Reb Fred says...

Gunther Plaut (zt"l) Comes to Greensboro

2012-02-09T18:42:00.001-08:00

Rabbi Gunther Plaut zt”l, one of the greatest and most scholarly rabbis of the twentieth century, died today. He was ninety nine years old. Among other things, Gunther will be remembered for his incredible commentary on the Torah, a commentary which is still used to this day by many liberal Jews.

I think that it was in 2003 that Gunther Plaut posted on Ravkav that he was aggravated that he had aged out of being asked his opinion about anything. I could really feel his pain. Here you had one of the most brilliant rabbis of his generation who had already outlived most of his peers and who felt he was being ignored!

So I wrote him an email. I told him that I was really short on money, but that our congregation would really like to learn from him. I made a proposal that he should come here. He would preach on Friday night, teach Torah study on Saturday morning and do a study session on Saturday afternoon. I mentioned to him that I would like for him to share his early biography with us and his service to our country in World War II. I offered him an absurd amount as an honorarium. I think it was only around $500 plus expenses. I was not trying to exploit him. We really did not have the money!

To my shock and delight, he accepted and asked me to call him. I called him. He sounded completely normal, but he asked me if it was acceptable that he be accompanied by a “lady companion.” Actually, I thought that it was cute. Gunther was forty years older than me. He was at that time over ninety years old.

I guess he told his son Jonathan about our deal. Shortly thereafter, I got a call from Jonathan. Jonathan asked me if I knew that his dad was suffering from the onset of dementia. I said that I did not and asked Jonathan if this was a good idea. Jonathan said that it was a good idea as long as I knew what we were getting into. I asked him for advice and he said that some of the time, his dad needs to be verbally nudged by a comment or a question. He felt that Gunther’s ability to do a straight lecture was not good.

Understanding these limitations, I accepted.

Gunther’s lady friend was none other than Janice (or Janine?) Rothschild who had been married to Jacob Mortimer Rothschild (1022-1973), the esteemed rabbi of The Temple in Atlanta. He had been a passionate advocate for Civil Rights and had been the rabbi at The Temple when it was bombed in 1958.

Janice took great care of Gunther and did so in a most loving way. It was clear to all that he absolutely adored her and loved being with her.

Gunther read something at services on Friday night and did fine.

On Saturday morning at Torah study, I immediately understood what Jonathan was trying to tell me. Gunther really could not teach this class. However, if I asked him a question or to interpret a particular verse, out from someplace in the depths of his mind came incredible pearls of wisdom! I became a “Barbara Walters” character, interviewing Gunther about the Torah portion.

The reaction of the lay students was wonderful. The Torah study session was a smashing success!

All of them came back in the afternoon for the Seudah Shelishit and Havdalah. I continued the interview style and we quickly began to learn all about his early life and his war experiences.

In April of 1945, he was part of the group which liberated Nordhausen. According to Gunther, he found numerous bodies which were in need of a Jewish burial. He went to his commanding officer and asked for permission to force the people of the town to bury the dead. The commanding officer said to Gunther that he had the full force of the US Army behind him in this task.

Later that afternoon according to Gunther, he went to the mayor of the town and told him what needed to be done. The mayor replied that such a task was “inhumane,” by which he meant “gross and disgusting” for the people who would be doing the burials. Many of these bodies were badly decayed and the stench was horrible.

Gunther then said to us something amazing. He told us that he pulled a pistol on the mayor, held it to his head and told him that if every able bodied man from the town was not at the town square at 8 am the next day, he (Gunther) would hunt him down like he dog that he (the mayor) was and he (Gunther) would put a bullet in his head.

People’s mouth dropped in shock! I remember feeling so much love and respect for him at that moment. I had never spent any time with him before that weekend and this could very well been the last time he was a visiting scholar. I am not sure.

Gunther went on to tell us of the incredible thirst that the survivors had for Jewish religious items. In his opinion, they seemed to want these items more than they wanted food!

Our congregation loved that weekend with Gunther. He brought to us even at his advanced age and slightly limited mental capacity a sense not of only of his brilliance, but also of his humanity. I realized that I could never be as brilliant as Gunther, but I hoped that in some way, I could strive to be as dedicated to the Jewish people as Gunther was. He was at that moment both an inspiration and a role model for me!

That seems like a long time ago. I once learned that when a soul leaves a body in which it has been severely limited, it recreates emotionally the joy that the Jewish people felt upon our liberation from Egypt. Gunther’s holy neshamah has now experienced its liberation!

This week at the end of Torah study, we will say Kaddish for Gunther. Many in that group still remember our time with him.

May his memory continue to be an inspiration and a blessing. Zecher Tzaddik levracha!

THE WORLD’S HYPOCRISY

2012-02-09T05:10:00.000-08:00

My friend Mickey Boyden wrote yesterday from Israel “Have you noticed the deafening silence of the human rights organizations and NGO's concerning what is happening in Syria today? Where is the BDS Movement? How is it that there hasn't been, at least to my knowledge, a single major demonstration in the West against the massacre of innocent civilians? Why is it that the Palestinians and Egyptians are not taking to the streets in massive demonstrations against what is being done to their "brothers and sisters?” And if we're asking questions, why is it that the UN Human Rights Council hasn't called for an equivalent of the Goldstone Commission to examine precisely what is happening in Syria today?

Now I know Israel isn't perfect - I live there. But human rights should be indivisible.” (I think he should has said “inviolable?” I think that in London there was a demonstration by Syrians living there. No matter – His points still stand FG)

Is There a Jewish Angle to the Komen - Planned Parenthood Controversy?

2012-02-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

Is there a Jewish angle to the Komen - Planned Parenthood Controversy? Unless you have been out of touch, you probably know that this past week, bowing to political pressure from anti-choice advocates, the Susan B Komen Foundation chose to defund Planned Parenthood. Last year the Komen Foundation, which is this nation’s largest breast cancer charity, gave $680,000 dollars to Planned Parenthood for breast exams. Planned Parenthood has estimated that, over the past five years, the Komen Foundation funds have paid for 170,000 breast examinations at Planned Parenthood.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation was founded by Nancy Brinker some thirty years ago in memory of her sister Susan Komen who died of breast cancer. To date, the Foundation has raised some $1.9 billion dollars.

The Komen Foundation said that the cut off came because its policy is not to grant money to organizations that are under investigation. Florida Congressman Cliff Stearns, the Republican chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Investigative Subcommittee, an anti-choice advocate, has instigated an investigation into whether or not Planned Parenthood has used federal money to fund abortions.

This is where the two sides differ. Komen says it was forced to make the move by a new policy that prevents it from giving grant money to groups that are under investigation, bit it seems as though this policy was applied only to Planned Parenthood. Other than Representative Stern’s investigation, there is no other investigation of Planned Parenthood within the government nor the legal system. Ironically, if Komen was to adhere to this policy completely, it would not have agreed to grant $7,500,000 to Penn State University which is under civil and criminal investigation because of sexual abuse in its football program.

Planned Parenthood is a wonderful organization. I used to be on its Board of Trustees locally during the time when our congregant Sally Cone, Alan’s wife, was the local chair. It was founded ninety years ago and has more than eight hundred centers, including the facility in Greensboro.
A look at how Planned Parenthood spends its money is quite revealing. 35% of its patient care goes to the treatment and testing of sexually transmitted diseases. 16% is for cancer screening and prevention, 10% is for other woman’s health services. 35% is for contraception and only 3% of is patient care goes for abortions. Almost all of its care goes to people who are poor and uninsured.

There are several Jewish angles to this.

First of all, Susan Komen was, and Nancy Brinker, her sister, is Jewish. I happen to know that several rabbis contacted Ms Brinker.

Second, on December 15, 2011 at the Biennial convention, the Union for Reform Judaism presented the most prestigious Maurice N. Eisendrath “Bearer of Light Award” for Service to the World Community to the Foundation which was accepted by Nancy Brinker. Had the URJ known then that the Susan B. Komen for the Cure Foundation was even considering defunding Planned Parenthood, it is highly unlikely that Komen would have been given the award.

In a letter this week to Nancy Brinker, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and Rabbi Marla Feldman, Executive Director of the Women of Reform Judaism, wrote: “Halting Komen grant money to PPFA is contrary to your organization's mission and interests, directly and unfairly threatening the health and safety of women.

“Upon accepting the Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award, you told the story of two women, one Palestinian and one Israeli, marching together to combat breast cancer in the first Race for the Cure in Israel. You explained with admiration that, in the course of the walk, they were able to forget the political climate that divided them and they bonded instead over the common cause of women's health. We now urge Komen to follow their example by rejecting efforts to sow division among women's health advocates and providers and refusing to sacrifice the lives of women on the altar of political ideology.”

The letter continues: “We understand that this funding decision comes from a new standard employed by Komen for the Cure that defunds organizations under government investigation. While we understand the desire to have an objective policy in place, this particular standard is misguided, threatening more than just grants to Planned Parenthood (PPFA). We believe there are less partisan ways to accomplish your goals. For example, a standard that is linked to investigations carried out by law enforcement is more likely to be free of partisanship. The standard that Komen has established allows Komen's funding decisions to be dictated by the political whims, partisanship and pet issues of individual members of Congress, who persuade their committees to launch an investigation. This new standard may appear to extricate Komen from politicization, yet in reality it leaves the group open to even greater politicization.”

A third Jewish angle is that there is a doctrine in Judaism called Pikuach Nefesh. Pikuach Nefesh is the belief that the saving of human life is the highest moral obligation in Judaism and is to be done in all cases [except that one cannot justify the saving of save one’s own life by the murder of another innocent person (Sanhedrin 74a asks “Whose blood is redder?")].

It was our hope and prayer that the leadership of the Susan B Komen Foundation would reverse this decision. We were overjoyed and grateful when they reversed the defunding and refunded Planned Parenthood.
In its statement the Foundation said: “We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives. The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities. “

There is little doubt that the intense public outcry led to this decision by the Susan B. Komen Foundation to reverse itself.

The English playwright William Congreve in his play from 1697 entitled “The Mourning Bride” wrote: "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

What a fitting quotation in this case. It was clear that the trust and respect of so many for the Susan B Komen Foundation overnight turned to distrust and scorn. Many American women felt devalued by another overt politicization of their health issues, especially when the lives of many, especially poor women, were at stake.

I salute the Komen Foundation for changing its mind, but I urge it to examine well how it got into this mess in the first place. Those within the organization who advocated for this misguided policy should be held accountable. In my opinion, the rage over this was so very real that had the Foundation not changed course, it jeopardized its future viability.

That being said, I want you to know that I have made an online donation to Planned Parenthood and urge you to do likewise.

In addition to Planned Parenthood, I would also recommend an organization called Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test which is important because according to their website: “Most breast cancer is in the body five to eight years before it can be detected through current methods. Earlier detection may prevent invasive surgery, minimize treatment and dramatically increase survival chances.” This charity’s medical director is Dr. Ken Karb at Moses Cone Health System here is Greensboro. It was founded by Martha Kaley and several women in our congregation are active in it. Its expense ratio is very low and it grants money to various universities and research institutes working in this area.

Finally, I am going to present to the Ritual Committee next week that we consider holy a Sabbath service next year devoted to breast cancer awareness and women’s health.

Tonight, we conclude by praying for the health of the one in eight women who will be afflicted with breast cancer in their lifetime. May they be blessed with an early detection of their cancer. We ask God’s blessing upon all people are violated by breast cancer. We ask God’s mitigation of its anguish and pain. Bless and strengthen women and men who suffer from breast cancer with a refuah shelama, a complete recovery. May they be instilled with patience and fortitude, with sensitivity and understanding, and with courage and hope.

May others reach out to them with tenderness and lovingkindness and may they receive the blessings offered by our community and tradition.
Help them all to know how much we love them and how deeply we are devoted to their recovery.

Give them a long, full, peaceful, and happy life marked by a complete healing, a healing of spirit, and a healing of body.

Bless with continued health those who have overcome this disease.

Bless and strengthen the health care professionals and caregivers who seek to heal those who are suffering. Imbue them with courage, confidence, understanding, and compassion so they may join You in the work of healing.

