42.2 million Americans – 13.1 million children – 5.7 million seniors today struggle with hunger

20 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Social Justice

≈ 1 Comment

I am an unabashed supporter of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and have been since it began thirty years ago, a brainchild of the late Rabbi Harold Schulweis and the late liberal activist Leonard Fein. Their mission then was simple, but as has been proven, very difficult to fulfill – namely, to engage the American Jewish community in helping to alleviate hunger in the United States.

Now, MAZON has created a powerful experience that over the next year will travel to every major city in America and end up parked near the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. as a prod to Congress to do everything possible to alleviate hunger in the wealthiest nation in the world.

MAZON presents “This Is Hunger Experience,” a high-impact, experiential installation on wheels—literally, it’s a big rig. When the 53-foot-long double expandable trailer is parked and open on both sides, it provides nearly 1,000 square feet of interior space to take participants on a two-part journey: to understand the stark reality of hunger in America and to take action to end hunger once and for all.

Part One: Illuminate—Participants enter the truck and are invited to sit at a communal table to meet, virtually, real people struggling with hunger. Portraits are projected at each end of the table, one by one, as they share their stories in their own words and in their own voices.

Part Two: Advocate—At the conclusion of Part One: Illuminate, participants will be invited to engage in activities and experiences that will deepen their awareness about the complexities of being hungry and invite them to join MAZON in educating the rest of our nation and advocating for change.

This interactive experience on wheels will illuminate the very real and preventable existence of hunger in America, encourage us to raise our voices on behalf of the 42.2 million Americans who struggle with hunger every day, and ignite our community’s commitment to end hunger once and for all. This truck’s first stop is in Los Angeles and is currently parked at Temple Israel of Hollywood. (For tours and reservations, see links below).

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger has a long tradition of engaging the American Jewish community as well as anti-hunger organizations to become catalysts for the change we need to end hunger in America. We know all too well that there are persistent myths about hunger in America, about who is hungry and why. Until our nation recognizes the profound prevalence of hunger here at home, we will never be able to rally the political will required to end it.

That’s why MAZON is launching the public tour of This Is Hunger, a powerful community engagement program that will encourage individuals to embark on a journey—one that challenges their beliefs about who in America struggles with hunger and why, and empower them to take action.

See – http://thisishunger.org/host

To reserve tickets: http://bit.ly/2ebJGgO

The Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1806330589623327/

The MAZON video: https://vimeo.com/187432624

Note: The above text was borrowed from MAZON’s materials.

A Note to My Grandchildren

17 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Women's Rights

≈ 5 Comments

Rabbi Stanley Davids is a dear friend and grandfather of eight. He posted a letter that he wrote to his grandchildren following the election of Trump on the Reform Rabbi List-Serve this past week that I want to share with you in its entirety.

Stan is a thoughtful, kind, good-humored (most of the time) and passionate activist for all things good, a retired congregational rabbi and a past President of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (he is the one who persuaded me to follow him as Chair of ARZA).

Stan’s words are worth sharing with your children and grandchildren. I post them here with his permission.

November 10, 2016

Dear Olivia, Joshua, Gabriel, Zeke, Mya, Cole, Beth and Hannah,

“Watch out for the baobabs.” (The Little Prince)

I waited several days after Donald Trump won the presidency before I could properly share my thoughts with you. I am that confused and I am that upset.

You know how hard I worked to elect Hillary Clinton. I believed in her then. I believe in her now. And I deeply, profoundly, am opposed to Donald Trump – his values, his behavior, his plans.

I apologize to you for having failed to defend you and your future against the hateful things that President-Elect Trump represents. I wanted so much to protect that future, to shield you from intense prejudice, racial hatred, hatred of minorities, hatred of LGBT folks, hatred of the not physically able. But I failed. I have always been personally active in political matters here and in Israel and in the former USSR. I stood up for African-Americans, women, LGBT, Soviet Jews and civil and religious rights in Israel. Sometimes the cause for which I fought was successful. Sometimes – not so much. But I never stopped trying.

This is a great country. Several of you will be casting your first presidential ballots in four years. But by then I fear that a newly reconstituted Supreme Court will have made some horrific decisions and that a Congress controlled by ultra-conservatives may have turned our great Ship of State in dangerous directions.

