What does the recent violence tell us about a One State or Two State Solution? Report from Jerusalem #5

25 Sunday Oct 2015

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Those on the Israeli left are divided about the future with the Palestinians. One camp still desires to find common cause with the Palestinians, and the other says that this 67-year marriage must come to an end. One believes that marriage counseling is still possible; the other that only through divorce can there be a peace and security for both sides.

The violence we have witnessed in both Intifadas and in this recent wave of suicide knife-attacks has shown that the right wing direction has failed, that one state doesn’t work, that there can be no security without a political solution, that the occupation is unsustainable, that Israel needs to say ‘We are here, You are there’ and we need a permanent divorce.

Indeed, this violence may be the opportunity Israelis need to realign and make a political deal with the Palestinians.

In my taxi ride from Jerusalem to the Ben Gurion Airport, my driver, Mordecai (a 63 year-old descendent of Iraqi Jews), took me on a side road to avoid a traffic jam, and we passed by a maximum security prison that held about 400 Palestinian terrorists. Mordecai explained to me that the Palestinians are now controlled by the Islamists who do not believe that Jews have a right to be here, that they never will accept the state of Israel on “Islamic land,” that what they can accept is hudna (quiet) until such time as the Palestinians are strong enough to attack and destroy the state of Israel.

I have heard this argument before, most recently from Likud Knesset member, Benny Begin, the son of the late Prime Minister, who met with the ARZENU faction in the Knesset before the WZC sessions began last week, and eloquently explained why one state is the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He emphasized that Palestinian citizens deserve full and equal rights and that those rights should extend to all residents living in Judea and Samaria (i.e. the “West Bank”).

Yes, of course, there are Palestinians who believe that Israel does not have the right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people. PM Netanyahu made acceptance of Israel as a “Jewish state” a demand in the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority sponsored by the United States in 2014. At that time PA President Abbas said that though the PA had already recognized the State of Israel, the Palestinians would never recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.

At the time, I believed that Netanyahu was using this argument to make an agreement impossible. However, there is truth in his demand, and I have come around to the belief that a two-state solution requires the Palestinians to recognize the Jewish State of Israel that offers equal rights to all citizens of the state (Palestinians included) even as Israel recognizes the right of the Palestinians to a nation state of their own living in peace and security alongside Israel – peace, not hudna. (Note: Israel will always have to maintain military and strategic superiority over all its neighbors, including the Palestinians).

There are, however, many Palestinians who do not accept the Islamic view that the State of Israel is illegitimate, and particularly so many of those Palestinian-Israeli citizens who have lived in Israel since 1948. The danger of the status quo continuing is that Palestinian-Israeli citizens are becoming more and more identified with West Bank Palestinians under occupation.

There are, to be sure, many values that many Palestinians share with Israelis, and so the lines of conflict should not be drawn as Jews vs Palestinians, but rather as those who support a one-state option as opposed to those who want two states for two peoples. The latter is the only way, it seems to me, to save Palestinian-Israeli citizens as loyal to the state of Israel.

Simply and categorically said, we need a divorce and a two-state solution with lines drawn between Israel before 1967 with land swaps to include most of the large Israeli settlements in Israel, and a new state of Palestine in the West Bank and, eventually, including Gaza. Palestinians should, of course, have the right of return to Palestine and not Israel. Jerusalem will have to be shared as capitals of both nations with all appropriate security guaranteed.

Only after a divorce can our two peoples begin to rebuild relationships. At the moment, trust has been badly damaged. Nevertheless, it seems to me that there are enough Palestinians who agree with Israelis that the current violence is intolerable and the status-quo of occupation is unsustainable.

Kotel and LGBT Resolutions Pass WZC Committee – Report From Jerusalem #4

23 Friday Oct 2015

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It’s bad enough that Israel is being attacked by terrorists, now mostly in the West Bank and less in Jerusalem after Israel’s government imposed strong security measures separating East Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods from West Jerusalem Israeli neighborhoods. What is perhaps even more searing to the Jewish soul is the way some Jewish delegates at the World Zionist Congress behave towards their fellow delegates.

We of ARZENU (the world Reform Zionist movement) were warned that yelling and delaying tactics would be likely in committee meetings and in the plenary sessions, especially when discussing contentious resolutions. The warnings were prescient. Almost from the beginning of our committee meetings one Mizrahi (the nationalist right-wing religious delegation) delegate starting screaming from the moment the Chair, Rabbi Lea Muehlstein of the United Kingdom (an ARZENU delegate) opened the session.