May none of us, be we researchers, patients or caregivers, ever surrender to despair, uncertainty, or fatigue, but may we all engage in Your work with strength, wholeheartedness and devotion.

Help us all to sense Your presence in good times as well as difficult ones.

Grant us patience when the hours are heavy;
In hurt or disappointment give us courage.
Keep us trustful in Your love.

Give us strength for today, and hope for tomorrow.
To your loving hands we commit our spirits when asleep and when awake. You are with us and we shall not fear. Amen

Arab Spring or Arab Winter?

2012-01-26T05:54:00.000-08:00

This week marks the anniversary of the beginning of the Arab Spring in Tunisia. Sorry but I do not share the optimism of others concerning the so called Arab Spring. It seems to me that at least as far as peace with Israel and the rest of the Western world is concerned; the Arab Spring is closer to an Arab Winter.

This is especially true in Egypt wherein estimates are that the Muslim Brotherhood will control 50% of the lower house of Egypt’s parliament and the Salafis will control 25%. That is 75 % for the Islamic parties.

While for a variety of reasons, I do not see Egypt revoking the peace treaty with Israel, I do believe that the treaty will have little of the content or meaning that it did when it was signed by Sadat in 1979. There will be little if any contact between Egypt and Israeli diplomats. Trade will be kept to a minimum. The natural gas pipeline will not function. Tourism will be minimal.

Worst of all, Egypt will arm Hamas in Gaza to the teeth and be quite content to encourage Hamas to undertake terrorist activities against Israel.

The protestors in Tahrir square might have had the best of intentions to create a liberal democracy, but after years of anti Israel and anti Jewish propaganda, the voice of the Egyptian people is being heard in favor of Islamic rule which has little desire to promote peace and cooperation with Israel.

Egypt is not America. Let us not stick our heads in the sand and join the bandwagon of those who think that the Arab Spring is a step forward for progress, understanding and peace. Rather, the Arab Spring has been a useful tool for the Islamists to take over and once they are in power, the values of liberal democracy, cooperation with the West and peace have little meaning.

MLK and Anti LGBT Amendments

2012-01-16T06:02:00.000-08:00

There remains so much to do in order to bring more of the dream of Dr King to fruition. I am sure that Dr King would have so much to teach us about the issues of the day. His voice would ring out loudly and he would have so much to say at this time, especially concerning the issues facing the State of North Carolina. He would encourage the North Carolina legislature to turn its attention to living wages; protections for maximum voter turnout; workers’ rights; equal access to good health care; and providing sound basic education for every child.

He would call upon all of us to respect our religious differences concerning family life and personal status. I do not think that Dr King would favor religiously sanctioned gay marriages in his church. I do think that he would have recognized that this is a very difficult and sensitive issue and that good people will have differing opinions concerning this issue.

That being said, I feel that Dr King would have been appalled at any attempt to write into the constitution of this state under the guise of protecting heterosexual marriage an amendment which seeks to restrict the rights of a certain group of people based upon their sexual identity. While King of course headed the SCLC , he deeply respected the NAACP. I mention this because since its founding 102 years ago, the mission of the NAACP has been to “ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons.” I think that Dr King would have been proud of the fact that the North Carolina NAACP has taken a stand against this ill-thought-out amendment.

As Jews, we would respond to his call in this area. We would recall that in 1935, the Nuremberg laws prohibited marriage between Jews and Germans or people of kindred blood. Based upon the history of the murder of six million Jews, laws prohibiting marriages might represent a slippery slope towards greater discrimination.

When this country was founded over two hundred years ago, “we the people” included only white males. Since that time, equal protection has been extended to all of our citizens, except for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.

Laws prohibiting marriages between white people and Negroes were enacted as early as 1872. Such laws were overturned by the Supreme Court in 1967. In South Africa, similar laws were enacted in 1949 and repealed in 1985.

Friends. This amendment will not strengthen the institution of heterosexual marriages in our state or for that matter in our country. Passing this amendment will not make Kim Kardashian's marriage last longer than seventy-two days!

Let us separate the religious issue from the issue of discrimination and civil rights.

When we do that, we will quickly realize that the issue of civil rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transsexual’s or LGBT’s is not a liberal or conservative issue.

In 2000, David Boies represented Al Gore and Ted Olson who had been the solicitor General for the first President Bush and was the lawyer who represented the second President Bush in the Bush v Gore case. This case was argued all the way to the Supreme Court and eventually determined that President Bush the son had won the election. In 2009, these two men, once opponents, one very liberal and one very conservative, came together to argue that Proposition 8, the amendment which restricted LGBT marriage in California was unconstitutional. Having won in Federal Court, Boies and Olson will likely take this case, this time being on the same side, all the way to the Supreme Court. For their work in this area, Boies and Olsen last month were awarded the Reform movement’s highest honor – the Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award – at the recent Union for Reform Judaism Biennial in Washington, DC.

Last January in an article entitled “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage – Why same-sex marriage is an American value” Olsen wrote:

“Legalizing same-sex marriage would also be a recognition of basic American principles, and would represent the culmination of our nation's commitment to equal rights. It is, some have said, the last major civil-rights milestone yet to be surpassed in our two-century struggle to attain the goals we set for this nation at its formation.

This bedrock American principle of equality is central to the political and legal convictions of Republicans, Democrats, liberals, and conservatives alike. The dream that became America began with the revolutionary concept expressed in the Declaration of Independence in words that are among the most noble and elegant ever written: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

I know that there are those who might feel that this service is not the time to raise this issue but I am here before you to make the case as to why Martin Luther King’s legacy commands us to fight against this blatant infringement on civil rights with all our might and with all our soul. I apologize to my friend Rev. Moffett if I have surprised her tonight with these remarks. I realize that there might be some in her congregation who will support this amendment. Nevertheless, I wanted you to hear why in our community there is such a strong consensus against this amendment, even to the point where in the governing Board of this congregation voted unanimously to oppose it.

The position of the National Conference of Community and Justice, the NCCJ, on this issue is that the true test of fairness is to substitute any of the forms of our differences for the term “LGBT” and ask if we would find it fair and just to deny someone of their rights based on that characteristic. I cannot imagine any situation in which the American people would find it acceptable to deny marriage between two Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Latinos, Asians, African Americans, simply because of that characteristic. Therefore, enshrining in our State’s constitution an automatic denial of marriage between two LGBT individuals is equally offensive.

When I consider the position of the NAACP against this amendment and when I consider the position of a very conservative lawyer such as Ted Olsen against it, I can only conclude that this is an issue concerning decency and American values.

When I consider and learn of the teaching of Dr Martin Luther King, of blessed memory, I can only conclude that as Martin walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge leading thousands of marchers from Selma to Montgomery on March 21, 1965 for equality and voting rights, Martin would once again raise his sonorous and wise voice for equality and equal rights for all of God’s children.

When I consider the history of my people and how we have been subjected to the denial of civil rights and have been the object of discrimination, I can only conclude that as a Jew, bias, bigotry, and racism must be fought whenever and wherever they are present.

The words of Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Eli Wiesel motivate us tonight. Wiesel teaches us that “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”

His teaching as well as the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King demand of us that we not be silent or indifferent, but that rather we recreate the coalition of goodness which led to walks across bridges and rides on buses for the freedom and dignity of all who, as human beings, are created in the image of God.

The Proposed Anti Gay Constitutional Amendment

2011-11-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

The Proposed Anti Gay Constitutional Amendment

One of the lessons that we have learned from 9/11 is the terrible price that is paid when one group thinks that theirs is the only truth and is willing to go to great extents to punish those who do not agree with them. I was reminded of this recently when I heard of the decision by the NC legislature to create a constitutional amendment against same sex marriage. A law against same sex marriage already exists.
No matter how one feels about same sex marriages, from my perspective as a Jew, writing discrimination against anyone into the NC State Constitution is a very bad idea and could set a very bad precedent. We well remember how the Nuremberg laws in the fall of 1935 deprived Jews of civil rights. As a matter of fact, the two nations who in the past 100 years have persecuted homosexuals the most are Iran and Nazi Germany. I really do not wish that our state be like them.

Some are quick to remind us that the bible calls homosexuality an abomination. How quickly they forget that shrimp, catfish, birds of prey, lobster, false scales and lying speech are also abominations in the bible.

We are also told that homosexuality is a “threat” to marriage and that this amendment will actually save marriages. Sadly, the legislature has devoted time to this issue instead of the problem of unemployment which in our state is higher than the national average. Ask any marriage therapist about the stresses on a marriage caused by unemployment. Unemployment often leads to foreclosure, dislocation and a higher rate of divorce. Therefore, the best way to save marriages in our state is to put people back to work!

As Jews, we believe that each person is created in the image of God. Each individual is a holy manifestation of the Divine.

Ten years ago on 9/11, the Solicitor General for George Bush, Ted Olson, lost his wife on one of the planes. Olson was also one of the lawyers who challenged Prop 8 in California. Last January in an article entitled, “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage -Why same-sex marriage is an American value” Olson wrote: “Legalizing same-sex marriage would also be recognition of basic American principles, and would represent the culmination of our nation's commitment to equal rights.” It is, some have said, the last major civil-rights milestone yet to be surpassed in our two-century struggle to attain the goals we set for this nation at its formation. This bedrock American principle of equality is central to the political and legal convictions of Republicans, Democrats, liberals, and conservatives alike. The dream that became America began with the revolutionary concept expressed in the Declaration of Independence in words that are among the most noble and elegant ever written: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

I am very happy that the Board of Temple Emanuel has voted unanimously to oppose this amendment. The vote on this proposed amendment will not take place until May of 2012.

Nevertheless, it is time to raise awareness on this issue.
I am also happy that on November 4, we will once again hold a GLBT Shabbat service.

Our special guest speaker will be Joanna Blotner from the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC. We will also have a special presentation by the “NoteWorthy” chorale of the Triad Pride Men’s Chorus. Please bring your friends, including those in the non-Jewish community to what promises to be an inspiring evening!

Time to Reconsider Capital Punishment

2011-09-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

Below is an article that I wrote with a Catholic Priest in 2002. Before reading it, consider the following. Troy Davis was convicted in 1989. Can you imagine how much money in legal fees the state of Georgia has spent trying to kill this man? Guilty or not, it would have been far cheaper to lock him up for the rest of his life and throw the key away. To all my conservative friends. This would be a good way to reduce government spending!
Fred

Time to Reconsider Capital Punishment
Rabbi Fred Guttman & Father Jim O’Neill

As a Jewish rabbi and a Catholic priest, we applaud the decision by Illinois Governor George Ryan to impose a statewide moratorium on the death penalty and to appoint a commission to study the frequency with which inmates sentenced to death have later been found innocent.

In theory, Jewish tradition allows for capital punishment. Nevertheless, the rabbis during the Roman period some 2,000 years ago regulated the Jewish legal system in this area as to make capital punishment virtually non-existent. They even taught that a Sanhedrin (court) which puts to death even one person in 70 years is considered to have blood on its hands. They realized that it was virtually impossible to guarantee that a human legal system would never make a mistake in a capital case. When the stakes are this high - with human life hanging in the balance – we must be doubly certain before imposing a death sentence. In Jewish tradition, to be ‘doubly certain’ requires two unrelated eyewitnesses who separately provide identical accounts of the crime.

As Roman Catholics, we believe that all people are created in the image and likeness of God; we believe that all life is God’s precious gift to be celebrated from the moment of conception until natural death. Therefore, any threat to human life must be clearly and consistently opposed. On the other hand preserving the common good of society requires rendering the aggressor unable to inflict harm. For this reason the traditional teaching of the church has acknowledged, as well founded and right, the duty of legitimate authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, not excluding, in case of extreme gravity, the death penalty.

However, there has been an evolution in this teaching and American bishops seriously have questioned the morality of the death penalty. The church wishes to present a consistent pro-life stance and the bishops key argument is that the death penalty leads to an erosion of respect for life in our society. In addition, American bishops also oppose capital punishment because of the discriminatory way it is applied in America with respect to the poor, members of social minorities and the socially impoverished and disadvantaged individuals. Finally, they seriously question whether capital punishment actually deters crime, one of the major arguments advanced by those who support it.

