The DREAM Act; article and letter

The following was submitted today to our local newspaper. The fact that the article comes from clergy of a different faith strengthens its effect. After the article which you may use in any way helpful for this cause, is a "fill-in model" of a letter to senators which I sent out to my clergy friends. Please feel free to share this with other clergy. Tell them to send their letters as faxes, not snail mail or email, and on official church, synagogue, mosque etc stationary. Much of this is inspired by the RAC website on the DREAM Act. We need this to become viral.

Let’s Make Their DREAMS Come True!
Rabbi Fred Guttman and Rev. Mark Sills

Recently, two very bright young women graduated with honors from Greensboro area universities. One received a degree in nursing, the other received a degree in chemical engineering. Both of these young women have talents and skills that are in high demand. These graduates are the kind of young adults that every community wants to attract and keep.
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Talented, disciplined, and with a keen sense of civic responsibility, they would be a wonderful asset for Greensboro.Unfortunately, neither of these talented women will be able to pursue their career in Greensboro. Even though there are several local employers who want to hire them, neither can work legally anywhere in the United States. These young women were brought to the United States from Mexico when they were just pre-schoolers. They grew up here. This is home to them. Both had outstanding records at local high schools, and they would like nothing more than to contribute their considerable talents to our land. Because they are undocumented immigrants, they cannot do so. These young women will be forced to leave the United States to work in other countries in order to fulfill their personal dreams.

In the next two weeks, the lame duck session of Congress could finally do something to alleviate this injustice. The Congress is due to consider Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. Each year, some 65,000 students who entered America illegally with their parents will graduate from High School. The DREAM Act would give these students a path to citizenship if they attend college or join the military.

There is sound biblical basis for asking for your support of the DREAM Act. Leviticus teaches us, “When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall not do them wrong. The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” [19:33-34].

We are a compassionate country! The idea that we would expel a child who has lived here since he or she was young because of the choices of their parents is nothing short of cruel. For all intents and purposes, this child is an American. It is nothing less than a horrific example of holding a child responsible for the sins of the parent. In addition, we as a country would be deprived of the unique, God-given contributions that this child, a product of our educational system, would be able to give to our country.

These students often live in constant fear of detection by immigration authorities. It is now time for us as a country to give them hope. After all, their only “crime” was being born to parents who came to this country to pursue a better for themselves and their children, just like many of our ancestors.

We see this as a compelling religious and a moral issue. Apparently others in Congress do as well, for the DREAM Act has solid bi-partisan support.

As clergy dedicated to helping our country to become more just and compassionate, we urge the passage of the DREAM Act and call on those who read this to contact their elected representatives in support of this act. The DREAM Act will go a long way towards making legitimate dreams come true for the young people that it is designed to help.

(Rabbi Fred Guttman is rabbi of Temple Emanuel Greensboro and Rev Mark Sills is the Executive Director of FaithAction International House in Greensboro. In 2009, they were co-recipients of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) Brotherhood Citation Award, 2009. )

SAMPLE LETTER FOR CLERGY.



Senator Fax: (xxx) xxx-xxxx

Dear Senator ,

As a committed , I encourage you to support the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act (S. 729). This important, bipartisan legislation will allow law-abiding high school students, many of whom have lived in the United States nearly their entire lives but remain undocumented, a chance to go to college or serve in the military.

Each year about 65,000 U.S.–raised students who would qualify for the DREAM Act’s benefits graduate from high school. Even though they were brought to the U.S. years ago as children, they face unique barriers to higher education, are unable to work legally in the U.S., and often live in constant fear of detection by immigration authorities.

There is sound biblical basis for asking for your support of the DREAM Act. Leviticus teaches us, “When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall not do them wrong. The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” [19:33-34].

We are a compassionate country! The idea that we would expel a child who has lived here since he or she was young because of the choices of their parents is nothing short of cruel. For all intents and purposes, this child is an American. It is nothing less than a horrific example of holding a child responsible for the sins of the parent. In addition, we as a country would be deprived of the unique, God-given contributions that this child, a product of our educational system, would be able to give to our country.

These students often live in constant fear of detection by immigration authorities. It is now time for us as a country to give them hope. After all, their only “crime” was being born to parents who came to this country to pursue a better for themselves and their children, just like many of our ancestors.

We see this as a compelling religious and a moral issue. Apparently others in Congress do as well, for the DREAM Act has solid bi-partisan support.

Therefore as a and as a religious person of conscience, I urge you to vote for the DREAM Act

Most Respectfully,

Do not sign the latest JStreet petition.

There are several reasons why in my opinion, people should NOT sign the J Street Petition.

First, these peace talks are at a very sensitive and critical juncture. The agenda for the peace talks and its sequencing is now being discussed between the U.S. and Israel. In order for these talks to resume and succeed, the two governments need to come to an understanding on these sensitive issues in quiet discussions with no outside intervention--even by well-meaning friends of Israel. Pushing the President to push Israel to accept any specific agenda could be counterproductive.

Second and sadly, a public U.S. statement calling for a specific agenda might push Abbas to reject any other agenda that might be agreed between the U.S. and Israel, thus possibly scuttling the resumption of the peace talks.

Third in essence, this is calling for an imposed a solution on Israel. As one who holds dual citizenship and who served in the Israeli army, whose son and other relatives live there and VOTE there, I find this to be particularly disturbing. In essence, this would curtail Israel’s independence. In addition, such an imposed solution would most likely ignore some very real security concerns and needs that Israel has. Of course, this has been part of JStreet’s ideology since its inception. JStreet is a “proscriptive” organization when it comes to the Middle East Peace process. ‘Israel will need to be saved from itself and we in Washington know what is best for Israel. (Israeli democracy be damned!) Of course, if we are wrong it is no big deal to us because we live here in safety and security. Israel on the other hand… Poor Israelis and Jews! They can never catch a break!’

Most Israelis by the way would view such an action by the Obama administration as being very anti Israel.

For this and other reasons, the only way towards any legitimate and long lasting agreement will be though direct negotiations between the two sides.

Finally, the tone of this sounds to me to be quite partisan. The petition begins with the words: “You (President Obama) have inspired me with your commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” On its web site, J-Street writes: “We have stood shoulder to shoulder with President Obama as he has repeatedly pushed both sides toward negotiations. Our community taken hundreds of thousands of actions in support of the President's vision of Middle East peace and his active efforts to make it a reality from day one.” I am beginning to think that on Israel, JStreet has become the left wing alternative to Matt Brooks and the Republican Jewish coalition? I certainly believe that it is in the best interest of Israel for our community to be bi partisan.

A claim is often made that JStreet allows for those who are so upset with Israel to become “involved.” Involved in what? I have not seen this. I have not seen JStreet supporters and rabbis working diligently to bring more people to Israel or to encourage more teens and college students to go there. Frankly as I see it, a sad result of JStreet has been to undermine American Jewish support for Israel.

So once again, I urge those of who are JStreet supporters. We all want peace. The language of such resolutions sounds good, the intentions may be well meaning but the actions called for will move the peace process backwards, not forward.

Before you sign on to the latest J Street petition, you might also want to take a look at Rabbi Micky Boyden’s latest on this issue. Micky, who lost a son in Lebanon, lives four miles from Qalqilia (which is near Kfar Saba). He does not live in the West Bank.

Micky writes: "The J Street petition affirms that its supporters have been inspired by President Obama’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the question is not whether J Street has been inspired but rather whether the Palestinians share the same aspirations. And that is an entirely different matter."

For the full item, go to http://weareforisrael.org/2010/11/30/borders-and-security-first/

Do not sign the latest JStreet petition.

Fred Guttman

Noah’s Ark as a Paradigm - Me vs We

Almost everyone know the story of Noah and his ark. What most people fail to realize, and Sydney will talk about this in a moment, is that the end of the story is very serious. At the end of the story, God tells us that every time we see a rainbow in the sky, we are to remember that God will not again destroy the earth. However, the implication is clear that the future of the earth is in our hands. It is our responsibility to care for the earth and to create on it a just society.

