Divre Harav – Words from the Rabbi

Divre Harav/Words from the Rabbi – January, 2013

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18 years at Ahavas Israel seems like a long time until you compare it with Cantor Stuart’s 36 years. I am honored and grateful that the congregation gave such a wonderful tribute to Stuart and me last month. Actually, the 18 years have flown by – I remember driving into Grand Rapids from Minneapolis for the first time, on Sunday, July 31, 1994. I remember rounding the hill by Lake Michigan Drive and the Zoo, and seeing the skyline of downtown – and then stopping at a pay phone because we couldn’t find the way to Rhonda Reider and Mike Halprin’s home for dinner. I remember meeting Judy Joseph, among other members of the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning minyans that week. And I remember getting a phone call from a young woman named Marni Holtzman, who had recently graduated from the University of Michigan and was headed to Jerusalem to study at Pardes – she wanted to know if I had an extra Hebrew dictionary that she could borrow (I did). I thought about all of this and more during the tribute event that Marni,  Rhonda, and Judy (and other people too numerous to name) worked so many hours to plan.

I remember unrolling sleeping bags in our bedroom that first night, because the moving van from New York wouldn’t arrive for another week. I remember eagerly showing up for work the next morning and waiting in the parking lot for Tom Greenwald and Suzanne Doten to arrive, because I didn’t have keys to the building. I remember speaking to Noah and Jon Droski that first Shabbat on the occasion of the celebration of their B’nai Mitzvah. I don’t remember what I said, given that I hardly knew them – but I taught 7th grade that year, so I got to know them, as well as Andy Strate, Noah Rymer, Joseph Knape, and Jana Neil, quite well. Arlene Loby was the principal of the three day a week religious school and Phil Loby was the chair of the Board of Education. Fred Meyerson was the chair of the Ritual committee. Stuart Rapaport was on his second go-around as President.

I begin writing my sermons on a Mac Classic, with its nine inch monochrome screen. I spoke about Building Community, Prayer, Ethical Wills, and Experiencing Loss. I used email to share sermons and thoughts and questions with other rabbis, but relatively few people in the synagogue had email, so I answered many more phone calls than I do today.

Rabbi Alan Alpert of Muskegon, now the senior congregational rabbi of West Michigan (perhaps of the East side as well), convened a meeting of all of the non-Detroit rabbis. Rabbi Lewis and I drove to the first one together, in Lansing. Except for Rabbi Alpert and Rabbi Spivak of Kalamazoo, none of the other communities represented, Bay City/Saganaw/Midland, Flint, Benton Harbor, Lansing/East Lansing, and Jackson, have the same rabbi now as they did then; many of them no longer have rabbis; some of the congregations no longer exist. In this era of Jewish life, survival alone is an accomplishment.

Congregation Ahavas Israel has survived (as have I) and more. We have re-envisioned what it means to be a synagogue in the 21st century. We have stronger partnerships with the Federation and with Temple Emanuel than we did 18 years ago. We have lost some committees and groups (such as the board of Education and Sisterhood), but gained or renamed others (the United Jewish School Board, the Religious Life committee, and a social committee, to name a few). We will continue to change and evolve in order to fulfill the needs of the portion of the population in Grand Rapids which is seeking traditional Torah based Judaism in a modern framework.  People who seek to understand and practice a Torah centered life while also fully participating in a modern egalitarian world look to us to provide a serious and supportive Jewish community. It has been my honor and privilege and pleasure to be with you for the past 18 years, and I look forward to many more years into the future.

Some people are curious about the variety of things that I do, in addition to writing sermons and bulletin articles, answering questions by phone or email, going to Board and Committee meetings, teaching religious school classes, leading study groups, and visiting members of the congregation. Here are some of my activities of the past month:

  • • I concluded my seven session Talmud class, teaching the beginning of the tractate of Sanhedrin, about the structure of the Jewish civil and criminal court system.
  • • We have been storing many boxes of old religious books for burial, so I planned and led a geniza book burial ceremony for the United Jewish School/Community. On the same Day as the book burial ceremony, Temple Emanuel and Ahavas Israel held a communal day of Learning in conjunction with a Global Day of Jewish Learning sponsored by Jewish Federation of North America. I taught some of the laws relating of the proper disposal of written materials with God’s name.
  • • I convened a Beit Din (Court of three Rabbis) to supervise a conversion at the Mikvah in West Bloomfield.
  • • I do not do many tours of the synagogue (Shirley Kleiman is our expert tour guide), but I led a tour for my daughter’s friend’s 4th – 6th grade Catholic Church youth group.