Consequently, in 1974 the National Conference of Bishops went on record against capital punishment. Recently, our present Pontiff, John Paul II, has spoken out against capital punishment and has personally intervened for several persons sentenced to die. Given all of the above, a Roman Catholic who seriously searches for the truth is called to be opposed to capital punishment.

The truth is that, especially with the recent use of DNA evidence, there have been a disturbing number of death row inmates who were convicted and sentenced to death only to be later exonerated. In Governor Ryan's state of Illinois, more inmates have been found innocent after being sentenced to death than have actually been executed. Illinois has learned of these mistaken convictions through the diligence and hard work of a well-funded public defender's office and through the tenacity of a highly publicized university journalism class.

To the best of our knowledge, the state of North Carolina lacks such mechanisms. How many more people would be cleared if our state possessed such mechanisms? How many inmates in North Carolinas currently go to the death chamber for crimes they did not commit?

In December 1999, a resolution co-sponsored by the National Council of Synagogues and the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops call for the end of the death penalty. This resolution stated: “We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing.' We oppose capital punishment not just for what it does to those guilty of horrible crimes, but for what it does to all of us as a society. Increasing reliance on the death penalty diminishes all of us and is a sign of growing disrespect for human life. We cannot overcome crime by simply executing criminals, nor can we restore the lives of the innocent by ending the lives of those convicted of their murders. The death penalty offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life…. We have committed ourselves to work together, and each within our own communities, toward ending the death penalty.”

The prophet Zechariah enjoins us: "See that justice is done." It is our solemn obligation not just to promote justice, but also to stand up and decry injustice when we witness it. We are, to be sure, opposed to the imposition of the death penalty. We also believe that the system for administering capital punishment works all too often to the disadvantage, of poor and minority defendants who are unable to mount a defense that would result either in acquittal or in the imposition of a lesser sentence.

The death penalty as it is currently practiced in North Carolina is not just. We lack a sufficient level of certainty in every decision of our state's justice system that would justify the continued usage of the death penalty. Here, one mistake is too many. We encourage Governor Hunt to follow Governor Ryan's lead and impose a moratorium on the death penalty in North Carolina.

Rabbi Fred Guttman Father Jim O’Neill
Temple Emanuel St Paul the Apostle Catholic Church

Speech Against anti LGBT State Amendment

2011-09-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

On 9/12/11 (one day after 9/11), I spoke at a rally against the proposed amendment against Gay Marriage. The NC House had passed the amendment on that day and the NC Senate did so on 9/13. The proposed amendment will be voted on in an election in NC in 5/12.

You can see the speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR6ZLdN6zPc

Thoughts on September 11, 2011

2011-09-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

The Baal Shem Tov once taught “Forgetfulness leads to Exile. Remembrance is the secret to Redemption.” We have gathered here this morning to not only to remember, but also to work towards redemption. We do so in a world that has yet to learn the lessons of the tragedy from ten years ago. Conflict, strife, an earth which is being scorched by our own misdeeds, a Middle East which seems to become more radical and less oriented towards peace, a dysfunctional Congress, joblessness, economic problems, bias, bigotry and racism; all of these are still unfortunately too much a part of our world.

Recently in our congregations, we read that we are to “blot out the memory of Amalek.” (Deuteronomy 25:19). Amalek was the evil king who attacked us at the rear as we were crossing the desert. The people in the rear were the weakest and most vulnerable of our community. Based upon the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, it seems to me that the ultimate way to blot out the name of Amalek, to blot out as it were the memories of the nineteen hijackers who murdered almost three thousand of our brothers and sisters is to being about the Geulah, the redemption though our deeds of repair and transformation.

The problems are great. Maybe we cannot solve all of the world’s problems, and yet perhaps, just perhaps if we can repair our community; perhaps, just perhaps if we can repair our relationships with each other, with our families and friends; perhaps, just perhaps if we can dedicated ourselves to the task of bringing more of the Presence of God into our world; perhaps, just perhaps if we can truly see the other person for what he or she really is, a totally unique manifestation of the Divine, a person who truly is in the image of God; then, perhaps, just perhaps the redemption will come!

Historically, most wars have been fought over economic resources. This war however was not a war over resources, but a war over ideas. Al Qaeda’s main idea is the hatred of the West, western values and our way of thinking. By contrast, historically the greatness of the United States has been our openness to others and their ideas. We have been a county of immigrants and in our best days, we have been a country which welcomes immigrants and the new ideas that they bring with them.

Al Qaeda has not defeated us and yet the ultimate victor for Al Qaeda would be if we became xenophobic as a response. The ultimate victory would be if we responded to their close mindedness and their hatred, with hatred. September 11, 2001 should remind us of the terrible evil which can happen when a group of people feel that they are the only people who have the truth or that their way of perceiving the world is the only way

In Judaism and Christianity, we are often reminded that the two greatest commandments are to “Love God” and to “Love one’s neighbor.” Yet by sheer volume, the most frequently mentioned commandment in the five books of Moses is the commandment to be kind to the stranger. Thirty nine times we are told to treat with kindness those who we perceive to be different; those who in our world are “the other.” So let us not forget today that among those murdered included people of almost all races and faiths from more than ninety nations.

Two weeks ago, I was at the World Trade Center site. There is so much building going on there. I am sure that the buildings will be magnificent and that the memorial will be both dignified and beautiful. Yes, it occurred to me during my visit that the main lesson of September 11 is not merely about rebuilding with concrete and steel, but rebuilding hearts and minds of people. In the process of rebuilding, hatred will need to be replaced by love, brutality by compassion and evil by goodness.

And God said, “Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:3)

September 11, 2001 was a day in which the enemies of freedom and human dignity attempted to thrust this world into great darkness. Redemption seems far off but perhaps, just perhaps were our response to the tragedy of 9/11 to be to become more “Godly” by bringing more light into our darkened world, could redemption be far behind?

Thoughts on US involvement in Afghanistan

2011-06-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

In the Torah, there is a famous story about Jacob wrestling with an angel. After wrestling with an angel all night, Jacob receives the new name of Israel. The word “Israel” literally means the man who “wrestles with an angel.”

I have always felt that one of the most unique things about being Jewish is the fact that we are not afraid to ask and to “wrestle with” very difficult questions. The question that I want to ask at this time is whether or not the United States should still be committing forces to Afghanistan.

Back when we wrestled with the Vietnam War, this felt deeply personal for I had a low draft number. American Jews were quite vocal in their opposition to that war. Now without a draft and fewer Jewish young men in the armed forces, it seems to me that our voices are conspicuously silent.

First a little background.

Our congregation has had several members who have served in Afghanistan. Two of them have been previously deployed in Iraq. I heard from one recently who told me 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 U.S. soldiers was quite high. He also expressed some reservation that the current government would ever be able to control the country.

During the Bush presidency, the Union for Reform Judaism made a controversial resolution concerning Iraq and calling for a timetable for withdrawal. Should we not also consider some sort of resolution concerning Afghanistan?

A year ago after General Stanley McChrystal made statements which eventually led to his being relieved of command, it became clearer to me that President Obama had listened to the voices of the military who had called for an ill-thought-out escalation. I was against the escalation at the time and actually drafted a URJ resolution calling for the President and Congress to bring home swiftly and safely all U.S. troops and military, CIA, and similar contract personnel from Afghanistan. The resolution was not considered by the movement. Yet, one year later, we find both Republican and Democrat voices asking for a reconsideration of American involvement in Afghanistan.

This past month, thirty-one American soldiers died in Afghanistan. At our services, we read the names of all thirty-one of these men and women. I feel so much for their families and I truly appreciate their loyalty and service to our county. To me, they are heroes! Each one of them represented a world unto himself or herself.

Nearly ten years have passed since the war in Afghanistan began. This is the longest running war in U.S. history. Moreover, the cost of this war is estimated at being ten billion dollars per month. Now that Bin Laden has been killed, many American politicians on both sides of the aisle are asking whether or not it is worthwhile for America to still have troops in Afghanistan. This is especially true at this time of economic hardship when cuts to both healthcare services and education are being made throughout the country on both the federal and state levels.

In addition, it seems to me that the U.S. war in Afghanistan has paralyzed and distorted U.S. foreign policy in two far more crucial areas of the world.

First, 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 nuclear technology. Despite the fact that Iran has repeatedly asserted that this is aimed at civilian nuclear energy, most observers have found much evidence to suggest that Iran is indeed pursuing a nuclear weapon. We will never know for sure, but I feel that without the foreign policy preoccupation with Iraq and Afghanistan, our efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear development could have been different and possibly more effective.

Second, it seems to me that the U.S. war in Iraq and Afghanistan created a lack of focus on our part towards a robust effort at civil society building within in the Arab world over the past decade. The recent events of the so called “Arab Spring” in Egypt and elsewhere illustrate how very important such an effort could have been. As dictators have fallen, the absence of the structures of civil society left a tremendous vacuum. This vacuum presents an opportunity to radical and anti-Western Islamic factions to exploit for the purpose of creating radical Islamic governments.

So here is my point.

Why are we being so silent about this war?

At a time of economic pressures unprecedented in 70 years, cannot the $120 billion we are spending yearly in Afghanistan be used much more wisely both at home and in pursuing our foreign policy agenda across the globe? Do we really support continued American involvement in Afghanistan? Is it really fair to the men and women in our armed forces, some of whom have served more than three tours of duty, to ask them to continue such service?

I think we owe it to the men and women in our armed services and to ourselves to “wrestle” with these most serious questions. I think we owe it to our country to consider whether or not now is the time to expeditiously bring our troops home.

Finally, in any war which our leaders become engaged, there should be a reasonable expectation of success. However, there is in Jewish law a principle which maintains that a non-biblical rule which is not working, or is not accepted, or is not successful in meeting its goal, should be changed. Is now the time for such a change?

The above opinion is mine and mine alone. It does not represent that of the congregation or of the Union for Reform Judaism.

I would really like to hear your opinion on this. I value your opinion and would invite dialogue on this issue. Please let me know if you think that our movement should take a position on this issue. Please post your comments on the blog.

Thoughts on Confirmation (12th grade)

2011-06-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

I would like to begin this evening by telling this class how very proud I am of all of you. When I look at your biographies and their your of Jewish involvement, I cannot help but be hopeful as to the future of our people in this country. You have served as Madrichim, been to Israel on the March of the Living, served our people in Moldava, worked in New Orleans, were leaders in BBYO and spoken on Capitol Hill in Washington DC to our congressmen and senators on issues of importance to the Jewish people. You are an incredible group with an incredible amount of commitment to our people, Israel, our nation and humankind.

You have had many wonderful experiences outside of Temple Emanuel. These experiences have been extremely formative in helping to create your Jewish identities. However, these experiences however would never have occurred without the incessant nudging of Temple Emanuel’s rabbis. In addition, most of these experiences would not have occurred without the support, patience and encouragement of many others.

I would like to thank the leadership of Temple Emanuel for being so supportive in this effort to educate our young people. The Greensboro Jewish Federation has been supportive by providing Israel experience grants and grants to help our children attend the L’taken Social Justice seminars. The financial support of the Temple Emanuel community in helping to provide grants and scholarships for Jewish camping, L’taken and Israel experiences has been very generous. The teachers and tutors, from TEPS to the religious school, have all done wonderful work in instilling a magnificent pride in being Jewish in our children. The teachers on Sunday who have worked with our teens as they were Madrichim and the teachers who have taught them with such commitment deserve special mention.

The point here is that the success here with this class did not happen in a vacuum and the role that Temple Emanuel played is indeed significant. The most important thing that I want the eioght of you as confimrsand to know is that our commitment to you as a congregatipon and as a Jewish community is I would like to think iron clad.

However, the most important role was that of the parents of these wonderful young people and to them goes our biggest, “Todah Rabbah,” our biggest “Thank you.” Without your help and encouragement and without your communication of Jewish values in the home, everything that we wanted to do with these young people, we would not have been able to do. In addition, most everything that these confirmands have accomplished as Jews and as human beings would not have been accomplished.

To our confirmands we say once again how very proud we are of you!