It occurred to me that basically the story of the ark is important because it says that once upon a time there was a small ark, it contained Noah, his family, and all of the animals – all of the world according to the legend. But now we live in a world where our consciousness has been expanded; stars and galaxies are hundreds of light years away and we realize that as big as our world seems, we are but a small speck of the universe. In essence, the earth as we know it is now our ark. We, as humanity, are Noah. We are on this ark with every living creature in the universe. The issue now for us is, "How will we take care of our ark?" How will we take care of our earth?

The more I look at where our society is right now, the more I see a conflict between what I call the forces of “Me” versus the forces of We.” This “we versus me” conflict can be seen all over America and the entire world. It is seen in those who would make predatory loans to the poor and bring down the entire economy. It is seen among the business community who callously shift jobs overseas, destroying the manufacturing base in places like North Carolina. These are but two examples. The base of the problem is that many in our society now believe that the most important thing is personal achievement, and that any personal achievement trumps any communal responsibility.

I am reminded of a story of a very wealthy king who refused to provide food for his starving subjects. One day, a fisherman invited him to go in his rowboat to go fishing. The king readily assented. Once they were out in the middle of the ocean, the fisherman took out a drill and began to drill in front of his, the fisherman’s, seat. The king went berserk. “How can you do this?” he cried, “If you drill a hole in the bottom of the boat it will sink and both of us will die!” To which the fisherman responded, “But I’m only drill a hole underneath my seat, why should you be concerned?” The king then replied, “I understand your point.” The fisherman returned to shore and the king became a better king. He became more concerned about the welfare of his subjects, more concerned about the welfare of the entire community.

The environmental problems that we are facing are quite serious. Global warming is indeed very serious. Without a doubt, the hotter and smokier that we make the earth, the less livable it will become not only for ourselves but for our children, grandchildren and our great-grandchildren.

The effort to establish renewable energy needs to be taken very seriously and I am very proud of the fact that Temple Emanuel, within the next year, hopes to install solar panels as our energy source.

Global warming is here to stay. This ark belongs to us and our children. Will our ark continue to be a livable environment or will the “me” of selfishness and consumption prevail. Will we be like the selfish king as we drive gas guzzlers or will the “we” of collective responsibility triumph making our world livable for our children?

The second place in which we recently have seen this conflict between the “Me versus We” is an event that occurred this past week in a rural town in western Tennessee. A fire department was called to a house to put out a fire, and because the owner of the house had not paid a $75 fee to the fire department, the firefighters stood by and watched the house burn down. Fortunately no one in the house died, yet three dogs and a cat were incinerated. The fire department said, “We are not responsible because this homeowner did not pay the appropriate fees.” Here we see the ultimate of the “Me versus We” conflict in our society.

First of all, it goes without saying, here in Greensboro we don’t have a choice to whether we pay taxes to our police and fire departments. The system in Tennessee, therefore, is to blame.

But the Torah tells us that we should not stand idly by the blood of our neighbor. The idea that people who have supposedly dedicated their lives to saving life, limb, and property would stand by is indeed appalling. The Torah is quite clear. We are not to stand by when someone else is in trouble.

Second, Judaism stresses that the collective wellbeing trumps personal wellbeing. Society is of greater importance than individual personal achievement. For example, the Torah tells us that we are all responsible for the education of our children in our society, even if we send our kids to private school. Jewish tradition is filled with the idea that all of us must provide for the common good. In the medieval Jewish community, taxes were not considered a bad thing, nor should it be considered bad here. The next time you hear we pay too many taxes, ask if they’d like to send their children to school in buildings that are dumps. The answer, of course, is no. We like having proper bridges, roads, schools and transportation and an army to protect our country. The problems that we have with paying taxes are not that taxes are bad, but that wasting tax money on bridges to nowhere in Alaska is not a good thing. Judaism clearly eschews community care. Our tradition stresses that what is important is not “Me,” but rather the “We.”

The third incident where we see the “We” versus “Me” in our society recently is the sad story of Tyler Clementi. Tyler was a Rutgers University student whose roommate secretly taped him having relations with another male. The tape was put on the internet and the next day Tyler jumped off the George Washington Bridge.

Jewish tradition would say that we are all responsible in some way for this tragedy. It is our responsibility to fight to eliminate bullying. Sadly, our society seems to fail to combat bullying when the person who is being bullied is gay or lesbian.

Here at Temple Emanuel, I am pleased to mention that last week and this week we are doing anti-bullying education with our students. This will, of course be ongoing, because we think the problem is indeed that serious and we think it will help make this ark that we live in a bit better. Bullying and discrimination against gays and lesbians is our problem, not merely someone else’s.

At Temple Emanuel we will not stand idly by. This conflict that we see between the “We” versus “Me” is all to frequent. It all goes back to the ark. When Noah goes on the ark he takes his family and the animals because he realizes that on the ark, community is important.

In Jewish tradition, the rabbis tell us that we are all responsible for each other. Personal salvation, no matter what your religion, is not as important as communal responsibility. In most religions, prayers are said in the plural tense. The community is important, because theologically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically we are all bound in the same ark.

If we adopt this attitude of the “We,” the attitude that recognizes the importance of community, we will care for our ark, our earth. We will love it and try to be ecologically responsible and try to provide for all its inhabitants just like Noah did. Poverty, homelessness, indecent housing, poor education – these are communal concerns.

If we believe in the value of “We,” we can create a community wherein every individual is seen as being created in the image of God. Once we do that, we will create a loving society on our “ark,” a loving society on our earth. Truly it will be a society based upon justice compassion and peace. And truly it will be a fulfillment of the vision of the prophet Zachariah who wrote, “On that day God will be one and Gods name will be one.” In other words, on that day all humanity will be one because we will realize that we have to lovingly care for each other, our earth and our planet.

May this be God’s will as it is our task!

Friends:

Judaism places the highest value on Pikuach Nefesh - saving a life. In this highly charged political environment, the chances of discrimination against the LGBT community are higher than they have been in a while. In addition, the Clementi suicide shows how social media can be used as an instrument of bullying and discrimination.

Here at Temple Emanuel, we are and will continue to be welcoming of LGBT’s and we will continue to advocate on their behalf for full civil and legal rights. We are disappointed that Congress did not overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” but our efforts will not stop with what we believe is a momentary setback on the road to full equality of LGBT’s.

Below is a wonderfully written letter concerning the recent bullying, gay bashing incident at Rutgers. The letter was written by a minister in Maryland. The content of the letter is too important to ignore.

Rabbi Fred Guttman


September 30, 2010

Dear Congregation,

I am overwhelmed by a story reported on the news last night about Rutgers University freshman, Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide the day after two fellow students recorded him having sex in his dorm room and broadcast it over the Internet. Was it just a coincidence that he was targeted because he was with another male student?

The night before I listened to a Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell defend the blog he has started called, “Chris Armstrong Watch,” an attack on the student assembly president at the University of Michigan. Shirwell attacks what he says is Armstrong's "radical homosexual agenda," and posts Photo shopped pictures of Armstrong with rainbow flags and swastikas and picks apart the student's Facebook page. Armstrong is the first openly gay student assembly president at the University of Michigan.

Are any of you suspecting that we are spiraling down into a muck of behavior that has moved beyond demeaning, demoralizing, and ridiculous to dangerous? What makes us think that it’s okay to put out personal stuff about someone else on blog pages, Facebook, or other Internet sites? Just because the technology is available does that mean we have to use it? It seems to me that a hidden camera in someone’s private bedroom is more than an invasion of privacy which is all those students have been charged with at this time. Are public officials such as attorney generals such as Shirwell not held to a higher standard than his “I have freedom of speech” statement?

