Category Archives: Ethics

In The Black Night – A Poem for Parashat Vayishlach

09 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by in Divrei Torah, Ethics, Israel and Palestine, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Poetry

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In the black night / the river runs cold / slowly passing me by / over formerly sharp edged stones / worn smooth by centuries of churning, / as if through earthy veins – / and I Jacob, alone, / shiver and wait / to meet my brother / and daylight.

Will there be war? / And will the angels carry my soul / up the rungs of the ladder / leaving my blood / to soak the earthly crust?

A presence!? / And I struggle yet again / as if in my mother’s womb / and in my dreams.

We played together as children once, / my brother Esau and me / as innocents, / and I confess tonight / how I wronged him / and wrenched from him his birthright / as this Being has done to me / between my thighs.

I was so young / driven by ego and need, / blinded by ambition, / my mother’s dreams / and my father’s silence.

I so craved to be first born / adored by my father, / to assume his place when he died / that my name be remembered / and define a people.

How Esau suffered and wailed / and I didn’t care. / Whatever his dreams / they were nothing to me – / my heart was hard – / his life be damned!

But, after all these years / I’ve learned that Esau and I / each alone is a palga gufa – a half soul / without the other – / torn away / as two souls separated at creation / seeking reunification / in a sea of souls – / the yin missing the yang – / the dark and light never to touch – / the mind divorced from body – / the soul in exile – / without a beating bleating heart / to witness – / and no access to the thirty-two paths / to carry us together / up the ladder / and through the spheres.

It’s come to this! / To struggle again – / To live or die.

Tonight / I’m ready for death / or submission.

Compassionate One: / protect Esau and your servant – / my brother and me / as one – / and return us to each other.

El na r’fa na lanu! / Grant us peace and rest! / I’m very tired!

“What kind of society, exactly, do modern Republicans want?” – Robert Reich’s Blog

04 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in American Politics and Life, Ethics

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“I’ve been listening to Republican candidates in an effort to discern an overall philosophy, a broadly-shared vision, an ideal picture of America. They say they want a smaller government but that can’t be it.”

This is how Robert Reich begins his clearly written blog of last week, and then he tells us what today’s “regressive” Republican Party (as opposed to “conservative” Republican Party) is really all about. If you agree with me that this is a brilliant and accurate expose on what has happened to one of America’s great political parities, then send it to your friends be they Republicans, Independents or Democrats. For those unfamiliar with Robert Reich (see bio below), he is a strong liberal-left thinker. Regardless of his own political philosophy, I believe he is spot on in this analysis.

http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/7423-focus-the-rebirth-of-social-darwinism

Robert Reich is an American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997, and is currently Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He was formerly a professor at Harvard University‘s John F. Kennedy School of Government. (Taken from Wikipedia)

On Being Grateful While Living in Both “Light” and “Shadow”

23 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by in American Politics and Life, Ethics, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Life Cycle, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Quote of the Day

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Tennessee Williams said, “You know we live in light and shadow. That’s what we live in – a world of light and shadow; and it’s confusing.” (Orpheus Descending)

None of our lives is simple, but along comes Thanksgiving each year and the expectation is for us to emphasize that for which we are thankful regardless of how we might feel.

For some of us, gratitude comes easily, and for others feeling grateful is a significant challenge. I believe that nurturing gratitude is one of the most effective means to dispel the “shadow.” For some, pharmaceutical help is indicated, and I urge it if that is your situation. For most of us, we need a way to help ourselves get out into “light.”

I have a suggested exercise that may help. If each of us were to take out a blank sheet of paper and list on one side all the good things in our lives and all the negatives on the other, which side would be longer? Spare nothing in compiling your lists. On the positive side, start with “I am alive!” even if you are sick or in pain. Include all that you have – home, food, medical care, family, friends, the ability to see, hear, walk, use the bathroom, to help others. Take your time and make the list as detailed as you can.

Then list all the negatives. Include every ache and pain, every loss from which you have not been able to heal, the holes in your heart, your frustrations and aggravations, your unmet dreams, your overly thin-skin, your inability to control rage, envy, jealousy, resentment, your feeling victimized, etc.

Now, given the two lists, which one takes most of your time, vitality and attention?

For me, thankfully, the side in “light” is so much longer than the side in “shadow,” yet there are times that I spend proportionately too much time in “shadow.” Not good for me or for those around me, and I know it.