The Torah tells us that the Jewish people were in Egypt for 430 years. The rabbi’s asked why during these 430 years the Jewish people did not assimilate into the walls. What was the secret of their survival? How did they, even in the midst of repression, assimilation and exile manage to keep their identity as Jews?

The Midrash gives us three reasons. The first reason is that they never forgot their Jewish names. They never forgot their identity and their heritage. Names are so very important as a part of our identity.

Recently, I met a woman by the name of Consuelo. She had grown up in a poor Hispanic barrio, five blocks on the American side of the Mexican border. Her family was one that was extremely proud of its Hispanic heritage. When she was 6 years old, she started first grade in an American school. By that time, she was already bilingual.

When she walked into the school, the teacher asked her, “What is your name?” she answered, “Consuelo.” The teacher said, “From now on your name is ‘Connie.’” Consuelo told the teacher, “Absolutely not! I am not Connie, I am Consuelo.” The teacher did not know what to do with such a petulant child and consequently sent her to the principal’s office. Poor little six year old Consuelo thought that she was being honored by being sent to the principal’s office. After ten minutes of sitting in a chair outside of the office, the door opened and the principal brought little Consuelo into the office. The principal said to her “Now tell me, what is wrong with Connie?” Consuelo proceeded to answer, “I don’t know what is wrong with Connie; I don’t even know her, do you know what’s wrong with Connie?”

Yes, my friends, names are important and you as graduates have built up incredible names and identities as Jews over the past four year. As you go to college, there will be more than ample opportunity for you to forget your names and your heritage.

There will be those who in subtle ways will encourage you to do so and to forget that you are Jews. Nevertheless, the secret to our survival, as well as the ultimate testimony to the value of the schooling that you have received is that you will always remember who you are. A proud committed Jew.

The second thing that ensured our survival in Egypt was that we never abandoned our distinctive style of Jewish dress. Most of us have a tallit. Some of you even have tefillin. Take them with you. There are other aspects of Jewish “dress” as well. These could include Shabbat candles, a Kiddush cup, a Tanach and other Jewish books. These are all aspects of Jewish dress that you need to take with you to college.

Not only should you take them to college, but you should use them while you are there. Let them be a reflection of who you are! Let them be a sign of who you are as a Jew, for they are aspects of Jewish dress.

The third thing that enabled us to survive the Egyptian repression and exile was the fact that we never forgot our holy tongue, the language of the Jew, the language of prayer and the voice of Torah. These things, together with the language of Jewish activism should be your language on campus next year. Take Jewish study courses. Participate in activities at Hillel. Being a Jew who speaks the Jewish language is more than being a person who can speak Hebrew. Speaking the Jewish language today means speaking out on behalf of Jewish values and interests. It means taking leadership within your campus Jewish community and working for greater involvement of Jews within that community.

It is this language that is also the language of our commitment to Israel. We need college students who are willing to be pro peace and pro security for Israel and the Middle East. The amount of Israel bashing on college campuses is indeed significant and much of it has been funded by Saudi oil money.

But in addition to that, we know that in America, the attachment of American Jews to Israel has fallen during the past two years. In 2002, the amount of Jews who felt very emotionally attached to Israel was 31%, this past year it had dropped from 31 to 26%. You indeed have a special role to play by using the Jewish language that you have learned here to strengthen the attachment of the American Jewish community to Israel,

In the book of Esther, when Esther is afraid to lift her voice to save the Jewish people, Mordecai tells her: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained a royal position for just such a crisis.” In essence, he is telling her that speaking out on behalf of the Jewish people is her fate. It is the reason that she was born and it is the reason that she has experienced the things that have happened to her.

When it comes to Israel in particular and for being Jewish in general, we need you to be like Esther. We need you to lift your voices. This could be why you were born in the first place! You have come here for this moment in our history, a moment when you will be called upon first to be voices for our people on college campuses and then to become committed Jews for the rest of your lives. If you do these things, you will bring great honor to Temple Eamnuel, your family and yourselves.

So, Mazel Tov and Yashar Koach, on your graduation! Become this generation’s Esther. Be like those Jews in Egypt more than 3000 years ago when you go to college. Don’t forget your name, don’t forget who you are. Take your Jewish dress with you and finally, make your language the language of prayer, study, and commitment to Judaism. Let Israel be part of your everyday existence! If you do this then you will bring blessings not only to yourself but also to Temple Emanuel. By doing this you will help to ensure a glorious future for the Jewish people here in the United States and everywhere.

The Ibo people of Nigeria say:

Not to know is bad
Not to want to know is worse
Not to hope is unthinkable
Not to care is unforgivable

However, I would like to change the last line so that the saying reads as follows:

Not to know is bad
Not to want to know is worse
Not to care is unthinkable
Not to act is unforgivable

So next year, it is my hope that you will indeed become a Jewish actor on your college campus. Your challenge it to take the teachings you have learned and shared together and to bring them to this moment. Know always that you will never be alone. You are loved by your parents, teachers and rabbis and we are only a cell phone call away. Most importantly however, realize that with all the challenges that you will face in college, you will truly never be alone because God will always be with you.

May God bless all of you with great success next year! May you be blessed with health, learning, meaning and peace!

Israel - What We Should Agree Upon

2011-05-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

American Jews have also recently engaged in fierce debates concerning Israel’s foreign policy. Some say that Israel is not doing enough to promote peace while others say that to do more that the present time though unilateral measures, would compromise the security of the state of Israel. This debate among American Jews has become rather harsh at times and the events of the past week and a half have not lessened to nature or tenor of the debate.

So on Tuesday morning at the AIPAC Conference, I found myself discussion Israel with the incoming President of the URJ, Rick Jacobs. Rick might be a little more dovish than me, but I feel that he has been the victim of a smear campaign by some right wing supporters of Israel. While sitting in this discussion, I was moved to ask myself whether or not there are issues at present upon which all Reform Jews should or could agree. If such issues exist, there might be a more productive starting point for discussions among American Jews who love Israel.

I managed to come up with seven such points.

First, as American Reform Jews we support the Foreign Aid bill which contains more than 3 billion dollars in needed security assistance for Israel. This money is critical in helping Israel maintain its qualitative military edge. Much of this money is spent on military hardware in the United States and thus helps the American economy. We also support foreign aid to the other countries because we view it as a good investment for our country. Building schools and health clinics is good for America because it reflects the highest of humanitarian values.

Second as American Jews, we are very concerned about Iran’s continued push towards the development of nuclear weapons. Therefore we support any act in Congress which will increase and strengthen the international sanctions again the regime in Teheran. We also would support measures directed especially at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps which has been so brutal in quashing all resistance to Ahmadinijad and the mullahs. Currently in both houses of Congress, there are bills which would do what I have just mentioned and we as American Jews support such efforts.

Third, we as American Reform Jews believe that peace between Israelis and Palestinians can only be achieved through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Therefore we call upon the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table with Israel. We feel that while Mahmoud Abbas the Palestinian leader has been traveling all over the world talking with others about the future of the Palestinian nation, it has been tragic that he has not spoken directly to Israel.

We also feel that unless Hamas recognizes Israel, renounces violence and agrees to abide by all previous agreements, Hamas has no place in these negotiations. Hamas currently seeks the total destruction of Israel. Of all the liberation movements in the world today, Hamas is alone in demanding the total annihilation of another country. Other national libration movements envision living side by side in peaceful coexistence with their foes, but not Hamas. As American Reform Jews, we feel that should an unrepentant Hamas become part of the Palestinian government, the United States should reexamine its relationship with the Palestinian Authority and suspend aid to it. As a matter of fact, such a suspension of aid is mandated by US law.

Fourth, we as American Reform Jews while passionately concerned about the security of Israel are also concerned and critical about decisions made by the Israeli government. We are opposed to building in settlements that clearly will be evacuated in some future peace deal. We are also concerned about elements of civil society in Israel. We feel that Israel can do more to advance the opportunities of Israel's religious and ethnic minorities to be able to participate fully in all aspects of Israeli society. As American Reform Jews, we are deeply concerned about the lack of religious pluralism in Israel. Therefore particularly on these matters, we will not hesitate to be critical of Israel.

And this brings me to my next and fifth point. As American Jews, we support ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America, because ARZA is our way of supporting the cause of religious pluralism in Israel. In a recent article, Rabbi Daniel Allen, ARZA’s Executive Director wrote:

“We must work to expand liberal Jewish religion. We can build an ever more inclusive democratic Israeli society if we marshal the human and financial resources. Israelis physically built a country, with significant assistance from world Jewry that most of us believe is here to stay. It was done through times of war while bringing in our exiles in massive numbers. Israel was built by people many of whom had broken lives before they arrived on its shores. Israel was assisted in physically building the state by a Jewish community that was not as affluent and capable of participating in building the soul of the society as it is today.”

Rabbi Allen calls for increased support from American Reform Jews for the liberal or Reform congregations in Israel. He feels that such support could make a significant impact from within on the state of Israel and would strengthen the ties between Reform Jews and their brothers and sisters in Israel.

My sixth point is upon which I feel all American Reform Jews should agree is that we need to visit Israel. We need to encourage our congregations to take trips to Israel, to send their kids to Israel, to keep abreast of events happening in Israel and to make Israel part of our consciousness as Reform Jews. Too many of our members have never been to Israel. Too many have never seen a country which is so very different than they way it is portrayed in the media.

Too many of our teens have never been in Israel, never had the opportunity to love it and appreciate it and as a result, are ill prepared to speak about Israel when they go to college. Perhaps the worst part of this is that too many young Reform Jews feel alienated from Israel, not in my opinion because they disagree with the policies of its government, but rather the only Israel which they know is that portrayed in the often sensationalist media. The chief cause of the alienation of young Reform Jews from Israel is due to the fact that so few of them have been there and as a result have no appreciation of a narrative as to why Israel is so important and precious to the Jewish people.

My seventh and final point is that as American Reform Jews, we will not hesitate to express and teach our love for Israel; its land, people and its right of national determination. Yes, Israel has much wrong with it. There are many things which need to be improved in Israel. However, when teaching Israel, I want to teach first the narrative of love. I want to teach the story of the importance of Israel as a place for persecuted Jewry throughout the world and as the only place wherein the Jewish people have the right of self determination. I want to teach about the miracle of Jewish self defense in Israel and how Israel in 1976 flew 2500 miles to Entebbe to rescue Jews of various nationalities who had been on a hijacked plane. I want to teach to stories of commitment and heroism of people like Yoni Netanyahu, Alex Singer, Avigdor Kahalani and Michael Levin who make me so proud and inspire me so much. If you do not recognize these names, that it part of the problem! And I, as a rabbi, Zionist and Jewish educator, view it as my holy task to teach you about these heroes.

Yes, I want to first teach you about the love of Israel. Once I have done this, I will teach you about all of the imperfections she has and the challenges she faces in making a more just society and in bringing peace to that part of the world. When we fall in love, we tend only to see the good aspects of our spouses. My feeling is that if we focused upon the imperfections of our spouses only, we would have never fallen in love in the first place. So I will teach you the narrative of love before the narrative of imperfection.

Yes, you may point out twenty five things wrong with Israel, but I will still love her. Israel is a part of my very neshamah, my very soul. It is a tremendous part of how I as a Jew define my Jewish identity

So that is it. Seven points that I would like to see all American Reform Jews agree upon. Of course, I am not so naive that we will do so, but feel that it would be nice if we did.

In the meantime, I feel that for sure all of us can agree that we hope and pray to be able to see a Middle East wherein there are two states, an Israel and a Palestine, living side by side in peace, prosperity and security; an Israel and Palestine competing economically and on soccer field, rather than on field of battle; an Israel and a Palestine whose children are taught the values of mutual respect; an Israel and a Palestine wherein as the prophet Isaiah dreamed, swords would be turned into plowshares!

Prime Minister Netanyahu Before the U.S. Congress

2011-05-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

JINSA is the "Jewish Institute for National Security Affiars," a think tank in Washington DC. This post really spoke to me. The original is to be found athttp://www.jinsa.org/node/2315

Fred

JINSA Report #1092

May 24, 2011

Prime Minister Netanyahu Before the U.S. Congress

He looked as if he belonged there. He spoke as if he was one of us. And in the ways that count, he was.