The rules of debate in committees according to the WZC are determined exclusively by the chair. Roberts Rules of Order do not apply. Some chairs are more fair than others. The chair of this session gave all voices equal time, and when she thought the issue had been completely discussed she called for a vote.

The two most contentious resolutions were those concerning the “Establishment of an Egalitarian Prayer Space at the Western Wall,” introduced by ARZENU, and “Recognition of Support for the LGBT Community,” also introduced by ARZENU.

Jewish Agency Head Natan Sharansky, the Women of the Wall (WOW), the Conservative and Reform movements, and the Chief Rabbi of the Wall have already agreed that a third section in the Western Wall site would be established equal in size, funding and visibility for a dignified space of worship for the Conservative and Reform streams and for Women of the Wall. This WZC resolution was meant only to confirm what the Israeli government and interested parties have already determined, and to push forward towards the realization of this new prayer space.

After debate the resolution passed with a substantial majority. When I saw my friend and Chair of WOW, Anat Hoffman and asked how she felt about the good news, she said:

“John – nothing has happened to move this matter forward in the government over the past year and more, this resolution notwithstanding, and given the controversy over the Waqf charge that the status quo on the Temple Mount is being questioned, and given that the area we want for the egalitarian prayer site is only 50 yards from Al Aqsa, Israel isn’t going to touch this issue now.”

So much for that.

The LGBT resolution was the next especially contentious fight. The resolution commended the Education Minister, Naftali Bennett (the head of Mizrahi faction) for announcing an increase of support for the Israeli LGBT community. The resolution called on him to ensure adequate funding for “Israel Gay Youth” and other LGBT organizations so as to secure the role of members of the LGBT community within Israeli society. It also called on Minister Bennett to ensure that all Israeli students (and in particular in the Orthodox school systems) take part in programming that promotes diversity, inclusion and equality for the LGBT community, to support equal rights for the LBGT community in all Zionist entities and to encourage their activities within the national Institutions.

The right wing parties in our committee were strongly against this resolution and began immediately to challenge key elements of it. Some began a campaign of yelling and screaming to prevent us from having a reasoned debate ending in a vote. Orthodox delegates introduced several amendments, only one of which was accepted by ARZENU.

The most important amendment, however, we refused to accept because it gave license to Orthodox schools to choose to accept or to pass on tolerance education.

All the while, the disruption did not stop for a moment, and Rabbi Muehlstein finally ruled that anyone screaming would not have his/her votes be counted.

At last, a vote was taken and the resolution passed with about 35 votes, and 35 abstentions. Those in Mizrahi and Likud factions who negotiated with ARZENU on an amendment on which we found compromise language, in the end refused to vote “nay.” Indeed, they never intended to vote for a resolution no matter what it said. They only wanted to delay and water down the original resolution.

At one point, five of the most badly behaving delegates actually charged our table. I happened to be sitting two people away from Rabbi Muehlstein. I am not a violent person, but I was prepared to jump between them and Lea to protect her from their physical assault. It should be noted that she was a paragon of patience and brought dignity to the proceedings and to the ARZENU delegation.

I left the meeting feeling as though I needed a shower. Though justice was done in the resolution, we also witnessed the dark side of Zionist politics.
I heard that other committee meetings went far more smoothly and with good behavior by all. For me who attended the WZC for the first time, the bullying behavior of the right-wing did not have the intended effect of intimidating us. It had the opposite effect of my bearing down and committing to fight the good fight respectfully on behalf of compassion, justice and human rights within the World Zionist Congress.

See my earlier post titled “Non-Stop Zionism.”

Non-Stop Zionism – Report From Jerusalem #3

23 Friday Oct 2015

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The theme of this 37th World Zionist Congress was Zionism itself.

509 delegates representing the Jewish world gathered Tuesday and launched into a provocative discussion of Jewish, Zionist and Israeli identity and how they interconnect and create a whole Jew.

Hila Korach, a leading Israeli morning talk-show host, moderated a panel including American Professor Arnie Eisen, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Dr. Einat Wilf, Senior Fellow of the Jewish People Policy Institute & Adjunct Fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and writer Sarah Blau. The plenary was introduced by Rabbi Josh Weinberg, the President of the Association of Reform Zionists of America.

Dr. Eisen began:

“Zionism is as deep as it gets. As a child, for me Judaism and Zionism was one…when I became an adult and studied Torah, I was electrified by the vision beheld as the people passed over the Jordan River and came into the land and had the opportunity to have a relationship with God that had never been before. And I was moved by Lech L’cha that promised the people a society in which the Eternal judge does justly and in which we might become a blessing to all the peoples of the earth.