On Yom Kippur, I made a commitment that I would emphasize the “light” of my life and not the “shadow.” The good news for me is that I feel and express gratitude easily despite my spending more time in “shadow” than is good for me.

Yet, I wake up each morning usually feeling refreshed, and excited about the morning sun, the new day, new opportunities to learn, think and create, to be with the people I love and enjoy, and to do meaningful work in my synagogue and friendship communities.

If you too often find yourself in “shadow”, perhaps these quotations on the theme of gratitude can help make this Thanksgiving Day happier and every day more meaningful.

“Hodu l’Adonai ki tov, ki l’olam chasdo” (“Give thanks to God, for Adonai is good…God’s steadfast love is eternal.” –  Psalm 136 (9th century, B.C.E.)

“When you arise in the morning give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” – Native American Prayer, Tecumseh Tribe

“How strange we are in the world, and how presumptuous our doings! Only one response can maintain us: gratefulness for witnessing the wonder, for the gift of our unearned right to serve, to adore, and to fulfill. It is gratefulness which makes the soul great.” – Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972)

“Ingratitude to a human being is ingratitude to God.” – Rabbi Samuel Hanagid (993-1056 CE)

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward, American scholar, author, pastor and teacher (1921-1997)

“Gratitude, not understanding, is the secret to joy and equanimity.” – Anne Lamott, writer (b. 1954)

“Thank everyone who calls out your faults, your anger, your impatience, your egotism; do this consciously, voluntarily.” – Jean Toomer, poet and novelist (1894-1967)

“We should write an elegy for every day that has slipped through our lives unnoticed and unappreciated. Better still, we should write a song of thanksgiving for all the days that remain.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach, author (b 1948)

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” – Cicero, Roman philosopher (106 BC – 43 BC)

“If the only prayer you say in your life is ‘Thank you,’ that would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart, German theologian, philosopher (1260-1328)

“I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.” – William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Herman Cain’s Character Problem

16 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by in American Politics and Life, Ethics

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According to Herman Cain he has never done anything wrong for which he feels ashamed, which in light of the four women who have charged him with inappropriate sexual predatory behavior against them, reminds me of something my late mother in-law, Edith Wahl, taught her three daughters: “If you seem to be having a problem with everyone around you, the problem isn’t them – it’s you!”

On the subject of character, here are four statements that Mr. Cain might use to measure his own character:

“The best index to a person’s character is (a) how he treats people who can’t do him any good (Samuel Johnson, lexicographer), and (b) how he treats people who can’t fight back.” (Abigail van Buren, advice columnist)

“If you want to see what a person is made of, see how he behaves in a position of authority. (Yugoslavian folk saying)

“The measure of a person’s character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.” (Thomas Macauley, historian)

“What you are thunders so loudly that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

A Child Molestation Victim Reflects on Her Own Trauma in the Wake of the Penn State Scandal – Huffington Post

13 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by in American Politics and Life, Ethics

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Dani Klein Modisett is a friend and a congregant. Professionally, she is a writer, actress and stand-up-comic. She is also a loving wife and mother. Dani gave me permission to post her article (link is below) on my blog.

Dani was a child molestation victim at the age of 8. Now 47, she reflects in The Huffington Post on the Penn State University scandal involving the molestation of at least 40 children by the former Assistant Football Coach Jerry Sandusky between 1994 and 2008.

As the ongoing investigation has now revealed, Head Coach Joe Paterno, the beloved University personality and Penn State icon who made “Success with Honor” the University’s mantra, knew (along with others) about Sandusky’s predatory behavior, but neither he nor anyone reported it to the police or took action of any kind against Sandusky on behalf of the children he abused or the University that employed him.

Edmund Burke’s warning bears repeating: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dani-klein-modisett/joe-paterno_b_1087477.html

The Principle – B’tzelem Elohim – as Applied to Social Media

07 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by in American Politics and Life, Ethics, Stories

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Once the Baal Shem Tov (or, the Besht) summoned Sammael, the lord of demons, because of some important matter that he wished to command Sammael to do. Sammael roared at the Besht – “How dare you summon me! Up until now this has happened to me only three times; in the hour when the Tree of Knowledge was violated, the hour when the Israelites created the golden calf, and the hour when Jerusalem was destroyed.”