Divre Harav/Words from the Rabbi – December, 2012

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Every study of Jewish identity demonstrates that immersive Jewish experiences, such as Jewish camps and Israel programs, are linked to increases in positive Jewish behaviors, such as giving to Jewish causes, lighting Shabbat candles, holding a Passover Seder, and fasting on Yom Kippur.

The key word is immersive. Most of our days and weeks are spent interacting with a very secular American or Christian world. Watching television, listening to the radio or to the music on our iPods, conversations with out co-workers or clients or customers or supervisors, all of these things take place outside of Jewish time and space, and with rare exceptions, do not call attention to specifically Jewish values or concerns. This is, of course, a very broad statement that does not apply to everyone. Some of us have Jewish playlists or podcasts on our iPods, or subscribe to RSS feeds from Jewish media sources or stock out netflix queue with Jewish themed or Israeli movies. Nonetheless, when living and working in North America (and even more so in West Michigan), our interpersonal contacts, at the supermarket, the bank, the pharmacy, the bakery, the restaurant, on the phone with DTE, Comcast, AT&T, or the City of Grand Rapids, will rarely end with a “Shabbat Shalom” or a “Hag Sameah!” In our day to day lives, we are decidedly not immersed in the language of Judaism.

An immersive Jewish experience is one which is structured to present us with Jewish opportunities throughout the day. A Jewish camp invites us to wake up surrounded by Jews, engage in prayer, eat breakfast with Jews, go swimming at a waterfront, do art projects, engage in sports or learning activities that explicitly incorporate Hebrew, Jewish texts, Jewish language, and Jewish values into the activity. In an Israel experience, we are surrounded by Hebrew as a living language, and to wish Shabbat Shalom to the bus driver, the bank teller, and the tech support person on the phone is part of the common discourse. The sign on the bus reminding young people to give up their seats to their elders quotes Leviticus 19:32, “You shall rise before the aged.” Such use of Hebrew doesn’t feel like in-your-face Bible thumping, it’s just street language.

In an immersive Jewish experience, in Israel or in a serious Jewish camp program, Jewish identity does not require an active effort … one can relax and simply be Jewish, letting the little bits of a Jewish life flow past as naturally as a scrap of wood sweeping down the Mississippi river.

Ahavas Israel is blessed with a generous scholarship program. We have the Berkowitz Fund and the Ahavas Israel scholarship fund for children, and the Shapiro fund for adults. Their intent is to fund educational camp and Israel program and (for adults) retreats and classes and seminars that provide an immersive Jewish experience. You can find information about the scholarship program elsewhere in the Voice as well as on the AhavasIsrael.org website. I urge you to consider how you might take advantage of it, for your children or for yourself.

Divre Harav/Words from the Rabbi – November, 2012

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I have been observant of traditional Sabbath practices (shomer Shabbat) for about 26 years, and my Shabbat practice has become so second nature to me that I sometimes forget the extent to which it is out of step with the way most people live their lives. However, I didn’t grow up strictly Sabbath observant. It’s something that I began to explore as a teen at Camp Ramah and in my home synagogue, and began to adopt seriously during my year studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It was not until I came home after that year that I made the commitment to incorporate the restrictions of a traditional Jewish Shabbat observance a consistent part of my life.

It was not only an adjustment to me, but to my family and friends as well. When I stopped using the telephone on Shabbat, my family was worried about how they would contact me in case of emergency. I assured them that if I was home, I would listen to the answering machine, and if it was an emergency I would pick up. One of my friends began leaving 5-10 minute messages on Shabbat afternoon and calling me 10 minutes before the end of Shabbat, which I suspect was a passive-aggressive way of dealing with his unhappiness at my evolution into “Religious Jew.” Slowly, though, friends and family adjusted.

It was not a terrible adjustment for Congregation Ahavas Israel when I arrived in Grand Rapids.  Most of the previous rabbis, including my predecessor, also had a fairly traditional Shabbat practice. However, it is worthwhile periodically discussing how my Shabbat and Holiday practice affects my functioning and availability as a rabbi, and how to contact me in case of emergency, such as death or serious illness.

The answering machine that I had when I first arrived in Grand Rapids has gone the way of the dinosaur. Voicemail has some advantages, but I have not figured out a way to screen calls on Shabbat and pick them up of they are urgent. In the case of death or serious illnesses,if you need to reach me on Shabbat or holidays, there are a couple of options:  You can call my Google Voice number (616-929-0459) and leave me a message which I will get immediately after Shabbat or the Festival ends. Alternatively, you can stop by my home or ask someone else to come to my home to notify me. I will discuss funeral arrangements to the extent that I am able, given that it is Shabbat and I will not have access to my calendar. If it would be helpful, I could walk to the hospital (Blodgett or Butterworth only).

