What I Want For Me, I Should Want For You

The moment when Moses says to God, “I want to know you.  I want to understand you,” is a moment I think many of us can relate to.  

Perhaps we have sought an understanding of God, or some divine reassurance, to help us make sense of our lives in ways existential and mundane.

We know, however, that our yearning for understanding and reassurance from God, and more specifically our claim that we have such understanding and reassurance, can lead us, individually and communally, to some pretty dark places.

Temple Israel Players 2017

As tempting as it is to want some divine reassurance about our beliefs and our actions, it's also dangerous.  As we well know, we can look to God to help us justify all kinds of things that are problematic, ranging from garden-variety self-righteousness to truly vile behavior.  

The Muslim suicide bomber thinks he is acting in Allah's name. The Christian shooter thinks he is acting in Jesus's name. The Jew who shoots scores of worshippers in a mosque thinks he is doing the will of Hashem.

Two major rabbinic leaders have dared to suggest that when it comes to our behavior we should put God second.  Don't be quick to invoke God, don't be over-reliant on God's blessing. Just do what you know is right and worry about God later.

Response to Anti-Semitism: Protecting Ourselves, Protecting Each Other

This past week I was at a wonderful conference sponsored by Hadar with rabbis of multiple ideological perspectives from all over the country

During a particular session I was studying with two colleagues and one of them, who lives in the Philadelphia area, looked down at his phone and said, “Sorry - Gotta step out.”

He came back in and we asked is everything ok, and he said, the Jewish day school that my children go to just received a bomb threat.  All the children are waiting outside.  The leadership is trying to figure out what course of action to take next.

Vandalism at Mt. Carmel Cemetery In Philadelphia, PA, February, 2017

Over the next hours he filled us in on the outcome (everyone was ok), on what the leadership decided to share with the children (K through 5), on what procedures they followed.

This, as we know, is part of a much larger recent trend.