The Besht bade his disciples to bare their foreheads to Sammael, and on every forehead, the lord of demons saw inscribed the sign of the image in which God creates the human being.

Upon that, Sammael did as the Besht requested, but before leaving on his mission, he said humbly and beseechingly: “Oh Sons of the living God: permit me to stay here just a little longer and gaze upon your foreheads.” (Tales of the Hasidim, by Martin Buber – p. 77)

Imagine the world if every human being were aware every time he/she looked upon another human being of what is inscribed on our foreheads – B’tzelem Elohim – that each of us, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, race, religion, ethnicity or nationality is created in God’s image! There would be no “other!”

My friend Alex Grossman applied this principle of sameness to his post concerning the social media and the growing tendency to self-censor because of the fear of personal attack. It is worth reading as well as his first response to a reader.
http://mediatapper.com/are-there-taboo-subjects-in-social-media/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sign – A Midrash on the Rainbow – D’var Torah for Parashat Noach

28 Friday Oct 2011

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

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God looked out upon creation and saw violence and chaos engulfing humankind and the earth. There was neither kindness nor justice. Empathy had ceased, eclipsed by fear and hatred. In Divine rage God determined to destroy everything and return creation to primordial darkness.

The Eternal mourned what He had once called “good” and recalled how great an effort He had made to create the heavens and the earth, to give life to growing things, to design and fashion the birds, sea creatures and animals. Sadness grew within the Divine heart. The Creator stepped back from the brink and wondered; ‘Is there perhaps one human being on earth, different from the rest, who fathoms Me, and for whose sake I can begin anew?’

In a blink of the Divine eye, God peered into every human soul seeking that one person, better than the rest, who might be good and pure enough to hear the Divine voice.

To His relief, God found one man named Noah, and he told him to build an ark, save his own family and two of every creature, for the rest would be destroyed. As the Eternal contemplated the devastation that would soon come, Divine tears flooded the earth for forty days and nights. When, at last, God’s tear ducts were dry the waters receded, land reappeared and the ark docked. God then spoke to Noah:

‘I am God, Noah, Who created you and brought you to this place. Look now and see the cleansed earth. The world is once again new. There is no rage nor hatred, violence nor hubris corrupting the human heart. I will make with you a covenant marked by a sign that will remind us both how I created the world in peace, destroyed it, and allowed it to begin anew that it might be a place of love and peace.

The sign of this covenant will be a smile that will stretch across the heavens and fill the sky. It will be an arc of light shining through the flood waters, a vision of loveliness that will inspire love and awe for Me. This promise, Noah, shall be called the ‘rainbow,’ and it will be My promise that never again will such devastation engulf the earth. Yours and your children’s responsibility will be to protect and nurture My creation, for if you destroy it there will come no one after you to set it right.’

Then God bent towards the earth and stretched the Divine arm across the sky and formed an arc. Where God’s hand had been there appeared a sheltering bow of every color spread out across a blue canvas of sky. And God spoke of the colors and the sign of the rainbow:

‘First comes red for the blood pulsing through human veins that carries My Godly soul and the life of humankind; orange is for the warmth of fire and its power to create, build and improve upon what I created; yellow is for the sun that lights the earth and gives vision to earthly eyes that they might see Me in all things; green is for the leaves of trees, their fruit and the grass that all creatures might feed and be sustained in life; blue is for the sky, sea and rivers that join air and ground and reveal that all is One, divinely linked and a reflection of Me; indigo appears each day at dusk and dawn to signal evening and morning, the passage of time and the seasons, the ever-renewing life-force in all things; violet is for the coming of night when the world rests and is renewed, carrying the hope that all might awake each morning and utter words of thanksgiving and praise.’

God explained to Noah that the rainbow appears to the human eye as a half circle; ‘Do not be fooled! There is more to life than what the eye can see. There is both the revealed and the hidden. The hidden half of the bow extends deep into earth that you and those who yearn for Me might come and discover vision and Truth, and reveal the message of love and peace to all the earth.’

God told Noah, ‘Remember this blessing, My child, and you will remember My promise – Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, zo-cheir ha-brit v’ne-e-man biv’ri-to v’ka-yam b’ma-a-ma-ro.

Praised are You, Eternal our God, Sovereign of the revealed and the hidden, Who remembers, is faithful to and fulfills the Divine covenant and promise.

