A Little Piece of Israel

Every Friday morning, our ELC students march into our Sanctuary singing a song about the Torah.  They march up on to the bimah and say “Shabbat Shalom” to the Torah scrolls in the Ark.  Some of them notice the Lamp about the Ark – the Ner Tamid.  They are careful to avoid the reading table – or Shulchan – which is just the right height to hit many of them in the head.  

They feel comfortable in that space.  They know that they belong there.  What they don’t know is that it is a recreation of our ancestors’ sacred spaces as described in this week’s Torah portion and Haftarah.  

From the Torah, we read the details of how our ancestors built the Tabernacle while wandering in the wilderness on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land.  Among the details were an Ark to carry God’s words, a Table from which to offer God gifts and a Lamp to represent the Divine Presence among the people.  That portable sacred space served our ancestors until they entered into the Promised Land.

Then, in our Haftarah, we read that 480 years after the Exodus from Egypt, Solomon oversaw the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem.  Like the Tabernacle, it had an Ark, a Table and a Lamp.

As Judaeans and Israelites moved further and further away from the Temple – sometimes by choice, sometimes by force – they took a little of the Temple with them.  They started building synagogues with elements of the Temple so that they could reach out to God and preserve their traditions.  

So, when the Second Temple was ultimately destroyed in 70CE, Jews around the world turned to these synagogues to take the place of the Temple in their lives.  For nearly 2,000 years, wherever Jews found themselves, they sought to create a little replica of the Temple in order to perpetuate the Jewish tradition and maintain a link with the Promised Land.

Sure, our connection to Israel can be found in our prayers and in our writings.  More than that, though, it can be found the design and furnishings of our synagogues.  Maybe one of the reasons that we Jews feel at home when we go visit Israel is that we have been visiting a little piece of Israel all our lives without really knowing.

Shalom, RAF.

Just Another Witch Hunt

We throw around the term “witch hunt” pretty casually these days.  Anyone who has lost their job or anyone who thinks that they are being unfairly accused of wrongdoing immediately claims to be the target of a witch hunt. 

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a witch hunt as “the searching out and deliberate harassment of those (such as political opponents) with unpopular views.”  But, historically speaking, witch hunts were much more serious, and often lethal.

In this week’s Torah portion, the Torah simply states, “No witch shall you let live (Exodus 22:17).”

The only problem is that the Torah doesn’t tell exactly what a witch does or how to identify one.  Perhaps, people back then just knew.  Although sorcery was prohibited, when King Saul was unable to communicate with God after Samuel’s death, he traveled to En-Dor in order to ask a sorceress for help (see I Samuel 28).  He and his courtiers just knew that this woman was out there.  

Certainly, the religious leaders and judges of colonial Massachusetts thought they knew how to identify witches, and they executed 20 people during the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692-93.  Some of those found guilty of witchcraft were members in good standing of Salem Village’s only church.  It took until 2022, but all those who were found guilty of witchcraft were ultimately exonerated.  

Still, no one really knows what a witch does or how to identify one.  It seems to me that a witch’s greatest “crime” is going around the powerful men of her community and seeking direct contact with the spiritual world. So, those powerful men get upset when a woman tries to ignore or evade them.  She must, therefore, be a witch.

We might write those events off as distant history that could never happen today, but the truth is that actual witch hunts still take place today across Africa leading to terrible violence against women and children.  And then we might dismiss these African witch hunts as something that could never happen here in our enlightened and modern society.  And, hopefully, that’s true.

However, anyone who’s been reading the conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift need not wonder how these witch hunts may have started.  For the “crimes” of publicly dating an NFL player and having some political opinions – in addition to being a wildly successful singer/songwriter and businesswoman – she has been accused of, essentially, witchcraft.  According to her accusers, she is guilty of fixing the Super Bowl, influencing the outcome of the next presidential election, camouflaging Travis Kelce’s homosexuality, indoctrinating citizens to an elite agenda and away from religion and much much more.

In order to all that, I think she’d really have to be a witch.  Perhaps instead of killing of witches, it’s actually time to kill off witch hunts.

Shalom, RAF.

“How’s Everybody Doing?”