Not because his English is impeccable, but because he spoke to the convergence of historical, religious, political, security, moral, and ethical views and values between the State of Israel and the United States. In the broadest and deepest sense, he came from where we come from. He came from the camp of deeply held core values that Americans understand. He came from the camp of compromise and political realism. He may not always have been in that camp, but he could not have been clearer about his membership now, and Americans relate to that.

He came from the pro-American camp in which most of us reside. (Can you imagine Abu Mazen saying, "God bless America"?)

On the merits, the speech turned the most important table, as Prime Minister Netanyahu said the conflict was not about forming a Palestinian state - which, he noted, Israel agreed to in 1947 and which the last six Israeli Prime Ministers have reiterated - but rather that the Palestinians are unwilling to accept a Jewish state. Congress applauded.

He called for an end to Palestinians teaching their children that Israel would disappear and an end to the glorification of terrorists. Congress applauded.

He said Palestinian refugees would not be resettled in Israel, but in their own country. Congress applauded.

He said Jerusalem would not be re-divided because only under Israel has the city been accessible to adherents of all religions including Judaism. Congress applauded.

He said Israel needs defensible borders, not arbitrary lines; the Jordan River Valley is one such line. Congress applauded and we think the King of Jordan did as well.

He called on the Palestinian Authority to end its relationship with Hamas - "the Palestinian version of al Qaeda" - and negotiate with Israel. Congress applauded.

Prime Minister Netanyahu invited the Palestinian Authority to join Israel in expanding and enhancing the economic improvements that have already come to the West Bank since Israel rooted out the terrorists who orchestrated the so-called "second intifada" and since the IDF works with the Palestinian Security Forces to maintain security there. It was a generous invitation and Congress applauded.

Netanyahu spoke the thoughts of the Congress of the United States and the Congress stood and applauded twelve times (in case you were counting). Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives made clear their appreciation of the difficult conditions under which Israel lives, the determination of Israel to be strong and defend its people, and the desire of Israel to find a way to give the Palestinians what they have been unable to take since 1948 - a peaceful, prosperous state next to Israel, the national home of the Jewish people.

The End of the Zionist Enterprise

2011-05-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

A terrific post from my friend Rabbi Micky Boyden

This morning (Sunday), on what Palestinians call Yawm an-Nakbah (the Day of the Catastrophe), Hamas’ Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is reported to have addressed some 10,000 worshippers in a Gaza mosque and to have declared that they were protesting “with the great hope of bringing the Zionist enterprise in Palestine to an end.”

Haniyeh’s remarks should come as no surprise given the clause in the Hamas Charter that states that ”Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

It is in that context that the recent accord between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas should be viewed. A united Palestinian leadership that expresses such views is not the kind of government with which Israel can be expected to do business.

The Middle East quartet was, therefore, absolutely right in insisting back in June 2009 that all Palestinians commit themselves to non-violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations.

However, those essential pre-conditions for a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians would now appear to be less emphatic. Only last month, in a press conference with the Arab media, quartet envoy Tony Blair is reported to have stated that they would work with a Palestinian unity government if Hamas would renounce violence. Despite being asked twice by reporters, Blair apparently did not insist that they recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Against that background, a United Nations declaration recognizing a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank including East Jerusalem would effectively give a stamp of approval to the establishment of a nation of which a major component of its political leadership has no intention of living in peace with Israel.

While that would no doubt be welcomed by Iran, Syria and a host of other countries, it is to be hoped that western democracies, headed by the United States, will resist all efforts to recognize a nation state committed to Israel’s destruction.

A Jewish Perspective on the Death of Osama Bin Laden

2011-05-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

When Jewish people escaped from Egypt, they saw the Pharaoh’s army descending upon them. Then the miracle occurred. They saw Pharaoh's army drown in the sea. It was the seminal moment in the lives of those present and was to become the seminal moment in the lives of our people and the Jewish nation.

In their great joy, they sang triumphantly what has become known as the “Song of the Sea.” According to biblical historians, this is one of the oldest passages in the entire Hebrew Bible.

Cheering and celebrating the death of tyrants and mass murders goes way back in Jewish tradition.

Similarly in the story of Purim, after Haman and his ten sons were executed, we are told that: "On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness" (Esther 9: 17).

Proverbs 11:10 observes: "When the wicked are destroyed there is rejoicing."

These responses come from the part of our brain which has been called the Reptilian brain. We have felt threatened and now the threat has partially been removed. Bin Laden is not able to murder again and for that we feel as great sense of relief.

On the other hand, both biblical and rabbinic traditions give us a somewhat different perspective on the death of a mass murderer like Bin Laden.

Proverbs 24:17 says: "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls."

The Talmud teaches us in the name of Rabbi Yochanan that "The Ministering Angels sought to sing the Song of the Sea (in celebration of the death of Pharaoh’s soldiers.) Said the Holy One of Blessing: The works of My hands are drowning in the sea, and you say the Song?!" (Sanhedrin 39b).

I am curious as to why this rebuke was addressed to the angels and not to the human being who crossed the sea.

Perhaps in addressing the angels, our tradition was trying to say that that part of our higher selves, the angelic or Godly part, should not be celebrating the death of a tyrant in such a way.

At the Passover Seder, we pour out ten drops of wine to represent the ten plagues. We do not drink these drops lest we be seen as celebrating the deaths of others. As a matter of fact, traditionally when we pour out these ten drops, we do so with our pinky finger and as such we are told that we are not even to lick off the remaining wine in order not to be seen as celebrating.

The higher brain functioning helps us understand what has happened in a different way.

First, we understand that just because Bin Laden is dead does not mean that the struggle against terrorism is over or had been won.

Second, theologically we can even empathize with God’s sadness. Bin Laden was after all a creature created in God’s image. He was not born with a tattoo on his chest which said: "This is an evil baby!" When he was a toddler, he did not wear a shirt which said, "I will grow up to be a mass murderer." The ability to hate others is something that we learn from others. It is not a "God given" ability. Bin Laden’s story represents the most extreme example of educational failure.

As a Jew, I do not celebrate his death.

Having said that, I am not going to be critical of those students from American, George Washington and George Mason universities who descended upon the White House. These young people were 10 to 14 years old at the time of 9/11. To a very real extent, the events of 9/11 have shaped the world during the past ten years the adult identities of these young people. This celebration was an expression of their Reptilian Brain. As time goes on and with added maturity, they will begin to understand the significance of this event on a higher level.

My higher brain functioning tells me that the problem of terrorism and its very real threat, not only to the United States, but especially to Israel and the Jewish people remains very real.

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood referred to Bin Laden by the honorary term "sheikh."

In the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, an Imam vowed to take revenge on "the Western dogs" who killed Osama bin Laden.

Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, told reporters: "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior (shahid). We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood."

A new Pew Global Attitudes poll shows that respect for Al Quada and Osama Bin Laden was the highest in the entire Muslim world among Palestinian Muslims with 34 percent expressing confidence in him to "do the right thing in world affairs."

We have lots to consider in our world. We are glad that the man responsible for the deaths of more than 3,000 Americans on 9/11 and many more, including thousands of Muslims, has been brought to justice. We know as well that the fight against terrorism is not over and that reconciliation is a long way off.

We pray that the Holy One of Blessing, the God who is the God of all Humanity, will bless us with peace.

May we live to see that day when as the Prophet Isaiah said, "Nation will not lift up sword against nation."

But let us interpret the second part of this verse in the following manner: "Neither shall they, children and adults, ever again be taught to hate and to be violent towards others for we are all created in God’s image!"

Goldstone and Slander

2011-04-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

I urge all of us to read all of us to read an incredible article by Richard Goldstone himself. It is the closest thing to a person "al chet" that we will see from him. Considering that damage that he did to the state of Israel, it is an exasperating article to read. Those in our community who wish to honor him or to make him into a hero should really think twice. Here is a man who sadly was used to smear Israel because he was a South African judge and a Jew by the detractors of Israel to do great harm to the international reputation of Israel.

By the way, the same could be said of those who were so critical of Israel's response to the Flotilla given that last month a ship laden with arms for Hamas attempted to run the embargo.

The Goldstone article is at:

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/reconsidering-the-goldstone-report-on-israel-and-war-crimes/2011/04/01/AFg111JC_story.html

See also the excellent article by David Horowitz on this at

http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=214866
and the statement from the American Jewish Committee at

http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=849241&ct=9313921

In a commentary on this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Metzora, my colleague Paul Citrin writes: “”A person sees all plagues except his own.” (Nega’im 2:5). This phrase from the Mishna makes it clear that the Sages already understood that the disease spoken of in Metzora is not a physical blight. It is universally known in the Jewish world that the Rabbis understood Metzora to point to “motzi shem ra”, a slanderer. The unclean nega was an outer sign of inner moral deficit."

I was struck buy these words given the recent almost “al Chet” by Richard Goldstone.
Unfortunately there are many within our midst who are so quick to believe every slanderous assertion against Israel and who are so hesitant to even give Israel any credit where credit is due. Those who are guilty of this are indeed engaging in the sin of being a “motzi shem ra.”

Consider the following. When Judge Goldstone encountered difficulties in attending his grandson’s Bar Mitzvah, a letter of support was written. Taanit Tzedek- Jewish Fast for Gaza , Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Nonviolence, Tikkun and The Shalom Center. This letter from last May may be found at http://www.theshalomcenter.org/node/1715.

Now I have no problems with saying that Goldstone should be able to attend his grandson’s Bar Mitzvah, but the letter said so much more. Specifically the letter stated

“We affirm the truth of the report that bears your name…. We affirm your findings and believe you set up an impeccable standard that presents strong evidence that during the war in Gaza Israel engaged in war crimes that revealed a pattern of continuous and systematic assault against Palestinian people and land that has very little to do with Israel’s claim of security…. Your report made clear the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, agricultural properties, water and sewage treatment centers and civilians themselves with deadly weapons that are illegal when used in civilian centers…. Judge Goldstone, we want to offer you our deepest thanks for upholding the principles of justice, compassion and truth that are the heart of Jewish religion and without which our claims to Jewishness are empty of meaning…. We believe your report is a clarion call to Israel and the Jewish people to awaken from the slumber of denial and return to the path of peace.”

Much of the content of this letter has now been rejected by Goldstone himself. I urge all who signed this letter to consider carefully their actions. Were you too quick to condemn Israel for Operation Cast Lead or for that matter the flotilla incident? Will you be so quick to condemn Israel next time or will the words of Pirke Avot to “Be Patient in Judgment” be taken to heart? My hope, my prayer, is that those who are so quick to slander Israel will be more careful next time.

Last spring on its 25th anniversary, Tikkun Magazine gave Judge Goldstone its Ethics Award. I call upon Tikkun to rescind this award in light of the most recent admissions by Goldstone himself. TO ITS CREDIT – Tikkun published on its website an article entitled “Rethinking Goldstone?” by Mitchell Plitnick. http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/rethinking-goldstone Although I may not agree with this article in its entirety, I applaud Tikkun for its intellectual honesty in “Rethinking Goldstone.”

So this Shabbat, maybe we should all take a closer look at our willingness to believe anything terrible about Israel.

Now please do not accuse me of seeing only Israel’s’ good side and not its blemishes. I am a supporter in word and financially of BOTH AIPAC and the New Israel Fund and frankly see no conflict in supporting both of these fine organzations, As a matter of fact, my brother in law is the program director for AIPAC in Jerusalem and my sister in law, his wife, is the associate director of the NIF. It works for them and it works for me!

Japan, Libya and Israel in the news

2011-03-22T05:43:00.001-07:00

In light of all of the news from Japan and Libya in recent weeks, people might have missed two critical incidents which occurred in Israel.

The first was the interception of a cargo ship bound for Gaza with advanced “game changing” weaponry which would have been used against Israeli civilian populations.