There is no separation between Judaism, the people of Israel, Jewish history, culture, ethics, and the land of Israel. Zionism … is far more than politics and money. It’s an affair of the spirit – a 3000 year tradition..the up-building of the entirety of the Jewish people in the birth place of the Jews.”

Dr. Wilf characterized Zionism as a “Jewish revolution,” for it put history into Jewish hands and countered the classic religious view that Jews must wait for the Messiah before returning to the land.

“The early Zionists revolted against God,” she said. “You can be the Messiah of your own self. But, Zionism didn’t sufficiently conclude its revolution. We now need to move from the rabbanut (rabbinic authority) to hibanot (the rebuilding  of ourselves).”

Dr. Wilf is a secular Israeli and she advocated that the Orthodox Rabbinate get out of the way of the people and allow the state of Israel to take over responsibility for conversions, kashrut and all Jewish affairs.

“Let the people take Zionism forward, not the rabbis, for their authority excludes large parts of the Jewish people.”

Many in the room were not pleased. Later, however, former Minister and MK Yaron Yadlin said that what is needed is not the elimination of the Orthodox rabbinate, but a fight for the inclusion of all religious streams in the life of the people in the state of Israel.

Yadlin’s words resonated powerfully throughout the hall unleashing the strongest applause of the morning.

Dr. Eisen challenged the American Jewish community to become open to “an honest, loving, well-informed, and civil conversation about Israel and Zionism because it has ceased in the United States and in many other communities. For Zionism to be truly Zionist, then it must be a living tradition that  brings the Jewish people together, despite our wide differences, and move us  forward.”

The message of the morning was that for the entire Jewish people, Zionism brings us into deep relationship with state of Israel and with one another. Dr. Eisen concluded that “there is no Jewish people without Zionism, and there is no true Zionism without the creation of a just society, in which every citizen is treated equally and with dignity.”

For so many Jews around the world, however, Zionism has become a dirty word. Since its inception, Israel’s enemies have slandered Zionism by equating it with genocide, apartheid and racism. It is, of course, none of those things. It is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people that returns our people to itself in the land of our birth.

Israel’s Declaration of Independence articulates the foundational values of Zionism and the Jewish state:

“The State of Israel …will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Though a great democracy and Jewish state, Israel is still a work in progress, and we Jews need not deny its imperfections even as we give our full support.

All this being said, many Jews have come to believe that identifying with Zionism and Israel makes them bad Jews.

The speakers urged that it is for us to define ourselves and not allow others to do it for us.

WZC Resolution on Eritrean and Sudanese Asylum Seekers in Israel – Jerusalem Report #2

23 Friday Oct 2015

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Three years ago I led a congregational tour of Israel and we spent a morning walking around South Tel Aviv near the old bus station to see how 53,000 Eritrean and Sudanese Asylum seekers were living. These mostly male Africans had fled on foot from two of the most violent and brutal dictatorships and entered Israel through the open frontier with Egypt. Since then, Israel has built a fence to stop the flow of refugees and few have come since.

Today, 45,000 remain in Israel without having been granted asylum. Israeli government policy has granted asylum only to a handful of people, and built a detention center in the Negev. The place is called Holot (meaning “sand” in Hebrew) and though “open,” inmates must sign in every evening, cannot work and because of its remote location, have nowhere to go. Israel has done everything it can to encourage these people to leave the country, and 8000 complied. Those who returned to Sudan were likely arrested,  interrogated and/or killed. None returned to Eretria where they faced certain execution. Most fled on rafts to Europe, and their fates are unclear.

The Israeli government claims that most came to Israel for jobs, but all evidence suggests that this is not accurate.

Today in Jerusalem, ARZENU, the worldwide Reform Zionist organization, met with four individuals deeply involved in efforts to assist political asylum seekers.

Mutasim Ali came to Israel from Darfur in 2009 after his village was attacked. He spent 18 months in Holot, is an intelligent natural born leader and has served as the Executive Director of the African Refugee Development Center. Though Mutasim loves Israel, his deepest desire is to return to Sudan to help his people once a new government takes over there.

Sivan Carmel, an accomplished Israeli attorney, is the Director of the Israel office of HIAS, the international Jewish nonprofit organization that protects refugees.

Elliot Glassenberg is the Director of International Communication at the BINA Center for Jewish Identity and Hebrew Culture in Tel Aviv and is a teacher at the BINA Secular Yeshiva.

