In the category of not taught in rabbinical school. Imagine my surprise when the Executive Assistance to the Superintendent for Board Matters reached out to me. She was in the process of putting together a celebration for Dr. Tony Sanders, the Superintendent of U46 Schools, the second largest school system in the State of Illinois, and headquartered a blook from my office. Tony, everybody calls him Tony, even the 36,000 students, many of whom take to social media to demand a snow day, was recently named as the new Sate Superintendent of Schools. When he was awarded his PhD, I gave him a wall sized poster to color that says, Dream Big. Being State Superintendent and following in his father’s footsteps was apparently his Big Dream. 

What follows are my remarks:

We are here today to bid farewell to a friend, to a tireless worker, to someone who really cares about kids and education. 

Thank you, each of you, for attending, whether you are an elected official, a community leader, a U46 student, parent, or employee, you chose to be here tonight. It means a lot. 

Tony, many times I am called on to write a eulogy. This is not that. You get to hear all the wonderful things people are about to say about you. That is a great thing. 

Recently, before this event was planned, you sent me a list of your accomplishments. We were working on something else entirely. There are many in your nine years. Don’t worry. We are not going to go over the 7 pages. But I wrote back to you and said that you missed one that may be amongst your greatest. Unusual for you, you didn’t answer my email. You might be just a tad busy right now. 

Evelyn helped me find the actual numbers. And in your typical style, as you often do, you credited the people who did the real work: 

“Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Food and Nutrition Services Department mobilized to serve more than 7.3 million meals outdoors at school and community sites in snow, sleet, rain and heat between March 2020 and August 2021” 

It is basic Maslow’s pyramid. If you don’t feed hungry kids, they can’t learn.  

And while you were not out there cooking, serving, distributing those meals, leadership begins at the top. If you hadn’t insisted that this was important, critical for everyone in the district during what we call an “unpresented time” our kids and their families would be even further behind. If you hadn’t argued for better school funding and budgeting, the district would be even further behind. If you hadn’t arranged for better internet access and technology, the families would be even further behind. Last week I heard the President of the United States in his State of the Union address promise essentially the same thing.  

“Look, we’re making sure — we’re making sure that every community, every community in America, has access to affordable, high-speed internet. No parent should have to drive by a McDonald’s parking lot to help them do their homework online with their kids, which many thousands were doing across the country.” I smiled when I heard that because I know that you made that possible here in U46.  

You exude joy and warmth, pride in your kids’–and teachers and staff accomplishments—just read his latest post about Bartlet High Speech Competition as an example. Kids want to learn and excel in part because you make it so.  

You have made a lasting difference, a legacy if you will. 

A story that is part of my tradition and is especially apt at this season near Tu B’shevat, the New Year of the Trees. Once Honi was walking and he came across a man planting a carob tree. Honi asked him when the tree would bear fruit. The man answered in seventy years. Honi was not happy with the answer. Like many teachers, parents, administrators, elected officials, he wanted results sooner. The man said simply, much as my ancestors planted for me, so I plant for my children and grandchildren.  

Part of the legacy you leave is with me personally. You have been an important leader, a mentor and a friend. CKI could always count on you. We have discussed educational philosophy. How students, all students learn best. Foreign language acquisition. Diversity. Welcoming Jewish students. Anti-semitism. Racism. Holocaust. Bathrooms for all. Social media. Being accessible and transparent. School safety and security. Books we are reading. Our own life long learning and professional development. When I was announced as the Martin Luther King, jr humanitarian award, it was YOU who led the standing ovation. That took my breath away. We have laughed together and we have cried together. We have worried about individual students and fulfilling the U 46 mission as a whole.  I can see your office from mine. Knowing you were there. Always there. Was a comfort. 

The U 46 Mission states that U46 is “to be a great place for all students to learn, all teachers to teach, and all employees to work. All means all.” 

All means all. Let that sink in. In my tradition we talk about people being created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of G-d. Each person has a spark of the divine. Each student. Each teacher. Each employee, Each parent. All means all. You have lived that.  

And there were any number of Saturday nights when I would message you. You see the policy of CKI is that if U46 is closed, we are closed. That works well during the school week but what about Sunday mornings? What would Tony do? You would graciously answer me, your crazy neighbor, interested in the safety of my students, parents and staff. Until one day my adult daughter said, “Stop bothering Tony. U46 is always closed on Sunday so if your policy is if U46 is closed, CKI is closed, well then…snow day!” So, what about tomorrow? I’ve seen the forecast and people are already cancelling meetings with me. On behalf of your 36,000 students, do you want to call it now? Snow day? (He said no!) 

One of my good friends is a retired elementary school principal and was the “Coordinator of Language Arts & Reading” in Haverhill, a suburb of Boston, a town not unlike Elgin. She served on the State Task Force to improve teaching and learning in Massachusetts. And she is responsible for me having a Masters in Education. (So, a reminder, if the rabbinate doesn’t work out, Tony has always been my back up plan!) She talks about how the principal sets the culture for the school. It is true for the superintendent as well. When my then pre-kindergartener went to visit her school, she introduced her to the school janitor. I can’t run my school without Mr. So and So. You make it clear that every person in U46 counts. The bus drivers, the office workers, the food service people, and yes, the janitors. That is the culture you have set. It is a culture of excellence. And making a difference. She tells the story of the starfish frequently.  

A young girl is walking on the beach with her grandfather. She stoops down, picks up a starfish and throws it back into the sea. The grandfather asks, “what are you doing. You can’t save them all.” She picks up another starfish, throws it back into the ocean and says, “It makes a difference to this one.”   

Tony, you have made a difference to many, many starfish. You have planted for all of our children and grandchildren. All means all.  

There is an old business saying, “Hitch your wagon to a star.” I didn’t know the source. It turns out to be a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of my favorite authors. My lifelong learning for the day. We have been fortunate to hitch our wagon to your star. We all shine more brightly because of you. 

I am excited for you as you move on to be state superintendent of schools. I’m excited for Illinois. The state and our kids will be better because of you. Part of your legacy is the quest for excellence for all. I am delighted that the Board has chosen Dr. Suzanne Johnson to be the interim superintendent. Dr. Johnson, Suzanne, while, you have big shoes to fill, know that my office and my parking lot is always open to you.  

It is my honor to introduce Dr. Ken Arendt as our next speaker.  

This is the month of love. You may think that Valentine’s Day is not a Jewish holiday. It’s not. But the concept that Saint Valentine’s Day enshrines is actually very Jewish. Much of Valentine’s Day is shrouded in myth and legend. There are even at least two saints who were named Valentine. One Vallentine was a priest who continued to perform marriages after Emperor Claudius outlawed marriage because single men made better soldiers. Helping brides and grooms to rejoice in marriage is considered a big mitzvah and is enshrined in the Talmud.  

“These are the obligations without measure, whose reward, too, is without measure: To honor father and mother; to perform acts of love and kindness; to attend the house of study daily; to welcome the stranger; to visit the sick; to rejoice with bride and groom; to console the bereaved; to pray with sincerity; to make peace where there is strife…and the study of Torah is equal to them all, because it leads to them all.” 

~Talmud 

We will look at these texts more next week. Tonight we are starting a three part series on love. I recently took a class on Receiving and Extending Love offered by the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. It was about meditating on Ahavah Rabbah, the Great Love prayer, the Sh’ma, G-d’s Oneness and the V’ahavta.  

On this very cold night, I want to address these three prayers. I often see the Sh’ma as the central prayer of Judaism, blanketed, tucked in, surrounded by love. G-d’s love for us by giving us Torah, and our love of G-d with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our everything. 

One day while meditating, my mind wandered, apparently that is quite common, and I remembered that there are three great commandments about love in Judaism. Love the stranger, which on this Refugee Shabbat we will address tonight. Love your neighbor as yourself which we will address next week, and Love G-d, the prayer we know as the V’ahavta. 