I failed. So the battle now must be yours. Please don’t give up on politics. Don’t feel overwhelmed. And don’t be indifferent. Read, study, talk – and become involved. Don’t leave it to others to protect your world – they just might not do it. Experience frustration, the pain of loss, and the discomfort of sometimes disagreeing even with those you highly respect. But remember that politics always responds to the passionate, informed few. Be among them.

Form coalitions. Reach beyond your close circle of friends. Hear the concerns of others. Ask them to hear yours. Be ready to walk away if they refuse. Don’t let them change you. Join groups that express and endorse your values. Turn them into instruments of your vision. And make certain that you are clear as to your own values. Values matter. Ideas matter. No one, no one, can expect to be granted the right to tend his or her garden and to expect the world to just let them alone. It won’t happen. You can’t hide from the cancer of prejudice and hatred. If you allow it, it will find you.

You are Jews. You are all well educated in Jewish tradition. Acquire the values language of our tradition and let that values language inspire you and give you unbreakable hope.

So long as I am able, I will continue fighting for Tikkun Olam. You are already becoming old enough to be my partners, and I embrace that privilege. Together we will remain intolerant of evil. Together we can fight for a world in which The Other presents to us a vision of God. There is no permanent victory in this struggle, but there is also no permanent defeat.

And about that baobab, the Little Prince counsels that we must pull up all of the baobabs as soon as they appear. Never delay. If we delay even a little bit, the planet will rapidly become infested with them and they will sink in their roots and rip the planet apart.

“Watch out for the baobabs.”

I love you.
Saba

Turning Mourning into Meaning in the Post-Election Period

13 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Women's Rights

≈ 5 Comments

The following is a sermon I delivered to my congregation this past Friday night, November 11, 2016, after the shock of the Trump electoral victory.

The impact of this now concluded presidential campaign and the election results have shocked not only this country but the world. One either has been lifted up upon wings of eagles or plunged into despair like Jonah in the belly of the great fish.

I don’t presume to know the hearts and minds of every member of our community. I know only my own mind and heart, and it’s from there that I speak to you tonight.

I hope my words will reflect the thoughts of many, and if they do – good! If not, it can’t be helped.

My challenge this week, like yours, has been to cope with an election result that has caused me deep distress and anxiety, and then to find a way to convert my mourning into meaning.

This election, unfortunately, has shined a light into the darkest recesses of the American psyche and revealed how divided is our nation. It should be clear to everyone that we Americans live in two worlds with two understandings about what it means to be an American and about the meaning of morality.

For those who are happy with the results, I congratulate you. As I suspect, however, this is not the case for far more of us in this congregational community. Like many of you, I’m bereft and left with a sickening feeling of disgust and fear about our nation’s future.

I worry that every advance the Obama Administration made these past eight years will be thwarted as promised by the President-elect, that the Affordable Care Act will be repealed, that twenty million people will lose their health insurance, that those with pre-existing conditions will be uninsurable, that a fundamentalist Supreme Court will be solidified for the next generation and overrule Roe V Wade and protect Citizens United, that the United States will dismantle its trade agreements, cause instability in the international markets and in our economy, that we’ll withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and set back all efforts to contain the emission of fossil fuels that cause global warming, that the NATO alliance will be weakened at best and unravel at worst, that Russia’s influence will expand, that many more innocent Syrians will die in indiscriminate American bombing of ISIS, that the US will back away from the Iran agreement and enable Iran to march quickly toward full nuclear capability and threaten Israel, that Muslims will be banned from America, that American citizens of Middle East origins and other people of color will become suspect and cower in fear, that LGBTQ rights will be set back in the courts, that sexual assault upon women will be tolerated, and that eleven million undocumented immigrants will be deported.

All these actions were promised by Donald Trump in his campaign and, if he is like all past Presidents, he will succeed in implementing seventy percent of his campaign promises.

The extremist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, homophobic, misogynist, racist, anti-Semitic, nativist, authoritarian, and demagogic bigotry that he has unleashed this year has been shocking, disheartening, frightening, and immoral.

That Trump received sixty million votes is beyond my ability to comprehend. That being said, I know that many who voted for him are good and decent people, but I also can’t help but conclude that their morality has been deeply compromised. We have to accept this fact and then try and understand if we are able, what were their reasons and motivations so we can be efficacious in helping to bring our country together in common cause and purpose.