I don’t know about you, but I never knew that Elmo was on X or Twitter.  

Apparently, Elmo is quite active on X and this past Monday, Elmo posted the following: “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?”  That post was re-tweeted over 55,000 times and has been viewed over 200 million times.  It’s impossible to calculate how many responses there were to Elmo’s simple question.

While a few people said that they were doing well and others took the opportunity to make some kind of a joke, thousands and thousands of people expressed great sadness and pain.  Many of us are not doing so well.  It was so overwhelming that the marketing professionals who handle Elmo’s X account had to post a follow-up reminding everyone about the importance of checking in on friends and assessing their emotional well-being.

Perhaps Elmo is on to something!

In this week’s Torah portion, Moses was reunited with his family.  His father-in-law Yitro arrived at the Israelite camp with Moses’ wife Tzipporah and their two sons Gershom and Eliezer.  The text tells us about the how Moses bowed in greeting to his father-in-law, and then the two of them engaged in conversation about the Exodus from Egypt.  In other words – shop talk.  Moses never said a word to his two sons.  There was no “check-in” to see how everyone was doing after what must have been a harrowing experience for all.

Although we don’t know very much about Moses’ family life, we do know that his two sons did not follow their father into leadership roles among the Israelites.  In contrast, Moses’ brother Aaron raised his own sons to follow him into the priesthood.  Could this silence between father and sons have contributed to the sons not wanting to follow in their father’s footsteps?  Who knows?  But, I know that I’ve always been upset by this lack of communication between Moses and his sons.

If we’ve learned anything from the last four years, it’s the importance of staying connected and checking in on one another.  In fact, a recently completed study at Cambridge University found that people of faith coped much better during COVID than non-religious people (more info here).  And while I would like to believe that it was God checking in on religious people and making sure that they were okay, I’m practical enough to know that it was the members of religious communities checking in on one another that brought about this result.  It was human beings doing God’s work.

Elmo inadvertently reminded us that our obligation to check in on one another did not end with COVID.  So, for those who have made it this far, how is everybody doing?  I’d love to hear from you to find out.

Shalom, RAF.

Hamas & the Amalekites

Shortly after October 7^th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared to Hamas to the Amalekites.  A lot of people who don’t know very much about Judaism have claimed that Bibi’s use of that language was a call to genocide.  People who know a little something about Judaism know that’s not what he meant.  

The story of the Amalekites begins in this week’s Torah portion.  The Israelites had escaped from Egypt, they had crossed the Sea of Reeds, and they were now dealing with their new nomadic lives in the Sinai Peninsula.  Earlier in the Torah portion, God had addressed their lack of food by providing manna in the mornings and quail in the evenings.  And now, the Amalekites arrived on the scene.

According to Exodus 17, the Amalekites attacked the Israelites and a battle ensued.  Through Moses’ staff, God interceded, and the Israelites were victorious.  After the battle, God told Moses to make a record of the military victory so that the memory of the Amalekites will be blotted out.  It’s actually a bit ironic.  If Moses had not written the history of that battle, no one would remember the Amalekites.  But, here we are all these centuries later and we do, in fact, remember them.

So, why did God want the memory of the Amalekites eradicated?  

If we fast-forward to Deuteronomy 25, when Moses was recalling the battle with the Amalekites, we get a few more details.  According to this second telling of the story, the Amalekites snuck up on the Israelites from behind and attacked those who were weak and weary and famished.  And here, God tells the Israelites, “Remember that which the Amalekites did to you (Deut. 25:17).”  Ever since, the Amalekites have come to represent the epitome of evil in the Jewish tradition.

The rabbis who established Judaism believed that every tragedy that befell the Israelites was somehow connected to the Amalekites.  Haman – the villain of Purim in ancient Persia – was considered a descendant of the Amalekites.  When the Romans destroyed the Temple, they were believed to be descendants of the Amalekites.  In the 20^th Century, Hitler was called a descendant of the Amalekites.  There is no biological or genetic link among the Amalekites, Haman, the Romans and Hitler.  It is merely a reminder that there will always be people in this world who seek to do us harm.  That’s the connection among them.