The Torah ends with the letter “Lamed” and begins with the letter “Bet” together, they spell Lev, heart. It is part of why we read the Torah every year, so we can go deeper and deeper into this heart. So we can experience love more deeply.  

Tonight, then, we begin to understand more fully the obligation, the commandment to love the stranger, the sojourner, more fully. 36 times according to the Talmud it exhorts us to take care of the widow, the orphan and the stranger. I think precisely because of this week’s Torah portion that reminds us that we need to keep telling the story when we were slaves in the land of Egypt, we were strangers there. We need to remember what that felt like and not do that to others. 

In my own family, this is a commandment that really resonates. Simon’s brothers are both attorneys in Tucson. His brother Fred is an immigration lawyer who spoke with us one year on this very topic. Fred and Trish adopted my nephew Henry after he escaped the killing fields in Cambodia. Fred has worked for HIAS, the Catholic Church, the Epsicopal Church and the Jewish Federation of Tucson all on immigration issues. He is now a judge. Trish has worked with the Catholic Church bringing people to bus stations in Tucson from the southern border. Simon’s mother sponsored any number of immigrants, all of whom attended her funeral in 2009. And I worked for Refugee Immigration Ministry. If you were to ask Fred why he does what he does, it would be a simple answer. Because our borders here in the US were not open during the holocaust. Then you would get a lecture about SS St. Louis being turned away. For him it is a clear mandate.  

It is therefore, my great honor to introduce to you, really to re-introduce Dianha Oretega-Eherth, the executive director of Centro de Informacion, a non-profit agency in Elgin, celebrating its 50th year of working with our Hispanic and Latino immigrants. She was born in Mexico CIty and she herself immigrated to North Dakota as a young child knowing no English. She has served on any number of non-profit agencies and boards, including Elgin Youth Leadership Academy, the Literacy Connection and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission for the City of Elgin. She is a member at Zion Lutheran Church where she teaches Sunday School (and I have taught with her) and now Centro. She says her favorite books are the Red Tent by Anita Diamant. She took such good pictures when Anita was here at the library. and Like Water for Chocolate. I’m sure she would also like On the Chocolate Trail by Rabbi Deborah Prinz.  

From Dianha Ortega-Ehreth, executive director of Centro de Informacion in Elgin, IL 

It is an honor to be here tonight. Thank you to Rabbi Frisch Klein for the invitation. She is an incredible blessing to this community. 

Refugee Shabbat = Prayer for the Refugee … will stick close to the concept of prayer, but will wander around the concept of refugee. 

It’s cold here in Chicagoland, but it is nothing compared to North Dakota. A good day in February in North Dakota means it’s above zero. Once when I was about eight years old, schools actually closed because it was colder than normal – around 30 degrees below zero but with wind chill it was around 80 degrees below zero. My grandmother lived in a house a few blocks away, about a quarter mile drive away from where my mom and I lived. My mom bundled me up in my snowsuit and sent me walking to take some food to my grandmother’s house. Upon arrival to my grandmother’s house, she called my mom and scolded her for sending me out into the cold. My grandmother kept me at her house for three days while school was closed and these were some of the best three days of my childhood. I got to stay inside playing games with my grandmother and getting spoiled by her for three days straight. 

Now imagine being a refugee with no housing, even in El Paso which was really, really cold earlier this year.  

I know how to run a non-profit organization, but I lack legal expertise. So, I am taking an overview of immigration law course right now. 

I am remembering what it’s like to be a student again. The pressure of keeping up with your reading, completing the quizzes, taking notes to reference for my final exam, which I hope to pass. Oh, and stress eating. But I digress. 

A good amount of this course is about legal definitions. 

Refugees and asylum seekers fall into humanitarian protections in this country. Their refugee or asylum status is grated to protect a person who has been persecuted or someone who fears persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, and / or membership in a particular social group or political opinion. 

You may seek refugee status only if you’re outside of the US. 

Asylum seekers meet the definition of a refugee, but are already in the US. 

Both are immigrants. 

And the immigration process – at least, how it functions today – is where immigration court and criminal courts meet. 

If we understand refugees and asylum seekers to be the strangers amongst us, then we know – these are people who God calls us to welcome and accompany. 

But before I talk about how we can do that, I want thank Rabbi Frisch Klein for the list of 36 references in the Torah about welcoming the stranger. (P.S. I’m a Lutheran, and have additional scriptures that emphasize these exact same points, but I haven’t counted them.) 

It struck me, in particular, that many of these references mention the law. “There shall be one law for you AND for the stranger among you.” – Numbers 9:14, Leviticus 24:22, Exodus 12:49, Ezekiel 47:21-22, and more. 

Well, the reason we have immigration lawyers and organizations like Centro today is because …. There are SEPARATE laws for “strangers” than there are for “non-strangers.” MANY laws. Complicated laws. And they CHANGE. And sometimes they repeat themselves ….as Rabbi reminded me that the borders were not open during the holocaust. 

So … if this crazy “same law for you and the stranger” idea was to be actually followed, this country would put a lot of people out of work.government agency employees, immigration lawyers and me. And I’ve always believed that non-profit organizations anyway should be in the business of putting themselves out of work. After all, many non-profits exist – in no small part – because the world is broken. 

Back to how we welcome and accompany. This is Centro’s business. We welcome, we serve, in our mission statement we use the verb “to empower.” 

It takes awhile to do this work. It takes awhile – often years – for “the stranger” to not feel like or be treated like “a stranger” anymore. Many of our clients have been living here for years, many are NOT new arrivals, and yet, they struggle. They struggle with paying for rent or for food. They can’t afford lawyer fees, and guess what, some of the more complicated cases, they require a lawyer. Some clients don’t have health insurance. They are learning English….. and English is HARD, especially for adults. They all want to work. Some of not permitted to work. Like any human, they have childhood memories from where they came. Many of them miss their families, they miss feeling secure about their futures. These struggles chip away at a person’s sense of personal power. 

Empowering them means giving them food, letting them they are eligible for a financial benefit and helping them apply for it. Empowering them means giving them information, navigating them through various systems so that they can …. Live long, life happily. Centro has thousands of “closed cases” …. People who were helped in a time of crisis or people who have completed the long road to citizenship. But we have many continuing and new “open cases.” 

There are many organizations, individuals and faith groups in this community to help do this kind of work. It takes ALL of us. 

Centro has been around more than 50 years, and I take credit for none of it. Right now, I am learning how to better equip my team, how to help the helpers. The helpers at Centro welcome more helpers. I welcome your help, and your prayers and your advocacy efforts on behalf of all strangers – old and new. 

So – because this is SHABBAT, I offer this prayer: 

May we empower the strangers amongst us, may we encourage an equal application of the law, may we move towards closing more crisis cases until we don’t need organizations like Centro anymore. Amen.  

“Feed the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag
Feed the birds,” tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag.”–Mary Poppins 

This is the Shabbat where we are commanded to feed the birds. It is Shabbat Shirah, the Sabbath of Song. The Shabbat where we read, really sing, two songs, the Song at the Sea and the Song of Deborah.
Both are known as two of the oldest pieces of Scripture. Song helps us to remember the important message.  

In terms of the Song at the Sea. We are to see ourselves as if we went forth from Egypt, out of the narrow places, out of slavery itself, into the Promised Land. We, then walked through the Sea of Reeds. We all stood at Sinai. Not just our ancestors, but we ourselves. And our children yet unborn. 

Walking through the Sea took courage. We remember the story of Nachson ben Aminadav who stuck his toe into the Sea and waded up to his nostrils before the sea parted.  

