I am bound not to quote anyone who writes on a restricted rabbinic list serve on which 2300 Reform rabbis internationally discuss matters large and small, religious and mundane, lofty and pragmatic. However, a recent posting elicited a great deal of response about which I want to say a few words while, at the same time, holding to the confidentiality agreement.

One colleague asked what we all thought she ought to say and do concerning her adult son-in-law who is anti-vaccine and an 8^th grade teacher where the local hospitals’ ICUs have been overwhelmed by people fighting for their lives against Covid. (I changed a few of the details to protect this colleague’s identity).

Some of my colleagues argued from philosophy; others from the position of parenting adult children and their partners; and others from the position of autonomy (a high value in liberal Judaism) and social responsibility (a high value in Judaism generally).

The old story of the acceptability of a man drilling a hole under his seat in a boat thus allowing water to enter the craft and eventually sink it and then defending his action because the hole is under his seat and no one else’s is obviously appropriate to this conversation and to the many mandates for vaccination of federal and some state workers, those in large companies, many school districts, religious houses of worship, and in Israel’s Haredi and Arab communities.

One colleague put it right when he responded to another colleague who called this conversation “complicated.”

“It is not at all ‘complicated’ in any ethical system I know of” she wrote. “Society has the right to limit the freedom of its members to protect the public. Sometimes it may be difficult to determine where to grant license and where to apply limits to personal conduct, but not on the question of the value of human life.”

The problem in America today regarding vaccines and masks has nothing to do, ultimately, with autonomy and personal freedom, and everything to do with POLITICS (ala Trump and his sycophants) that are distorting morality and social responsibility and threatening people’s lives. It’s an entire other issue in Israel’s Haredi and Arab communities. But, in all of them, we are each other’s keepers and those government, business, educational, and religious leaders who require proof of vaccine for entry and participation in employment and social spaces are our best guarantors of freedom and life because everyone who dies or is disabled from this pandemic because of rigidity, ignorance, or refusal to get the vaccination risks losing everything.

Also posted at the Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-600-pound-elephant-anonymous/

Since the 1967 Six-Day War when Israel conquered all of Jerusalem from Jordan including the Old City, then General Moshe Dayan made an agreement with Jerusalem’s Muslim authority (The Waqf) on behalf of the State of Israel that no Jewish prayer services would be allowed on the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in all of Judaism. The 37-acre platform built by King Herod on which he reconstructed the 2^nd Jerusalem Temple in the first century BCE now houses the Islamic Dome of the Rock, a magnificent Byzantine structure (built in 691–92 CE) over the site that legend teaches Mohamed rose to heaven. Only meters away is the Al Aqsa Mosque (i.e. “The Southernmost Mosque”), the third holiest Islamic shrine after Mecca and Medina.

Israeli authorities understood in 1967 that for Israel to allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount could spark an international conflagration with the Muslim world of nearly two billion faithful. The rabbis of yore argued from a religious perspective that it was sacrilegious for any Jew to set foot on the platform out of the fear of stepping onto what was once the Holy of Holies, the Inner Sanctum of the Ancient Temple, a space forbidden to every Jew except the Jewish High Priest on the afternoon of Yom Kippur.

The agreement between Israel and the Waqf has held since 1967, but the arrangement has given way recently to something entirely new and potentially very dangerous, so reports Anshel Pfeffer of Haaretz in his piece In Jerusalem’s Holiest Site, These Modern Pilgrims Are Playing With Fire (September 14, 2021).

I was stunned by what Pfeffer revealed, and I worry that, as his article’s title warns, these Jewish religious pilgrims are indeed playing with fire. Though the Waqf seems to know that Jews are praying on this Muslim (and Jewish) sacred site and is saying nothing about it (so far), the more it becomes known that Jewish prayer is taking place there the greater will be the risk that more and more Jews will flock to join in thus stoking more Muslim-Jewish violence in an already highly fraught chaotic political cauldron between Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem.