So, it makes perfect sense to lump Hamas together with all of the other perpetrators of violence against the Jews throughout our history.  It is NOT a call to genocide.  Quite the opposite, it is a call to hope.  Just as we survived all those others who sought to destroy us, we will outlast Hamas as well.  

We will remember that which the Amalekites – and Hamas! – did to us. 

Shalom, RAF.

Why Not A Ceasefire?

Just yesterday, I was discussing the situation in Israel and Gaza with someone who is genuinely struggling to understand the situation.  He asked, “What is so wrong about calling for a ceasefire?”

On its face, it’s a reasonable question.  After all, who doesn’t want to see the violence stop?  

Although I had (and have!) a whole bunch of answers swimming in my head, I didn’t want to overwhelm this person.  So, I settled on two answers.

The first answer can be summarized as, “Been there, done that!”  Since Israel withdrew from Gaza and Hamas came to power, there have been four armed conflicts between Hamas and Israel prior to the current one.  Each of those ended with a cease-fire that left Hamas in power.  Each time, Hamas used the cease-fire as an opportunity to re-arm itself for the next round of hostilities.  In short, it’s clear that Hamas has no interest in a long-term cessation of violence.  They only want a chance to regain the element of surprise in order attack again. Why would Israel agree to that?

The second answer is actually 132 answers – the hostages.  There is no reason to think that Hamas will simply decide to release the hostages if Israel stops applying military pressure.  This is the same terrorist organization that held Gilad Shalit for five years and only released him in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners – including Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds of the October 7^th attack.  There can be no cease-fire as long as Hamas holds these hostages.  International pressure should be put on Hamas to release the hostages, and not on Israel to stop its counterattack.

And then I realized that both of these answers can be found in this week’s Torah portion discussing the Exodus from Egypt.

Our Torah portion, Parashat Bo, picks up after the first seven plagues.  After each one, Pharaoh relented and promised to release to the Hebrew slaves.  So, God halted the plague in question – just like a cease-fire.  But, as anyone who has attended a Passover Seder or watched the “The Ten Commandments” can tell you, Pharaoh did not adhere to the terms of the cease-fire.  He did not free the slaves.  He continued behaving as he did before the plagues.  Pharaoh had no intention of changing his ways.

So, in our Torah portion, Moses and Aaron delivered God’s message that the next plague was coming – locusts that would cover the land and devour everything in their paths. Hoping to avoid the plague while still keeping control over the Hebrews, Pharaoh offered to let the Hebrew men go for three days in order to worship Adonai.  However, that offer was insufficient. Moses replied, “We will all go, young and old; we will go with our sons and daughters (Exodus 10:9).”  No one would be left behind.

The story of Passover as told in our Torah portion reminds us that we’ve seen this all before.  Hamas, like Pharaoh in the Torah, begs for a ceasefire, but has no intention of changing its ways.  Hamas, like Pharaoh in the Torah, thinks that we will leave behind 132 souls if it means an end to the war for everyone else.  Both of these outcomes are intolerable.

Until Hamas relents – as Pharaoh ultimately relented – there can be no ceasefire.  Israel cannot allow Hamas to stay in power and to plan its next attack.  Hamas’ leadership must be removed from Gaza.  Israel cannot move on until the rest of the hostages are released.  Then, and only then, can we discuss a cease-fire.

Shalom, RAF.

An Upside Down World

It is astounding to me – but not the least bit surprising – that Israel is forced to appear at the International Court of Justice to respond to South Africa’s accusation of genocide.  Basher Assad has killed over 500,000 people in Syria’s civil war, but no one bats an eye.  The Chinese government has incarcerated over 1,000,000 Uyghurs in concentration camps with forced sterilizations and forced abortions, but there’s no outrage.  Over 400,000 Yemenis are dead from civil war and/or starvation with over 4.5 million people displaced, but no charges have been brought against the Houthis.

Only Israel – the one Jewish state in the world – is dragged before the ICJ to answer for having the gall to respond to Hamas’ murdering, raping, and kidnapping.  Hamas has broken more international laws than I can count – using human shields, indiscriminate rocket fire on civilian targets, militants not wearing uniforms, taking civilian hostages including children, not allowing the IRC access to the hostages, using rape as a weapon of war, stealing humanitarian aid and more – but it is Israel that must answer for its actions.