Inspired by classic Midrashim

When We or Our Loved Ones are Ill

26 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in Ethics, Life Cycle

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This past year I wrote a series of eight life cycle booklets that will soon be posted on Temple Israel’s web-site. I wrote them because I have noticed how ill-equipped so many of us are when confronting joyous and stressful life events. Among the most challenging is illness. Below are a few of the frequently asked questions and responses that are included in the “Illness and Healing Guide.”

What should we do when our dear ones become ill? Depending on the seriousness of the illness, there are times when it is best for the ill person not to receive visitors except the closest relatives and friends. No one should visit the hospital, rehabilitation center, or home without checking first with either the ill person or a close relative.

When you visit, what should you do? When visiting, stay briefly, sit down, and allow the ill person to determine the nature and tone of the conversation. The visitor should be as non-intrusive as possible and not speak about themselves unless directly asked by the sick person, and then only briefly. The focus should be on the patient, first and foremost. Extreme displays of emotion are out of place and tend to not benefit the patient.

When visiting how long should you stay? Visitors should stay no more than 10 or 15 minutes even if the ill person welcomes the visit. The energy necessary to receive and “entertain” guests should be directed rather towards healing.

Who should visit whom? Only close relatives and friends should visit a person who is seriously ill or recovering from surgery. Though tradition requires everyone to visit the sick, there are other ways to offer one’s love, support and good wishes than actual visitation. Sending get-well cards and email messages are usually welcome because the sick can read them according to their own schedule. Phone calls to the hospital room or home may be a disturbance and should be handled by the closest relatives and friends. Unfortunately, some people avoid visiting or making contact with the sick as much as they can because of their own discomfort. This can isolate the ill. Those who are chronically ill often suffer from feelings of isolation and depression. Attention from relatives and friends can mitigate loneliness and despair.

Should you offer a healing blessing when you visit? Yes. Judaism affirms that a visitor should end a visit by offering a healing prayer. In addition to the traditional longer mi shebeirach healing blessing, there is a short five-word healing blessing first recited by Moses for his ailing sister, Miriam, when she was afflicted with leprosy: El na r’fa na la (for a female); El na r’fa na lo (for a male) – “Please God heal her/him!”

What should visitors say and not say? All conversation should be determined according to the wishes and interests of the ill person. If the ill person wishes to discuss his/her condition, the visitor should listen and, if warranted, ask leading questions, but not give false hope or cause the sick to despair as a result of his/her condition. The visitor should avoid self-referencing comments (i.e. turn the conversation around to him/herself).

Should you take a gift for the ill when you visit? If you are visiting a very ill person in the hospital, bringing gifts is probably not a good idea. If you are visiting someone in their home, a gift of healthy food or flowers, magazines or books is welcome. Sending flowers and notes to the hospital can usually be counted on to be well received.

What do you say to and what do you do for the family of a very ill person? When a loved one is very ill, members of the family are often depressed and fear the worst. What they need is the loving support of family and friends, offers to taken them for a quick meal away from the hospital or home, magazines to distract their attention while they sit with their dear ones. There is, however, no set prescription that fits everyone’s needs. Friends need to be sensitive to what will help and never impose themselves.

 

My High Holiday Sermons – 5772

16 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Holidays, Israel/Zionism, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

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The three sermons I delivered during the High Holidays this year can be accessed by clicking to your right on Temple Israel of Hollywood or going directly to the sermons by clicking http://www.tioh.org/about-us/clergy/aboutus-clergy-clergystudy. If you go through the Temple Israel website, you will see the link to the holiday sermons alongside my colleagues’ and my photos on the Temple’s home page. My three sermons are:

Thirty-two Pathways in the Heart – Kol Nidre 2011 (I consider 32 life-lessons I have learned in my nearly 62 years. These are means I have found to a healthier, wiser and more sacred way of living.)

Beyond Crisis: The Case for Aspirational Zionism – Rosh Hashanah Shacharit 2011 – (I make the case that Israel and the Jewish people need to expand our crisis-mode way of thinking and responding to legitimate and real threats as the only means of assuring Israel’s and the Jewish people’s survival. I embrace what Dr. Tal Becker has characterized as “Aspirational Zionism.” Aspirational Zionism emphasizes Jewish values and Jewish heritage as co-equal with concerns about Israeli and Jewish security, specifically focusing on the prophetic and rabbinic values of tzedek chevrati – social justice).