Steve Israel is an activist member of Jerusalem’s largest Reform synagogue, Kol Haneshama, who has helped organize his congregation to assist refugees.

The three Israelis of the group said that they have taken such a strong interest in Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers because they are the most vulnerable people in Israel and it is a Jewish ethical mandate to protect the vulnerable. As Jews who have long experienced the suffering of the refugee, and as a Jewish state that has vast experience in absorbing refugees, they say that we Jews ought to be taking care of this relatively small number of Africans and helping them until they are able to return safely to their home countries.

ARZENU has drafted a resolution to be brought to the World Zionist Congress this week to address this human tragedy. The resolution includes the following:

“The World Zionist Organization calls upon the State of Israel to change its policy towards asylum seekers and refugees seeking protection in Israel so as to adhere to relevant international law and particularly the refugee convention that ‘No contracting State shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his/her life or freedom would be threatened.’

The World Zionist Organization calls on the Government of the State of Israel to allow asylum seekers living in Israel  to contribute to the Israeli economy and society until their status is appropriately adjudicated, rather than forcing them to be housed in the Negev at significant government expense or pressuring them to relocate to unfamiliar and unsafe third countries.

The World Zionist Organization calls on the Government of the State of Israel to cease the inhumane and degrading treatment of asylum seekers in the Holot center and to allow asylum seekers to be released in accordance with the Supreme Court decision of this summer…”

None of the speakers wished to embarrass Israel over this issue, but Israel’s government policy of not granting asylum to legitimate asylum seekers is not only counter to international law, but is immoral and “un-Jewish” and ought to be changed.

I asked our speakers why the government opposition has not gone on record about this issue, and they responded that African refugees it is not a high priority issue when considering all the others issues of security, terror, Iran, international relations, and the economy that Israel faces.

Nevertheless, it is a fundamental Jewish ethical principle L’hagen al hapalit – To defend the refugee” and it is time that Israel change its policies and do so.

Those wishing to support these asylum seekers may write directly to Prime Minister Netanyahu and other members of the Knesset.

On the Road to Jerusalem: A Current Affairs Conversation with an Israeli Taxi Driver – Report From Jerusalem #1

23 Friday Oct 2015

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Gidi is a handsome 53 year-old Israeli taxi driver whose grandfather made aliyah from Iraq in the 1920s. Loquacious and charming, he “treated” me to a 50-minute Hebrew monologue on the situation in Israel in light of the Iran agreement, the multiple Palestinian stabbings of innocent Israelis in recent days, President Obama’s alleged weakness and the Democratic Party in America, and his frustration in light of current realities.

Gidi is smart and well-informed, a no-nonsense practical man who believes in a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but sees no way to get there because of the Palestinian propensity to  blame Israel for all their problems and take no responsibility for themselves and their children.

I didn’t raise the issue of Israeli co-responsibility for the logjam because I wanted to hear his views. I just listened, a lot!

While driving up the mountain to Jerusalem, Gidi got so aggravated by the recent stabbings of old Jewish women climbing onto buses and of Palestinian children slicing up Israeli Jewish children that he took both hands off the wheel and gesticulated angrily about the immoral character of these terrorists.

Thankfully, he grabbed the wheel just before I begged him to watch out for the cars careening alongside us.

He was right on so many counts. Something is very wrong within Palestinian society that glorifies shaheeds (martyrs) and leaves no alternative for hero worship for children other than people who want to murder Israelis on the streets. The refusal of the Palestinian Authority to prepare the Palestinian population for peace with Israel in a two-state solution and to educate its children effectively about the humanity of Israelis, is a serious failure of the PA.

As a middle-eastern man through and through, Gidi cannot understand President Obama’s belief in the efficacy of negotiation vis a vis Iran and other fundamentalist murderers in the Middle East. He kept praising Russia’s Vladimir Putin as an aggressive actor.

Though I agreed that these groups are bitter enemies of the Jewish people and the west, I argued that the alternative to the Iran negotiations (no negotiations) would have led immediately to Iranian nuclear capability, but Gidi doesn’t trust the Iranians as far as he can spit. He shook his head as I spoke, as if to say, “My American friend –you don’t understand!” I repeated back to him Reagan’s old adage, “Don’t trust – verify!”