The world is upside down.

Without question, the Palestinian civilians of Gaza are suffering right now.  However, blaming Israel does not get to the root of the problem.  The root of the problem is that Hamas still has over 100 hostages and the perpetrators of the 10/7 attack are still hiding beneath and among the civilians of Gaza.  If they would release the hostages and turn over the perpetrators, the war would immediately be over.

In this week’s Torah portion, the Pharaoh went through seven of the plagues without really figuring out why these plagues were happening.  I’m sure he was angry at Moses and Aaron.  I’m sure he was angry at the God whom they represented.  But, that didn’t get to the root of the problem.

Finally, after the seventh plague – hail – Pharaoh started to see things differently.  The Torah tells us: “Thereupon Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, ‘I stand guilty this time. Adonai is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong (Exodus 9:27).’”  In other words, instead of being angry at God, Pharaoh came to realize that God was only responding to Pharaoh’s unjust behavior.  The way to make the plagues stop was to let the Israelites go free.  Sadly, it would take an additional three plagues before Pharaoh chose to act on this newfound understanding.

Hamas – and those responsible for the charade going on at the International Court of Justice – must similarly come to realize that, ultimately, the blame for the Palestinians’ suffering lies with Hamas.  The way to make the suffering of innocent Palestinians stop is for Hamas to release the hostages and for the perpetrators of 10/7 to surrender.  But, instead of putting pressure on Hamas to end this conflict, this UN show trial has given Hamas hope that the world will force Israel to stop its pursuit of the murderers, kidnappers and rapists.  They believe – like Pharaoh did for the first six plagues – that they can get away with it.

If the ICJ were a serious institution, first of all, it would be addressing the situations in Syria, China and Yemen.  But, if it really wanted to address the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, it would call out the criminality of Hamas and call upon the “leaders” of Hamas who are cowering in their tunnels to release the hostages and turn themselves in.  THAT would be the first step toward justice.

Shalom, RAF.

Dr. Gay Resigns

So, on Tuesday, Dr. Claudine Gay stepped down as President of Harvard University.  I cannot name the person whom she succeeded as President of Harvard.  I surely didn’t go to Harvard.  I’ve never even stepped foot on the campus of Harvard.  And yet, it was, somehow, an important story to me.

I have to admit that my initial response was one of relief and satisfaction – not quite celebration.  After all, Dr. Gay’s demise may be linked to two incidents related to Jewish life on Harvard’s campus.  First, her response to the October 7^th attack on Israel and its impact on Harvard’s Jewish students was underwhelming.  Then, her testimony on Capitol Hill regarding hypothetical calls for the genocide of Jewish students on campus was embarrassingly bad.

Of course, these two incidents did not, ultimately, lead to her resignation.  It was the numerous examples of plagiarism in her academic work that forced her to concede.  It was the disingenuous outrage by political actors who hate what Harvard represents and were happy to jump on the anti-Claudine-Gay bandwagon.

But, as I reflect on her resignation – even though no one has asked me! – I’ve come to realize that I never want to find myself rejoicing in someone losing their job, especially someone who had only been in her job for six months.  I know that it took me more than six months to figure out how to do my job.  It took much longer than that to start doing it well.  Further, I think that there was an opportunity here to help Dr. Gay do her job better rather than run her out of her office.  On top of all that, I’m ready to live in a world where all the seats of power and influence are NOT occupied by white Christian men.  I’m ready to live in a world where an African American woman is allowed to make some mistakes and still stay in her job – just as a white man would have probably been allowed to do.

For me – as a rabbi and as a Jew with no real connection to Harvard – Dr. Gay represents a problem for Jewish students on many campuses.  Namely, Jews are not afforded the same protections on campuses that other minority groups enjoy.  Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) offices around the country have policies regarding students of color, LGBTQ+ students, immigrant students, Latino students, and other minority students.  However, none of these safeguards are extended to Jewish students.  DEI has failed Jewish students.