These young adults are among many young adults and teens who are being taunted, mocked, and bullied by classmates. Some choose to commit suicide when confronted with such hatred from their fellow classmates. Where are the other classmates who witness these acts of bullying? Where are the adults who are charged with creating safe environments for students? What kind of nation have we become that an officer of the state, an attorney general, can go after a student because he believes he is promoting an agenda he doesn’t approve of or like?

Now is not the time for apathy or silence. It is apathy and silence that have allowed this ugliness and hatred to permeate all parts of our lives these days or so it seems. Please join me in praying for peace and for the courage to name the violence in our midst. Please join me in paying more careful attention to bullying and mean behavior in our midst. Please let us join together in speaking up and out so that our young people don’t think their only option is suicide.

Barbara

Barbara Kershner Daniel
Evangelical Reformed Church, United Church of Christ
15 West Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701

A Statement Concerning Israel Yom Kippur 5771

Two weeks ago, Time magazine published a cover with a Jewish star and the words, “Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace.”

The article on the inside of the magazine seemed to me at first to be rather a tendentious set of man on the street interviews about how Israelis care more about making money than peace. Upon further reflection, it seemed to me and others that something was terribly amiss in the article in that the article seemed to be saying that people in Israel still wanted peace, but had little hope that the current peace talks would bear fruit. In the meantime, Israelis would continue to live their lives and would pay greater attention to more immediate concerns such as the economy and education.

Frankly, there seemed to be a disconnect between the article and the cover.

A colleague of mine, Rabbi Mark Golub the founder of Shalom TV, was also bothered by this disconnect. He then proceeded to interview the author of the piece, Karl Vick, who by the way lives in Jerusalem. What emerged was the fact that Mr. Vick had not written the title of the article or the cover of the magazine. In other words according to Rabbi Golub, a perfectly legitimate piece on Israel was given a title which seemed to make Israel look terrible in the eyes of the readers.

In response, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren published this week an article in the Los Angeles Times entitled “Why Israelis care about peace.”

In the article, Ambassador Oren writes:

“Recent media reports, in Time magazine and elsewhere, have alleged that Israelis - who are currently experiencing economic growth and a relative lull in terrorism - may not care about peace. According to a poll cited, Israelis are more concerned about education, crime and poverty - issues that resonate with Americans - than about the peace process with the Palestinians. But such findings do not in any way indicate an indifference to peace, but rather the determination of Israelis to build normal, fruitful lives in the face of incredible adversity.

Yes, many Israelis are skeptical about peace, and who wouldn't be? We withdrew our troops from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip in order to generate peace, and instead received thousands of missiles crashing into our homes. We negotiated with the Palestinians for 17 years and twice offered them an independent state, only to have those offers rejected. Over the last decade, we saw more than 1,000 Israelis - proportionally the equivalent of about 43,000 Americans - killed by suicide bombers, and tens of thousands maimed. We watched bereaved mothers on Israeli television urging our leaders to persist in their peace efforts, while Palestinian mothers praised their martyred children and wished to sacrifice others for jihad.

Given our experience of disappointment and trauma, it's astonishing that Israelis still support the peace process at all. Yet we do, and by an overwhelming majority. According to the prestigious Peace Index conducted by the Tamal Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University and released in July, more than 70% of Israelis back negotiations with the Palestinians, and nearly that number endorse the two-state solution. These percentages exist even though multiple Palestinian polls show much less enthusiasm for living side by side in peace with Israel, or that most Israelis believe that international criticism of the Jewish state will continue even if peace is achieved.

… Most Israelis are still willing to take incalculable risks for peace - the proposed Palestinian state would border their biggest cities - and are still willing to share their ancestral homeland with a people that has repeatedly tried to destroy them is nothing short of miraculous.

For Israelis who don't have to imagine what it's like to live in a perpetual war zone, that vision of peace is our lifeline.”

A copy of the entire article by Ambassador Oren is available at http://www.israelpolitik.org/2010/09/15/ambassador-oren-why-israelis-care-about-peace/ I urge you to read it.

We are living in a time when there is a serious effort by much of the world, including apparently some of the editorial and headline writers of Time magazine to delegitimize and demonize Israel.
There are many ways in which we as American Jews can respond. In my opinion, our best way to show our support for Israel is to go there and to see firsthand the miracle of the rebirth of the Jewish people in our ancient homeland.

Therefore, I would like to urge you to consider joining us this February on our congregational trip to Israel!

No experience has the power to bring Judaism to life like a trip to Israel.

Our trip is quite a bit different from your average Israel trip or mission. First of all, we have four specific goals around which we have designed our trip. These are:
1. The Historical Highlights of Israel, including Yad Vashem, Masada and Jerusalem.
2. The Israel-Palestinian conflict. We will be meeting with several experts in the field including an Israeli Colonel who commanded units in the Golan Heights and Lebanon, a Palestinian journalist, IDF solders, a visit to an Israeli air force base, a special seminar on the geopolitics of Jerusalem and more!
3. Reform Judaism in Israel and the problem of religious pluralism. We will meet with people who are on the front lines of this struggle and visit my alma mater, Hebrew Union College.
4. Israeli Entrepreneurship and economy. We will be briefed by experts and have site visits to some of the most creative entrepreneurial and hi tech initiatives in Israel.

Whether you are a first-timer or a veteran traveler, a single or a couple, I promise you eleven days you’ll never forget.

Please consider this trip and consider my words as a most personal invitation. On Tuesday, September 28 at 8:00 p.m., there will be an informational meeting concerning the trip. I look forward to seeing many of you there. So join me for a journey that will open your mind, touch your heart, and replenish your spirit!

Again, this is our best response to those who seek to harm Israel. In the meantime, we will
continue to say prayers for peace for our brothers and sisters in Israel.

A Statement about the burning of the Koran

A Statement about the burning of the Koran

I would like to state how offensive we as Jews find the plan of Rev. Terry Jones, leader of a small evangelical church in Gainesville, Florida, to burn copies of the Koran. The following is from the statement of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. “At this season of renewal and hope in the Jewish calendar, and coinciding with a day of reflection and remembrance prompted by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, this strikes us an another act of terrorism that has too-oft been repeated in history. From Antiochus IV in 168 BCE to the painful years of the Spanish Inquisition, we Jews have watched our holy books burn - torched by hatred and intolerance, with flames stoked by ignorance. The burning of Muslim sacred scriptures recalls the acts of the 15th - 16th century villain Tomas Torquemada, who hoped to lead a holy crusade, which caused nothing but death and violence.”

Prior to the Holocaust, the German Jewish philosopher Heinrich Heine wrote that as people who will burn books will eventually burn people. Sadly the truth of this statement was all too apparent during the Nazi Holocaust wherein six million of our brothers and sisters were murdered.

We join our voices with all who are calling for Terry Jones to call off this attack on religious freedom in a land of liberty.

We are also holding in our thoughts tonight our son and congregant Troy Wallace who is serving with the Marines in Afghanistan. We ask God’s blessings upon him and upon all of the American soldiers serving our country.

As General Petraus has stated, the burning of the Koran will increase the danger faced by Troy and American Forces throughout the world. Thus there are an additional two Jewish values that come into play here. The first is Pikuach Nefesh, which means that all must be done to save a life. The second is the concept of a Rodef, the pursuer. Clearly, the actions of Rev Jones are actions which make him nothing less than a pursuer of our men and women serving our country.

This book burning is an affront to all decent people. It is an affront to all good Christians who try to live according to the golden rule taught by Jesus himself. There, I call upon all my Christian colleagues in the clergy, especially those of right wing evangelical churches, to issue strong statements so condemnation

In light of the recent rally in Washington DC during which great admiration was expressed for our citizens in uniform, I call upon Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin to issue strong statements of condemnation and if necessary to go to Gainesville to urge Rev Jones and his followers not to undertake this heinous act.

Finally, as we begin the New Year, let it be our prayer that the forces of intolerance and bigotry will be replaced by those of open mindessness, compassion, justice and peace.