“For the sake of peace” (a high Jewish virtue – mipnei darchei shalom), Jewish prayer there should cease immediately and the Israeli-Waqf agreement be reaffirmed. That said, something unique in the Jewish world is actually happening in a quiet section of the large platform that should be repeated in more traditional sites, such as at the Western Wall, in Israel generally, and around the Jewish world.

Individual prayer is taking place there that includes a wide variety of Jews, religious and non-Orthodox, men and women. They pray respectfully alongside each other without apparent judgement of one another. They do not hold prayer books, or carry Torah scrolls, or offer divrei Torah. They pray using apps on their cell phones twice a day (morning and afternoon), don’t shuckle in their davening, and keep their voices to a whisper so as not to attract undue attention.

Borrowing some of their language cited by Anshel Pfeffer in Haaretz (link below), I offer a poetic reflection that I hope evokes the spirit and consequences of what these Jews are doing upon the ruins of the ancient Beit Ha-Mikdash and contemporary “Noble Sanctuary.”

“At the window of yearning / Standing quietly / A smattering of Jews visit God / Speaking blessings in muted tones / Reading from their cell phones sans prayer books / Touching sanctity devoid of religious judgement / Against other religious streams / Risking massive inter-religious conflagration / Where once a massive building stood / A sacred palace of peace.”

Seems innocent enough when considered out of context, and the motives of these Jews may be quite pure. But the consequences of their continuing to pray on this hotly contested symbolically loaded piece of earth are frightening.

See Anshel Pfeffer’s article – https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT.MAGAZINE-in-jerusalem-s-holiest-site-these-modern-pilgrims-are-playing-with-fire-1.10209633

The blog was also published at the Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/at-the-window-of-yearning-a-frightening-threat/

I did not know Ida Nudel personally, but I got my start as a Jewish activist in 1970 through the Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry (San Francisco) that was among the first organizations in American Jewish life fighting on behalf of the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel (or America). As a 20 year-old, the names of Natan (nee Anatoly) Sharansky and Ida Nudel were the inspiration of our activism in America. I was privileged to meet Sharansky a number of times, but never Nudel – but I knew her story and am quite certain that she will go down in Jewish history as one of our most courageous and storied leaders.

Zichrona livracha – May her memory be a blessing.

timesofisrael.comFormer refusenik and Soviet Jewish activist Ida Nudel dies at 90Known as ‘Guardian Angel’ for humanitarian work on behalf of Zionist prisoners held in Soviet Union, Nudel moved to Israel after receiving the exit visa she spent years pursuing

Note: This prayer was first written and posted on the 10^th anniversary of 9/11 in 2011.

Eternal God, / Source and Creator of Life; / From the depths we have called to You / and we call to You again for courage, strength, and wisdom on this 20^the year anniversary of our nation’s tragedy.

Grant us courage to confront our enemies. / Comfort those who stand alone without spouse, parent, brother, sister, or friend. / Open our hearts to them and to the children orphaned. / Enable us to love more deeply all children who suffer. / Accept with mercy our prayers of healing on behalf of the families of the victims / and on behalf of the first responders who became ill at Ground Zero and who eventually died as a consequence.

Despite the horror and tragedy of 9/11, / our country remains a shelter of peace, / a symbol of freedom / a beacon light of compassion and justice / to the downtrodden and oppressed of the world.

Strengthen the hands of our people to defend this country / and our common values of freedom and justice. / Inspire our leaders and diplomats / to act wisely and to pursue peace everywhere in the world.

May we teach our children to learn and to think, / to consider and to reason, / to be courageous in thought and in deed, / and to nurture hearts of wisdom / that they may do battle against fear, hatred and bigotry / using weapons of the spirit and loving hearts.

We offer our prayers / on behalf of our country and government, our President and judiciary, / our officials and institutions, our soldiers and citizens, / upon all who faithfully toil for the good of our country, / to preserve democracy in our land, / to advocate for civility between adversaries, / and to treat every human being as infinitely worthy and dignified / by virtue of being created b’Tzelem Elohim, in the Divine image.

Bestow upon us all the blessings of peace, / and may we live to see the day / when swords will be converted into plowshares / and nations will not learn war anymore. / Amen!