I suggest that you look at a short film from the Israeli Defense Forces as to what was captured on this ship. The film is at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk

My friend Mickey Boyden has written a terrific piece on this incident and the previous incident with the Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara. I can recall outrage by some in our midst at that time about Israel’s boarding of this ship which was carrying supplies to Gaza. By the way, perhaps you have forgotten that Israel offered to ship all of the supplies overland to Gaza after inspection and off loading of the cargo in Ashkelon. Mickey writes: "Those who question the legality of the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip should understand why such measures are essential when not a day passes without mortar shells and rockets raining down on Israel’s towns and villages."

Mickey Boyden's article may be accessed at

http://weareforisrael.org/2011/03/22/the-tale-of-two-ships/

The second incident was that on Saturday more than 50 mortars were fired from the Gaza Strip at civilian communities and IDF bases in the Western Negev. The mortars slightly injured two people and damaged two buildings. The mortar fire came from Hamas and not from other militant groups in the Gaza Strip. This was the first time since the end of Operation Cast Lead in January 2009 that Hamas has openly attacked Israel.

Now of course if this continues and Israel is forced by Hamas to respond, there will be those who are quick to criticize Israel for a disproportionate response. Such people are silent now when Hamas is clearly the aggressor, but their shrieking voices will be heard the moment that Israel’s actions can be criticized. Their silence in light of the callous murder of the Fogel family, including the murder of a three month old baby a week and a half ago, is also striking.

Perhaps the reason why there is no outrage concerning the above is not only their lack of coverage because of Japan and Libya. Perhaps it is also the result that even in the best of times, Israelis (Jews) being shot at is hardly news.

Fred Guttman

Thoughts on Israel - March 2011

2011-03-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

I recently read an article by a former teacher of mine at Hebrew University, Professor Meron Medzini. The article is entitled “Israel’s Evolving Security Concept.” Medzini, who worked for Golda Meir and has written a biography of her tenure as PM, writes:

“In 1974, a year after the Yom Kippur War, Israel gave Washington a list of requests for weapons to replace equipment lost or damaged in that war. It contained thousands of items, including airplanes, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. In response, the United States dispatched a senior Pentagon official to Israel. He met in Jerusalem with then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres.

The official asked why the Israeli list was so extensive, whether Israel had the means to maintain all of this equipment (including the necessary pilots and tank crews), and whether the entire country would become one huge maintenance base. Rabin became angry and retorted, “Look, this is what we think we need. If something goes wrong we pay the price and not you.” This factor has been accepted by U.S. as well as Israeli policymakers regarding arms sales.”

I think that the quite illustrates why I am so afraid of organizations such JStreet which seek a prescriptive approach to the Middle East peace process. At its recent conference, JStreet sought to lobby the administration to come up with its own bridging proposals, even though many in the administration fully understand that at the present time, such proposals would not work and would only have the effect of isolating Israel internationally. It is also interesting to note that JStreet seems to have lost support with center left Israeli politicians as well as many of its supporters in Congress such as Gary Ackerman. JStreet lost Ackerman due to its support of a UN Resolutions condemning Israel.

Rabbi David Saperstein warned JStreet that its tendency to appease the far left would make it a non player among American Jews. He cited the UN resolution as an example. In my opinion, he did not go far enough. There are many other instances of where JStreet has taken dangerous positions inimical to the security of the Israel, not the least of which was its allowing those who favor BDS, Boycott Divestment and Sanctions, a forum at its conference. In my opinion, this would be tantamount to a Federation General Assembly allowing a presentation by Jews for Jesus at a GA.

Now back to Medzini – Certainly, Rabin was a warrior for Israel’s security and Israel’s peace. He was in each case an “Israeli.” His statement “If something goes wrong we pay the price and not you,” needs to be well considered by those of us sitting in safety and security in the United States while the fathers and sons of fellow Jews in Israel live under the threat if Hamas and Hezbollah rockets and Iranian nuclearization.

Finally, did anyone notice that Roger Walters, the front man of Pink Floyd, decided to join the artist boycott of Israel. It is interesting to note however that Walters has nothing to say about the callous murder of the five members of the Fogel family a week and a half ago. My friend Ron Kehrman wrote an article on this which appeared in the Huffington Post. You may find the article at

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-kehrmann/an-open-letter-to-pink-fl_b_837750.html

It is really worth reading. Ron’s daughter Tal was murdered in 1983 in a bus bombing on the Carmel. She was 17 at the time of her murder.

Fred Guttman

The Egyptian Crises as seen by me in Israel

2011-02-05T05:39:00.000-08:00

I am currently in Israel and have had several important briefings since I have arrived. These are my impressions and I speak for no one but myself. I hold dual citizenship, although I currently live in North Carolina. These comments may be shared with others in my name if you wish.

Media coverage in Israel is somewhat different than that of CNN and that the security concerns of Israel given its geographical proximity to Egypt and the more than 36 billion in advanced weaponry that could fall into the hand of radical Islamists, are very real.

It seems that politicians from Likud to Labour, that is from the right to the left, are quite concerned about the way in which President Obama is managing the situation in Egypt. Basically, they feel that Obama cut off Mubarak way too quickly. This risks a power vacuum in Egypt and in a power vacuum the chances of radical Islam taking over could be considerably greater. Although I have not heard it specifically, I think they might have rather seen president work more closely with Mubarak for a solution such as a call for elections in 45-60 days in Egypt.

I must admit that it is hard to feel sorry for Mubarak. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer of the US said that both in the Bush and Obama administrations, an effort was made to get Mubarak to try to loosen up and democratize. After the debacle in Gaza in 2006, the Bush administration backed away from this effort. I also heard today that Israeli intelligence had warned the Bush administration (and later the Obama administration) as early as 2008 during the Egyptian bread riots that the situation in Egypt was reaching a boiling point.

Nevertheless, there is something quite frightening in general about such a herd or mob mentality as one now sees in Egypt. What is playing out on the street of Egypt seems to me to be a conflict between a “thug-ocracy” and a “mob-ocracy.” I see very little respect for democracy on either side. Certainly this is not a great way to manage political change!

As we have seen with the Hamas election in Gaza, elections are not necessarily a panacea. A democracy works because of strong respect and democratic institutions and infrastructure. It is hard to see these in Egypt at this time.

One thing that has come out is how much the Israeli military budget might have to be increased, especially if the Muslim Brotherhood takes over Egypt. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood – not really a happy prospect for Israel’s security planners!

From what I am seeing, this is a time for reassessment in Israel of everything from the defense budget to the peace process.

To the Israelis, Mohammed El Baredei is certainly not a hero. Many feel that he was responsible as the head of the IAEA for helping Iran cover up its pursuit of nuclear weapons and there is a feeling that in some way, he is close to Iran. In addition, were he to become the head of Egypt, there would be an open pipeline of weapons to Gaza.

I am also a little concerned about those who wish to compare what is happening in Egypt to Tiananmen Square. I am not sure that there is a parallel. What is happening there could be far more significant than simply a group of people trying to gain their freedom. It could very well be an effort by radical Islam to take over the largest and most powerful country in the Arab world and to use the myth of freedom fighters and the person of El Baradei to accomplish these ends. Americans, especially American Jews, who want to identify with the struggles of the Egyptian people would be well advised to exercise a little more caution in their judgment. I can imagine some of such people praising the Khomeini revolution as a "righteous
revolution" against the Shah. As we know, the results from that “struggle for freedom” are less than encouraging, for we are now looking at a country bent upon obtaining nuclear weapons and extending its hegemony over the entire Middle East and possibly more.

Herb Keinon gives us something to consider in an article entitled “Recent unrest in Arab world is not about us” when he writes:

The Middle East is now at a crossroads. There is a democratic moment fast approaching, but one looks at it with fear and trembling. The events in Tunisia and now in Egypt may indeed represent the Arab world’s first popular revolutions, but they are by far not the world’s first revolutions.

The fear and trembling is that what happened in France in 1789, in Russia in 1917 and in Iran in 1979 will repeat itself in Egypt and the Arab world in 2011. After the old was thumped out by the new in those countries, there was a brief moment when democratic forces arose – be it the National Constituent Assembly and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in France, Alexander Kerensky in Russia, or Shapour Bakhtiar in Iran – only to be swept away by the radicals: Robespierre in Paris, the Bolsheviks in Moscow, Ayatollah Khomeini in Teheran.
In Egypt, too, democratic forces are on the march, but the radical extremists are lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce.”

These words from Keinon should cause us to be cautious in viewing the anti Mubarak demonstrators as being parallel to the Civil Rights movement in the US or to Tiananmen Square.

A final thought. In one briefing, there was a theory that in 1979 the Arab would accepted the idea that it could not defeat Israel. This represented a significant paradigm shift. With the prospect of a nuclear Iran, the paradigm is once again shifting. A nuclear Iran would lead the Arab world to once again feel that Israel could be defeated. If such were to be the case, then the conflict is no longer one which is solvable, but simply one which needs to be managed until such time as would warrant the possibility of achieving a lasting peace.

Fred Guttman

Reflections on the Tragedy in Tucson

2011-01-21T12:05:00.001-08:00

from January 14, 2011

The tragedy this part Saturday in Tucson was indeed a pivotal moment in our nation’s history or at least it should be.

What are the lessons of this terrible tragedy?

Political pundits will give you theirs but here are mine from my perspective as a rabbi.

First, we need to be asking some serious questions about the state of mental health care in this country. How is it that the unbalanced people that perpetrated the massacres at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Tucson seem to slip through the cracks until a terrible tragedy occurs? I am not a mental health professional, but I do know that this question needs to be asked.

Second, it is simply not acceptable the ease with which mentally unbalanced people seem to be able to purchase a semi-automatic weapon. We need a rational discussion of how such purchases can be prevented in the future.

Third, we need a rational non reactive discussion about Gun Control in this country. I know that it is a political hot potato and I am doubtful that politicians will want to consider certain common sense measures but consider the following. From 1994 until 2004, the largest size clip that could be purchased for a Glock semi automatic pistol held 15 bullets. The clip used by the Tucson shooter held 30. I have served in the army and once possessed a 9 millimeter handgun. I can tell you that a 30 bullet clip can be completely fired from a semi automatic handgun in less than five seconds. Is it really an aspect of second amendment rights to be able to purchase such clips? How many lives would have been saved, or people who would not have been injured had the shooter clip only contained 15 bullets instead of 30. Again, it is time for both Republicans and Democrats to have a rational, non reactive, non knee jerk discussion of these issues.

Frankly, while I support Representative Peter King’s legislation to ban the possession of weapons with 1000 feet of our elected official, I find it troubling that people in Congress would be willing to have a discussion about their own personal safety without also having one concerning the personal safety of the rest of us as Americans.

Fourth, the only real solution from a Jewish point of view to the problem of violence in our country and our world is the replacement of hatred with love. One of the great rabbis of the twentieth century, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook wrote: "If we were destroyed, and the world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we shall rebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with baseless love." (Orot HaKodesh vol. III, p. 324)

Martin Luther King in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1964 said:
“When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response which is little more than emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality....Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day.

The creation of such a world will not be easy. In November 1963, Dr. King addressed the Union for Reform Judaism’s 47th Biennial convention. In his stirring remarks, he said, “Human progress comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the insurgent and primitive forces of social stagnation and irrational emotionalism. We must help time and we must realize that the time is always right to do right.”

Fifth and finally, it is irrelevant to debate whether or not the political rhetoric of recent years had anything to do with the tragedy in Tucson. We all know that the level of civility in political discourse has decreased in this country during the last decade. We can all agree that political discourse which demonizes political opponents, if not in this case, then in a future case could very well have the unintended consequence of stirring up a random lone wolf to carry out violent or terrorist acts. The state of Israel witnessed this in the months prior to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin when political opponents pilloried Rabin as a Nazi. There is an element of great danger and unintended consequences when politicians and pundits use language which demonizes the opponent.

Frankly, I am proud that this part of North Carolina is represented by two fine gentlemen whose level of political discourse is respectful and admirable. Representative Mel Watt and Representative Howard Coble are both friends of mine and friends of each other. It is not often that they agree of political issues, yet their disagreements are always expressed in a respectful and honorable way. I am proud to call each of them my friend and proud of the way they represent our state.

Some of the times, I wish they would leave us alone!

2011-01-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

Some of the times, I wish they would leave us alone!