Morrie Kipper of Blessed Memory

Rabbi Morrie Kipper, the founder of the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, passed away on August 7. The following os my tribute to this great rabbi and visionary. May his memory be a blessing!

A few years ago, there was a bestseller by Mitch Album named “Tuesdays with Morrie.” In the book, the author had the privilege of spending a day once a week with his teacher.

If I were to title my thoughts at this sad time, I would entitle them “11 years with Morrie” for that is the truth. I was blessed in my life to have worked for Morrie and to have been mentored by him during some of the most formidable years of my adult life.

In 1979, when I was hired by High School in Israel (HIS), I was other than Morrie the only Reform or liberal Jew on the staff. Morrie took me under his wing almost immediately. He would constantly challenge me to reexamine my most basic assumptions. He would encourage me always to become a better teacher. He gave me opportunity to learn how to lead people. He helped me realize that this could be a difficult task and that I constantly needed to improve my skills. He helped me become more secure in my abilities.

Morrie taught me that a school which is not improving is a school that it in decline. For Morrie, there was no such thing as being static.

During the years that I worked for Morrie, he became a wonderful friend as well as mentor. I must admit that seeing him suffer from Parkinson’s was very difficult for me. To a large extent, this devastating disease had taken from him both his brilliance and the gleam in his eye.

I feel sad that I did not have more opportunities to see him during the past few years. I am blessed however that I was able to go and visit the Morrie and Lenore on my last trip to Miami.

Morrie taught me many things. He taught me to love Israel and gave to me the opportunity to use whatever God given skills that I possess to teach there. He taught me that in promoting the school or for that matter, in promoting anything worthwhile, one had to be a good salesman.

Above all, Morrie - He encouraged me to think “big.” What was the big idea that he sold to me and others? The big idea was that the American Jewish community was in serious trouble and that what we were doing at HSI, if we could make the school large enough, could really have an almost cosmic effect upon the community. We could create hoards of leaders for the next generation of American Jewry. Together, he and I dreamed that one day the school would bring to Israel 5,000 Jewish kids a year.

This dream would never be completely fulfilled. However, a tremendous difference has been made. Several of my former students are working in the Jewish community. Some have become presidents of synagogues, Federations and JCCs.

One of my students, Andy Kotzen (now Koren) is now the education director of Temple Emanuel in Greensboro. Often in our meetings, he will say to me something like “I remember when you taught us such and such at HSI.” This to me is amazing because he was in my class 25 years ago.

Another of my students was a young man who was incredibly bright. I asked him to read Frankl's “Man’s Search for Meaning” and to write a paper and a class presentation about the book. The presentation was incredible. The paper was 40 handwritten pages from a high school senior! That young man’s name is Wayne Firestone. Today Wayne serves as the president of International Hillel and has been recognized as one of the 50 most important Jewish leaders in the United States.

None of these things could or would have happened without Morrie’s vision or the unique ability he had to bring this vision to reality. I am only one person who has had the privilege to teach at HSI. Other teachers have similar stories I am sure.

Morrie’s vision was based upon the understanding that teens in the 11th and 12th grade were undergoing the most profound development in their adult identity. In his view, what happened during these years would influence these kids not only in college, but during the rest of their lives. The best way to do this would be to teach them Jewish history in Israel at this time. In his view, an understanding of Jewish history would be a tremendous force in creating and shaping Jewish identity. The result would be that students would speak of the history of the Jewish people not in the third person plural (they), but in the first person plural (we).

I think that it was in 1973 that He gave up a very successful career as a pulpit rabbi to start the High School in Israel. He had no money to do this, but he did have Lenore’s love and support. Above all, He had a vision that if he could succeed in creating the school, the lives of Jewish teens and the nature of the American Jewish community would be altered.

He did this at a time when most Jewish educators had given up on teens. His vision came to be and his theories have been proven correct over and over again.

From the lessons that I learned from him, I have dedicated my life to helping educate Jewish teens and above all knowing that no matter how difficult the task may be, we should never give up on helping them become Jews dedicated to Israel, Jewish learning, the Jewish community and study.

I cannot help but wonder if the founders of “Birthright Israel” had understood Morrie’s theories on Jewish education and adolescent development, how much more “bang for the buck” we all could have gotten. Truly, these teenage years are so incredibly formative, much more so that the post college years.

Morrie Kippur – For me, he was a great man. For me, he was a giant among the rabbis of the second half of the 20th century in the American Jewish community. He was my teacher and friend and I will always be grateful to him for what he taught me.
I learned from him for eleven incredible years. I am a stronger Jew because of him and from him, I learned how to be a better rabbi and a better person.

I loved Morrie and hope God will ease the pain pf Lenore, Avi and Meryl. Morrie’s students such as me spiritually send our love to your family from all over the world.

“For our teachers and their students, and the students of their students, we ask for Peace (shalom) and Loving-kindness (Hesed) and let us say “Amen.”"

From Rabbi Karen Kedar

I am sitting here in my Jerusalem apartment packing to return home to
Chicago. I just read Fred Guttman's beautiful words eulogizing Morrie
Kippur. My first job out of rabbinic school was with the AMHSI, which
Morrie founded. There I entered Morrie's world. In Morrie's world, I
learned the power of vision. I learned that Jewish history is the
powerful story of our people. I learned that Jewish identity is formed
while immersed in the drama of that story. I learned to become a
teacher, a storyteller, a lover of teens. I learned that when an
institution is driven by passion and vision, lives are transformed.
Morrie's vision and passion transformed the lives of the teachers at
AMHSI as well as several generations of teens. After 25 years of the
rabbinate, I will always consider my time in Morrie's world the most
influential of my career. Thank you Morrie. May his memory be for a
blessing.

Letter sent to over 100 delegates to the Presbyterian Church USA Convention.

The following is a letter sent by email to over 100 delegates to this July’s Presbyterian Church USA Convention.

The resolution that the the PCUSA is considering is filled with bad theology and seeks to delegitmize and demonize Israel.

Dear --------------,

Here in Greensboro, there are wonderful relations between our local Jewish community and the Presbyterian Church. For many years, Temple Emanuel was located across the street from First Presbyterian Church. As a matter of fact, during the depression, our congregation lent money to First Presbyterian Church to finish its sanctuary. Because of this friendship, there is actually a six pointed Jewish star in one of the stained glass windows of the church.

During the past fifteen years that I have served Temple Emanuel of Greensboro, I have traveled to the Middle East with Presbyterian ministers who to this day I consider to be close friends. I only have the greatest respect for the Presbyterian Church and its important role in our country in general and in North Carolina specifically. I write to you as one who firmly believes in a two state solution to the Middle East crisis. I envision and pray for the day when there will be two states, an Israel and a Palestine, living side by side in security and mutual cooperation and respect.

I write to you in the spirit of friendship and genuine respect. Our community is profoundly concerned about matters that will come before the PCUSA General Assembly in July 2010, including a one-sided and factually flawed Middle East Study Committee (MESC) report, a call to denounce an American company for its sales to Israel, and endorsement of the virulently anti-Israel Kairos Palestine document.

In our opinion, the MESC report is an egregious diatribe against Israel. It makes highly selective use of sacred texts, historical events, and current realities to build a narrative against the Jewish state. Its recommendations are extremely biased against Israel. There are more than a dozen demands placed on Israel and the United States for policies supporting Israel. The few recommendations for Palestinian reforms are generally paired with additional demands on Israel.

While the nine-person MESC was supposed to represent a diverse range of perspectives, most of the committee was squarely aligned with a pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel narrative. Most of the individuals with whom the MESC met have been critical of Israel.

The report is insulting to the mainstream Jewish Community. It outrageously admonishes the American Jewish mainstream community to "catch up" with American Jewish groups of which it approves, namely Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), B'Tselem, and JStreet. The MESC met only briefly with one representative of a mainstream American Jewish organization. Had the MESC opened itself to a meaningful dialogue with the mainstream Jewish community, it might have learned that JVP is an anti-Israel group from far outside the mainstream - one that refuses to endorse a two-state solution and one that welcomes anti-Zionist Jews. B'Tselem isn't even an American group. JStreet issued a statement that it was never consulted by the MESC, finds the MESC report troubling and unfair, strongly objects to the MESC findings, and is dismayed that the MESC used JStreet as "political cover" for the report.

