Divre Harav – September, 2023

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My childhood rabbi died in July. Rabbi Kassel Abelson was one of the giants of the Conservative movement. He was chair of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, helped found USY, was present at the creation of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin (the original Ramah), and shaped the introduction of egalitarianism and GLBTQ+inclusiveness into the movement.

The egalitarianism that he and Beth El Minneapolis instilled in me as a core value in the mid 70’s is what insulated me from swallowing the Orthodoxy that the Ba’al Teshuvah yeshivot tried to feed One Year Program students at Hebrew University. Ramah Wisconsin instilled a love of Hebrew and traditional Jewish practice. While for social reasons I was never completely comfortable in USY, I moved back and forth between the AZA and USY world, solidifying my sense that my future partner in live would have to be someone who shared my love for Judaism. So when it was time to go to the Seminary, JTS was the only option for me.

Growing up, Rabbi Abelson was mostly just the powerful Voice on the bima. He was less threatening than the other powerful Voice in the Minneapolis Conservative rabbinate who actually frightened me. He would call people out for standing up to leave the sanctuary during a sermon. Rabbi Abelson, on the other hand, radiated kindness, even though he was a distant personality. By the time I neared my teen years, Beth El had a series of assistant rabbis who took on the teen portfolio, so they were the rabbinic figures I grew close to.

I remember my first conversation with Rabbi Abelson in 1977 when I went into his office for the pre-bar mitzvah meeting. Parents of b’nai mitzvah students obvious talked, because my mother warned me that he would talk to me about going to Ramah Wisconsin and that I should tell him I was going to Camp Tikvah, not Ramah. But I did go to Ramah about two years later, in part because of the tremendous scholarship program that Rabbi Abelson had built to send kids to Ramah.

So even though my relationship with Rabbi Abelson wasn’t as deep as I wish it could have been, looking back, I clearly see how much I am a product of Rabbi Abelson. By helping to create Ramah, USY, a program of incorporating young people into learning serious synagogue skills, reading Torah and leading services, teaching the importance of inclusiveness in synagogue life, he shaped who I am today, and for that I am grateful.

In a small congregation, Rabbi and congregant have much more access to each other than in large congregations such as where I grew up. The ratio of congregants to rabbi in a small congregation allows the rabbi to get to know each member. Of course, I know those who make it a point to come to services, classes, and programs, better than those who come rarely. But I want to know each member and our business model as a congregation is based on the importance of the financial and personal contribution of each member. 

Although I grew up within a large congregational model, I do not regret devoting my career to the blessings of the small congregation.

Hebrew Words of the Month:

  • Rav – rabbi
  • Rebbe – the rabbi of a hasidic community, typically a charismatic leader.

Reflections on the Psalms

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With gratitude to the Holy One of Blessing, I am excited to announcing the publication of Rabbi Krishef’s Reflections on the Psalms!

Discover how the Psalms can inspire you to engage significant contemporary issues. This is not a commentary on the meaning and message of the Psalms; rather, this book considers the Psalms as a collection of phrases and images that invite us into brief meditations using Jewish wisdom for spiritual development.

Reflections on the Psalms, published by Luminescence LLC, is available on Amazon.

You can find endorsements of the book from Rabbi David Wolpe, Rabbi Brad Artson, Rabbi Elana Zaiman, Rabbi Pamela Gottfried, Rabbi Elliot Dorff, and the Rev. Fred Wooden, here.

Divre Harav – Summer, 2023

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Supporting Christian Zionists and Evangelicals for Israel

Many Jews, especially liberal Jews, have a hard time accepting the friendship of evangelical Christians. The two communities disagree on so much – abortion, public education, gender issues, appropriate books for libraries and school, the role of public prayer; and perhaps also guns. But in general, we do agree on one issue that is important to the majority of Jews, and that issue is Zionism, the importance of the existence of the State of Israel. That issue alone makes friendly relations with our neighborhood evangelical church and associated organizations worthwhile.