This past week, I taught an adult class on the topic concerning “Miracles.” In Judaism, some of the rabbis felt that miracles were supernatural events. Others like Nachmanides felt that miracles were natural occurrences and that what made them special was their timing. In other words, when we needed “such and such” to happen, it happened! Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch taught that the greatest miracle of all was the survival of the Jewish people. Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism felt that a belief in miracles should not be part of modern Jewish thought. The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidim, felt that miracles were everywhere, but that we put on blinders and are not able to see them.

It was this last thought which really intrigued me. I happen to know a woman who has battled metastatic melanoma for more than 10 years. Seven years ago, her family got together and held a Passover Seder which euphemistically her kids called the “Last Supper.” Her continued health and well being is nothing short of a miracle in my opinion.

On Thursday, I shared these thought with a group of economically poor people who were being fed at First Presbyterian Church as part of the Hot Dish and Hope program. Our congregation serves food there twice a month. Our community is grateful to Rev Sidney Batts, Sheron Summer and First Presbyterian Church for their wonderful leadership of the Hot Dish and Hope program.

I ended up my little message of hope with the ideas that every morning that we wake up is a miracle and that perhaps the greatest miracle of all is life itself!

People responded very warmly to my message; that is, all except one person. This one man afterwards came up to me and said rather aggressively that I was wrong and that the greatest miracle of all was that Jesus died for our sins. He wanted to give me a testimony in order to save my soul. The same man has accosted my colleague Rabbi Andy Koren on previous occasions.

I have pretty thick skin and so I was able to slough this off. However, I often receive emails, letters and oral testimonies from supposedly well meaning Christians. Once on Shabbat (the Sabbath), the cars in our parking lot had leaflets put on them. The leaflets encouraged us to accept Jesus. On Yom Kippur, after an article in the newspaper in which the author of the article said that Jews do not have a safety net in Jesus, my mailbox was destroyed. It was the only mailbox on the street to be destroyed and it was destroyed purposely on the holiest day of the Jewish year.

I have an acquaintance to whom I have explained many times why Jews do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Nevertheless, he still wants me to explain to him what I do believe about the Messiah. One of the days, perhaps, I will. But I am hesitant to do so because I know that this will lead to an unwanted testimony from him to me.

I simply do not get it. When I am urinating at the hospital, having gone there to visit the sick, I often see on the urinal note cards urging me to accept Jesus. By contrast, we Jews do not take prayer books or prayer shawls into the bath room.

I simply do not get how being aggressive to others in supposed testimony of one’s faith encourages Brotherhood and Sisterhood. If you want me to respect you as a Christian, behave towards me and all people with justice and compassion. Become part of a joint partnership towards making our community a better place in which to live! Be a part of a joint effort whose goal is bringing more of God’s presence into this world!

In a movie a few years ago, there was a famous line “Show me the money.” To those who are so worried about saving my soul I say, “Show me (by your own personal example) your kindness.”

In his letter in response to the remarks of the governor of Alabama’s dismissive remarks towards those who are not Christian, (see previous blog post) my colleague Rabbi Jonathan Miller quoted the Prophet Malachi who taught: "Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?"

That about says it all as far as I am concerned.

Rabbi Miller's Response to the Governor of Alabama

2011-01-21T10:05:00.001-08:00

Friends:

Rabbi Jonathan Miller of Temple Emanuel of Birmingham is a very close friend and colleague of mine. I thought that you might enjoy seeing his response to the governor of Alabama’s dismissive remarks (some of which are quoted below) towards those who are not Christian.

Rabbi Miller is one of the rabbis whom I admire the most. This is a fabulous response in my opinion.

Rabbi Fred Guttman

*********************************************************************************

January 18, 2011
Governor Robert Bentley
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, AL36130

Let me offer you my congratulations on yesterday's inauguration as the Governor of Alabama. I wish you success, and that these next four years will be years of growth and prosperity for all the citizens of our great State. Leadership has its responsibilities and burdens, and I pray to God that you will bear these burdens with dignity and grace, and that you will fulfill your responsibilities with skill and compassion.

Governor Bentley, I feel a duty to my conscience and my role as the rabbi of the largest synagogue in Alabama to bring to your attention the fact that your remarks at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church yesterday were troubling to me and my congregation, and I believe also to many Alabamians. You are quoted in the Birmingham News as saying:

"There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit. But if you have been adopted in God's family like I have, and like you have if you're a Christian and if you're saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister. . . . Now I will have to say, that if we don't have the same daddy, we're not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother."

I admire people of faith, and I hope that God guides you through these next years. Yours is a difficult job, to be sure, and you will need Divine Providence to get you through the days and months and years.

I want to tell you about us. We Jews are also deeply faithful people. Our living tradition harkens back to Abraham and Sarah, and forward to our rabbis today. The ideas brought forth by my ancestors were incorporated as the cornerstones of Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, Sikhism and Baha'i, and are the foundations of western ethics and modern spirituality. We are also Alabamians. We pay our taxes. We vote in elections. We send our children to school in this state. We abide by Alabama's laws and work, each of us in our own way, for the betterment of all. We are good citizens of this state.

Governor Bentley, as a non-Christian, I felt disenfranchised from your grace as our leader in the immediate hours after your inauguration. If you were an archbishop or the pastor of a church, I could take issue with these statements, or even ignore them. But you are my Governor. Our great nation, by law and tradition, provides us with religious freedom. And even though we do not believe exactly alike, we ought to see each other with brotherly affection, and as equals in conscience and human worth.

We Jews, and others who are not Christians, know that we are a minority in Alabama. We know what it is like to be few in number and sometimes seen as outsiders. We are also proud Americans. Governor Bentley, religion in this country is great because every American is offered equal protection and defense from a government that would attempt to dictate conscience and belief. We hope that you would reconsider the sentiments you shared at the historic Dexter Avenue Church, and be a Governor that respects us all and treats us all as brothers and sisters. Please don't use religion to divide us. Unite us all instead. You are your brothers' keeper, and Governor Bentley, we are your brothers.

2500 years ago, the Prophet Malachi told my people: "Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?" I am a religious man, Governor Bentley. We have only one God and one father, and we are all, whether we like it or not, brothers. And we need to be kind to each other as we ought to be kind to our brothers. And we are kind to our brothers for sake of the One God who is the father of all.

I am hoping that I will hear back from you a clear message of enfranchisement and understanding. I am depending upon you for leadership.

Governor Bentley, I plan to send this letter to my congregation. I promise you that I will also send them your response. And Governor Bentley, it would be my honor to invite you and Mrs. Bentley to address Temple Emanu-El one Sabbath evening so that you would get to know us better. I hope you might find time amid all of your duties to reach out to us in the spirit of friendship.

This was not an easy letter to write. But do know that it was written with great hope and prayers for you and our State of Alabama.

Shalom,

Rabbi Jonathan Miller

The DREAM Act; article and letter

2010-11-30T18:48:00.000-08:00

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.

2010-11-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

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

2010-10-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-28T11:11:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-07-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-06-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-02-19T12:11:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-06T15:06:00.000-08:00

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”

2010-01-10T19:58:00.001-08:00

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.

The Health Care Debate and the Usage of Nazi Imagery and Propaganda

2009-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on Sunday, August 9, 2009

The Health Care Debate and the Usage of Nazi Imagery and Propaganda

About twelve days ago, I received a call from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. The RAC had been contacted by the White House about President Obama’s upcoming trip to Raleigh to speak about heath care, and they requested a few rabbis attend. They had three tickets and wanted to know if I was interested.

I, of course, said yes and had the incredible chutzpah to ask if they could get another ticket for me. Two hours later, I received an email from the White House itself to inform me there would be an extra ticket which I promptly gave to our Associate Rabbi, Rabbi Andy Koren!

Sometimes, it just does not hurt to have the audacity to ask!

We enjoyed our time there. The discussion was thoughtful.

However, on the way out, we passed a demonstrator who was holding a sign which said, “ObamaCare = National Socialism”. The other rabbis stood by in amazement as I confronted the person holding this sign. I told them that, as a rabbi and as a Jew, I found this sign to be particularly offensive.

If you are not aware, National Socialism is a code word for Nazism and the holder of the sign understood this very well. The word “Nazi” is actually an acronym for the words “National Socialist Workers Party.”

I mentioned to the demonstrator that I accepted his right to disagree with the President and to express such disagreement. However, comparing Obama’s health care plan to the rule of the Nazi party in Germany was terribly hurtful to Jews who had lost one third of their population, six million souls - of whom one and a half million were children – to the Nazi death machine. As a matter of fact, as far as Jews are concerned, the Nazi party is about as far away from healthcare as one could get. Using this imagery seemed to me to be quite hurtful.

But more is involved here.

When I lived in Israel, I had to opportunity to meet on several occasions with a woman named Ruth Eliaz. Ruth was a survivor of Auschwitz. Ruth’s story is extraordinary.

Ruth was pregnant in Auschwitz. Most of the time pregnant woman and women with young children were sent directly to the gas chambers as soon as the cattle car transports arrived. Ruth was chosen in the selection to be a worker. As her pregnancy continued, she tried her best to cover her stomach knowing full well that if she were to be discovered, she would be sent directly to the gas chamber. Eventually the pregnancy could not be hidden any longer. Ruth was taken to the infamous Nazi doctor, Doctor Josef Mengele.

In Auschwitz, Mengele conducted horrific experiments on Jews, especially on Jewish twins. Mengele told Ruth that he had something special in mind for her and that he would allow her to continue the pregnancy to term. After Ruth gave birth to a baby boy, she began to breast feed the child. Mengele had her brought to him whereupon he strapped her to a gurney and injected her breasts with poison so that she would not be able to feed her baby. The purpose of this “experiment” in his mind was to see how long a new born baby could live without being fed. Of course, in the women’s section of Auschwitz, there were no other women who could breast feed Ruth’s baby. Eventually, after several days of seeing her child suffer, Ruth could stand it no longer and she smothered her own child.

This terrible story actually has somewhat of a decent ending in that Ruth did survive Auschwitz and after the War made it to Israel where she married, and they had two children of their own. Both of the children served in the Israeli army, one of them was a pilot in the Israeli Air force.

After the war, the infamous Dr. Mengele escaped to South America and was never brought to trial as a war criminal.

I tell this story to your tonight because we need to truly understand what “health care” meant for Jews who had the misfortune of living under the rule of National Socialism.

Two days ago, Rush Limbaugh compared grassroots supporters of President Obama as "the real brownshirts" and on his website an Obama healthcare logo is put side-by-side with a Nazi symbol.Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) wrote the following in response to Limbaugh:

“As a Democrat who founded the Institute On The Holocaust and The Law, I have a lesson for Rush Limbaugh. Today, there are survivors of the Holocaust with tattoos stenciled on their arms who are registered Democrats. And he's treated them with vile contempt. Limbaugh has the right to be the buffoon that he is. He has no right to compare Americans to Nazis who exterminated 6 million Jews. I know he won't apologize. I do expect my Republican colleagues to denounce his comments. The Holocaust taught us that silence in the face of evil expression becomes acquiescence to evil. And what Limbaugh said is pure evil.”

Again, while it is perfectly legitimate to agree or disagree with the proposals on the table, comparing a proposal to Nazi policies is really beyond the bounds of proper political discourse.

In 1996, I met Leah Rabin, the wife of Prime Minister Rabin who a year earlier had been assassinated by a lone Jewish gunman. Prior to his assassination, Rabin’s opponents had held demonstrations wherein signs were held up of his face pasted on a picture of a Nazi SS uniform. Ms. Rabin blamed her political opponents for not forcefully condemning such hysterical propaganda and she felt that this propaganda had created the atmosphere necessary for the crazed assassin to be cultivated.

This demonization of political opponents is currently taking place in our country, and it is a disturbing phenomenon. By the way, in the 1930 and 1932 elections, Nazi Brown Shirts would often go to the rallies and meetings of their political opponents with the expressed purpose of making enough noise to totally disrupt the meeting.
Folks, we as Americans are dealing with fire here. I have heard a rumor that the Secret Service was processing three times the amount of threats against President Obama when compared to recent presidents. If true, some of this may be accounted to the positions for which he advocates, but some of it could also be attributed to overt racism. Regardless, the demonization of the president and his positions by the extreme right is, in my opinion, a contributing factor to threats against his personal safety.