This report places inordinate blame on Israel for the conflict, without due appreciation for the extent of the physical threats - both rhetoric and deeds - that its people face. As much so, the singling out for censure or punitive measures of businesses engaged with one side to one complex conflict is highly counterproductive. Frankly, in the words of Yossi Beilin, the eminent peace activist who helped craft the Geneva Accords, "Narratives and activism that appear to target Israelis or exclude recognition of any of Israel's positive contributions to peace only make the people of my country, including the most progressive and moderate of us, feel isolated, insecure and less capable of encouraging the kinds of concessions and risks for peace that I have long strongly advocated."http://engage.jewishpublicaffairs.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=2788

I would like for you to learn more about this by looking at the following:

1. "Pastoral Letter in Response to MESC Report on the Middle East" Found at: http://www.pcjcr.org/letter.htm Among the signatories to this statement is the Rev. Dr. John Buchanan, Senior Pastor of Chicago's historic Fourth Presbyterian Church and a former Moderator of the PCUSA. Rev. Buchanan has served as the Editor and Publisher of The Christian Century.

2. "Habits of anti-Judaism - Critiquing a PCUSA report on Israel/Palestine" By Ted A. Smith and Amy-Jill Levine in the June 29th 2010 edition of the Christian Century. Ted A. Smith and Amy-Jill Levine teach at one of my alma maters, the Vanderbilt Divinity School. This exceptional piece of scholarship may be found at: http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=8539

3. The two part analysis of the Kairos Palestine Document Found at: http://www.christianfairwitness.com/

The Presbyterian Church is a great and lofty church which does have a real role to play in the pursuit of Middle East peace that all of us desire so deeply. Adopting a biased position in favor of one side to this conflict will only lessen the ability of the church to be a real force for reconciliation.

Together friends, let us pray for peace! Let us pray however as if everything depended upon God, but act as if everything depended upon us. In the field of action, the MESC report is a step in the wrong direction and should be dismissed. Truly by working together with both Israelis and Palestinians, working as Jews, Christians and Muslims, we can indeed bring closer the day envisioned by Isaiah when, "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore."

Shalom, Salaam, Peace,

Rabbi Fred GuttmanM.H.L., M.Ed., D. Div

Are we being honest about the war in Afghanistan?

First a little background. Our congregation has two members currently serving in Afghanistan. Both by the way have been previously deployed in Iraq.

I have heard from some who have been deployed there that in addition to being hot and having lousy living conditions, the security situation there was much worse than in Iraq and that the level of personal danger to US soldiers was quite high. I have also heard some reservations that the current government would ever be able to control the country.

I remember so well that during the Bush Presidency, our movement made a controversial resolution concerning Iraq and calling for a timetable for withdrawal.

With General McChrystal’s statements, it has become clearer to me that President Obama has listened to the voices of the military who have called to an ill thought-out escalation. I was against the escalation at the time and actually wrote a possible resolution calling for the President and Congress of the United States to bring swiftly and safely home all US troops and military, CIA, and similar contract personnel from Afghanistan. There were other points in this resolution which I am willing to share later.

In addition, it seems to me that the US war in Afghanistan has paralyzed and distorted US foreign policy in other, far more crucial areas of the world. Over the last decade, the coalition of forces led by the United States has been preoccupied first with Iraq and now with Afghanistan. While this has occurred, the present Iranian government has pursued the development of a nuclear technology and despite the fact that it has repeatedly asserted is aimed at civilian nuclear energy, most observers have found much evidence to suggest that Iran is indeed pursing a nuclear weapon.

So here is my point.

Why are we being so silent about this war?

Is it because we received a lot of blowback on the Iraq resolution and given our current financial problems we do not wish to aggravate our congregations? If so, then beseder but only to a point, and that point is reflected in the first paragraph above with the current danger being faced by our troops.

Or, is it because we are hesitant to criticize the policies of a Democratic administration with whom we frequently agree? We were not hesitant to criticize the foreign policy of a Republican administration with which we agreed on little. If this is the case, then this type of “real politic” is highly problematic in my view and this leads to the question, “Are we in the Reform Movement being honest about the war in Afghanistan?

Fred Guttman

My J Street problem

In the past several months, J Street has attempted to offer alternative letters in Congress which were not helpful in my opinion. One was a letter circulated in the beginning of May by Representatives Delahunt, Price, Snyder and Kind is unnecessary . This letter was a bit unnecessary since over 80% of Congress, on a bi-partisan basis had already sent a letter to the President supporting the U.S.-Israel alliance and American involvement in peace efforts. All of those Members offered to work closely with the Administration to support common interests between us and the Israelis. In addition, the Delahunt, Price, Snyder and Kind letter seemed somewhat unhelpful since it took the remarks by General Petraeus out of context (about Israel being a strategic burden to the US) and wholly ignored his subsequent clarification of those remarks. The Delahunt, Price, Snyder and Kind letter was not bi-partisan.

Then there was the Diane Feinstein letter which encouraged the President to “drive” the parties towards a peace agreement. The word “drive” was basically a synonym for imposing a peace agreement on then parties. This letter was unnecessary because there had already been a letter in support of the President’s efforts cosponsored by Senators Boxer and Isakson. Again this letter was bipartisan and did not have the word “drive” in it.

Recently, there are letters in the House and Senate in support Israel's Right to Self-Defense in the Gaza Flotilla Incident. To date 79 Senators and 279 House members have already signed the letters. Among other issues, the letters request that the administration use its veto power, if necessary, against any biased or one-sided resolutions emanating from the U.N. Security Council on this issue. The Senate letter is authored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The House effort is being led by Reps. Ted Poe (R-TX), Gary Peters (D-MI), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA), and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).

Incredibly, J Street sent a letter urging Senators and Congressmen not to support these letters because they do not call for an end to the blockade of Gaza something which by the way, officers in the Israel army are strenuously warning against. I would have had less of a problem had they sent a separate letter urging support for some resolution calling for the end of the blockade. To go against the bipartisan letter seems to be self destructive. These letters may not have everything that J Street wants in them, but what their merits are pretty good. My feeling is that J Street is so intent on pointing out that it is not AIPAC or the rest of the organized Jewish community, that if AIPAC supports something, it will not do so, regardless of the merits.

Perhaps this aids their fundraising, but it does not serve the pro Israel community well and calls into question J Street’s assertion that it is both pro Israel and pro peace.

An Understanding of the Flotilla Controversy

At the end of May, Israel boarded a flotilla of six ships trying to break the blockade to Gaza. Five of those ships were successfully boarded and on the sixth, Israel was met with a violent reaction from the people on the ship. Many of the videos posted on YouTube point out the validity of Israel’s claim that the people that attacked the soldiers on the sixth ship were not peace activists, but people who had been trained for confrontation and violence. The videos posted include not only those taken by Israel, but also ones confiscated from the ship from journalists aboard the ship. These videos show violent attacks on Israeli soldiers including one in which an Israeli soldier was stabbed twice in the back.

In the world, this attack on the Mavi Mamara has been met with almost universal condemnation. In Israel, there is much discussion about this as well. Recently, Israel has agreed to a Commission of Inquiry to be headed by Justice Jacob Turkel. Professor of international law and Israel Prize laureate Shabtai Rosen, and Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Horev, former president of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, will also participate. Two foreign observers will take part in the commission's deliberations: Nobel Peace Prize laureate William David Trimble of Ireland, and Ken Watkin, former military judge advocate general from Canada. They will examine both the role of the Israeli Army as well as the people who were on the Mavi Marmara.

