A Prayer for Peace in the New Year

06 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Holidays, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Israel/Zionism, Jewish Identity, Uncategorized

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May we hold lovingly in our thoughts / those who suffer from tyranny, subjection, cruelty, and injustice / and work every day towards the alleviation of their suffering.

May we recognize our solidarity / with the stranger, outcast, downtrodden, abused, and deprived / that no human being be treated as “other” / that our common humanity weaves us together / in one fabric of mutuality / one garment of destiny.

May we pursue the Biblical prophet’s vision of peace / that we might live harmoniously with each other / and side by side / respecting differences / cherishing diversity / with no one exploiting the weak / each living without fear of the other / each revering Divinity in every human soul.

May we struggle against institutional injustice and governmental corruption / free those from oppression and contempt / act with purity of heart and mind / despising none / defrauding none / hating none / cherishing all / honoring every child of God and every creature of the earth.

May the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and all peoples / know peace in this New Year / and may we nurture kindness and love everywhere.

L’shanah tovah tikateivu

Rabbi John L. Rosove – Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles

The Rider and the Elephant

03 Monday Sep 2018

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

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”What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.”

So is it recorded in The Dhammapada, a collection of sayings of the Buddha who lived 2600 years ago.

Shakespeare expressed the same idea: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” [1]

Are they both right, that we are mind over matter?

Not according to Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He writes that the conscious, reasoning part of our mind has only limited control over what we think, feel and do. [2]

The problem, he says, is that the mind is divided into two parts that often conflict. We are like riders on the back of elephants. Our conscious and rational mind has only limited control of what the elephant beneath us does.

The elephant represents our gut feelings, visceral reactions, emotions and intuitions. The rider is like the ‘press agent’ for the President (i.e. the elephant) who rationalizes whatever the president says.

The elephant and rider each have its own intelligence, and when the two work together, they reveal human brilliance. However, they don’t always work together.

As we approach the High Holidays, we Jews turn and return, break from habits that keep us from change and growth, and respond in new ways to those around us, to events in the world, and to our own lives.

The goal of t’shuvah (i.e. turning, returning, and responding) is to restore ourselves to where we know we should be, to our loved ones, families and friends, to colleagues and community, Torah and Judaism, goodness and God. This season reminds us that we ought to look beyond our material needs to our spiritual ones and focus on that which elevates us to be just “a little lower than the angels.” [3]

Haidt reminds us that when the Rider and the Elephant are at cross purposes – we ought to retrain the elephant, and that’s not so easy. The elephant is wired by nature,  nurture and ingrained patterns and it doesn’t seem that it matters what our conscious minds, our reason and good yetzer (inclination) are telling us. The rider often has little control over the elephant beneathe our legs.

Haidt urges the rider to talk directly to the elephant.

Was Shakespeare right that “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so”?

I answer this way – that the challenge of this season isn’t to insist that the rider have the final word, but to redirect the elephant’s impulses to be more in tune with the rider’s vision and purpose. Haidt suggests three means to do so:

  • Meditation – to quiet the mind and detach from whatever drives us towards dysfunctional and destructive behavior;
  • Cognitive therapy – to dig into our motivations, unconscious impulses and hidden agendas, and “unpack” the baggage that we carry, the memories and hurts that taught us that the world works in such and such a way, and that if we’re to survive we better behave accordingly;
  • Biochemical support – I’m not a psychiatrist, but those who think that drug therapy would be helpful should consult with qualified mental health professionals.

Each strategy has its place. There’s no one means to effect t’shuvah. Change and growth don’t come suddenly. T’shuvah involves a deliberate step-by-step process taken over time with patience and perseverance.

The elephant operates from a subterranean unconscious mishmash of forces. Given its size and weight, it’s likely that we may only be able to direct it forward slowly. What’s necessary is to retrain ourselves that we might become more optimistic and positive.