When asked about their support of Israel, evangelicals often quote Genesis 12:3, God’s blessing of Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you,” believing that if they support Israel, God will bless them. But there is a common belief in the Jewish community that evangelical support of Israel is really based on an idea that Jesus won’t return until Jews reestablish a State of Israel according to Biblical prophecies. Or that some evangelicals support Israel because they believe that in the end times, all of the Jews will die in the apocalypse. But many evangelicals support Israel because God’s promise to Israel is eternal and therefore Israel will be saved. And whether that future salvation means that they believe someday all Jews will become Christian or that Jews will persist as Jews is a question for some future messianic era. And the world needs Israel today. So I won’t sacrifice support for Israel today just because I disagree with a theology that I don’t believe in anyway.

In a world in which real antisemitism is increasing and anti-Zionism has a strong presence in liberal and academic circles, Israel needs supporters. Jews needs friends who do not think that we are trying to control the world through Hollywood or a shadow cabal of political domination. Christian evangelicals love the idea of Jews, and for the most part, even when real Jews fail to live up to their fantasy picture of what a Jew is, they love Jews as well.

Granted, their idea of Jews only vaguely resembles the reality of Jews. They tend to imagine Jews as a monolithic people, beloved by God, who have memorized the Bible and walk closely in the footsteps of Abraham and Moses. Their picture of a Jew is influenced by the dress of Orthodox Jews, especially women in skirts and headscarfs. I’m not sure I look entirely authentic to them, except that I do wear a black (leather) kippah.

So I’ll take evangelical support of Israel, even though Christian Zionists tend to hold hard right political positions on Israel. Some object to this, saying that such positions push our American government to be more right wing than the right wing Israelis, and ultimately that is damaging to Israel’s future survival. I reject this argument for two reasons: First, despite evangelical pressure, because of our government’s strict separation of religion from state, they have mostly resisted the pressure to become a mouthpiece for the religious right wing of the Israeli government. And second, Israel is pretty good about ignoring the United States (and anyone else) who is trying to push them into making decisions that they don’t want to make, so they aren’t going to fall in line with an evangelical political position unless a majority of the Israeli public believes in it as well.

That is why I have spoken at Cornerstone University and Seminary, Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids Puritan Seminary, Western Theological Seminary, among others, and taught at Kuyper College. It is why I have participated in the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry’s Honor Israel night and Israel programming at Resurrection Life Church. We can nurture relationships and build alliances based on issues on which we agree, even when we might profoundly disagree on other issues.

Hebrew Phrase of the Month:

  • • Yeshua – salvation (not only a Christian concept!)
  • • ge’ulah – redemption

Divre Harav – May, 2023

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I have devoted my Rabbinic career to the advancement of small congregations, and hope to do so here in Grand Rapids until I retire. Small congregations are not just miniature versions of big congregations. We are a different sort of entity entirely. True, large congregations have numbers and budgets exceeding our capacity, but we have strengths and potential not found in large congregations. We have the potential to know and value each member of the congregation. We rely on each member to step up financially to the best of their ability and also participate in multiple other ways. Shabbat and holiday services, programming, committee work, and building management, happens because of lay leadership supported by paid staff, rather than the other way around.

Congregation Ahavas Israel is a small congregation and we need to be thinking like a small congregation. Small congregations are lay led. Small congregations develop resources from within. Small congregations are resourceful, without a tremendous amount of resources. We are creative. We take advantage of opportunities. And we understand that the landscape is always shifting, so we adapt. Small congregations have small budgets. No organizations has unlimited financial resources, but small congregations need to be mindful of overreaching. We cannot act like a large congregation. We cannot buy all of the services we would like, so we need to cultivate them from within.

While we value independence, we know that we have to make all of our assets work for us. Renting our building to the Children’s Workshop preschool, All Souls Community Church, and the Jewish Federation of Grand Rapids has provided a critical source of income.  Along the way, it has allowed us to form good relationship and partnerships that benefit the synagogue. All Souls has helped us create a Sacred Ground Native Pollinator garden on the back patio. All Souls and Temple Emanuel help us grow food in our Corners of the Field garden. We have partnered with Trinity Lutheran Church and Family Promise of West Michigan to help feed families who are housed in the church, several times a year.