This inquiry will stand in marked contrast to previous inquiries by the United Nations such as the slanderous Goldstone Report which accused Israel of seeking to purposely kill civilians during the Gaza war. Two weeks ago, the United Nations passed a resolution in which it first condemned Israel and only then called for an International Commission to investigate the incident. Condemn first, then investigate!

In Israel being the democracy that it is, there is more than adequate condemnation of this event. This condemnation includes the failure of Israeli intelligence to know that the people onboard the ship were indeed looking for a fight. It also includes the fact that Israeli P.R. mechanism was woefully inadequate in getting the films out in a timely manner and explaining Israel’s case to the world.

In recent polls in Israel, there has been an overwhelming majority of the people who were in favor of the interception of the ship. Why is this so?

First, it has become clear that the purpose of this flotilla in the minds of the leaders of Hamas was not necessarily to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. Israel offered the ships to dock in Ashdod port and they would transfer the aid to Gaza. This offer was made again and again and was met with refusal each time. Eventually, all of the six ships were taken into the Israeli port of Ashdod and their cargo was loaded on to trucks and sent to Gaza. Hamas refused to accept the supplies. By the way, Israel transfers about 15,000 tons of supplies and humanitarian aid every week to the people of Gaza.

So if the real purpose of the flotilla was not to provide aid, then what was the purpose?

To answer this, let us look at a little recent history. In January 2003 before there was a blockade on Gaza, Israel intercepted a ship named the Karine A. On that ship, there were fifty tons of weaponry. These included short-range Katyusha rockets, antitank missiles, and high explosives. Since that time, Israel has incepted numerous attempts to smuggle weapons into Gaza including one in 2009 in which weapons were hidden among sacks of flour.

In September 2005, Israel withdrew from every single square inch of Gaza. Every Jew living in Gaza was evacuated as part of Israel’s disengagement.

In June 2006, elections were held and these elections were won by Hamas, a violent Islamic radical group . One year later, Hamas violently seized Gaza and threw out or murdered all of its political opponents. This internal Palestinian coup is rarely cited in the media.

From 2006 until December 2008, more than 8,000 rockets were fired from Gaza into Southern Israel and fell on cities and town such as Sderot and Ashkelon. These rockets made life unbearable for more than 1,000,000 Israelis who were living in rocket range. This is especially true in Sderot which is close to the border. I have been told that there are children in Sderot who still wake up with nightmares and who have bed wetting problems at an age when they should not have them. For the most part, the terror of the rockets ended in December 2008 with Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s war in Gaza.

Meanwhile to the north of Israel in Lebanon, a place wherein there is not blockade on weaponry, Hizbullah, a radical Shiite Islamic terror group, has now amassed more that 40,000 rockets which can be fired into Israel as far as Tel Aviv.

The huge arsenal of weapons amassed by the Hezbollah, in spite of the presence of UN monitor forces in Lebanon, is in direct defiance of UN Resolution 1701, which called for the ""full implementation ... of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state." Given the failure of the international community to implement that Resolution, it is understandable why Israel should be wary of any kind of imposed settlement.

Therefore for Hamas, the purpose of the flotilla was to break the blockade in order to allow for the unfettered importation of weaponry via the sea into Gaza. Here they would find an ally in the Iranians who were willing to provide them with such weapons. By doing this, the Iranians hoped to create a port in the Mediterranean. The flotilla incident was also convenient for Iranians government to divert the world’s attention, especially in the UN, away from their violations of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty of which they are a signatory and to avoid being sanctioned by the UN. This strategy by the way, would not work for the Iranians. Just this week, the UN did vote to sanction Iran for its efforts in trying to become a nuclear power. Do not however get too excited about this bit of “good” news, for most feel that the UN sanctions are very weak and will have little effect in preventing and even slowing down Iran’s nuclearization.

Finally, let us not forget that on June 25th , Gilad Shalit, whose picture is sitting on the chair over here, will conclude his fourth year of Hamas captivity. During this time he has not been seen by the Red Cross and we are not clear as to his welfare. Lawyers representing the family of Gilad Shalit, the kidnapped Israeli soldier held in isolation, had asked the protestors to take aid for him, they refused. People on boats might have the words Free Gaza as a convenient slogan. Yet Gaza is not under Israeli rule. In fact, only one Jew lives there, against his will. If anything, “Free Gilad Shalit” should be the rallying call heard around the world. As Jews we will continue to pray for his release. It is time to bring Gilad home!

A friend of mine, Rabbi Mickey Boyden from Israel wrote simply the following, “Israel makes mistakes, what country does not? But there are far more serious issues out there than Israel’s interception of the Mavi Marmara. However, it is in the interests of many of the players on the world stage to put the blame and focus on Israel which has become the world’s “Jew” rather than addressing the serious threats that face the civilized world.”

Another friend, Rabbi Jonathan Miller, wrote “Israel is a young, lovely, and vibrant country. It is imperfect, yet it is, to a large extent, the fulfillment of our people’s dreams and hopes. Israel faces many challenges. There are many people out there, including some very real enemies and others who are only the fairest of weather friends, who focus on every mistake that Israel makes and who are critical of each and every fault. These faults are acceptable when made by almost every other nation, but not when made by Israel.”

More than 3,200 years ago, the Jewish people faced very serious challenges on the way to the Promised Land. After more than forty years, the Jewish people did reach the Promised Land. Despite all of these difficulties of achieving peace, more than three thousand years later, we are hopeful and prayerful that Israel will indeed know peace, tranquility and security within her borders.

Teen Education for Reform Jews

Can we do Better?

(The following is a letter sent by Rabbi Guttman to the Reform Rabbis and educators list on June 14, 2010.)

As Reform Jews, can we do a better job in preparing our young people to be Jews? In general, we have not been successful in educating our community, especially our teens and college students. I am particularly worried that our teenagers are inadequately prepared for the onslaught on anti-Israel propaganda that they will face on college campuses. All too often, they have very little understanding of the nature of Israel’s security needs

In 2003, the pollster, Frank Luntz, pointed out that young American Jews are feeling a greater distance from Israel, the nation, and its future. Last month, a columnist named Peter Beinert said that in his opinion, the distance felt by young American Jews was due to the fact that as Liberals, they opposed the policies of Israel and that they were specifically turned off by the American Jewish establishment’s support of Israel’s policies.

The new lobby called “J Street” would represent a protest against the pro Israel lobbying of the American Jewish establishment. “J-Street” has been critical of Israel’s policies and supportive of a proscriptive approach to the Middle-East conflict. In J-Street’s view, the Obama administration should “drive” the parties towards a peace settlement. Another way to look at this is that the peace settlement should be enforced from the outside by the Obama administration and the rest of the world upon Israel. When talking to J-Street activists, I’ve heard two statements. One is, “Israel has had sixty years to solve this conflict and has not been able to do so. Therefore the United States needs to do it.” The second statement that I’ve heard is, “We need to save Israel from itself.”

I have several problems with the J Street position. First, I seriously doubt that any imposed settlement will work for either the Palestinians or the Israelis. There must be “buy-in” from both sides. Second, J-Street’s position does not acknowledge the vibrancy or legitimacy of Israel as a representative democracy which should be in control of its own destiny. Finally, I think it is very sad that the emergence of J-Street does not seem to have brought American Jews who disagree with Israel closer to Israel or back to Jewish commitment. Rather it just seems to have provided to them an outlet for criticizing Israel and thereby becoming even more distant from Israel and the state.

In my opinion however, the distancing of young American Jews is not due to Israeli’s policies as much as it is to the abject failure of Jewish education. This past week in a speech to the Union for Reform Judaism Board, President Eric Yoffie wrote that 80% of those children in the who become Bnei Mitzvah in Reform congregations will have no connection to the Temple or synagogue by the time they are in the 12th grade. I have been aware of this statistic for several years, but now that it is publically out there it is indeed shocking.