“Life is what we deem it,” is the truth of t’shuvah. We CAN redeem ourselves, but it won’t be easy!

Notes:

[1] Hamlet – Act 2, Scene 2

[2] “The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom” and “The Righteous Mind – Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion”

[3] Hebrews 2:7 based on Psalms 8:5

 

Bigotry and the Bigoted Mind – Quotations

30 Thursday Aug 2018

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Bias and Bigotry

Race and bigotry are obvious themes in this year’s Primary elections leading to the Mid-terms. Here are some thoughts on Bias and Bigotry from a variety of American literary sources.

“The door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly.” -Ogden Nash, author (1902-1971)

“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs, and explosions, and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy; and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn.” -Rod Serling, writer of the science fiction TV series The Twilight Zone (1924-1975)

“Let us consider that we are all partially insane. It will explain us to each other, it will unriddle many riddles, it will make clear and simple many things which are involved in haunting and harassing difficulties and obscurities now… That is a simple rule, and easy to remember. When I, a thoughtful and unbiased Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters. When a thoughtful and unbiased Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic–for that is part of his insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his. All democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the republicans and mugwumps know it. All the republicans are insane, but only the democrats and mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect; in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. When I look around me I am often troubled to see how many people are mad [gives long list]… This should move us to be charitable toward one another’s lunacies.” -Mark Twain “Christian Science” (1835-1910)

“If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon.” -George D. Aiken, US senator (1892-1984)

“The mind of a bigot to the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour on it, the more it contracts.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, novelist, essayist, and physician (1809-1894)

“Racism tends to attract attention when it’s flagrant and filled with invective. But like all bigotry, the most potent component of racism is frame-flipping — positioning the bigot as the actual victim. So the gay do not simply want to marry; they want to convert our children into sin. The Jews do not merely want to be left in peace; they actually are plotting world take-over. And the blacks are not actually victims of American power, but beneficiaries of the war against hard-working whites. This is a respectable, more sensible bigotry, one that does not seek to name-call, preferring instead change the subject and straw man.” -Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer and journalist (b. September 30, 1975)

 

 

5 Truths about Forgiveness

24 Friday Aug 2018

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Forgiving those who have wronged us is one of the most difficult things we ever do. It is also one of the most healing.

The Reform Judaism blog excerpted a letter from my book “Why Judaism Matters – Letters of a Liberal Rabbi to His Children and the Millennial Generation” (Publ. Turner-Jewish Lights, 2017)  on forgiveness – see https://reformjudaism.org/blog/2018/08/23/5-truths-about-forgiveness?utm_source=WU&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20180824&utm_campaign=Feature

 

Life Lessons for Elul – A hedge against the toxicity in today’s politics

23 Thursday Aug 2018

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Soren Kierkegaard said: “It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards.”

Though we’re always living forward, the life lessons we learn help to shape our future. Since this is the season of self-examination leading to the High Holidays, I offer a list of 32 life lessons I’ve learned – there are others, but the number 32 is a significant one in Jewish mystical tradition. It equals the 22 letters of the Hebrew aleph bet plus the 10 “words” of the covenant, and it’s the number equivalent for the Hebrew word lev (lamed – bet), heart, which the mystics teach are the number of pathways to God.

I offer the following as a hedge against the toxicity in the political environment in this country in these days leading to the High Holidays. Some of these I’ve borrowed gratefully from a journalist named Regina Brett and published in the Plain Dealer from Cleveland, Ohio (hers are in italics).

They’re not necessarily a way to God, but a means to a healthier, wiser, and more sacred way of living, at least as I’ve come to believe in them.