By Rabbi John L. Rosove, Senior Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Posted originally in The Times of Israel – see https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-prayer-in-memory-of-the-victims-of-september-11/

When I studied the History of Art as an undergraduate, I recall a drawing (I don’t remember the artist) of a “Scapegoat” surrounded by fumes, and Aaron, the High Priest, sending it off alone into the desert. The ritual is found in the traditional scriptural reading in synagogues on Yom Kippur morning (see Leviticus 16:10, 21-22).

It was a powerful image showing how a hapless goat was believed to absorb and carry away the transgressions of an entire people thereby leaving the community relieved of its sins and guilt. This transference was affected through the hands of the High Priest that gathered and held all the people’s character flaws, destructive sinful obsessions of jealousy, envy, pride, lust, egotism, rage, revenge, cynicism, and guilt. The innocent goat was exiled to a place called Azazel (now understood to be the Kidron Valley just south of Jerusalem’s Old City walls) and is the origin of the notion of “scapegoating” a despised “other,” a phenomenon, of course, not at all based on the character of the innocent “other” but rather on the projection and transference of the community’s evil inclinations.

In the rabbinic period that formally began after the destruction of the 2^nd Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE, the rabbis taught (based on the moral preaching of the biblical prophets) that greater moral, psychological, and spiritual accountability was required to effect change and bring about societal renewal. They taught that the most constructive and effective ways for the community and individuals to cope with and transcend their negative drives and emotions include a return to God, Torah, community, and self (t’shuvah), self-judgment (shifut atzmi), forgiveness (s’lichah), memory of the virtues of our forebears (zich’ronot), fasting (tzom), various other kinds of physical self-denial (hach’chashah atzmit), deeds of loving-kindness (g’milut chasadim) and simply loving others (ahavah) by virtue of the religious truth that all human beings are created in the Divine image (b’tzelem Elohim) and thus embody infinite value and worth. Those who take seriously these principles and virtuous behaviors clean the moral grime away covering the soul, heretofore existing in darkness, to shine into the world and for our people to become a light to the nations (or lagoyim – Isaiah 60:3).

In Ray Bradbury’s complex allegorical tale of good and evil, Something Wicked This Way Comes (the title’s origin derives from Shakespeare’s Macbeth – Act IV, Scene I – in a phrase spoken by a witch who knows something bad is coming because there’s a tingling sensation in her thumbs), the author describes the disappearance and re-emergence of “an old almost forgotten dog,” reminiscent of the Levitical scapegoat:

“Some time every year that dog, good for many months, just ran on out into the world and didn’t come back for days and finally did limp back all burred and scrawny and odorous of swamps and dumps; he had rolled in the dirty mangers and foul dropping places of the world, simply to turn home with a funny little smile pinned to his muzzle. Dad named the dog Plato, the wilderness philosopher, for you saw by his eyes there was nothing he didn’t know. Returned, the dog would live in innocence again, tread patterns of grace, for months, then vanish, and the whole thing start over.” (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962, pages 78-79)

Both Leviticus and Something Wicked assume the existence of a harsh, corrupt, cynical, morally-disheartening, and soul-crushing world against which humankind must cope to morally survive and renew itself. I need not detail the evidence nor the pain experienced by so many this past year. They are far too numerous to list. Much of it, of course, is human induced and consequently we bear the responsibility of our actions and inaction. The hapless scapegoat and the bruised wandering dog are concrete reminders that humankind is far from adequately evolved emotionally, psychologically, morally, and spiritually, and that we individuals, the Jewish community, and humankind have a long way to go to responsibly purge ourselves of our destructive obsessions, impulses, and actions.

The High Holidays, thankfully, arrive annually to reengage us (if we haven’t been doing so throughout the year) in the necessary inner restorative work that enables the full flowering of the virtues of humility, appreciation, generosity, justice, kindness, love, and peace. May these Ten Days of T’shuvah (return, turning) and Yom Kippur be a time of reflection, self-criticism, commitment to do better, and renewal.

G’mar chatimah tovah.