I explained that I believe that Obama would have, as a last result, attacked Iranian nuclear sites if no agreement had come about and should Iran move quickly to build a bomb, but Gidi didn’t believe me. I told him that Obama is not a pacifist and had used military force in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan (remember Osama bin Laden), and Libya. And then I reminded Gidi, as if he needed to be reminded having fought himself in Lebanon and served two years in Hebron, that war always brings  unintended consequences. He agreed, and so I asked him what he thought would happen if either Israel or the United States would attack Iran given that Hezbollah has built an extensive tunnel system into Israel far greater than anything we discovered coming out of Gaza, and has 100,000 Iranian missiles aimed at the heart of Tel Aviv?

He agreed that there would be war, but that Israel would prevail. I asked, “at what cost, and isn’t negotiation that brings effective results always better than war?”

Only in Israel could I expect to have such a conversation with a taxi driver! That is part of what I love about this country.

Gidi finally asked me what I’m doing in Israel, and I explained that I am a delegate of ARZA at the World Zionist Congress to begin on Tuesday in Jerusalem. He asked, “So – what will come from 500 Jews talking?”

Good question. This my first WZC Congress, but I told him that the WZC is about the important heart-connection that exists between world Jewry and the state of Israel, and about Jews from everywhere in the world helping Israel to grow in strength and preserve its Jewish character and democracy.

Finally, he said: “And it’s about money! Isn’t it!?”

As I indicated, Gidi is a smart guy. Yes – There is a lot of money at stake for the different world Zionist groups in Israel, and because ARZA is the largest delegation coming from the United States (54 seats) combined with our allies in ARZENU world-wide, we hope to not only promote Israel’s democratic and progressive liberal values, but to gain greater influence on key committees and a greater share of the financial pie for our progressive religious and social justice movement in Israel which still receives no funds from the Israeli government.

My ARZENU leadership has asked all our delegates NOT to ride buses or to walk alone in Jerusalem given the last week’s knife-attacks, and though I am personally comfortable doing so, I promised my wife and sons I would abide by their recommendations and take taxis, and hopefully to meet more Gidis.

This week’s Torah portion, by the way, is Lech Lecha – Go forth! And that is what we hope to do.

To be continued….
L’hitraot.

The Parliament of the Jewish People to Convene in Jerusalem – October 20-23

04 Sunday Oct 2015

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This month I will be attending the World Zionist Congress (WZC) meeting in Jerusalem (October 20-23) as a delegate of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), representing 1.4 million American Reform Jews from 900 Reform synagogues and communities nationwide.

Known as “The Parliament of the Jewish people” this will be the 37th meeting of the WZC since Theodor Herzl convened it for the first time in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. Though mandated by its constitution to meet every five years, for a number of reasons the WZC has not held elections since 2005, so this will be a meeting of some significance.

Given the challenges and changes taking place in the Jewish world today, the WZC will meet in the wake of Secretary of State Kerry’s failed Middle East peace efforts and following successful negotiations between the P5+1 nations and Iran to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

In this upcoming WZC conference, 500 delegates representing the Jewish people world-wide will debate cutting-edge issues confronting the state of Israel and the Jewish people. The 500 delegates are chosen based on the following demographic formula: 38% are from Israel and are divided along Israeli political party lines as determined by the results of the last Israeli election earlier this year; 29% come from American Zionist organizations according to the last American Zionist Congress elections, also earlier this year, and the remaining 33% come from other countries of the Jewish Diaspora.

The American delegation is composed of 145 delegates out of the total of 500: ARZA (Reform movement = 56), Mercaz (Conservative Movement = 25), Religious Zionists (Orthodox AMIT, B’nei Akiva and RZA = 24), American Forum for Israel (Russian speaking Jews = 10), HATIKVAH (Progressive Zionists = 8), Zionist Organization of America (far right-wing Zionists 7), Zionist Spring (7), World Sephardic Organization (4), Alliance for New Zionist Vision (2), Green Israel (1), and Herut North America (1).

There is a natural alliance (though not yet formal) within the American delegation on many issues between ARZA (the largest vote-getter in the American Zionist election), Mercaz, HATIKVAH, and Green Israel for a majority of 87 of the 145 (60%). The Israeli delegation includes natural partners with ARZA and ARZENU (the international progressive/Reform Zionist movement) of representatives from the Labor-Zionist Union, Meretz, and Yesh Atid. Because ARZA was the largest vote-getter of the American delegation, we are in a position to chair a number of important committees and assure funding for projects benefiting Israel’s Reform movement (the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism – IMPJ).

As goes the Jewish world, so too will those views be reflected in the WZC as a whole, and strong debate on virtually every issue is expected.