  1. God gave us life and our natural abilities only – everything else is either up to us or a result of dumb luck.
  2. Life isn’t always fair, but it’s still good.
  3. Life is short, so cut your losses early.
  4. Begin planning for retirement as a teen by developing your passions and interests, for they’ll sustain you when you get old.
  5. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up your present.
  6. You don’t have to win every argument, so at a certain point stop arguing.
  7. Love your spouse/partner above all other people and things. If you aren’t married, then nurture the special friendships in your life.
  8. Don’t compare your life to anyone else’s as you have no idea what their journey has been all about.
  9. If you can’t publish what you want to say or do on the front page of The NY Times, don’t say or do it.
  10. Try not to speak ill of anyone, but if you must, do so only with trusted friends and then only so as to understand better how to cope better with people like that.
  11. Don’t procrastinate to see doctors. It may save your life.
  12. Carpe diem. Take pleasure in this day and do what inspires you for we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
  13. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
  14. Breathe deeply as it calms the body, mind, heart, and soul.
  15. Take your shoes off whenever possible as studies indicate that doing so will prolong your life.
  16. Too much alcohol and drugs dull the mind and loosen the lips compelling us to say things we may mean but don’t want said and to say things we may not mean at all.
  17. Get a dog or a cat for the love for and from such a creature is unlike anything else we’ll ever know.
  18. Over prepare, and then go with the flow.
  19. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
  20. Speak the truth but only when you know you can be effective and only if it doesn’t cause another person unnecessary harm or hurt. Otherwise, be quiet.
  21. Stand up to bullies wherever they are and whenever you encounter them.
  22. Time does heal almost everything.
  23. Don’t fear or resist change for it is natural, necessary, and an opportunity for growth.
  24. Don’t envy other people’s talent, circumstances or life – you already have everything you require.
  25. Love isn’t just a matter of the heart – it comes from God.
  26. Learn Torah as often as you can – it will enrich, change, and enhance your life and it will inspire you to do what you might never choose to do otherwise.
  27. Support the State of Israel as the democracy and Jewish State that it is regardless of its imperfections, for Israel remains the best hope for the Jewish people to create a utopia worthy of the ethics of the Biblical prophets.
  28. Be modest.
  29. Be forgiving.
  30. Be kind.
  31. Be generous.
  32. Be grateful.

Now, let’s live our lives forward.

 

 

“The Eternal Dissident” – A must-read collection of sermons and writings

21 Tuesday Aug 2018

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I first met Rabbi Leonard I. Beerman when I was eleven years old when my mother, brother and I joined Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles in 1961. My father had died two years earlier and we needed a synagogue and a rabbi.

Meeting Leonard had an impact on me that I could not have anticipated. As a young boy I looked at him from afar with a sense of awe. His resonant voice and gentle manner comforted me, and his message stirred and lifted me to think about life and the world in a way that no one else did or has since.

There was no Rabbi on the American scene like him. No one had as much moral courage and insight. No one was as principled. The only other Rabbi who compared to Leonard as a moral leader was Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.

Leonard Beerman became a father-figure for me but I didn’t realize it until I spoke with my wife after I had finished reading this volume “The Eternal Dissident – Rabbi Leonard I. Beerman and the Radical Imperative to Think and Act” edited by Professor David N. Myers, Professor of Jewish History at UCLA (2018). The book includes forty sermons and essays accompanied by commentaries by forty of Leonard’s friends, colleagues, congregants, and students from across the religious and political spectrum – I am one of them.

Barbara said: “You know, John, Leonard was a father figure to you! You’ve always spoken of him that way since I’ve known you.”

She was, of course, right. I suspect I’m not alone.

In the last three years of Leonard’s life (he died in 2014), he and I had become close. We regularly met for lunch at his favorite Beverly Hills Tennis Club where he played tennis into his 90s. He had been reading my blog and liked the way I thought and wrote, so one day he wrote to me and I jumped at the chance to connect with him. Our friendship began and grew. He always said as we parted, “John – I’m an old man but you make me feel young again!”

Leonard was like that. People felt seen by him, and they loved and revered him as a great moral rabbinic leader. He was as eloquent a writer and speaker as there was in the American rabbinate. Strangely, Leonard didn’t think he was a very good writer. He was so wrong. He was among the most thoughtful and moving writers and thinkers that there was on the American Jewish scene.