I fear that Trump’s policies will fundamentally transform the heart and soul of this country, that we will no longer be regarded around the world as the shining city on the hill and the last refuge for the tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

And so – what do we do?

First, it’s important that we take the time to give voice to the anguish we feel. Those who need to grieve must do so. In this I’m heartened by Mahatma Gandhi’s wisdom when he said:

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall – always.”

Gandhi was probably right, but tyrants never fall voluntarily. They fall only when they encounter stronger more persistent forces of good.

And so, when we conclude our grieving, I suggest we do the following at the very least – that we try and understand those who voted for Trump beyond the bigotry, what are their narratives and aspirations? What are their needs, passions, and dreams, anger, and resentments? What did their candidate embody and how did Hillary Clinton and the Democrats fail them? Though Hillary won the majority of the popular vote and should be president, in my opinion, she did not fail in any significant way in drawing the majority of the voting public to her and her vision – just in certain key states.

Nevertheless, if you feel as I do that her vision is better for Americans and the world, then we need to expose the harm that Trump’s initiatives champion and what they will do to the American people. We need to fight to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care, to good education, to protection from climate change, to good, sustaining and meaningful jobs, to equal pay for equal work, to freedom from sexual assault and harassment, to safety in their communities, to freedom from prejudice, bigotry and bias, and to a fair shot at the American dream.

We have to frame the conversation going forward in ways that the American people will understand what is really at stake, to speak positively about real solutions, with detailed policy proposals that are workable and that can gain bipartisan support. This kind of communication and education about the issues includes political lobbying on their behalf, using the media strategically so that as many Americans are reached as possible, and focusing specifically on the deleterious impact that Trump’s policies and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate will have on people’s lives.

We cannot do this alone. We have to organize with other groups in coalitions of decency and be certain that our collective voices are heard on issue after issue.

There are already so many advocacy organizations working that can use our individual and collective help. Google broad themes and you will find them such as civil liberties (ACLU), women’s rights and advocacy organizations (National Organization Of Women – NOW), the environment (Citizens’ Climate Lobby and Sierra Club), peoples of color advocacy groups, LGBTQ rights and anti-bullying support groups, criminal justice reform and abolition of the death penalty, getting money out of politics, health care advocacy, hunger and food insecurity (MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger), and many others.

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C. (RAC) addresses virtually every social justice issue of concern to the American Reform Jewish movement (see – http://www.rac.org).

I wrote this week to our synagogue members’ Congressional representatives and offered not only my own personal support for them but our congregation’s support for all efforts to dissuade Congress from enacting legislation that would set back a fairer, safer and more just America. I encouraged them to reach across the aisle to moderate, practically-minded members of the Republican Party and find ways to join together and advocate initiatives that can do some good, save the environment, raise the minimum wage, secure Medicare and Social Security, and help ordinary people.

As Jews, we have a special moral duty, inspired by the ancient Biblical prophets’ concern for justice, compassion, peace, and the rights of the vulnerable, to dig deeply into our tradition’s wisdom for insight, courage, and strength, while keeping our hearts open, our minds clear and our moral principles strong.

We Jews and all peoples of faith and moral purpose need to put one foot in front of the other and not get lost, to perform deeds of loving-kindness constantly, to pursue justice and peace unrelentingly, to be agents of hope always, and to be an “or la-goyim – a light unto the nations.”

The Pirke Avot (2:6) teaches – “B’ma-kom sh’ein a-na-shim, tish’ta-del li-hi-yot ish – In a place where there are no human beings, strive always to be a mensch!”

That must be our purpose, our response, our cure, and our hope!

Leonard Cohen (z’l), who died this week, often parted company from his Jewish friends saying, “Chazak chazak v’nit’cha-zek – Be strong, be strong and together we will strengthen one another.”

I wish that for all of us now.

Read – “How America got it so wrong – Journalists and politicians blew off the warning signs of a Trump presidency – now, we all must pay the price” – by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone Magazine – http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/president-trump-how-america-got-it-so-wrong-w449783

An invitation in the wake of this election

09 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Social Justice, Women's Rights

≈ 14 Comments

Dear Congregants and Friends:

We know what he has said. We know what he has done. We have seen evidence of his low-brow tastes, his moral failures and his unethical behavior; but we do not yet know what he will do as President.