Here in Greensboro, there are some significant forces counter to this, but we are only one small Jewish community in America. One of them is, of course, the American Hebrew Academy which is a pearl of the Jewish world in that it is succeeding in creating a strong Jewish identity in teens. The dedication to sending kids to Israel is also seen in the fine program at the American Hebrew Academy wherein the 11th grade spends its fall semester of their junior year in Israel.

The second is the dedication of our congregations toward the education of our teens. Last year in addition to taking kids to Israel, Temple Emanuel organized a teen trip to the Religious Action Center in Washington, DC and a “Disaster and Rebuild” trip to New Orleans and a teen trip to Poland and Israel.


The third factor is the generous support of many philanthropists in our community and most especially, the Greensboro Jewish Federation towards making such trips possible.

The results of our effort to educate teens in our community is to be seen in the following statistics. We retained 80% of our recent twelfth grade class after Bnei Mitzvah. In the past few years, we have maintained somewhere between 70-80% of all of the kids who have become a Bnai Mitzvah Three quarters of those we have retained go to Israel before high school graduation. This year, incredibly, 100% of our teens had been to Israel.

I am more convinced of the importance of such trips. By taking kids to Poland and then to Israel, we are indeed giving to our young people a narrative of why there must be a state of Israel as a refuge for our people and a place wherein Jews can be in control of their own destiny.

The Reform movement, being the largest Jewish movement in America, contains a million and a half Jews and almost a thousand congregations. I have no idea how many kids become Bnai Mitzvah during the year, but for 80% of them not to be connected 5 years later is indeed appalling! This statistical phenomenon is a threat to the future viability of the Reform movement. It is THE major reason why so many non-orthodox Jewish kids are not well prepared to encounter pro-Palestinian propaganda on college campuses. It affects the future viability of the future Jewish-American community, including the Jewish Federation movement.

Friends, we can do better! We can do better in presenting Israel’s case for the world. We can do better in terms of educating our young people to defend Israel from propaganda which seeks to delegitimize her right to exist. We can do better when it comes to turning our Bnei Mitzvah factories with their appalling dropout rates into real schools wherein students remain engaged throughout high school. We can do much better when it comes to educating our young people to love the Jewish people, the State of Israel and Torah. We can do better!

Healthcare and the Dead Sea

I want to begin by telling a story about Jordan. No, not our bat Mitzvah girl, but the Jordan River in Israel. The Jordan River has been the subject of many songs. The Jordan River is deep and wide, Halleluyah. Milk and honey on the other side, Halleluyah. Michael Row your boat ashore, Halleluyah …

Or “I looked over the Jordan and what did I see, coming for to carry me home. A band of angels coming after me. Coming for to carry me home.”

With songs such as this one, one could imagine that the Jordan River is indeed a major and mighty river. Imagine the surprise of those who travel to Israel when they actually see the Jordan River for the first time. The so-called “river” is actually a creek. It is a part of the Syrian African rift, a great rift that extends hundreds of mile north to south in that part of the world.

The Jordan starts in Northern Israel and is fed by several small tributaries, including the Dan, Banias and Hatzbani rivers. It is then collected in the swamps of the Hula valley. From there, it flows as a river south until it reaches the Sea of Galilee or, as it is called in Hebrew, the Kinneret. From the Kinneret, it flows south until it reaches the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is actually the lowest point on earth, some four hundred meters below sea level.

Rabbinical Midrash paints a far different and more realistic impression of the Jordan River and its role in this great Syrian African Rift. The rabbis noted that the Jordan River flows into and out of the Sea of Galilee. Now for those of us who have been to the Sea of Galilee, we can tell you that it is the fresh water reservoir for the state of Israel. In warmer weather, it is a favorite vacation spot for Israeli families and tourists. The Saint Peter’s fish from the Sea of Galilee is really delicious, especially when cooked with lots of butter on an open grill! The Sea of Galilee is a wonderful place to swim or water ski. It has wonderful Eucalyptus trees on its banks. It is a place which seems to be teeming with life.

The Dead Sea, however, is an entirely different place. There is not much life around the Dead Sea. There are no fish living in it. Its salt and phosphate content is so high that it is impossible for a human being to sink in it. The salt content is good therapy for people with psoriases and some other skin diseases. However, woe be unto the one who enters the Dead Sea with an open cut or who has recently shaved! The pain can be excruciating! Getting Dead Sea water in one’s eyes is unbearable, and swallowing the water of the dead Sea can be fatal.

What is the difference between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea? Both of them are fed by the Jordan River, but one seems to be so alive while the other as befitting its name is so dead. The rabbis teach us that the difference between the two seas is to be found in the fact that the Jordan River flows both in an out of the Sea of Galilee, but only into the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is alive because it is a receiver and a giver. The Dead Sea is dead, precisely because it is only a receiver of the waters of the Jordan River and does not give in return.

Now, I was thinking about this midrash this week not only in terms of our Bat Mitzvah girl Jordan, whose Hebrew name by the way is Yardena, but also because of something else in the news.

Specifically, there was news from California that Anthem Blue Cross was going to raise its insurance rates to Californians purchasing their own coverage by some 39%. This occurred after the company reported massive fourth-quarter profits. This rate increase would affect some 800,000 Californians. The Health and Human Services Department says similar pressure on premiums is being felt in at least six other states and possibly more. The department noted that this is coming after a time of growth in company profits. This is also the result of the lack of competition found for many people in the country when it comes to heath care.

Friends, it is time for us to tell the truth. I think many of us like our doctors, but I know few of us who like our healthcare companies. I know that this is strong language, but in my opinion, healthcare companies have become nothing less than “leeches” on American society and threaten the health of so many. The cost of health care is an impediment to the rebounding of our economy and to the general economic health of the United States. If Anthem Blue Cross is allowed to raise its rates by 39%, some families will see their health care premiums increase by $7,000 in one year!
It is indeed sad that Congress has been unable to pass health care legislation. Such legislation would have required that all health care insurance companies spend a minimum of 85% of their premiums on actual health care and not on advertisements, overhead or bonuses for CEO’s and top leadership.

I am amazed at how the healthcare industry has frightened the American people through its advertising campaign and prevented real healthcare reform. I find it incredible that there are only two major industries which are exempt from federal antitrust laws and these are major league baseball and health insurance companies.

So, I find it noteworthy that in light of this outrageous behavior by health care companies, eighteen democratic senators have asked Congress and the administration to reconsider a public option for healthcare as a way to increase competition and to bring down health care premiums.

Now there will be some who will say that this is not the proper topic for a sermon. Yet the rabbis will tell us that he who saves a life, saves the world. Jewish tradition throughout the middle ages taught that providing health care is a communal responsibility. As such, from a Jewish perspective, the issue of affordable healthcare is not merely an issue of economics, but a profound moral issue of our time.

Yes, there are two seas in Israel fed by the Jordan River. One, the Sea of Galilee teams with life while the other, the Dead Sea, is dead. The behavior of the health care insurance companies of late resembles the Dead Sea far more than it does the Sea of Galilee. Such behavior is indeed deadly because of its effect on our community and on the health and well-being of our citizens.

Therefore, I urge you to become more informed on this issue and to increase the pressure on our elected officials for real healthcare reform.

May it be God’s will and our task that health care in our country will be less like the Dead Sea which only receives but does not give and more like the Sea of Galilee, which not only receives but gives, which not only teams with life, but supports life in all of its God given diversity and beauty.

Some Biblical lessons relevant to the Superbowl

Some Biblical lessons relevant to this Sunday

(I owe my colleague Andy Koren for a lot for this inspiration!)

In the Hebrew bible, horses are not well thought of. So often they are the symbol of ruthless political power and oppression. Consider the following verses:

Exodus 15:1. The horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea. Exodus 15:19. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea. Exodus 15:21. And Miriam answered them, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea. Amos 2:15. Nor shall he who rides the horse save himself. Zechariah 12:4 .
On that day, says the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic. Proverbs 12: 31. The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but safety comes from the Lord. Deut 17:16. But he (the king) shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt. Joshua 11: 6. You shall lame their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.