When we got to the other side, to the Shores of the Sea, we had a mixture of emotions. Fear, relief, amazement, awe, thanksgiving and gratitude. We broke into jubilant song. The introduction in our siddur says, “Anu shirah b’simcha rabah, We sang this song with great joy.” The song includes: “Ozi v’zimrat ya. G-d is my might and my strength and my song. G-d is my deliverer. This is my G-d. Who is like you amongst all the gods that are worshipped. Who is like You, doing wonders.”  

The answer to that question, “Who is like You,” is at the beginning of the Torah service. “Ain Kamocha, No one is like You. G-d reigned. G-d reigns and G-d will reign forever and ever. “  

In every generation, people write new music for our liturgy. The psalms even tell us to Sing unto G-d a new song. (Psalm 96, Psalm, 98) Debbie Friedman, z”l even set that to music. (Sing here, Sing Unto God – Debbie Friedman & the Highland Park Senior High Camerata (1973) 

In every adult study class this week I asked two things. Favorite ice cream flavor since it is National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day and works with the Birthday Kiddush. It turns out to be Neapolitan for those of you who can’t make up your mind, which goes with the idea of freedom. You are free to pick your ice cream. Second question: your favorite Mi Chamocha which might be the High Holy Day one, The nusach for the High Holy Days is designed to be regal, to coronate the King, the Ruler, the Sovereign, the One who will rule forever and ever. It fits the emotion that the Israelites must have felt when they reached the other side of the sea. It echoes for all eternity just like G-d. 

My favorite one is probably the Debbie Friedman one that goes with her composition “Miriam’s Song”. And the women dancing with their timbrals. Mi chamocha b’aleim Adonai.” Mi Chamocha (Friedman) 

Make no mistake, the woman celebrated their freedom. They knew enough to bring their tofim, their timbrals, their drums. They sang. They danced. Their voices were heard. As were Shifrah and Puah who rescued the baby Israelite boys. As was Deborah who commanded the well to spring up. Debbie Friedman set that to music too. And Hannah, who prayed for a child, even though her mouth was not moving, and Eli thought she was drunk. As was Ruth and Esther. So, when people say, here in the United States or in Israel, that women’s voices should not be heard I cringe. And feel compelled to speak out. Which is definitely a subtext of Mary Poppins and the mother’s role as a suffragette.  

For those of you who look for how we relate the text to our lives today, this is one critical way.  

Another way is in how we respond to freedom. Rabbi Shoshana Perry, who supervised my internship at Congregation Shalom, used to say that with freedom comes responsibility. She didn’t like the upbeat Mi Chamocha tunes. It didn’t carry the gravitas that comes with freedom and responsibility. 

We know that from these very verses that we do have responsibilities. We are to praise G-d. To remind people that there is no one like G-d. We are to tell people that. Like Chanukah, we are to publicize the miracle.  

Some other favaorites:

Mi Chamocha- Hebrew Song- A capella 

 https://www.google.com/search?q=mi+chamocha&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS912US927&sxsrf=AJOqlzWzkdh4U-b1-r_pdRHEfohDMlwkYg:1675516162731&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpvceN-Pv8AhWNjIkEHR1wCMAQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1630&bih=834&dpr=1.6#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e9146ef0,vid:WWmlM4Cm968  

Mi Chamocha 

 https://www.tisrael.org/mi-chamocha/  

And we are to remember. We are to remember that we were slaves in Egypt. That we were strangers in a strange land. And with that, as we studied last night, 36 times in Torah we are exhorted, commanded to love the stranger, the sojourner. 

There is to be one law for Israelite and Ger, alike. We are to leave the corners of our field for the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the most marginalized amongst us, the ones who cannot provide for themselves. We are to offer hospitality, like Abraham and Sarah did with their tent open on all four sides.  

Do not ill-treat a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in Egypt. Exodus 22:20-21: 

Leviticus 19: 34: “When a stranger lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The stranger living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” 

This is a lot of responsibility. I wonder sometimes why it tells us over and over again to take care of the stranger. The talmud actually argues with itself. Of course. It has been taught: R. Eliezer the Great said: Why did the Torah warn against the wronging of a stranger in thirty-six or as others say, in forty-six places? Because he has a strong inclination to evil. (Bava Metzia 59b) 

Is it 36 or 46? Surprisingly, while the Talmud is really good at giving us the textual contexts, the original footnotes, it does not here. So as part of my internship with Refugee Immigration Ministry, I built a list. That’s what Dianha Ortega Ereth, executive director of Centro de Informacion was referring to last night when speaking for Refugee Shabbat. We have a responsibility to welcome the stranger, to love the stranger, precisely because we were strangers in the land of Egypt!

Why 36? Not, I believe, because it is a nice Jewish number representing double chai, life times two. No rather, because this is a difficult commandment that the Israelites struggled with and needed to be reminded of over and over and over again. (Maybe like ground hog day!?) Don’t eat pork? No problem! It only needs to tell us twice. Take care of others? 36 or 46 times! It’s like we have to be hit over the head to remember this.  

When the Israelites finally left Egypt, they left as a mixed multitude, an erev rav. Who were these people that chose to flee Egypt with the Israelites. There are several interpretations. Maybe they were slaves, exclusively Egyptian or the result of mixed marriages. Perhaps they were mercenaries that had intermarried with the Israelites and thus provided the arms suggested in Exodus13:18. In any case, we are told that 600,000 men over 20 left Egypt. The estimate is that the total number was closer to two million. Men, women, children and those part of the mixed multitude.  

But what about those birds. Why are we commanded to feed them today? Because they chirp most at dawn and remind us of G-d’s ongoing miracles. The sun really did come up this morning.  

There are five classic texts. (See below for full references.)  

Freedom. Responsibility. Take the first step. Speak out. Remember we were slaves, strangers in the land of Egypt. Love the sojourner. And yes,,,feed the birds. But not bread. Not good for them. 

 References for feeding the birds for further study:

1) R. Rafael Meizlish (18th century) and R. Yehiel Michal Epstein (1829-1908), in their defense of the custom, say that there is a popular saying among the masses that the birds sang at the Sea and we are therefore grateful to them. Thus, the purpose of feeding them is to remember the joy of Shirat Hayam and therefore we have no halakhic objection to feeding the birds. In other words, we feed the birds in order to thank them for singing at the Sea. 

2) Another explanation says that we feed the birds kashe (buckwheat) on Shabbat Shirah because they are called ba’ale hashir (the singers). No creature can sing like a bird because they rule the air, and music is created by the flow of air (Bet Aharon quoted by Sefer Hamatamim). 

3) Rabbi Eliyahu Ki Tov says that the birds receive their reward on Shabbat Shirah for the songs which they utter to God every day, and when we recite our Song, we remember their songs. 

4) Rabbi Moshe Sofer, the Hatam Sofer (Pressburg, 1762-1839) says that this custom is based on the verse in our parashah (Exodus 16:32) “In order that they may see the bread which I fed you” i.e. that future generations should see that when you trust in God with your whole heart, he provides food as he did for the children of Israel in the desert. We feed the birds on Shabbat Shirah in order to say that if the Jewish people, who are compared to a bird, will devote themselves to Torah and mitzvot, then God will provide them food without toil. 

5) The most well-known explanation is that given by Rabbi Avraham Eliezer Hirshowitz (quoting Ma’aseh Alfass). He reports that it says “in the Yalkut” on Exodus 16:27 “And behold on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather [manna] and did not find any”. Why does it say “and did not find any”? Because Datan and Aviram went out on Friday night outside the camp and spread some manna, in order to make Moshe a liar, since he said there would be no manna on Shabbat. They then said to the people: go out and see that there is manna in the fields! Therefore, some people went out to gather, but found nothing because the birds had eaten the manna which Datan and Aviram had strewn about. We give them their reward on Shabbat Shirah since we also read the story of the manna on that day. 