Resolutions will be presented, debated and voted upon on many cutting-edge issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, settlement growth, Israel’s relationship with world Jewry and vice versa, the status of democracy and religious pluralism in Israel, egalitarian prayer at the Kotel (Western Wall), the religious rights of Israel’s non-Orthodox Jews, the rights of Israel’s LGBT community, and current Israeli policy concerning asylum seekers from Africa and Syria. Many of the resolutions to be presented originated with ARZENU, the International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists.

Our ARZA delegation, in conjunction with ARZENU (as well as our natural allies in the Israeli and international delegations), is in a strong position to make a significant impact on the future of the World Zionist Organization, which means that we will be working hard to assure the continued growth of democracy, religious pluralism and diversity in the state of Israel for all its citizens, religious streams and those under its control (i.e. Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank who are not Israeli citizens).

I will file reports from Jerusalem on this blog as the pre-conference deliberations with ARZENU begin on October 18, and upon the commencement of the WZC itself on October 20. Upon my return I will also file a longer report for The Los Angeles Jewish Journal.

For those who live in Los Angeles, I invite you to an early morning briefing at Temple Israel of Hollywood upon my return. We will meet on Wednesday morning (8-9 AM), October 28.

Note: To understand the mission and action statement of the Association of Reform Zionists of America, see the ARZA Website at http://www.ARZA.org and http://www.arza.org/about-us-our-mission. ARZA, as well as its parent body, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), supports a negotiated two-state final resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as being in Israel’s best interests as a Jewish and secure democratic state.

Boggling the Mind – A New Super-Fast Camera

27 Sunday Sep 2015

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I recently watched a 5-minute piece of footage from PBS’s NOVA (from the 2013 season) about the development of “Super-Fast Cameras.” It not only inspired in me a sense of awe and wonder  about the character and behavior of light, but also about the current state of our technological and scientific know-how.

This video shows that which humankind has never been able to observe before – the fastest thing in the universe – light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z8EtlBe8Ts

In the 1950s, a 2000-mph bullet was photographed passing through an apple. The video shows a picture of that bullet as if suspended in time, in one particular moment.

In the past 60 years, a new Super-Fast Camera has been developed that can break down what happens to a one-trillionth of a frame per second, thus enabling us to see, moment by moment, light moving into a scene.

We can even see the moment a shadow is formed after light hits an object, not simultaneously as we once assumed.

We can watch light traveling at 600 million miles-per-hour, and observe what occurs in one-billionth of a second.

This NOVA PBS segment offers suggestions about how this new Super-Fast Camera can one day benefit the fields of medicine and many other human endeavors.

We will read on Simchat Torah next week the mythic story of the Creation of the universe and the human being (Genesis 1 and 2). After seeing this video, I marvel in a completely new way at the workings of the universe and at our human capacity for invention on the one hand, and the experience of awe and wonder on the other, which leads me to an insightful analysis of the differences between the two accounts in the Hebrew Bible of the creation of the human being (Adam) that appear in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.

The great scholar Rabbi Yosef Soloveitchik commented on the essential differences of these two creation narratives of Adam. He named the first Adam of creation “Adam I” (Genesis 1:26-27) and the second Adam of creation “Adam II” (Genesis 2:7, 18, 21-24).

“Adam I” of Genesis 1 is a utilitarian man/woman. S/he is charged with the task of ruling over the world, mastering and subduing it to his/her purposes. The man partners with the woman who are created simultaneously, and their goals are practical, purposeful and productive. They embody the principle that two are better than one, but each, by virtue of being created “b’tzelem Elohim-in the Divine image,” are empowered with intelligence and the ability to create and be productive. Such people through history have been farmers, artists, scientists, legal scholars, physicians, architects, builders, manufacturers, fashioners of institutions, and creators of community. They are this-worldly and are energized by virtue of being useful. They find meaning and relevance when they are productive, and as long as they are they are never rebellious nor ever lonely, for they do their work in partnership with others.

“Adam II” of Genesis 2 is an existential being. He/she is created from the dust of the earth (adamah) and is endowed with divine purpose by means of being infused with  divine breath (nishmat chayim). He/She does not lord over the earth. Rather, s/he watches over creation and protects it by virtue of being one with it. Nevertheless, s/he is alone and lonely and needs an intimate partner, to be in relationship with another. So God, the Creator, draws from Adam II a tzela (often translated as “rib” but it could also mean a side, part or aspect of the primordial human) to make woman-isha.