This blog was originally posted at The Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-goat-and-an-old-almost-forgotten-dog/

There is much for us to think about individually and as a Jewish community this High Holiday season. Our world is in turmoil, Covid threatens too many people’s lives and health, the climate is demonstrably more and more threatening to life on earth, American political polarization, economic disparities, bigotry, and racial tensions threaten our democracy, Israel has yet to adequately address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and people everywhere are seeking wisdom to help them manage their lives and cope with the manifold challenges we face. All this inspired me to share the words of the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, and the Talmudic sages Ben Zoma, Rabbi Ilai, and Hillel. I hope that their words hold meaning for you.

[1] The Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai always inspires me. He wrote of the spirit of renewal, one of the central themes of the upcoming High Holiday season:

“From the place where we are right / Flowers will never grow / In the spring.”

These simple three phrases suggest that humility is essential to natural and human growth and that the other virtues are dependent upon it.

I offer three more short passages from Talmudic literature that speak of virtues cherished in Jewish tradition and worthy of our consideration as we enter into the New Year.

[2] “Ben Zoma said:

“Eizeh hu chacham – Who is wise? Ha-lomed mi kol adam – The one who learns something from every other human being.

Eizeh hu gibor – Who is strong? Ha-kovesh et yitzro – the one who subdues his/her evil inclination.

Eizeh hu ashir – Who is wealthy? Ha-sameiach b’chelko – The one who is satisfied with his/her portion.

Eizeh hu m’chubad – Who is honored? Ha-m’chabed et ha-briyot – The one who honors others.” Mishna Avot 4:1

Commentary:

Ben Zoma’s answers to his questions (Who is wise? Who is strong? Who is wealthy? Who is honored?) are the opposite of what we might expect.

Wisdom depends not on being the smartest person with the highest IQ in the room, but on developing high emotional intelligence that begins with humility so as to be able to learn something new in the interaction with every person we encounter, young or old, wise or simple, wealthy or poor, friend or foe, of high or low station.

Strength isn’t determined by physical brawn, but by our ability to control our anger, lust, craving, and desire.

Wealth is not measured by the accumulation of more and better material things, but by how satisfied we are with whatever we possess.

Honor is not attained by the striving after position, but by humility before all, and by deference and generosity towards others thus honoring who they are and openly respecting and praising their virtues and accomplishments.

[3] “Rabbi Ilai says: Bishloshah devarim adam nikar: b’koso, u-v’kiso, u-v’ka-aso. V’amri lei: af b’sach’ko – a person is known by three things: one’s cup, one’s wallet, and one’s anger. Some say: one’s enjoyment of life (i.e. how a person spends one’s leisure time). Talmud, Eruvim 65a

Commentary:

A person’s nature, values, and integrity are measured and observed when he/she drinks too much liquor or abuses other mind-altering substances (koso –“cup”), by one’s integrity in business and honesty in every day financial affairs, and generosity towards others (kiso –“wallet”), how one controls one’s emotions (ka-aso –anger), and some say how one spends one’s leisure time (sach’ko – fun time).

[4] “A man came before Hillel and asked to be converted. Hillel said – Da-alach s’nei l’chav’rach la ta-aveid – That which is hateful to you do not do to another – zo hi kol haTorah kulah – that is the entire Torah – v’idakh peirusha hu, zil g’mor – and the rest is its interpretation. Go study.” Talmud, Shabbat 31a

Commentary:

The so-called “Golden Rule” is a variation on three words in the central verse in the central book of the five books of Moses – Leviticus 19:18 – “V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha!” “You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself” because like him/her, “I” (the Holy Creator) created you in the Divine image.” (Genesis 1:27)

A prayer for the New Year 5782

May each of us, the people we love, all those in our friendship and collegial circles, and in our wider Jewish community be healthy and strengthened in our communal and individual resolve to grow, confront challenge, be creative, relevant, and productive on behalf of others. May our liberal Jewish and progressive Zionist values guide us in confronting injustice and hardship and in promoting human dignity and human rights. And may our people in Israel and around the world know safety and peace.

L’shanah tovah u-m’tukah – A good and sweet New Year to you all.

This blog also appears at The Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-wisdom-of-4-sages-and-a-blessing-for-the-new-year/