Small congregations need to form partnerships to leverage limited resources. Partnerships are not necessarily permanent relationships. They might work well for a while, but as circumstances change, they might dissolve. Our partnership with Temple Emanuel to run a joint Beit Sefer B’yahad/United Jewish School is strong. Our partnership with Temple Emanuel and the Jewish Federation for a yearly scholar in residence weekend is ending because Temple and the Federation are no longer interested in the weekend format. It may evolve into a different format or we may seek a different kind of partnership. Temple Emanuel has ended our partnership to supply us with the services of a Cantor. We understand that nothing lasts forever and we need to be nimble and adaptable.

In a small congregation, each person is important. We need you to pitch in. Opportunities abound. Speak to me or the president, Ann Berman, and we can find a way for you to add your strength to Congregation Ahavas Israel.

Hebrew Phrase of the Month:

  • • Kehillah ketanah – a small congregation

Divre Harav – April, 2023

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Growing up, celebrating Israel’s birthday was always a community event. I remember walks for Israel, in which we would solicit pledges for every kilometer we walked to celebrate Israel’s birthday. I remember concerts of Israeli music, Israeli food, a celebration of Hebrew words and a glimpse into life in various cities in Israel.

We will be celebrating Israel’s 75th birthday on Wednesday, April 26, 6:00 p.m., at Garfield Park with a free barbecue (donations welcomed!). I hope you’ll join us. You can find more information elsewhere in the Voice and on the events page of the website.

My memories are post-1967. The victory of the Six Day War was as much a miracle as the proclamation of the State followed by the Israeli victory in the War of Independence. The Yom Kippur war in 1973 was a scary moment, but the 1978 Camp David Accords in which Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt joined hands gave us hope that peace was possible. And indeed, despite massive inflation in the 1980’s, Israel’s economy took off and Israel became a Start-Up Nation and a center of cutting edge research and innovation. Israel’s absorption of one million Soviet Jews and their families following glasnost along with the more than 160,000 Ethiopian Jews in the decade or so of the 1980’s cemented its role as the place where persecuted Jews around the world could find refuge. In 1994 a JCC in Buenos Aires was destroyed by a suicidal attack, and as antisemitic hatred continue to increase, and as the economy of Argentina was in crisis in the early 2000’s, 10,000 Jews made aliyah.

Israel today is one of the first nations in the world to send disaster recovery support around the world after an earthquake, a tsunami, or a hurricane. It shares its expertise on security and fighting terrorism and water management and renewable energy. It is a thriving and vibrant center of Jewish culture. It’s 75th birthday is worth celebrating.

You may have read lately a serious controversy about legislation which could endanger the balance of power between the judiciary and the legislative branches of government. The proposed legislation would allow the Knesset to override a supreme court nullification of a law which they determine to violate a fundamental protection of a “Basic Law,” the Israeli equivalent of a fundamental right. There is wide agreement among experts in the legal world that this would cause serious harm to the separation of powers of the legislative and judicial branches of government, a core principle of a democratic government.

My colleague Rabbi Miriam Spitzer wrote in the Scranton Times Tribune:

“ … hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been demonstrating on the streets against proposed changes to Israel’s laws of judicial review. Americans should be in awe of the numbers and the percentages of the citizenry who are coming out and saying that they object to what is happening.

“Israel’s past and present attorney generals have issued warnings against these proposed changes. Israel’s Supreme Court justices have spoken out. Some former Prime Ministers have spoken out. Isaac Herzog, the President of Israel, has issued pleas for compromise. Academics have spoken out. The Jewish Federations of North American has expressed concern and its own plea that the coalition listen to Isaac Herzog as well as recognize that a majority of 61 is insufficient to override a decision of the Supreme Court. The Rabbinical Assembly, together with the Conservative/Masorti Movement issued a strong “Leadership Statement on legislation that threatens Israel’s democratic character;” other Jewish movements have issued similar statements.” 

Israel is in crisis now and more than ever, needs the friendship and attention of the United States government and the worldwide Jewish community. It needs to hear from us that preserving democracy, diversity, protecting minorities, religious freedom, need to remain at the center of what the State of Israel is.

Hebrew Words of the Month:

  • Yom Ha’atzma’ut – Day of Independence, 5 Iyar 5708, May 14, 1948.
  • Yom Hazikaron – Day of Remembrance, Israel’s Memorial Day, commemorated on 4 Iyar.