Leonard drew liberally from the visions of the Biblical prophets and classic Jewish text while weaving poetry and other literary sources together as he reflected about what it means to be human, moral and accountable. He was tortured by the suffering of the innocent. He loved Israel but didn’t spared his moral critique of Israeli oppression of the Palestinians under occupation.

Leonard served as a US Marine during World War II and he fought while studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem before and during Israel’s Independence War.

I asked him about the impact of his military service in those two wars. He explained that he served twice to test himself, and he came away a confirmed pacifist.

Reading “The Eternal Dissident,” especially at this time of year in the Hebrew month of Elul before the High Holidays, prepared me spiritually and morally to lead my congregation for the last time before I retire next year. Leonard’s soft yet powerful and resonant moral voice rings in my ears. Even in his death he has given me a precious gift.

The last time we shared lunch together was only a month after the end of the fighting in the 2014 Israeli-Hamas War in Gaza. He and I both were preparing to speak about the war (we did so very differently). His sermon was highly critical of Israel even as he acknowledged the brutality of Hamas. For me, his pacifism was a conundrum of conflict. But he did not budge from his moral convictions.

I wrote to David Myers (the editor of the volume and Leonard’s dear friend) and Leonard’s widow, Joan, when I finished reading the book this week to thank them for producing this extraordinary volume.

A better model of a man, a more courageous religious leader, and a kinder, more sensitive and provocative rabbi there has not been in the American rabbinate in my memory.

This book ought to be read by every religious leader in every faith tradition, and by atheists and skeptics too. Few works are as important as this one, and I recommend it without hesitation. You can find it on beermanfoundation.org.

I mourn still the loss of Rabbi Leonard Beerman. His life, however, is impressed on my heart and in my mind and soul and always will be. In this I know I am not alone.

 

Why Israel needs Reform and Conservative Judaism

14 Tuesday Aug 2018

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Last week (August 9) an article appeared in the opinion section of the Forward under the title – “Stop Trying to Bring Reform and Conservative Judaism to Israel – We Already have too much Religion” by Einat Wilf and Ram Vromen.

The article set up a straw dog paradigm that is faulty on so many levels it is difficult to respond. But Rabbi Gilad Kariv did effectively as a follow-up letter to the editor. Rabbi Kariv is President and CEO of the Israel Reform Movement.

Rabbi Kariv shows that Reform Progressive and Liberal Judaism is an authentic Israeli movement and that progressive Judaism is a necessity for Israel’s future both as a Jewish and democratic society.

I am including links to both the original article and Rabbi Kariv’s response which offers links to surveys completed fairly recently that show both the growth and potential of Reform Judaism in Israel.

I urge you to read both items.

https://forward.com/opinion/407701/stop-trying-to-bring-conservative-and-reform-judaism-to-israel-we-already/?attribution=home-top-story-5-headline

https://forward.com/opinion/letters/407949/yes-israel-needs-reform-and-conservative-jews/?attribution=home-article-listing-5-headline

Note: I serve as the national chair of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), the American Zionist arm of the Union for Reform Judaism and a partner with the Israeli Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism.

Peter Beinart: I Was Detained At Ben Gurion Airport Because Of My Beliefs

13 Monday Aug 2018

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August 13, 2018, The Jewish Forward

This article ought to upset any American Jew who loves Israel and believes in Israeli democracy but is starting to get worried that, as Peter Beinart notes, Trump has emboldened PM Netanyahu and anti-democratic forces in the State of Israel.

Peter reminds us, and I agree wholeheartedly, that we in America need to support those Israelis and Israeli organizations that support democracy and human rights in the Jewish State.

Read more: https://forward.com/opinion/408066/peter-beinart-i-was-detained-at-ben-gurion-airport-because-of-my-beliefs/