He has taken opposite positions on the same issues. He has behaved as a cheat, a misogynist, a racist, and a bigot. He has stoked extremism and anti-Semitism. He plays badly in the sandbox and thinks nothing of kicking sand in the face of others. He shows little or no empathy. He demonstrates a self-centeredness that none of us would permit in our own children.

He lacks dignity and grace, and his pronouncements about matters domestic and foreign have worried experts on both sides of the aisle as well as past presidents from both political parties, past presidential candidates, and people far more learned and experienced than him in matters of government, policy and international relations.

He is a climate change denier, a skeptic of science, and a creator of his own facts.

But – he will now be our President, as difficult as that is to imagine for so many of us. The American people have spoken and voted, though our country is as polarized as at any time in my life time, and it is our duty as citizens to accept the decision of the majority of the American people.

Will he make America and the world unsafe or safe? With the nuclear codes in hand, will he be reckless or cautious? What will he do to undermine or support Israel’s security and our people’s place in the Middle East? Will he cause the reversal of Roe v Wade, cancel the Affordable Care Act and strip health insurance from twenty million people who have benefited while casting those of us with pre-existing conditions into the wilderness with no health insurance.

All these questions, and so many more, have yet to be answered. We do not know who he will appoint to his cabinet, or who his advisors will be. We are, at this point, groping in the dark about virtually everything. Yes, we have a strong constitutional system of government with many checks and balances – but will they hold now that there is only political party that controls all aspects of the federal government?

Like most of you, I would imagine, I am fearful about more than I can say.

What do we do?

As Jews we traditionally have turned to each other and recommitted ourselves to one another in times of uncertainty and stress. We have sought our people’s inner strength and our ancient wisdom, and we have taken faith in our capacity to adapt to whatever challenges we encounter, and thereby thrived as a people.

This is a time to turn to all peoples of faith and decency, and link our arms and hearts with theirs.

It’s a time for us Americans to remember what it is that really makes America great – not to fall victim to hostile and defensive rhetoric and bromides that pit us against each other – but to affirm the love that is at the heart of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim traditions.

This is the time to remember that we are each other’s brothers and sisters, that we have to remain openhearted and steadfast in our principles, that it is our duty to continue to perform acts of tzedakah (justice) and hesed (loving-kindness) no matter what.

We are an empathetic and compassionate people. Since the time of the Exodus from Egypt we Jews have known the heart of the stranger and we have identified with the marginalized and unsupported. We know that they are us and we are them, and we all need each other.

We Jews are something else as well – we are a sanctifying people who have striven always to bring God’s light into the world, to act as healers and repairers of all that which is wrong and unjust and cruel.

We Jews are always stronger in community than we are alone. I therefore invite you, young and old, children and the aged, Jew and non-Jew, to come to synagogue this Friday evening and join in celebrating Shabbat together.

Kabbalat Shabbat services at Temple Israel of Hollywood will begin at 6:30 pm. Do arrive a bit earlier so we can greet one another. We will sing together, pray and reflect together, and take joy in each other. I will share additional thoughts and reflections.

Speaking very personally – I need you, our community, as do my colleagues Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh, Rabbi Jocee Hudson, our Cantorial Soloist Shelly Fox, and our accompanist Michael Alfera. Please come.

Chazak v’eimatz – May we be strong together and thereby strengthen one another.

With love,

Rabbi John Rosove

Israel Has Failed the Jewish People Over Its Inaction at the Western Wall – Haaretz – My op-ed today

03 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Social Justice, Women's Rights

≈ 6 Comments

Friends – I was invited to write an op-ed for Haaretz on the demonstration yesterday by dozens of leading rabbis of Reform and Conservative Streams, Women of the Wall, and every element of the international Reform movement. The article appeared today – the link is below, but I have pasted the entire piece here.

Opinion – Israel Has Failed the Jewish People Over Its Inaction at the Western Wall – Enough is enough. The Kotel should not be an ultra-Orthodox synagogue. It is the most sacred site in all of Judaism and belongs to the entire Jewish people.