So says “the Yalkut”, but as Rabbi Menahem Mendel Kasher points out, this midrash is not found in Yalkut Shimoni or any other collection of midrash. Indeed, in Sefer Matamim it is quoted in the name of Rabbi Bunim of Parsischa, while in Sefer Ta’amey Haminhagim it is quoted in the name of the Holy Seer of Lublin. Therefore, this midrash is really a hassidic explanation from the nineteenth century. 

https://schechter.edu/why-is-shabbat-shirah-for-the-birds/  

On the third Friday of the month we have a Kabbalat Shabbat service called Shabbat Zimrah, the Sabbath of Song. Our music director is a highly talented and creative jazz pianist. He also directs our choir. He has written a number of liturgical pieces including a haunting Adonai, Adonai for the High Holidays. He has written a bridge between Debbie Friedman’s Ahavat Olam and the Sh’ma and often times our introduction about Ahavat Olam is that it is the ultimate love song between G-d and the Jewish people. For years in this bridge I can hear the heart beat. For me it is a very spiritual moment in the service and often it will produce chills.

I have been taking a class since the beginning of January called “Receiving and Extending Love” by the Institute of Jewish Spirituality. It has focused on meditation around three of our central prayers, Ahavah Rabbah, S’ma and V’ahavta. I like to say the Sh’ma, the proclamation that G-d is One is blanketed by love, G-d loves us and then we love G-d.

Last night he began by playing the theme song from the movie Exodus. Earlier in the week the book group met to discuss the book Red Sea Spies. A fascinating look at how the Mossad rescued thousands of Jews from Ethiopia by setting up a luxury dive school resort on the coast of the Sudan. A big part of it was set in 1981, the year I lived in Israel and was dating my first finance, an Israeli soldier who was killed in the incursion into Lebanon in January of 1983. I had already been thinking about times that we were swimming in the Mediterranean off the coast of Haifa. We spent a lot of time swimming that fall.

The Barchu we do during Shabbat Zimrah is one I learned bouncing on a bus in Israel as part of a NFTY summer program. I was already thinking about the power of love when we got to Ahavat Olam. Ahavat Olam has a line in it: . כִּי הֵם חַיֵּינוּ וְאוֹרֶךְ יָמֵינוּ, Ci hem hayyeinu, Because they (the commandments) are our life and they lengthen our days.

For some reason, this line was very powerful last night. My word for the year is Hineini. I am here. I am still here. The Torah has lengthened my life. It is a sign of G-d’s deep love not just for the Jewish people but for me personally. Some might argue that it isn’t fair. That Yuval didn’t have to die. That may be true. But last night, this prayer provided a deep connection and a deep sense of love. And there was a sense that I was in the right place and the right time and that somehow Yuval approved. Henieni. I am here. Ahavat Olam. Ahavah Rabbah. A great love.

The feeling is ephemeral. Impossible to hold. But it was there. However fleetingly.

This is the music that we used in our class last week that I found to be very moving. https://shiryaakov.bandcamp.com/track/we-are-loved

Last night we talked about Rabbi Everett Gendler, of blessed memory and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.  

Today we are going to talk a little more about Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, whose birthday was observed this week and whose yahrzeit, the anniversary of his death is this weekend.  However, like we have been saying the last few weeks, perhaps more than a birthday or a yahrzeit, is the dash between those dates, the life between. Abraham Joshua Heschel lived that dash. Abraham Joshua Heschel lived a life of meaning, creating meaning for us all. Abraham Joshua Heschel was a giant amongst late 20th century rabbis.  

Born in Warsaw, on January 11, 1907, he escaped Poland with the help of both Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He became a professor of Jewish mysticism at JTS and a leader in the civil rights movement as we discussed last night.  

Heschel was the author of a number of books—and if you haven’t read one, I urge you to. Yes, that is a book review! His prose is like poetry and there is a majesty, an elegance, a passion that makes it soar. I contend his writing is in a style like that of Thoreau or Emerson. That elegance and passion is hard to find in other places. I actually have always wanted to write an academic paper comparing the styles because I think that his style is more accessible to Americans precisely because it reads like Emerson and Thoreau. One day.  

Meanwhile, his books, God in Search of Man, Man is Not Alone, The Prophets, Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, Insecurity of Freedom have much to teach us, even today, in now the 21st century. Especially now in the 21st Century. We need Heschel more than ever. 

This weekend is also my own father’s yahrzeit, His definition of a Jew, as I have taught you before was someone who questions, thinks and argues. Perhaps he had heard Heschel on that topic: 

“We are closer to God when we are asking questions than when we think we have the answers.” 

However, if he were debating my father—an interesting concept on its own, he would have said: “Who is a Jew? A person whose integrity decays when unmoved by the knowledge of wrong done to other people.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays 

This week we read the beginning of the Book of Exodus, Sh’mot in Hebrew. Names. When Moses is shepherding sheep for his father-in-law Jethro, he sees a bush that is on fire; but it is not consumed. He takes off his shoes because he knows he is standing on Holy Ground. He answers the voice of G-d, the call of G-d by saying “Hineini, Here am I”. Fully present and aware. Full of awe.  

Heschel understood that sense of awe.  

“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” 

 When I was young and my father was a professor at Northwestern, we didn’t spend Saturday mornings in shul. We spent them at rallies and vigils and demonstrations, on issues that my father was passionate about. The climate. Nuclear disarmament. Civil Rights. Or we were out in a forest, experiencing that radical amazement, although my father problem lacked that vocabulary. 

Much of my own activism, then can be tied back to my father or to Heschel’s comment after marching with King, “My feet were praying..” This Martin Luther King Weekend I challenge you to figure out how your feet can pray. 

Perhaps my favorite Heschel book is The Sabbath, just a short book of only 118 pages. Like many of his books, it seems you could open it at random and just read a paragraph, any paragraph and savor it. The publisher’s review on goodreads says: 

“Elegant, passionate, and filled with the love of God’s creation, Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The Sabbath has been hailed as a classic of Jewish spirituality ever since its original publication-and has been read by thousands of people seeking meaning in modern life. In this brief yet profound meditation on the meaning of the Seventh Day, Heschel introduced the idea of an “architecture of holiness” that appears not in space but in time. Judaism, he argues, is a religion of time: it finds meaning not in space and the material things that fill it but in time and the eternity that imbues it, so that “the Sabbaths are our great cathedrals.”  

Heschel explains the Sabbath this way: 

“Shabbat comes with its own holiness; we enter not simply a day, but an atmosphere. My father cites the Zohar: the Sabbath is the name of God. We are within the Sabbath rather than the Sabbath being within us. For my father, the question is how to perceive that holiness: not how much to observe, but how to observe. Strict adherence to the laws regulating Sabbath observance doesn’t suffice; the goal is creating the Sabbath as a foretaste of paradise. The Sabbath is a metaphor for paradise and a testimony to God’s presence; in our prayers, we anticipate a messianic era that will be a Sabbath, and each Shabbat prepares us for that experience: “Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath … one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come.” It was on the seventh day that God gave the world a soul, and “[the world’s] survival depends upon the holiness of the seventh day.” The task, he writes, becomes how to convert time into eternity, how to fill our time with spirit: “Six days a week we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth; on the Sabbath we especially care for the seed of eternity planted in the soul. The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone Else.” 

“The Sabbath is a reminder of the two worlds—this world and the world to come; it is an example of both worlds. For the Sabbath is joy, holiness, and rest; joy is part of this world; holiness and rest are something of the world to come.”16”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath 

So Shabbat has been described as a palace of time and space. A taste of the world to come.  