Adam II responds to the world spontaneously, and s/he yearns for intimacy and a life of quality and meaning. S/he is neither controlling nor power-centered. S/he intuits God’s presence everywhere and strives for “ach’dut-unity” with God. (i.e. to be at one-yichud with the root-shoresh of his/her being and life in God).

Adam II is an existential being, a seeker and an appreciator, and s/he is ever-aware of God’s Infinity, Eternity and Ineffability. S/he aspires for the religious experience of community, sanctity and transcendence. S/he is faith-oriented, needs a soul mate (i.e. beshert) and a faith community.

I mention Adam I and Adam II in the context of the invention of this Super-Fast Camera because our human engagement with it embraces both Adam I and Adam II.

My brother, an awe-struck scientist, remarked to me when he shared this video with me that this Super-Fast Camera and what it can show about the behavior of light would “even boggle Einstein’s mind!”

Chag Sukkot Sameach.

High Holiday Sermons – 2015-5776

25 Friday Sep 2015

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For those interested in listening/watching on You Tube or reading the text of any of the three High Holiday sermons I delivered this year at Temple Israel of Hollywood on Rosh Hashanah evening, Rosh Hashanah morning and on Kol Nidre, they are now posted together in written form and on YouTube on the Temple Israel of Hollywood website (www.tioh.org) and can be accessed directly here:

http://www.tioh.org/about-us/clergy/aboutus-clergy-clergystudy

Erev Rosh Hashanah – “Radiance in this Austere World”

There is a vast difference between what I call “good speech” about others and gossip (l’shon ha-ra – the evil tongue). The former builds ethical relationships and the latter destroys them. There are no innocent by-standers when we gossip, so the rabbis teach, and we all do it – according to polls 80% of all speech between people is about other people, for better and worse. Recognizing “gossip” as a serious ethical challenge, Judaism has developed a rich series of rules governing our use of language, how we speak to and about others and what we choose to say or not say. My sister in-law put it well recently when she noted that “Candor is golden; diplomacy is divine!” The problem is that people say far too much to each other and about each other, and allow their anger, frustration and self-righteous belief that they are duty-bound to be honest at all times whether harm and hurt comes to others as a consequence or not. The High Holidays reminds us that not all thoughts ought to be expressed, written, shared, or read. In these days leading to the Presidential primaries, we are seeing far too much destructive speech coming from candidates, but that is just a reflection of the coarseness and insensitivity that is happening across society as a whole.

Shacharit Rosh Hashanah – “Fighting for the Soul of the Jewish People”

We Jews are living in a very difficult, threatening and complicated world, and we have been divided by our own extremists about what is in the Jewish people’s best interest relative to the State of Israel’s long-term security and peace as the democratic nation state of the Jewish people. The unity of the Jewish people is essential to our future strength and security, but policies of the government of the state of Israel, led by fear and arrogance and buttressed by an unholy political marriage between ultra-orthodox Hareidi Jews and right-wing one-state believing settlers has now gained significant influence in the policies of the government and threatens to take Israel over a cliff as it becomes increasingly isolated internationally and a source of consternation for the Jewish people in America. We risk losing a generation of young liberal Jews who want to love Israel but are increasingly torn between the values on which they were raised and policies that emphasize security to the exclusion of everything else. The recent battles in the United States over the Iran Agreement, the failure of the Kerry effort to forge a two-state solution, and the vicious attacks on liberal left Jewish supporters of Israel and on other pro-Israel supporters who have taken a different view by both the left and the right, but primarily by extreme right-wing Jews need to be stopped – and soon, or we could lose everything the Jewish people has striven to build since the beginnings of the Zionist movement.

Kol Nidre – “Six Life Lessons”

In this very personal sermon, I share my own spiritual journey and six life-lessons I have learned over the 65+ years of my life. These lessons have broad applicability.

For those interested, on the Temple Israel site are posted the sermons of my colleagues, Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh and Rabbi Jocee Hudson – all well worth reading.

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

Falling on “God’s Face”

21 Monday Sep 2015

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There are a number of prayers in the High Holiday liturgy that evoke the core purposes of this season. One of these is the Aleinu HaGadol (“The Great Aleinu”).

To better understand the meaning of this prayer it is important to recognize a significant difference between the English word “prayer” and the Hebrew word “t’filah” (often translated as “prayer”).

While “prayer” includes the expression of gratitude and praise, the petition of God for help, strength, courage, restored health, sustenance, and peace of mind, and communion with God, t’filah, though encompassing praise and petition as well, is associated with the Hebrew word nafal (The infinitive of nafal is Lipol: lamed-yod-peh-lamed – from the Hebrew root: nun-peh-lamed; the nun is silent in t’filah) – meaning “to fall.” (Note: I learned this interpretation years ago, but I do not recall who taught it to me)

Unlike the English word “prayer,” the Hebrew word t’filah entails falling before God.