Rabbi John Rosove Nov 03, 2016 12:00 PM – read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.750797

On Wednesday morning, Rosh Hodesh Heshvan, hundreds of liberal Jews marched into the Western Wall plaza with Torah scrolls, song and hope. I was one of many surrounding those carrying Torah scrolls and protecting them from the aggression of the ultra-Orthodox to tear the scrolls from our rabbis’ arms. One young Haredi Jew, so filled with rage, lunged at Women of the Wall’s Anat Hoffman. I jumped in front of him, blocked his advance and he fell back onto the stones. I felt a mix of defiance and grief. His behavior and that of others represent the opposite of what Judaism teaches, that we are here to love God and our fellows, to draw all to Torah and the pursuit of justice, mercy and peace.

A deal is a deal. An agreement is an agreement. Good faith is good faith. Enough is enough!

The Reform and Conservative movements and the Jewish Federations of North America have been engaged for more than three-and-a-half years in negotiations with the Israeli government to find common ground on an issue of utmost importance to world Jewry.

In January of this year, those negotiations succeeded. We Reform and Conservative leaders were proud of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chair of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Natan Sharansky, who concluded the painstaking, complicated and very long negotiations to create a new egalitarian prayer space overseen by the liberal movements and Women of the Wall in the southern Kotel Plaza. The greater values of Klal Yisrael and shalom bayit were confirmed. Religious pluralism in Israel attained as a value at this holiest site in Judaism and we had hopes that future efforts to grant rights to the non-Orthodox in the Jewish state. We imagined a day when Reform and Conservative rabbis could legally convert people to Judaism, officiate at marriage ceremonies, oversee divorce proceedings and could in the mitzvah of burial of our beloved in the land of Israel.

The agreement was clear. All would remain the same in the traditional prayer plaza and would continue to be overseen by the Chief Rabbinate of the Wall. A new prayer space would be created in the southern Kotel Plaza beneath Robinson’s arch. The agreement was the result of compromise by all parties. The Kotel as a whole would symbolize the historic diversity and unity of the Jewish people.

The ultra-Orthodox community, despite its own participation in this long and arduous negotiation represented by the Head Administrator of the Wall, decided it could not abide the deal. It has now been 10 months of prevarication, delay and retreat by the government and prime minister.

We waited and waited and waited. Our leadership was patient and in the end, it became clear to us that Netanyahu would not honor his commitment. Natan Sharansky told those of us on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency that Netanyahu said he would do everything possible to fulfill the agreement except that which would bring down the government.

Some matters, however, are greater than any particular government. The vast majority of Israelis, let alone world Jewry, supports religious freedom and diversity in Israel. In a democracy, the majority must rule with respect for the minority. The agreement accomplished both.

The arbitrary rules of the Kotel plaza disallowing the use of any Torah other than those approved by the Ultra-Orthodox Head Administrator of the Wall and the denial of the rights for women to pray using tallitot, tefilin and to read Torah are unreasonable, unfair, unjust and discriminatory.

Enough is enough. The Kotel should not be an ultra-Orthodox synagogue. It is the most sacred site in all of Judaism and belongs to the entire Jewish people.

The Talmud teaches that sinat chinam, baseless hatred between Jews, caused the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple two thousand years ago. I sadly see that same hatred in the eyes of those who attacked us yesterday.

The Israeli government has failed the Jewish people, but it is not too late to do what it should have done ten months ago – go forward and implement this historic, fair and visionary agreement. If not now, when!?

Rabbi John Rosove is National Chair, Association of Reform Zionists of America.

Brothers

27 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Divrei Torah, Ethics, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Poetry

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After God created the heavens and the earth, tragedy struck in a catastrophe that has never been forgotten, a tragedy now ingrained in our DNA and repeated in every generation.

The tale of Cain and Abel is a story of envy, despair, and evil that has stained the human condition (Genesis 4:1-15).

As dramatic as this story is, in only fifteen verses does the episode unfold and resolve. The narrative gives only bare details of Cain’s and Abel’s lives and their fates. Abel (Havel) was a keeper of sheep. His Hebrew name means “vapor,” reflecting his short and purposeless life.

Cain was a farmer and tiller of the soil, the same ground that he polluted when he murdered his brother and his brother’s blood soaked the earth.

We learn that the brothers each had brought to God offerings. Cain was first – Abel followed. God rejected Cain’s gift and received Abel’s joyfully. Cain felt humiliated and shunned by the God he yearned to serve.