He also attempts to answer the question of how do we get there: 

“The solution of mankind’s most vexing problem will not be found in renouncing technical civilization, but in attaining some degree of independence of it.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath 

“Architecture of Time       Technical civilization is man’s conquest of space. It is a triumph frequently achieved by sacrificing an essential ingredient of existence, namely, time. In technical civilization, we expend time to gain space. To enhance our power in the world of space is our main objective. Yet to have more does not mean to be more. The power we attain in the world of space terminates abruptly at the borderline of time. But time is the heart of existence.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath 

I challenge you this weekend, this life to do three things. Know that the ground you are standing on is holy. Know that your feet can be praying. Know that you can live in radical amazement, if you but pause, be fully present and filled with awe. Hineini. Here am I. Ken yehi ratzon.  

This is Martin Luther King, jr, weekend. It is also the weekend we mark the birthday and the yahrzeit of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Rabbi Heschel was introduced to King by my own rabbi, Rabbi Everett Gendler, of blessed memory.  

“Rabbi Gendler met Dr. King for the first time on August 27, 1962, in Albany, GA. This photo was taken during a planning meeting for the vigil that would take place the following day. Dr. King asked this group of inter-faith, inter-racial clergy if they would participate in a non-violent prayer vigil, knowing that they may be arrested (it turned out that they were). All hands went up. It’s easy to think back on the civil rights movement and assume that we would all stand up to bigotry, inequality, and racism – potentially endangering our bodies, our careers, and our families all in the name of justice. But it isn’t now, and it wasn’t then.” said Gendler’s niece Emily. 

Perhaps the more famous photo is of King and Heschel and Gendler at Arlington National Cemetery in 1968.  

Tonight I want to share with you again, because it bears repeating, part of a speech that Heschel gave 60 years ago tomorrow, January 14, 1963 at a conference on Race and Religion, right here in Chicago.

60 years ago.  

On January 14, 1963, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel gave the speech “Religion and Race,” at a conference of the same name that assembled in Chicago, Illinois.  There he met Dr. Martin Luther King and the two became friends.  Rabbi Heschel marched with Dr. King at Selma, Alabama in 1965.  The speech Rabbi Heschel gave at the 1963 conference appears below. 

“At the first conference on religion and race, the main participants were Pharaoh and Moses. Moses’ words were: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me.” While Pharaoh retorted: “Who is the Lord, that I should heed this voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go.” 

The outcome of that summit meeting has not come to an end. Pharaoh is not ready to capitulate. The exodus began, but is far from having been completed. In fact, it was easier for the children of Israel to cross the Red Sea than for a Negro to cross certain university campuses. 

Let us dodge no issues. Let us yield no inch to bigotry, let us make no compromise with callousness. 

In the words of William Lloyd Garrison, “I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject [slavery] I do not wish to think, to speak, or to write with moderation. I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard.” 

Religion and race. How can the two be uttered together? To act in the spirit of religion is to unite what lies apart, to remember that humanity as a whole is God’s beloved child. To act in the spirit of race is to sunder, to slash, to dismember the flesh of living humanity. Is this the way to honor a father: to torture his child? How can we hear the word “race” and feel no self reproach? 

Race as a normative legal or political concept is capable of expanding to formidable dimensions. A mere thought, it extends to become a way of thinking, a highway of insolence, as well as a standard of values, overriding truth, justice, beauty. As a standard of values and behavior, race operates as a comprehensive doctrine, as racism. And racism is worse than idolatry. Racism is satanism, unmitigated evil. 

Few of us seem to realize how insidious, how radical, how universal an evil racism is. Few of us realize that racism is man’s gravest threat to man, the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason, the maximum of cruelty for a minimum of thinking. 

Perhaps this Conference should have been called “Religion or Race.” You cannot worship God and at the same time look at man as if he were a horse.” 

The essay continues and you can read the full text here: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1963-rabbi-abraham-joshua-heschel-religion-and-race/  

However, the work is still not done. Still. Almost since being in Elgin, I have served in various capacities through the city and the Coalition of Elgin Religious Leaders on the topic of Policing and Racism. Before Ferguson, that committee was already meeting. After Ferguson I was asked to attend a silent vigil of religious leaders in Ferguson. I was already a police chaplain but not very active. I served at the request of the mayor who felt that my background in domestic violence counseling might be helpful. Before I went to Ferguson, I called the mayor and the then police chief. I thought maybe Elgin had a better model of poicing.I went with their blessing. Rabbi Maralee Gordon and I rode together and spent time with my good friend Father Jack Lau who was then stationed at a noviate near Ferguson on the Illinois side of the river. It was, as he said, his WalMart that got torched during some of the demonstrations. We went. We sang Wade into the Water for four hours, the same length of time that Michael Brown lay in the street. We were soaked. I lost a pair of shoes that day in the unrelenting rain. Michael Brown has lost his life. Let’s pause for a moment.  

Jack and Simon went on to attend the 50th anniversary of the march across the Petis Bridge in Selma. Selma—let’s pause for a moment since just experienced a tremendous tornado.  

Then the unthinkable happened here. A young black woman was shot to death on the Tollway by a white EPD lieutenant. It seemed to fit the national narrative. I’ve watched that film more times than any one should. I still can’t see the second knife, even when it has been circled in red for me. I have heard all the explanations and justifications. I am sure that there are people in this room and on Zoom who don’t agree with my analysis. I am still not sure that it does fit the national narrative. After the car was set on fire, I am not sure that any of us could possibly know what we would have done. With all the best training in the world. 

This is what I do know. Systemic racism is real. It exists. It is insidious. And yes, it exists in Elgin. At the EPD and even right here at CKI.  

It takes as Heschel suggested 60 years ago, and 3500 years ago. Work. Lots of it. Tomorrow morning will be the 38th annual Martin Luther King Prayer Breakfast. I won’t be there. I will be right here leading services. There are other ways that CKI people can participate in the activities this weekend. Donate to the annual Martin Luther King Food drive. As we know for every dollar donated, Food for Greater Elgin can purchase eight dollars of food. Attend the premier of the documentary, Invented Before You Were Born, about a plantation family, the Bibbs of Kentucky, that freed their slaves before the Emancipation Proclamation but has a complicated history that is worth exploring.  

As part of the Martin Luther King commission, I had the honor of nominating Detective Dan Rouse for the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award. He has been a good friend to CKI, helping with our cameras and security. But more than that, he is doing this work. At the EPD and the wider community. He and I attended a six week discussion group, Elgin Study Circles, run by Cathy Gaddis, on racism for leaders in Elgin. He took that model and created similar discussion groups at the Elgin Police Department. Safe, non-judgmental spaces where officers can explore their implicit bias, where they can discuss their fears, concerns, whatever. 

Why do I spend so much time at the EPD? Why do I work so hard on dismantling racism. When I took a course from Facing History and Ourselves about teaching Holocaust I learned, all the way back before Sarah was born about the deep connection between racism and anti-semitism. People who are racist are also often, sadly anti-semitic as well. It has been said that anti-semitism is the canary in the coal mine. As an example, the book Caste makes the compelling argument that much of the Nuremberg laws and the beginnings of the Holocaust were based on the Jim Crow laws here in the states. That is part of why the work we are currently doing to bring The Thin Edge of the Wedge, the Holocaust play written by someone who grew up right here in Elgin at CKI and U46 is so important. That is why my being a police chaplain and our visibility is so important. I will continue this critical work. Like Heschel, I believe my feet are praying. 

This weekend, sadly we mark the one year anniversary since an armed gunman held hostage four individuals at the synagogue in Colleyville, TX. Our president, Robin Coyne, read the following prayer that the rabbi from Colleyville penned for this occasion and sent out by the ADL.  

Prayer for Peace
Written by Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker

In a world that’s broken and shattered,
Plagued by indifference, falsehood, and corruption,
We feel the uncertainty.
We feel the pain.
And we are not helpless.

God, we pray for peace:
For wholeness and healing,
For safety when violence touches us all.