This was an opportunity to build a bridge between the Jewish students on campus and those other groups of students who have been targets of hate and bigotry.  Instead, many of those students who saw Dr. Gay as a role model will now likely blame Jews for helping to end Dr. Gay’s presidency before it had a chance to really start.  Besides, who knows if the next president will be any better on the issue of campus antisemitism?  I believe that Dr. Gay recognized that she needed to do better, but she’ll never get the chance.

In this week’s Torah portion, Shemot, we read the ominous words, “A new king arose over Egypt (Exodus 1:8).”  It would be this new Pharaoh – who did not remember Joseph – who would enslave the Hebrews in Egypt.  It is a reminder that we should always be careful when wish for a change.  We Jews have always understood that a change in leadership does not always lead to the kinds of changes that we envisioned.  So, I hope that this change of leadership at the country’s most prominent university will lead to a reduction in antisemitism on college campuses across the country.  It’s possible that Harvard’s new president could lead the way in making Jewish students feel safer on campus.  But, today, I’m not really in the mood to celebrate.

Shalom, RAF.

The Last Word

As we come to the conclusion of 2023, we are all wondering what the coming year will bring.  At the end of 2019, we could have never predicted the pandemic that would arrive in March 2022.  In December 2022, we could not have foreseen the Hamas attack on Israel, the subsequent months of war and the spike in antisemitism worldwide.  

So, on some level, we cannot possibly know what the year 2024 will bring to us – for the good or for the bad.  It’s virtually impossible to predict.  But, maybe there’s a way to influence the kind of year we will have.

This weekend, we will also go through a transition on the Jewish calendar.  We will complete the Book of Genesis and start reading from the Book of Exodus.

As we conclude the first book of the Torah this coming Shabbat, you might notice that the Etz Hayim commentary (edited by Rabbi Harold Kushner) points us to the last word 

of the book as a foreshadowing of what is to come in the ensuing book (it works for the other books as well).  

The final word of the Book of Genesis at the conclusion of the 26^th verse in Chapter 50 is “Egypt.” Of course, the entire Book of Exodus is about the Israelites being enslaved in Egypt, God’s promise to take the Israelites out of Egypt and Moses working on God’s behalf to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  That is the key word of the whole second book.

In other words, the last thought we have before a major transition has an impact on our experience after the transition.

As 2023 comes to a close, it would be easy to be pessimistic.  The rise in antisemitism is real, the situation in Israel and Gaza is still very challenging and a tumultuous election cycle looms on the horizon for us here in the US.  But maybe – just maybe – if we go into 2024 with some positive and optimistic thoughts, we can help bring about a positive result to those situations.  

So, what will your last word of 2023 be?

Shalom, RAF.

So, You Think You’re an Anti-Zionist….

Way back in 2020 – long before any of us could have imagined the 10/7 attack – a Pew Research poll found that 82% of American Jews said that caring about Israel was “essential” or “important” to what being Jewish meant to them (us!).  I can’t imagine that there are very many things that 82% of us agree are “essential” or “important” to Judaism.  And yet, despite our differences and disagreements, Israel unites the vast majority of the Jewish people.  I suspect that after 10/7, the percentage has only gone up.  
 
And so, when I hear people trying to make the argument that they are anti-Zionist, but NOT antisemitic, I have to scratch my head.  If you are opposed to the one thing that unites Jews more than anything else, how can that not be antisemitism?
 
Before I go any further, I think it’s important to clarify my terminology.  Being critical of Israeli policies, Israeli politicians or Israeli culture is NOT anti-Zionism.  If that were the case, then most Israelis themselves would be anti-Zionists.  Anti-Zionism is the belief that Israel has no right to exist.  It is the belief that, unlike any other people, the Jewish people have no right to a state in their ancestral homeland.  It is the belief that the State of Israel is some sort of historical error.
 
Back in 2010, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks very eloquently pointed out that anti-Zionism emerged as the most recent incarnation of antisemitism.  When it became impolitic to be outwardly and explicitly antisemitic, one could simply substitute the word “Zionist” for “Jew,” and then one could say virtually anything about the Jewish people with impunity.  (Click here to hear him explain.). In this way, one doesn’t have to single out any particular Jew.  One can express enmity against the whole group in one fell swoop.
 