Despite the occasional hardships of not using electronics on Shabbat, I find it to be tremendously liberating. I sleep better and have sharper concentration. If you would like a detailed discussion on the use of electronic devices on Shabbat, you can find a very well written paper by my colleague Rabbi Danny Nevins on this page, under the category of Shabbat: http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/jewish-law/committee-jewish-law-and-standards/orah-hayyim

Divre Harav/Words from the Rabbi – September, 2012

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Many Jewish homes have a copy of Isaac Klein’s “A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice” on their bookshelves.  My own copy was given to me by the synagogue in which I grew up. As the bookplate indicates, it was presented to Marisa and me in honor of our marriage on the occasion of our aufruf. Published in 1979, it is a detailed and comprehensive guide to Jewish practice at home and in the synagogue.

Although Klein’s Guide is still very much relevant and useful, The Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement has just published a book which is destined to be the next general’s version of the Guide. The book, entitled “The Observant Life:  The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary Jews,” edited by Martin S. Cohen, weighs in at 900+ pages, 50% larger than Isaac Klein’s Guide! Within the first 13 pages, the need for an updated guide for a Jewish life is apparent.  There is a discussion of inserting the names of matriarchs into our prayers, something which was barely a blip on the radar screen in the 60’s and 70’s when Isaac Klein was writing his guide. There is also a discussion of joining a minyan via internet, something which was science fiction technology Isaac Klein’s world (see the Dear Rebbe column for an answer to this question).

At a recent board meeting, the president, Bill Lewis, posed an intriguing question: What is the role of a religious institution in a secular world? Those of you reading this column who have chosen to be a part of Congregation Ahavas Israel (or another synagogue community) presumably have some sort of answer, at least for yourself. “The Observant Life” suggests that the synagogue is an extension of the religious life of the individual Jew – a place of prayer, learning, and spiritual assembly. I suggest that the synagogue exists to support you in your quest to be an educated, observant, caring Jew, seeking to connect yourself with a like-minded community and/or with God.

As we approach Rosh Hashanah, my family and I wish you a sweet new year, one in which the synagogue will play a role in your social, emotional, spiritual, religious, educational and/or cultural life.

Divre Harav/Words from the Rabbi – Summer, 2012

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The Fast Days of Summer

Fasts of mourning are not the most popular of fasts, especially in the middle of the summer. The sun is warm and bright, and the last thing that we want to do is mourn the loss of an ancient Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the subsequent exile.  There is a reason, however, why Judaism has such elaborate rituals for death and morning … funeral customs, shiva, and Yahrtzeit.  Judaism believes that we are not disconnected beings creating and living our lives on our own.  Rather, we are intimately connected with and dependent on those who preceded us.  We inherited a world and a religious tradition from the hundreds and thousands of generations of humanity that came before us.  After our brief time on earth, it is our responsibility to pass along that heritage to those who will follow.  The rituals of death and mourning create the memory link between us and our past, and give us a framework in which to transmit the stories of our past to the next generation.

Tisha B’Av, the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av, is the anniversary of the day upon which both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, and Jews were expelled from England in 1290 and Spain in 1492.  It is one of two major fast days on the Jewish calendar (the other being Yom Kippur).  Aside from fasting  and refraining from wearing leather and from engaging in intimate relations, it is observed by reading the book of Aicha, Lamentations, traditionally ascribed to the Prophet Jeremiah, who lived through the Babylonian exile after the first Temple was destroyed.

Three weeks prior to Tisha b’Av, on the 17th of Tammuz, Shiva Asar b’Tammuz, the walls of Jerusalem were breached. Shiva Asar bTammuz is observed as a minor fast day (sunrise to sundown) on Sunday, July 8.  These three weeks are observed as days of semi-mourning, in which weddings and other joyous celebrations should not take place.  During the first nine days of Av, one should not eat meat or drink wine (except on Shabbat), or cut one’s hair.  Three special Haftarot are chanted, known as the Haftarot of destruction.  The Haftarah the week prior to Tisha b’Av is chanted using the trope of Aicha (Lamentations). The three weeks lead us into the emotional low of the consideration of exile and the destructive nature of anti-semitism, prejudice, racism, and all forms of hatred.  Following Tisha b’Av, a series of 7 Haftarot known as the Haftarot of consolation take us back up to the emotional high of Rosh Hashanah, 7 weeks later.

Tisha B’Av will be observed on Saturday night, July 28, and Sunday, July 29.  Services will be held at the synagogue beginning at 10:00 p.m. on July 28 and 9:30 a.m. July 29.