God, we pray for peace:
For justice and compassion,
For acceptance in the face of hatred. 

We will not be held hostage to hopelessness.
We pray for peace.
We struggle for peace.
We bring peace.
We will be whole.
God, help us be whole as we pray for peace. 

“And he lived.” That’s how this week’s Torah portion begins, but the verse ends with Jacob’s death. 

The same thing happens at the beginning of the Torah portion when we’re told that Sarah died; it’s called “the life of Sarah.” As we discussed last week, what happens between birth and death is important. It is the stuff of dreams and visions. It is like the poem that we read last week as we were setting intentions for the coming year. The poem is called “The Dash”. https://lindaellis.life/ which has been quoted many times, including recently at the funeral of Senator Bob Dole. 

I agree with Rabbi Jennifer Singer who said this week that she loves that the Torah reminds us that death is preceded by life. “In both these cases Jacob and Sarah, death was preceded by a long, full life, a life filled with ups and downs, trial and tribulations” I would add that neither Sarah nor Jacob were perfect. And that is something worth remembering as we wrap up the reading of Genesis this morning. They are our matriarchs and patriarchs but they were not perfect. So then, what do we learn from their lives? What do we hope to emulate? 

Jacob does two things that may seem surprising as he is about to die. The first is he extracts a promise, a vow really from Joseph that Joseph will bury him not in Egypt but in the same cave back in the Land of Israel, in Canaan in which his ancestors are buried.  

We talked a little about this at Torah Study this week. Then I read an article in the Forward https://forward.com/news/530750/jewish-cremation-rabbis-burial/ that many rabbis are choosing to address this topic this week. My rabbi, Rabbi Neil Kominsky, has said that you are not really an adult until you know where you are going to be buried, or said another way: what your final plans are. He reports that he heard that first from Rabbi Larry Kushner. Perhaps, I would add, even more important is making sure that your kids know what those plans are. That is exactly what Jacob does here. Promise me that you will bury me in the Cave of Machpeleh.  

The article in the Forward went on to say that 58% of all Americans are now choosing cremation. Rabbi Elchonon Zohn, quoted in the article is himself an Orthodox rabbi who believes we have what he calls a cremation crisis on our hands. He wants rabbis to address this very pressing problem and to talk to congregants also about other end-of-life issues, including, “purchasing a grave and about having a living will and life insurance.”  

Rabbi Zohn, and others want more Jews to choose burial over cremation but realize they are up against compelling financial and ecological issues. Usually, burial costs significantly more that cremation, although the cost for cremation, like everything else, is also creeping up.  

One thing to keep in mind is that the Talmud teaches that we should look and see what the people are doing. If 58% of Americans are choosing cremation now, the expected rate will be 80% by 2040—and it is suspected that it will be true within the Jewish community as well. 

Since we are a fiercely independent congregation not tied to any movement, I thought it would be worthwhile to look at what the various denominations of Judaism are saying currently. And these positions may surprise you. Remember, two Jews and three opinions. 

Historically, Jews have, as you know, buried their dead. Based on the stories of the Cave of Machpeleh and this very vow at the end of Genesis between Jacob and Joseph. It is that simple, right? Maybe, maybe not. Have any of you been to Israel and visited a first century tomb? They are fascinating. But they are most certainly above ground. Is it really a burial? If you go to New Orleans, the Jewish graves are again above ground because of the high water table. This was particularly an issue during Hurricane Katrina where graves literally floated away. For some I know from New Orleans watching the news of Katrina this was very triggering and upsetting. 

The views on burial have changed over the years. In this country after the Holocaust, the feeling was that Jews should be buried, precisely because of the crematoria. However, survivors of the Shoah and their direct descendants have argued that if cremation was good enough for their relatives it should be good enough for them. 

The Reform movement has changed its position on cremation over the years. In the past, cremation was considered permissible. However, a teshuva, a responsa published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 2006 suggests that its members should discourage cremation based on its 1990 teshuva precisely citing the Holocaust, “and generally discourage it because of the tragic overtones.” It is interesting to note that the original question about cremation posed to the CCAR was 1892, the same year CKI was founded. https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-responsa/nyp-no-5766-2/  

The Conservative Movement also has multiple responsum about cremation and states that cremation “should be discouraged, but it is not formally forbidden,” according to Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky, spiritual leader of Congregation Ansche Chesed on the Upper West Side of New York City, in the article in the Forward. His writings on the subject were then adopted by the movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. 

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, the head of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association said in the article that she will officiate at the funeral of a person being cremated,  “just because there wasn’t a traditional burial, does not mean the mourners can’t have traditional mourning.” As the article included this will include her own parents at some point. Her father sees cemeteries as a waste of land and doesn’t tend his own parents’ graves.  

One of the issues I have seen in addressing this conversation with families, is the transient nature of the Jewish community. Even in our own family, when Simon’s mother died, two siblings wanted her buried in Tucson, where she and they were living and two wanted her in Chicago at Mount Ma’ariv because she had always said she wanted to be next to her husband. That actually leaves two plots for me and Simon but who knows where our daughter will be or what would be meaningful to her.  

Locally, in the Jewish section at Bluff City Cemetery, it is permissible to bury cremains. The very first funeral I did in Elgin was for Pearl Brody who at the time of her death was living in Boston, and her son chose to return to Elgin for a funeral and burial of those cremains right here next to her husband. The practice predates me. Shalom Memorial Park allows for burial of cremains. Other Jewish cemeteries do as well. My understanding of state law in Illinois is that all funeral homes have to offer the option of cremation. David Jacobson of Chicago Jewish Funerals has spoken with the Chicago Board of Rabbis about this very topic. Much like Rabbi Zohn, he does not like the practice of cremation for Jews but he is obligated to offer it and he believes that CBR rabbis should discourage it. 

It is clear that Abraham purchased that cave and that Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Leah and now according to Joseph’s oath Jacob were buried there. But whether that is full burial or above ground burial or maybe something else is less clear. In modern day Israel you will see volunteers often from ZAKA or Hatzalah after terrorist attacks for instance scrapping up remains so that the whole body can receive a “proper Jewish burial.” Part of the explanation is that at the time of the Moshiach, our bodies will be resurrected and we will need all our parts. Yes, it is a Jewish belief! (That’s a different d’var Torah!)  

My own practice based on these and having read all of the codes on this topic, is that I will officiate at the burial of cremains because the important thing is the burial, that is what Jewish halacha seems to require from my reading of the classical Jewish codes. If you need to have a longer discussion with me about would be willing to discuss your own pre-planning. 

But before we get to those necessary discussions, a great way to get your house in order as we start this new year, is figuring out how we live with the life we have been given. 

Rabbi Singer said, “Life is an uncertain undertaking at best. We can live it carefully, avoiding problems and incidents, staying away from trouble. But it doesn’t matter; problems and troubles arise. What matters is how we deal with them, how we choose to live our lives. In other words, although life is an essentially complicated process, we have the capacity to make it a joyous one. 

One of the most amazing things about the human mind is that despite being aware of our mortality, we continue regardless. We know that we will die, but we hope that our stories will continue, just as Jacob’s and Sarah’s stories continue to move and inform us… We live full of dreams, hopes and expectations, some of which will never be fulfilled. We know that we will die but while still healthy we choose to not dwell on it.” 

One way is by writing that living will, that ethical will. It is important. It lays out your values for your children. Having an advanced directive, a durable power of attorney and more is also critical. It is something I go over with every wedding couple. It really matters. I have a friend who just went to a funeral in Michigan for a 30 year old. These are not just for aged.  

