons at this link.

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Relations with the Muslim world have been a pressing issue since September 11, 2001. In the minds of many around the world, the events of that day defined the entire faith of Islam strongly and negatively.

It was never a fair characterization and this was noted from the very first. In the days following the attacks, mass-appeal radio hosts, not usually known as sources of enlightenment, told their listeners that the horror was not committed by everyday Muslim acquaintances—professionals, merchants or taxi drivers. Rather it was the work of a fanatical group within the Islamic world, and a relatively small one at that.

Nevertheless, spectacular events tend to define reality more than rational explanations, however legitimate.  As a result it has not been an easy period for many Muslims, particularly in the United States. Too many Americans have conflated them with terrorists and terrorism. It even reached the point where the word “Muslim” gained use as an epithet.

Muslim-Americans today find themselves facing circumstances not unlike those faced by American Jews when we were new immigrants–not always welcome and often the objects of suspicion.  However, also like us, virtually all of them are here not to foment unrest but to build a better life for themselves and their families. Again, that is not necessarily the public perception. Even before 9/11 they were dealing with ignorance and discrimination. They have redoubled their efforts to gain acceptance in the time since.

Guided by the principles of our Center for Justice, our congregation has been working with Muslim-Americans to welcome those who are here in pursuit of the American dream. Together we have increased understanding, reinforced shared values, volunteered jointly in the larger community, created friendships, and even deepened appreciation for Israel. It has been an effort that has been going on for some five years now, and I can say unequivocally that it has been a blessing for all involved.

As a minority ourselves, Jews always stand to benefit from greater interfaith understanding.  This is particularly true in this instance, as the number of Muslim Americans is likely to surpass the number of Jewish Americans in the near future. Better understanding between the two groups is good for Jews, good for Muslims and good for America.