Why did God reject Cain’s gift? We don’t know. God, however, seemed surprised by Cain’s strong reaction and asked: “Why are you so upset? Why has your face fallen? Is it not thus: If you intend good, bear-it-aloft, but if you do not intend good, at the entrance is sin, a crouching-demon, toward you his lust–but you can rule over him.” (vs 6-7) [An enigmatic ancient poetic passage – see below]

A shame! Instead of sympathy God gave Cain a lecture. Yet, we can’t really blame Cain for his distress. He felt rejected and utterly alone. Even Cain’s parents were missing from the scene, so he struck out against the one closest to him – the only one there – his brother Abel.

Cain and Abel had spoken or argued, but we’re not told about what. The rabbis offer several explanations.

One said that the brothers had agreed to divide the world. Cain took all the land and Abel took everything that moved: but then they fought out of greed for more.

Cain said: “The land upon which you stand is mine. Get off – you may fly if you like, for I don’t own the air. But the land is mine and not for your use.”

Abel shot back: “The clothes you wear are made from the wool of my flock. Strip down. Walk naked. You’ve no right to the product of my sheep.”

A second sage said that each brother owned both land and movable property and that they fought about on whose land the Temple in Jerusalem would be built.

“The Temple should be built on my land,” said one.

“No. It must be built on mine,” said the other.

Their battle thus became a religious war each claiming that God was on his side.

A third rabbi said that Abel had a twin sister, a magnificently beautiful and alluring woman, and since there was no other woman on earth, each wanted her.

Cain argued: “I must have her because I am the first born.”

Abel too felt entitled: “She’s mine because she was born with me. Together we must stay.”

The rabbis regard Cain and Abel as symbols. Each explanation is an argument for what drives people to hate and kill each other; materialism, religious fanaticism, and sexual obsession.

“Cain rose up against Abel and slew him.” (v 8)

The Midrash claimed that Abel was the physically stronger man, and as he was about to kill Cain, Cain pleaded for his life: “We are the only two in the world. What will you tell our parents if you kill me?”

From fear or perhaps pity, Abel lowered his weapon, and at that moment Cain murdered him.

After the deed (as if God didn’t know), the Almighty asked: “Where is Abel your brother?”

Cain was cold and disengaged: “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?” (v 9)

God expected moral accountability, but as he had turned on his brother, so too did Cain turn on God:

“You hold watch over all creatures, and yet You demand an accounting of me! True, I killed him, but You created the evil inclination within me. It’s Your fault! Why did You permit me to slay him? You slew him yourself, for had You looked favorably on my offering, I wouldn’t have had reason to envy and kill him.”

God emphasized to Cain the heinous significance of his murderous act, but Cain didn’t understand.

God said: “The voice of your brother’s blood(s) cry to Me from the ground.” (v 10)

The Hebrew for blood (dam) is written in the plural (damim) meaning that killing one human being is equivalent to the murder of every generation to come, of an entire world, genocide. And given that Cain killed his brother, murder is also fratricide.

As tragic as this tale is, the ending is abruptly positive. Adam and Eve chose life again and bore their third son, Seth, in the place of Abel. We are considered Seth’s descendants (v 25) and neither carry the legacy of victim or aggressor. That is for each of us to decide.

Note: The above is a creative compilation of the Biblical text and rabbinic commentary. The translation of the poem – vs 6-7 – is borrowed from Everett Fox’s translation of The Five Books of Moses – The Schocken Bible: Volume I.

“Theater of the absurd!” Another UNESCO assault on history and decency

26 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Ethics, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish-Islamic Relations

≈ 1 Comment

The article below from The Times of Israel published today tells a story that every Jew should read and know.

The international organization that is designed to be a strong advocate for education, science and culture (UNESCO) around the world instead has succumbed to political pressure from anti-Israel and anti-Semitic forces that have made a virtue of ignorance, denial and cultural myopia.

This Times of Israel piece reports on a new resolution passed by UNESCO that yet again ignores the historic Jewish and Christian connections to the Temple Mount (known to Jews for 2000 years as Har Ha-Bayit) on which the ancient Jerusalem Temples once stood.

Prime Minister Netanyahu rightly observed that UNESCO is presiding over a “theater of the absurd!”

Despite this denial of history and of the Jewish people’s origins, I believe it is important that Israel and the United States stay engaged with UNESCO so as to act as an obstacle in the way of further efforts to delegitimize Jewish claims to the land of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

Some have argued that American refusal to pay dues to UNESCO since 2011 for similar aberrations of its raison d’etre as an international organization have enabled UNESCO to be unduly influenced by anti-Israel and anti-Semitic elements in the organization.