We’ve been talking about dreams and visions, Jacob’s, Joseph’s and our own for the last several weeks. The second thing that Jacob does that is surprising, is he blesses his children—really his sons—except Joseph. Instead of blessing Joseph he jumps to his grandsons, Ephraim and Maneseh. These blessings become an ethical will, if you will. We see Jacob’s blessings and values that he is passing down to his children and grandchildren. Why Ephraim and Manesh? As the commentators tell us, because this is the first pair of siblings that don’t fight with each other. They become the peacemakers. And to this day, we use their names when we bless sons on Friday evenings as part of welcoming Shabbat.  

Last week as part of Kiddush, we raised a glass and toasted the new year with champagne. Once I was called to a death scene. When I arrived I was handed a glass of champagne. It seemed odd but the longer I stood there, the more it made sense. This was for a man who led a full, complete life. Once the coroner had come and body was about to be removed, the new widow asked if I would say a few prayers. I was still holding my glass of champagne. I raised it and said something like, he had lead a full life and I think we would want those of us gathered to continue living our lives to the fullest. Then I toasted him and said, “L’chaim! May we all merit to live a full life.” 

That is my hope here today. L’chaim.  

Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers. He’s alive. He’s alive! They are dumbfounded and perhaps feeling a little guilty that they had sold him into slavery and had deceived their father. Joseph reassures them: 

“Now, do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me hither; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you…. God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival on earth, and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance.” (Gen. 45:5, 6, 7) 

Joseph reassures them. This is what was meant to be. This was G-d’s plan all along. In some traditions there is a theology of predestination. It is not usually part of Jewish theology. 

In some traditions of Christianity, notably the Calvinists, those would be the Puritans who came to this country for religious freedom, and their religious descendants, the Presbyterians and the Refromed Church, the doctrine of predestination teaches the G-d has eternally chosen those whom G-d intends to save. Come to the new class on comparative religion starting next week to begin to understand more. I’m told it is district from determinism and fatalism and pre-ordination. Perhaps, then what we really see here is a glimpse of pre-ordination.  

When preparing for this I spoke with Pastor Jeff Mikyska and Father Jack Lau, a Protestant and a Catholic. I think it is fair to say both rile against this formulation of theology, yet here it is seemingly right here in Genesis. So we need to wrestle with this text. That’s our legacy of Jacob’s name being changed to Yisrael, Israel, One who wrestles with G-d. 

What then happens to free will? I’ll leave that question here for now. 

There are echoes of this in Judaism. The Yiddish phrase, “Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” is an old adage meaning, “Man Plans, and God Laughs.”  Despite our most careful planning, we are not in charge. We are not in control. Perhaps that is exactly what we have learned in the last few years. As Saul Levine daid in Psychology Today, “the Road of Life is unpredictable. We might have driving and destination strategies but scenic new vistas might beckon us or unforeseen roadblocks can deter us.” 

I’m not sure, however, we can lay that at G-d’s feet, so to speak. Despite Psalm 29 which praises the G-d of the thundering voice that smashes the cedars of Lebanon and splits rock with lightening, I am not sure that G-d causes all that. Or Deuteronomy 11, the second paragraph of the V’ahavta which teaches that if we obey the commandments G-d will favor us and our land but if we do not, then Adonai’s wrath will be directed against us.  

When we learn of someone’s death our response is “Baruch Dayan Ha’emet, Blessed is the Judge of Truth.” It is like saying “G-d’s will be done.”  

Kaufman Kohler in the Jewish Encyclopedia explains: 

“The belief that the destiny of man is determined beforehand by God. “Predestination” in this sense is not to be confounded with the term “preordination,” applied to the moral agents as predetermining either election to eternal life or reprobation. This latter view of predestination, held by Christian and Mohammedan theologians, is foreign to Judaism, which, professing the principle of Free Will, teaches that eternal life and reprobation are dependent solely upon man’s good or evil actions. It is in regard to the material life, as to whether man will experience good fortune or meet adversity, that Judaism recognizes a divine decision. According to Josephus, who desired to present the Jewish parties as so many philosophical schools, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes were divided on this question. The Pharisees held that not all things are divinely predestined, but that some are dependent on the will of man; the Sadducees denied any interference of God in human affairs; while the Essenes ascribed everything to divine predestination (“B. J.” ii. 8, § 14; “Ant.” xiii. 5, § 9).” 

That’s a lot to unpack. He continues: 

“In this controversy the real point at issue was the question of divine providence. As followers of Epicurus, the Sadducees, according to Josephus, held that all the phenomena of this world are due to chance and they denied the existence of a divine providence. The Essenes attributed everything to the will of God, and, exaggerating the conception of divine providence, denied to man any initiative. The Pharisees, fully aware that predestination precludes free-will, adopted a middle view, declaring that man is subject to predestination in his material life, but is completely free in his spiritual life. This view is expressed in the teaching of R. Akiba (Abot iii. 15): “All is foreseen, yet freedom is granted”; and in the similar saying of R. Ḥanina, “All is in the power of God, except the fear of God” (Ber. 33b; Niddah 16b). Another saying of Ḥanina’s is, “A man does not hurt his finger in this world unless it has been decreed above” (Ḥul. 7b). Similarly it is said, “The plague may rage for seven years, and yet no man will die before the appointed hour” (Sanh. 29a; Yeb. 114b).” 

That last quote seems especially apt for our time. “The plague may rage for seven years, and yet no man will die before the appointed hour.” Really? I am not sure that we would all agree and yet I remain grateful for those on the front lines, the doctors, the nurses, the first responders, the grocery store worked and the research scientists that have brought us vaccines that have dramatically cut the hospitalization and death rates. COVID is still hear but milder and less of a deadly threat.  

In the Talmud, we learn this story as the most striking example of predestinarian belief. “Eleazar ben Pedat. This amora, being in straitened circumstances, asked God how long he would suffer from his poverty. The answer, received in a dream, was, “My son, wouldst thou have Me overthrow the world?” (Ta’an. 25a); the meaning being that Eleazar’s poverty could not be helped, he having been predestined to be poor. 

I hear this story repeated in Fiddler on the Roof when Tevye, pleading with G-d, saying, “It’s no shame to be poor but it is no great honor either.” 

These are some of the echoes we hear about predestination and pre-ordination. 

And yet, I have a shirt that says, “I make my own magic.” And it’s true, to some extent. It is also like the well worn story of the man during a hurricane looking for help from G-d to rescue him. He wants to know where G-d is. G-d’s response was “I sent you a row boat, a motor boat and a helicopter with a rope. What more did you expect?” 

Joseph reassured his brothers that it would all be OK, that it was all part of G-d’s plan. And while it can be comforting after the face to think that G-d is in charge, and whatever has happened is all for the good and pre-ordained, it may not be comforting in the moment. 

Imagine telling someone who just lost their child that it is all part of G-d’s plan or that G-d needed another angel or that G-d will never give you more than you can bear. You will not hear those platitudes from me.  

Can we take a negative experience and turn it into a positive? Sure. But it takes work. Hard work. 

People ask me whether G-d caused my cancer. They wonder whether it is part of some divine plan. I don’t think so. But I do think that G-d has enabled very smart people to find it early, to provide skilled and compassionate care, to empower people—many of you—to be caring individuals willing to help, to say a mi sheberach when needed or provide space for quiet conversations and reflection. You are the reflection of G-d’s divine presence. 

As we enter 2023, many people set resolutions. I’m not so much a resolutions chick, but I do set goals for the year and things I want to achieve. My list always begins with see the sunrise on the first day. There is something about a new year, the secular new year or Rosh Hashanah that acts like a reset button. It is a blank slate, a new notebook, waiting for that magic to happen. 

What then does G-d require of us as we enter 2023. Micah answers that question: “to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with G-d.” Others translate that as modestly.  