This idea of t’filah is captured in an early interaction between Avram and God.

When God gave Avram his new name, Avraham, and explained that Abraham’s new status would be as the patriarch of Israel in return for which God promised Abraham the blessing that he would become av hamon goyim – “Father of a multitude of nations,” the Torah says that in response Vayipol Avram al panav – “And Abram fell (vayipol) on his face” (Genesis 17:3-5).

Even as Avram assumed his new spiritual status and responsibility, he recognized the enormity of the task of leading his people, and he acknowledged his need for God’s help. Hence, Vayipol Avram al panav.

This phrase reasonably can be read in one of two ways: The most common is “Abram fell on his own face,” expressing through prostration the physical attitude of supplication and humility before God.

The second way it can be read is this – “Avram fell on God’s face.”

What might it mean for Avram to fall upon God’s face?

In addition to assuming the physical attitude of supplication and humility in prostration, Avram may well have yearned to become One with God, thus falling upon God’s “Face.” Chassidism teaches that this is one goal of all t’filah. It fulfills the yearning of the mystic to become one-achdut with God.

Twice each year the Jewish people prostates  before God. The first is on Rosh Hashanah and the second is on Yom Kippur. Both are during the Aleinu Hagadol, the Great Aleinu.

Muslims too assume through prostration this attitude of submission to Allah five times daily. I am told that in Los Angeles, Catholic Priests of the Archdiocese prostrate together before the altar on Good Friday in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, otherwise known as the Catholic Downtown Cathedral.

Many Jews in my congregation take this opportunity to assume the most humble attitude before the open ark on the afternoon of Yom Kippur when, led by the Rabbis, we chant the Aleinu Hagadol in a prone position. It is a most powerful and emotionally charged moment.

This year I invite those of you who have not fallen before the ark upon your faces and upon God’s face to do so.

G’mar chatimah tovah – may we all be sealed in the Book of Life.

L’shanah tovah.

Overcoming Despair and Beginning Again

13 Sunday Sep 2015

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The central theme of these High Holidays is teshuvah, a process that brings us back to ourselves, to our families and friends, to our community, Torah, and God. Teshuvah is ultimately an expression of hope, that the way we are today need not be who we become tomorrow.

Teshuvah is essentially a step-by-step process of turning and re-engaging with our most basic inclinations, the yetzer hara-the evil urge that is propelled by desire, lust and need and our yetzer tov-the good inclination that is inspired by humility, gratitude, generosity, and kindness.

A key beginning in the process that is teshuvah is, however, a sense of despair, hopelessness and sadness, the feeling that we are stuck and cannot change the nature, character and direction of our lives.

Judaism, however, rejects pessimism, cynicism and everything that impedes personal transformation and a hopeful future.

In the story of Jonah, to be read on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, we read the tale of the prophet’s descent into hopelessness and what is required for him to change direction.

Jonah is the epitome of a unrealized prophet who runs from himself, from civilization and from God. Every verb associated with his journey is the language of descent (yod-resh-daled). He flees down to the sea. He boards a ship and goes down into its dark interior. He lays down and falls into a deep sleep. He is thrown overboard down into the waters by his terrified ship-mates. He is swallowed and descends into the belly of a great fish, and there he stays for three days and nights until from that place of despair and utter darkness Jonah decides that he wishes to live and not die. He cries out to God to save him.

God responds by making the fish vomit Jonah out onto dry land. Jonah agrees this time to do God’s bidding and preach to the Ninevites to repent from their evil ways. While the town’s people are all putting on sack cloth and ashes and promising to change, God provides Jonah with shade and protection from the hot sun. Jonah, however, becomes mortified because he still believes that change is impossible and that the Ninevites are destined to fail. Their success, in his mind, makes him to appear the fool.

Teshuvah is never easy. It is for those of us who are strong of mind, heart and soul, who are willing to work hard and suffer failure, but to get up every time, to own what we do, to acknowledge our wrong-doing, to apologize to ourselves and others, and to recommit to the struggle, step-by-step, patiently, one day at a time, one hour at a time, and even one moment at a time.

When successful, teshuvah is restorative and even utopian, for it enables us to return to our truest selves, to the place of soul, to the garden of oneness.

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik taught that in teshuvah we are able even to transcend time itself. He said, “The future has overcome the past.”

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