Doing a Congregational Cheshbon Hanefesh – Erev Rosh Hashanah 2011 (I ask fundamental questions about both the nature of our synagogue community at Temple Israel of Hollywood and about us individually as Jews in this 2nd decade of the 21st century: Who are we as a liberal Jewish community? What is necessary for our synagogue community to be ‘visionary’ as opposed to ‘functional’? And what might we as individual Jews do to enhance our Jewish literacy and our spiritual/religious lives?)

I welcome your comments to any of the ideas I present in these sermons, whether you agree with me or not.

Moadim l’simcha!

 

 

 

Gilad Shalit, Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, and the Cost of this Deal

12 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in Ethics, Israel and Palestine

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We have to be thrilled for Gilad Shalit and his family that he will be released from a Hamas jail soon. However, in our joy, we have to ask (as Israelis have been asking for five years) at what cost has this deal been made?

This is not the first time Jews have been confronted with the unjust imprisonment of one of its own. Consequently, much has been written in the legal literature about it. Maimonides (12th century) wrote that the duty to ransom captives (pidyon sh’vu-im) supersedes the duty to give charity (tz’dakah) to the poor. Others have compared this mitzvah with the saving of human life (pikuach nefesh).

The rabbis placed limits, however, on how much an individual or community should pay when ransoming a captive. To avoid extracting an exorbitant ransom payment or repeated kidnappings, the majority of legal authorities ruled that a captive could only be redeemed at what his or her ‘market value’ was as a slave, thus avoiding outrageous demands. (Rabbi Josef Karo, Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 252:4). Though the idea of paying blackmail to gain the release of an unjustifiably imprisoned person is repugnant, tradition clearly favored doing so if it meant saving life.

The most famous Jewish hostage in history was the leader of world Jewry at the end of the 13th century, Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (the MAHARAM), and his experience set the moral and legal standard for Jewish communities for centuries when confronting the issue of paying a ransom for captives.

The MAHARAM lived at a time of great political upheaval that resulted from the election of Rudolf I of Hapsburg to be the German Emperor. Once in power, Rudolf taxed the Jewish community and reduced them to the status of servi camerai (serfs of the treasury), a euphemism for enslavement.

News of Rabbi Meir’s arrest spread across Europe, Spain and North Africa, and in response the Jewish community raised a huge sum of 23,000 pounds of silver to buy his freedom. However, on Rabbi Meir’s instructions it was stipulated that the silver was to be regarded as a ransom only, and not as the tax the Emperor had imposed on the Jewish community. Rudolf refused to accept the silver on this basis, and Rabbi Meir remained in prison until the end of his life at the age of 78.

Israel once had an iron-clad policy regarding hostage-taking: ‘No discussion! No negotiation! No lending of legitimacy to criminals and murderers.’ When PM Netanyahu was Israel’s Ambassador to the UN (1984-88) he articulated this view in a book he wrote on terror and how to deal with it (Terror – How the West Can Win, 1986). After its publication he was asked how he would respond if a member of his own family was taken hostage. Recalling the death of his own brother Yonaton in the Entebbe Rescue Mission on July 4, 1976, Bibi said that all of us must be prepared to accept loss, even if it means losing a beloved member of our own family.

I can only imagine the intense pressure Bibi has been under to find a way to bring Gilad Shalit home. Gilad’s family has camped outside the Prime Minister’s residence for the past five years, and Gilad has essentially been adopted as every Israeli’s son. Further, the IDF holds as a sacred trust the principle that the people and State of Israel will never leave a soldier on the battlefield or in an enemy prison.

All this being said, the price Israel is paying for Gilad Shalit may prove to be against Israel’s own best interests. Hamas knows that Israel and Jews value life above death and that this is not the first time Israel has traded Palestinians for Israelis (sometimes Israel has traded hundreds of Palestinians for one or two bodies of dead Israelis).

In light of all this we have to ask at what cost has this deal for Gilad been made? Deals like this in the past have encouraged terrorists to fear Israel less, for they figure that even if they do get caught, they most likely will be freed eventually in a prisoner exchange deal. Many released terrorists have returned to their terrorist activities, murdering more Israelis.

Is Israel right to have made this deal? I would not want to be in Bibi’s position, but I fear the worst.