Can we by living that way make our own magic as the shirt suggests? I believe the answer is yes. So my goals for 2023 revolve around being more like G-d:  

• Doing justly: doing more with welcoming the stranger and working on immigration reform, feeding the hungry and the homeless right here in Elgin, working on environmental issues.  
• Loving mercy and compassion: being more fully present to all of you—and to my family that often gets short shrift in my often too busy schedule. Being compassionate with myself and not talking down to me, having too high expectations. Better self-care (whatever that means) Above all being kind. 
• Walking humbly with G-d: I will be taking a four week course with Institute of Jewish Spirituality on “Receiving and Extending Love.”  

I have other goals too. Many revolve around travel or my running or learning Spanish to help in my role as a police chaplain. And I want to learn to dance better. And paint better.  

If I can do those things, then I will make my own magic—in the presence and with the help of G-d.  

My hope, my prayer for each of you this Erev New Year’s is that you find meaning, fulfillment, joy and laughter in 2023, and that you find a way, together with G-d to make a difference, to be kind and compassionate and that together we make the world a better place.  

Baby, it’s cold outside. This week Shabbat was entirely on Zoom because of weather issues. (Windchills around 30 below). Friday night we were treated to some jazz piano of Chanukah favorites and a guided mediation on a candle developed by my professor Rabbi Goldie Millgram. I always find this mediation especially soothing. If you want to try it on your own, I have included it here: http://www.reclaimingjudaism.org/teachings/guided-meditation-flame

Wherever you are, please stay safe in these brutally cold days, and may your light shine brightly.

Here are Shabbat morning’s reflections:

Recently we have talked about dreams, and visions. Jacob’s sulam, that ladder or stairway with the angels that go up and down. Jacob wrestling with the angel. Joseph and the dreams about his brothers and parents. Joseph interpreting the dreams in jail. Joseph interpreting Pharoah’s dreams and rising to prominence as Pharaoh’s vizier, his right hand man, his number two guy Last week we looked at how to interpret our own dreams.  

This week’s haftarah also has a dream, a vision if you will, of what turns out to be the menorah.  

“He said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl above it. The lamps on it are seven in number, and the lamps above it have seven pipes; and by it are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and one on its left.” (Zechariah 4:2) 

He then turned back to the angel and asked him what his dream meant. The angel interpreted the dream: 

“Then he explained to me as follows:. “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel:. ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit.’ said the LORD of Hosts.” 

Debbie Friedman set it to music: 

Not by Might – Debbie Friedman (1990) 

While the explanation of the vision goes on in Zechariah, thus explaning the symbolism of each element of the menorah dream, the haftarah itself ends in a different place. “Whoever you are, O great mountain in the path of Zerubbabel, turn into level ground! For he shall produce that excellent stone; it shall be greeted with shouts of ‘Beautiful! Beautiful!’” 

That word translated as Beautiful, Beautiful is חֵ֥ן  Hain in Hebrew.  

That is a very interesting word and its repetitive use here. We know that if something is repeated, it comes to teach us something. There are no extra words in the Bible, we are taught. 

My first question then, is what do we mean by beauty? Each of you has a menorah—a chanukiah—perhaps more than one and I am willing to guess that each one is different.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is a tradition of hiddur hamitzvah, beautification of the mitzvah. That is part of why there are so many styles of menorot. The vision as described here in the text doesn’t really help me understand what the original menorah looked like. 

But the word hain often means something other than beauty. It can also mean favor or grace. You may know this word from the 13 attributes of the Divine, Chanun v’rachum. In that form it is often seen as solely the providence of G-d. Or you may know it from the phrase, “Matzah hain b’enecha, to find favor in your eyes,” when someone pleads with another, even in this chapter.  

It comes from the verb chanan. Meaning yearn towards, long for, be merciful, compassionate, favourable, inclined towards; It can also mean beautiful—as in eshet hain, a woman of beauty, of grace, of charm. We see this phrase towards the end of Eishet Chayyil, a Woman of Valor, that also talks of her gracious hain speech. That is still one I am working on.  

What then do we make of the use here? That this vision—of the menorah, of a world where we live not by might and not by power but by G-d’s spirit is beautiful. That it is how we guard our speech and be kind, gracious, compassionate.  That it is how we find favor in G-d’s eyes. 

There is one more place that hain shows up and it seems so appropriate for this Shabbat Chanukah. And that is in the Birkat Hocohanim, the priestly benediction. It appears in Numbers, in the parsha just before what we read earlier today. 

Yevarechecha v’yishmarecha, May Adonai bless you and keep you, guard and protect you. 

Ya’er Adoani panav elecha v’chunecha. May Adonai be gracious to you and grant you favor. 

Yisa Adonai panav elecha v’y’sem lecha shalom. May Adoani’s face turn toward you and grant you peace. 

That second line of the three fold blessing is closer to “May G-d’s light shine upon you and be gracious to you.” There is something really beautiful in the idea of G-d’s light shining upon us at Chanukah, this season of light. Maybe that is where the real beauty is, G-d’s light becoming our light so that we can shine in the darkness.  

For me then, this vision is one of beauty and hope. May we each be blessed with light and then may we continue to find beauty and favor as we share our light with others. Light one candle.  Not by might. Not by power. But by spirit alone shall we all live in peace. Amen. 

In planning our Chanukah party, as we often do, we reached out to my colleague, Rabbi Mendal Shem Tov, the Chabad rabbi. The last big party before the pandemic, Rabbi Shem Tov, Rabbi Steve Peskind and Rabbi Ed Friedman were all here. Some times it is easy to collaborate, and sometimes it is more difficult. 2019 had seen an uptick in anti-semitism and we both felt that it was important to be visible together. Sometime after that party, a rabbi was stabbed in his home in New York at his Chanukah party. Then the world shut down for COVID. 

 This year it seemed even more important that ever to come together. He said he would come to our house and that I should plan to speak at the Centre of Elgin Chanukah celebration. These events I find difficult. They are complicated. But if the Chabad rabbi is asking me to speak, I will speak. 

That doesn’t mean I won’t be nervous. It is important to set the right tone. 

I stood at the entrance with the Mayor of Elgin, the police chief and two of the command staff. They got that I was nervous but I don’t think they understand the whys.  

Eventually, we were ushered outside. The police chief spoke first, gracious as usual. She talked about how the Jewish community is protected by the EPD. How delighted she is to be invited for 5 years. She had to leave for a meeting. Then the mayor. He spoke about the diversity of Elgin and why that is important to him and to Elgin and echoed what the police chief said. Rabbi Shem Tov spoke about how the flames of Chanukah are important, they are very very neshoma, our soul. How in this hekchal year it is important to gather. While he was speaking, my phone rang. It was EPD. I actually thought it might be a joke. It was not. Unfortunately, it was all too real.  There was a death and the officers had called for a chaplain. The command staff told me I should speak and then leave.  

I spoke. Badly. I announced that unfortunately I would have to leave to attend to a death. But I thought it was important to say here—after agonizing over it for several days—what I would say. 

Here it is: 

It is an honor to be here tonight to represent Congregation Kneseth Israel. CKI is celebrating 130 years in Elgin. Elgin has been a place of safety for the Jewish community. Our coming together tonight, to light the menorah, the chanukiah, is to share its light. Light is the story of Chanukah. Each night we add to the light, just like the rabbis of the Talmud did 2000 years ago. They argued, debated if you will, whether we should start with 8 lights and decrease them each night or start with one and add light each night. The decision went to add light each night. At this darkest time of the year, on this very dark, cold night, we add another light and increase our joy.  

Martin Luther King said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory said something similar, “There always were two ways to live in a world that is often dark and full of tears. We can curse the darkness, or we can light a light, and as the Chassidim say, a little light drives out much darkness. May we all help light up the world.” 

That is the challenge of Chanukah. How can we each take this light and light up the world, as individuals and as communities. Events like this celebration tonight help increase our joy and increase the light in this world. May it be so! Thank you to Rabbi Shemtov for including me and members of CKI and the wider Elgin community.