Turning Our Worry Into Action

When I was in college I spoke to my parents about once a week, usually on Friday afternoons.   In addition to the general back and forth, my mother would usually ask if I was getting all my work done.  

I wondered at the time why she was still worried about this.  I was, after all, 20 years old and managing reasonably well.

Years later, when I was a rabbi and we would talk before the holidays, she would ask if I was getting my work done.  Are the sermons going to be ready?

I used to think that my mother worried more than my father since she usually asked the questions, but one week when I was a teenager and she took off to visit my aunt in Cincinnati and left him to “take care of me,” he worried non-stop.  

I’m sure that worrying is universal, but Jews certainly have a reputation for it.  We even have our own jokes about worrying, including one I expect you’ve heard.

What does the classic Jewish telegram read?

Start worrying.  Details to follow.

Passover is known as the season of our freedom.

Listening Brings Freedom and Life

My paternal grandfather lived until his early 90’s.  Toward the end of his life we went to visit him in the hospital.  He was suffering.  

One of us, I don’t remember who, asked how he was feeling.  He said, “I’m dying.”

One of the family gathered there said something like, “Oh, you’re trying. Of course you’re trying.  It must be hard but you’ll be OK. We love you."

He didn’t say I’m trying.  We knew that.  He surely knew that.

We don’t always listen very well.  Sometimes when things are actually said we pretend we didn’t quite hear them, especially if what was said was too painful or even inconvenient.  

My grandfather might have gained some comfort from us telling him that we actually heard what he said instead of pretending we didn’t hear and that everything would be ok.  We won’t ever know.

The foundation of the Passover story is listening.  

Me at AIPAC 2017: Appreciation, Challenge and Suggestions

I spent Sunday through Tuesday at the AIPAC national policy conference.  AIPAC – the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – was founded in 1963.  Its stated mission is “to strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”

I’d like to share some highlights from my perspective along with some of the challenges I experienced as a participant.  Using my reactions as a guidepost, I hope to reflect on how each of us might navigate when it comes to our own social and political views and our relationship to Israel.  Ultimately I hope to suggest how established institutions like AIPAC can support engagement that is deeper and, ultimately, more effective for America and Israel.

Panel on "Shifting Landscapes:  Israel and the African American Community", AIPAC Policy Conference 2017

First the highlights.  There were roughly 18,000 people at the conference.  

Approximately 1000 rabbis attended.

Approximately 4000 college students attended.

The student presidents of approximately 150 colleges and universities were there, including 50 student presidents of historically black colleges.

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.

The Perils and Power of Advice

It’s not easy to take advice from other people.  There are many reasons why we resist and many ways to resist.  Sometimes we doubt the motivation of the person giving the advice.  Sometimes we question whether the advice is sound altogether.

The Torah describes a moment where one person gives advice to another.  Not just any two people, but Yitro, Midianite priest and Moshe, leader of the Israelites and Yitro’s son-in-law.

You are overwhelming yourself and others by judging all of the people directly, Yitro tells his Moshe.  You need to delegate.  

Moshe follows the advice.  He delegates.  He handles the difficult cases and he appoints others to handle the simpler ones.  

The Torah records no vocal response on Moshe's part and doesn't externalize his thought process.

However, in keeping with our people’s long-standing interpretive impulse, I’m going to ask a few questions of my own about that which the Torah does not explicitly state.

The Power of the People

Assuming we’re not “in the room where it happens.”  Assuming we are not serving in one of three branches of national government, assuming that we are not in a position that gives us access to the halls of power.  How do we face each day, take our temperature, assess ourselves and our surroundings, and determine what we want to say and do given national events?

The story of the Exodus describes the showdown between two main characters, leaders on the stage in the room where it happens, leaders whose actions have the capacity to impact entire nations.

Moses and Pharaoh have an extended showdown, a dance of ego, will and destiny that the Torah describes in dramatic detail.

But of course most of the people were neither Moses nor Pharaoh.  They were figuring out how to manage each day, how not to be literally and figuratively beaten.