Now the definition of a colt is “A young male animal of the horse family.”

In the Hebrew bible, we often find the word “Righteous” as a noun in either a singular or plural form. The Hebrew words are “Tzadik” or “Tzadikim.”

Consider the following verses:

Psalms 97:11. Light is sown for the righteous. Isaiah 3:10. Say to the righteous, that it shall be well with him. Psalm 64:4. But let the righteous be glad. Psalm 92:13. The righteous flourish like the palm tree. Psalm 140:14. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name. Psalm 146:8. The Lord loves the righteous;

Certainly although Judaism does not have the concept of a “saint,” people who are righteous may be called “saintly.” This the word Tzadik could be translated as “saint” and Tzadikim as “saints.”
Consider also the following verse: Genesis 1:2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And a wind (ruach) from God moved upon the face of the waters.

In English, the word Ruach could be translated as “Brees.” I am not sure if the “waters” are Miami or New Orleans.

There will be some who understand the “profound” significance of the above.

However, before one should take this to the bank, one would also do well to remember that some have read Psalm 26:9-10 “ Do not gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men. In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes” as referring to gamblers and those who make wagers.

The final caveat is to remember the immortal words of Rabbi Pinchas who was said to live at the “end of the town” when he wrote: “Then I'll get on my knees and pray. We don't get fooled again.”

A Jewish Reflection on the Spiritual Message of “Avatar”

A Jewish Reflection on the Spiritual Message of “Avatar”
Rabbi Fred Guttman
January 8, 2010
(No Spoilers here!)

James Cameron’s new blockbuster movie Avatar is now showing in theaters. The movie was the most expensive film in history to make. As of last week, the movie had taken in more than one billion dollars in revenues.
The movie is stunning in its technology and beauty. I saw it both in regular and 3D versions.

What I found most interesting in the film was its spiritual message and how the film spoke to my Jewish soul.

The people of Pandora are called the “Navi.” In Hebrew, the word “Navi” means “prophet.” I found myself wondering if Cameron is trying to make these people into “prophets” for us. Perhaps the Navi in the movie are not only predicting our future, but they are also warning us and chastising us in the present. By the way, the great biblical prophets did more “chastising” that predicting. After all, the cry for righteousness and justice was an integral part of the prophetic narrative.
The Navi when they are in a total reciprocal relationship with someone will say “I see you.” This is a deep type of seeing, the type that the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber would have called and “I Thou” relationship.

Now what does it mean to truly see someone else?

Here again the bible gives us an answer.

After almost sacrificing his son Isaac, Abraham looks up and sees a ram caught in a thicket. (Genesis 22:13). I have always felt that the ram was always there for him to see, but it was only at that moment that he actually saw it. It was only at that moment that he learned to see deeply and with God’s eyes and not just the superficial eyes of most human contact. Notice as well that Abraham names the place it “Adonai Yireh” – the place of “God vision.”

Similarly in Exodus 3, Moses sees a bush burning which was not consumed. The greatness of Moses in my opinion was that he saw deeply enough to see that this was no normal occurrence. Moses was able to see with the eyes of God.
So when the Navi say “I see you,” their type of seeing resonates with me both biblically and in terms of the I-Thou philosophy of Buber. Through the Navi people, Cameron is warning us that when we do not truly see others as what they really are; namely, holy manifestations of the divine, we will indeed become destructive towards them.

Later this month, the Jewish world will celebrate the holiday of Tu Bishvat, the New Year of the trees. From the beginning, our ancestors realized the importance of trees and set aside time to celebrate and educate about trees.

In Deuteronomy 20:19, we read “ki ha'adam ets hasadeh,” “for the human being is a tree of the field.” In Psalm 3:8, the Torah is referred to as a “tree of life.”
In Genesis 2:5 we read “when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil,” The Hebrew here is “v'chol siach hasadeh terem yi’yeh ba’aretz” - “when no shrub of the field was yet on earth” can be translated as “when no conversation of the field was yet on earth.” Perhaps the implication here is that after the world of trees and vegetation is created, the human being is to enter into dialogue with it.

So perhaps Tu Bishvat is a time when we are not only supposed to see trees, but also to enter into discussion with them. By the way, the philosopher Marin Buber who I mentioned earlier, maintained that one can have an I-Thou relationship even with a tree.

And trees figure prominently in the movie Avatar. The place where the Navi live is called “Hometree.” Hometree is a giant tree which sits on top of a large amount of “Unobtainium,” an element which provides energy. Human beings from earth are now trying to get this element because the energy resources on earth have been depleted. As the movie progresses, the humans will first attempt to convince the Navi to abandon Hometree and when this does not succeed, the humans will destroy the tree. The environmental message is clear here. Having, destroyed the trees of the earth through exploitation, global warming and deforestation, the humans now will destroy THE tree of another planet.

It is also interesting to me that the roots of Hometree are said to be connected to the roots of all of the other trees of the planet. For me as a Jew, this is reflective of the Kabbalistic teaching that we all are connected to the Source or God. In the Kabbalah, the unity of creation is its Oneness. We are all interconnected to each other and to God and the ultimate advancement in the history of humankind will be when we recognize that oneness. The prophet Zachariah (14:9) tells us, “On that day, the Lord shall be one; and God’s name, One.” Indeed, the theological basis of Judaism is that one God created the universe and that all of creation; trees, shrubs, animals and human beings, has intrinsic worth and is holy.

After the Hometree is destroyed, the Navi flee to a tree called the “Tree of Souls.” This is the tree which enables them to connect with the souls of their ancestors. In order to do this, they take the strings at the end of their tails and connect them to the strings of the tree. This reminds me of the Jewish tradition that when we recite the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4,  “Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord”) the prayer which asserts the unity of God, we take the four fringes or strings of the Talit (prayer shawl) and put them together.

In the movie, it is this connection with the Tree of Souls which will enable the Navi to overcome their persecutors and prevail. What a wonderful message to us as Jews! When we truly listen to the voices of our mothers and fathers, our grandmother and grandfathers, the ancient rabbis and teachers, the matriarchs and patriarchs, we truly can connect with the wisdom of the past and received guidance from it.

For the Navi, the Tree of the Souls is also the way in which they connect to “Eywa,” the mother God, the God of the planet and the one and only God in their tradition. Here I find it very interesting that the word “Eywa” seems to approximate the sound of a breath. This by the way is also the sound of YHVH in the bible. YHVH is the holiest word for God in the bible and is virtually unpronounceable, except as a breath. For the Navi and for we Jews, God is the breath of all humankind. Without Eywa, and without YHVH, without the breath; we cannot survive.

So James Cameron has created an incredibly spiritual movie. I have no idea whether or not elements of Judaism and Jewish mysticism influenced him, but I do know how the spirituality of the movie resonates with me as a Jew.

In the end of the movie, some humans from earth join the Navi in resisting the crass exploitation of both the natural resources and the people of the planet Pandora. This is James Cameron's "Nevuah" or prophecy to us in a biblical sense. With the threats now facing our planet through the scourge of war and global warming, I begin to wonder if we as human beings will be able to come together to resist the forces of greed which seem to be destroying our hometree, our precious blue green planet which sustains us? Will we be able to learn how to truly see the “other,” not as an opponent, but as part of the Oneness of God’s creation?
Perhaps most important though, will we be able to come together to save and heal the planet and humankind? Will we be able to eliminate the exploration of people and resources, to destroy the forces of bias bigotry and racism and to create what Jesus, who after all was a great Jewish teacher, once described as a “beloved community?”

I hope that you will go to see this extraordinary movie. More than that, it is my prayer that we all will take its spirituality and its message to heart. May we be able to truly see the oneness of creation, the holiness that exists in all people and things. This is so important that the ability of future generations to might very well depend on how well we heed the words of James Cameron's warning to human beings as presented in this wonderful movie Avatar.