See –

http://www.timesofisrael.com/unesco-adopts-another-resolution-erasing-jewish-link-to-temple-mount/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=69fccd2321-2016_10_26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-69fccd2321-54740573

Reflections on Hate and the Trump for President Campaign

16 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Politics and Life, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Poetry, Quote of the Day

≈ 3 Comments

When Donald Trump turned on Hillary Clinton in the 2nd Presidential Debate and said “You have hate in your heart” his obvious projection revealed what is in Trump’s own heart. Not only is he consumed with himself, as classical narcissists are, but anyone who isn’t fawning all over him and those who criticize him, as far as he is concerned, are sorely deficient, bad, sad, a disaster, and worthy of being pummeled, slandered, and attacked mercilessly – the sign of a true playground bully.

I have considered the corrosive nature of hatred, and having just emerged from Yom Kippur when the Jewish people strives to self-critique, improve our lives and exorcise negativity and destructive impulses from our hearts, minds, and souls, I searched my book of quotations on the theme of hate, and I offer these pearls of wisdom.

I begin with a famous statement of German Pastor Martin Niemoller who criticized Hitler in the 1930s and suffered seven years in a concentration camp as a result:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
– Pastor Martin Niemoller, German Protestant thinker, teacher and activist

“Thou shalt not hate another in one’s heart!”
–Leviticus 19:18

“I feel fairly certain that my hatred harms me more than the people whom I hate.”
-Max Frisch, Swiss architect, playwright, and novelist

“One of the reasons people cling to their hate so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
–James Baldwin, American novelist, writer

“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.”
–Hermann Hesse, German poet, novelist, painter

“Hatred like love feeds on the merest trifles. Everything adds to it. Just as the being we love can do no wrong, so the one we hate can do no right.”
–Honoré de Balzac, French novelist, playwright

“Never let yourself hate any person. It is the most devastating weapon of one’s enemies.”
-Katherine Hepburn’s father

“Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.”
-Anton Chekhov, Russian short-story writer and dramatist

“I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
– The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

“It is human nature to hate the person whom you have hurt.”
-Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Roman Senator and historian (c.55-c.120)

“In time we hate that which we often fear.”
-William Shakespeare

“People hate those to whom they have to lie.”
-Victor Hugo, French poet, novelist, and dramatist

“There is a revisionist theory, one of those depth-psychology distortions or half-truths that crop up like toadstools whenever the emotions get infected by the mind that says we hate worst those who have done the most for us. According to this belittling and demeaning theory, gratitude is a festering sore.”
-Wallace Stegner, American novelist and writer

“If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a person well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love.”
-John Steinbeck, American novelist

“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”
-Maya Angelou, American poet

“Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated.”
-George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, critic and polemicist

“Never waste a minute thinking about people you don’t like.”
-President Dwight D. Eisenhower

“I can forgive the whites in America for hating the blacks; I cannot forgive them, however, for making the blacks believe that they are worthy of being hated.”
-James Baldwin, American writer

“Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure;
People love in haste, but they detest at leisure.”
–Lord Byron, British poet

“I used to think that people who regarded everyone benignly were a mite simple or oblivious or just plain lax — until I tried it myself. Then I realized that they made it only look easy. Even the Berditchever Rebbe, revered as a man who could strike a rock and bring forth a stream, was continually honing his intentions. ‘Until I remove the thread of hatred from my heart,’ he said of his daily meditations, ‘I am, in my own eyes, as if I did not exist.’”
-Marc Barasch, American author, editor, and activist

“I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.”
-Booker T. Washington, African-American educator, author, orator

“There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.”
-Gautama Buddha

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to their human heart than its opposite.”
-Nelson Mandela, South African President

High Holiday Sermons 2016-5777 – Read and/or Watch

14 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Holidays, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Women's Rights

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For those interested, Temple Israel has posted my sermons (below) on our Temple website (written texts and UTube) as well as those of my colleagues, Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh and Rabbi Jocee Hudson.

Hag Sukkot Sameach!

see http://www.tioh.org/worship/rabbis/clergystudy

Rabbi John Rosove’s High Holyday Sermons:

Rabbi John Rosove's Blog

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