We are witnessing this anti-Zionist expression of antisemitism explode before our very eyes around the world.  And perhaps no organization foments this antisemitism more than the UN.
 
Just this past week, the UN issued official statements about the ongoing, undeclared war between Hezbollah and Israel.   It called out Israel’s airstrikes near UN installations and lamented the fact that over 64,000 Lebanese civilians have been displaced.  It said nothing about the fact that Hezbollah rockets in support of Hamas started the conflict, and that Hezbollah fires those rockets from locations immediately adjacent to UN sites.  Nor did the UN mention that over 80,000 Israelis have been evacuated from the area near Israel’s border with Lebanon, and are also displaced.  
 
In addition, the UN General Assembly finished up its country resolutions for 2023.  Once again, Israel topped the list of condemned countries.  There were 14 resolutions criticizing Israel in 2023, and 7 resolutions against all the other countries of the world combined.  The Assad regime has killed over 500,000 people including over 4,000 Palestinians, but there was only one resolution addressing Syria.  Russia has been perpetrating war crimes in Ukraine, and was condemned twice.  China continued its genocide against the Uyghurs and yet there was not a single resolution against China.  Somehow, Israel is more deserving of condemnation than all the other countries on earth. 
 
I can think of only one explanation for this double standard.
 
So, if you want to criticize Israel, pull up a chair.  I don’t know a single supporter of Israel who doesn’t think that they know better than the current government.  But, if you identify yourself as an anti-Zionist, then I know exactly what you mean.
 
Shalom,
RAF.

Stay Lit

On Tuesday, a Polish member of parliament used a fire extinguisher to put of the flames of a Menorah that had been lit in the Polish Parliament.  Despite his efforts to extinguish the flames, the rabbi who had conducted the Menorah lighting ceremony just a few minutes earlier was able to relight the Menorah while the extremist member of Parliament was forced to leave the building.

Then, on Wednesday morning in Oakland, California, the Jewish community woke up to find that its public Menorah had been torn down and thrown in a nearby lake.  A hate crime investigation has been started, but more importantly, a new Menorah was in place in time to light candles Wednesday evening.

These two stories only reinforce what we Jews have known for a long time.  There have always been people in this world who want to extinguish our light, but we’ve always found a way to keep the flame going.  The original story of Hanukkah is one of the earliest examples, but there’s no shortage of fire extinguishers and vandals in the subsequent 2,200 years.

This year, Hanukkah came at a perfect time.  Jews of the world were reeling from the physical attack on Israel on October 7^th and the subsequent verbal assault against Israel in the media ever since.  Here in the US, we’ve been facing an unprecedented surge in antisemitism.  These have been dark days, indeed.

But then, Hanukkah came.

This past Sunday, we were scheduled to light a Menorah on the Summit Village Green at 6:00pm.  The weather forecast was terrible – with heavy rain expected all day.  There was a 90% chance of rain at 6:00pm.  But, then a funny thing happened.  At about 5:45pm, the rain stopped.  We gathered as a community on the Green – perhaps a slightly smaller crowd than we would have otherwise had – and the rain held off long enough for us to recite the blessings, teach some words of Torah and sing some songs.  There was light in the darkness.

Last night, here at the synagogue, about 50 families brought their Menorahs and we set them up in our sanctuary.  When we light a few Menorahs in our house, the light and warmth are noticeable.  When we light 50 Menorahs in one room, it’s overwhelming.  It was a powerful reminder of what it means to come together as a community.

And tonight, as we light the candles one last time, we will come together, 7:00pm at Faith Lutheran Church. The members of the Faith community have been supporters and allies of the Jewish community for many years.  This event reminds us that sometimes, when our lights are flickering, we have friends who are willing to share their light with us.  

Sadly, tomorrow, there will be no more candles to light.  But, we must continue to come together as a community even in dark and stormy times.  We must share our light with one another, and we must draw light from our allies and friends.  If we do that, then Hanukkah extends well beyond eight days, and no one will be able to extinguish our light.

Shalom, 

RAF.