You might remember that last summer, then candidate Obama went to Israel and placed a prayer in the Western Wall, the holiest site in all of Judaism. When asked what the contents of the prayer were, he answered that he asked God to protect him and his family. In the current atmosphere, this prayer has even greater meaning, and it should not only be his prayer but ours as well!

The health care debate in our country is at a critical crossroad. A lot is at stake for our future, but the way in which we need to find a solution to this problem needs to be civil and respectful.

I would like to suggest a few additional assumptions upon which the current discussion needs to be based. These are:

1. Scare tactics based upon false information have no place in this discussion. The Nazi’s called this the “Big Lie” technique. What this meant is that if one continued to tell the same lie over and over, no matter how outrageous it was, the gullible public would eventually begin to believe it. In this case, the extreme right accuses proposed policies of giving the government power to kill the elderly by requiring living will documents. However, encouraging doctors to speak with their patients about a living will makes good sense. It is the ethical thing to do and, economically, it is a prudent thing to do if it prevents people who do not wish to be kept alive in vegetative states from being sustained for months or even years connected to sophisticated and expensive machines. It is a gross statement to say that this policy will lead to the government deciding to kill elderly people. This is not a "slippery slope" argument, but an example of grotesque propaganda in the tradition of the “Big Lie” Technique.

2. Our current system of health care is not as good as we think it is. According to the World Health Organization, while the United States spends more money on health care than any other nation, our overall rank is thirty-seventh in terms of the quality of healthcare for the entire population. People in other countries do live longer than we do and our ranking in infant mortality is thirty seventh.

3. Doing nothing is not an option. Currently 18% of the GNP is siphoned toward health care – the highest rate in the developed world. By doing nothing to curb this growth, figures may climb 30% or more. Health care premiums and deductibles will continue to rise and fewer small businesses will be able provide health care as a benefit to their employees.

4. Finally, the figures for the cost of health care from the Congressional Budget Office need to be taken seriously. Current plans in the House which could add a trillion to the deficit are not acceptable. Cost-cutting measures are a critical component of any heath care reform or expansion of coverage. By the way, the president himself has stated that he will not sign a health care bill which is not revenue neutral.

Almost one thousand years ago, the great Jewish scholar, Moses Maimonides, listed health care as the number one item on his list of services which a community must provide for its people. Emphasis on the community and its needs, as opposed emphasis fulfillment of self gratification and greed, is a fundamental Jewish value.
We are living during a very difficult time as far as health care costs are concerned. It is important for us as a nation to find a solution to this problem if we want our nation not only to have better health care, but to be economically competitive in the coming decades. Finding this solution will necessitate not only a lot of creative thinking, but will also require a lot of civility and respectful debate. Perhaps most important, it will require a lot of prayer, for we will need God’s help as a nation to take us from where health care is today to the place where it ought to be, a place wherein all of us, as holy manifestations of the Divine, will have access to high quality and affordable health care.

Israel, Iran the Obama administration, and the Future of the Middle East

2009-09-29T08:10:00.001-07:00

Israel, Iran the Obama administration, and the Future of the Middle East
Kol Nidre 5770

Some of you might know that the most popular sport in Israel is called football, which is really what we call soccer. The second most popular sport is basketball. The third most popular is tennis and, believe it or not, the fourth most popular sport in Israel would have to be archeology. “What?” you say, “how can archeology be a sport?” And yet, for many Israelis, this is the national sport. Kids go out in summer and work on archeological digs. Particularly significant finds are put on the front page of Israeli newspapers.

For example, 3,000 years ago there was a boy in the town of Gezer, who wrote a little ditty about the agricultural seasons on a writing tablet. That writing tablet was later found. The significance of the tablet is that is perhaps the oldest original Hebrew document that we have, going back some 3,000 years. In the last few months, archeologists have discovered the largest ever collection of rare coins from the time Bar Kochba revolt against the Roman from 132-136 C.E. The coins were found in a place where Jewish fighters hid from the Romans during the revolt. Elsewhere in the Galilee, archeologists recently discovered a synagogue from the Second Temple period. The middle of the synagogue was a stone engraved with the seven branch menorah. The significance of this is that it’s the only engraving of a menorah that actually comes from the period when the Second Temple stood. All three of these finds made the front page of the Israeli newspaper.

I mention this because part of anti-Israel propaganda during the current time is to say that Jews only came to Israel as a result of the Nazi holocaust during World War II. The truth of the matter is that Jews have lived continuously in Israel for more than 3,000 years. The reason why archeology is a national sport, therefore, is because the deeper the Jewish people dig the more we learn about our history.

Even those who lived in the Diaspora understood how precious Israel was. After my grandfather died, we found an olive wood booklet with pages on the inside consisting of pressed flowers from the city of Jerusalem. This booklet belonged to my great-grandfather Jacob. We do not know to this day why he had such a book, but I would like to think that he had it that it was his hope that someday he as a Jew would go to Israel. This was not to be. I wonder, as well, if he could have ever imagined that his great-grandson would be a citizen of Israel and serve in the Israeli army and that his great-great grandson would currently reside in the Tel-Aviv region.

But it was not only in my family that there was a connection to Israel. There was a rabbi in the Warsaw Ghetto, who once showed his student a precious Megillah, a scroll of Esther. The scroll of Esther as you know tells of the story of Esther, Mordechai and the wicked Haman who sought to destroy the Jews. The rabbi proceeded to bury that scroll and tell his students there was a very good chance that the current Haman, none other than Adolf Hitler, would succeed in killing him and most of them. But he told them that if any of them survived, this scroll about persecution and Jewish redemption should be dug up and brought to the land of Israel. After the war, some of the people did survive. The scroll of Esther, the Megillah, was dug up and brought to Israel and is found in the Israel museum.

The connection of Jews to Israel, regardless of whether or not we were actually living in Israel or in the Diaspora, is more than 3,000 years old. For the Jewish people, this connection is eternal – even to the point that here in Greensboro, when we bury our loved ones, we sprinkle over there grave dirt from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. For us Jews, it is not only the land of Israel, but the state of Israel which is indeed very precious.

The aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust did not lead to the creation of the state of Israel. Tragically, had the state of Israel existed, perhaps as many as one million Jews could have found refuge from the Holocaust. The real tragedy of the Holocaust therefore, is not only that Jews were murdered by the Nazis, but that they had no place, including the United States of America and including the land Israel, to which to flee.

The state of Israel, wherein live some 6 million of our fellow Jews, has led to a revitalization of Jewish life both in Israel and throughout the world. If you have never been to Israel, please consider this a personal invitation. If you would like to go, there are adult spaces available this year on the March of the Living to Poland and Israel. We will be living on April 7th and returning on April 21st – if you are interested please see me. The experience of the land and the country of Israel is a life-changing one for Jews, and it is an experience that existentially changes how we view being Jewish.

There are three aspects of the Middle East right now which cause us in the pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-American community great concern.

The first was the presentation last week of the UN Human Rights Commission report criticizing the state of Israel for its actions last year in Gaza. A little background is in order. In 2005, the Israeli government withdrew from every square inch of Gaza. Shortly thereafter, a reign of terror began with more than 12,000 rockets being fired into southern Israel. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier whose picture sits on the chair to your right was kidnapped within Israel and has been held for now more than three years by Hamas. The International Red Cross has not been allowed to visit him, an egregious violation of international law. Hamas now rules Gaza, having overthrown the legitimately elected government there. In doing so, they were responsible for murdering many leaders of Fatah, their opposition. The world said nothing as this took place.

In contrast to this, the Human Relations Commission at the United Nation has issued 33 resolutions since 2006, 26 of these have been anti-Israel. Israel is the only country on the Human Rights Commissions’ permanent agenda.

The report issued last week libels Israel by saying from the very beginning its desire was to inflict great harm upon the civilian population of Gaza. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am glad to report that the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has vehemently criticized this latest smear attempt against Israel. The report fails to acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism and other external threats. The report accuses Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The United States administration has said that it will veto any resolution coming to the Security Council from the Human Relations Commission dealing with this report. Apparently the US is unable to prevent the report from being referred to the International Criminal Court – which means that Israelis who fought in that war could be rather indiscriminately arrested by Interpol should they travel outside of the country. In the Senate, Senators Gillibrand-Isakson have introduced a letter criticizing the Human Relations Commission report. Their letter insists that Israel must have a right to defend itself against terrorism. This latest attempt to smear Israel through the United Nations is another in the pernicious cycle of denying the state of Israel its right to exist.

The second issue of great concern to me concerning Israel and the Middle East concerns the status of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The summit meeting last week between President Obama, President Abbas of the Palestinian authority, and Prime Minister Netenyahu seems to have accomplished very little. But here we need to pause for a moment and consider what has gone on within the past nine months.

When the Obama administration came into power, the strategy was that by seeming to adopt a hard-line toward Israel, the Arab nations and the Palestinians would come to the table and be more inclined to making peace. This pressure on Israel was accomplished in two ways. First, there was to be an absolute freeze on all sorts of settlement construction activity. In truth, the settlement issue, as much as it is problematic was not the real problem. The problem here was the Arab-Palestinian refusal to accept Israel as a legitimate partner for peace and as Jewish state.

The second way in which President Obama reached out to the Palestinians and Arabs was through his Cairo speech. The speech was an important overture toward the Arab world. It was not all that well-received in Israel.

Now what were the results of these overtures?

Well, first of all, there has not been one single achievement as far as decreasing Arab intransigence is concerned. As a matter of fact, the opposite has taken place. Now, additional pre-conditions have been set by the Palestinians for negotiations with Israel. These include an absolute settlement freeze and a return to the 1967 lines. Because of the reaction to the overture, we are seeing increasingly hard line position pushing direct negotiations even farther away.

In addition, President Obama had hoped to get some sort of concession from the Saudi Arabia. Not one was to be forthcoming – not diplomatic recognition, not even fly-over rights for El Al jets, nothing.

Now I am not going to sit here and tell you that I think the strategy pursued by the Obama administration was a mistake. However, what I am glad to report to is that, as of this week, due partly to pressure from those in Congress who are pro-Israel, the Obama administration has declared that at the beginning of negotiations, there need not be a one hundred percent freeze on all settlements. President Obama stated that the time has come for the parties to come to the table without preconditions.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has indicated his readiness to speak about all issues, President Abbas and the Arabs have not shown such willingness.

In Israel, this change in American approach will be most welcome. A recent public opinion poll showed that only four percent of the Israeli population feels that President Obama is friendly to Israel.

In addition, it is worth noting at this time that Israel has taken significant steps to improve the life of the Palestinians on the West Bank. These include the removal of check points and the easing of economic restrictions. The result has been that in the past year there has been a seven percent increase in the Gross Domestic Product in the West Bank.

Clearly, events of the last week have shown that it is now the responsibility of the Arab-states and the Palestinians to come to the table. It is now time for the Saudis to exert their influence to bring about recognition of Israel and to encourage the peace process. Hopefully, the United States will continue the current level of foreign aid to Israel, realizing that only a strong Israel will be able to take the steps necessary for peace.

And this brings me to the third issue of concern, and it should be no surprise to you – the issue of Iranian nuclearization. Whatever sermon I had planned to give tonight, drastically changed Friday morning when it was revealed that the Iranian government has another nuclear enrichment plant which they had been keeping secret from the International Atomic Energy Commission and from the West. Within the past year, Iran has lied to the United States three times and has now been caught three times. According to recent Western intelligence, Iran has now succeeded in designing a missile column to fit a nuclear warhead. It has during the past two years, doubled the number faster centrifuges to work on uranium enrichment. The Iranians have stockpiled enough low enriched uranium (LEU) that if it chose to further enrich it, could within a matter of months have enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) for a weapon. As far as we all know, they have not made the decision to further enrich but, rather, are adding to their stockpile of LEU. Iran has also gone into home production of nuclear fuel rods for plutonium.

Make no mistake about it, as strong as Israel is, this is potentially an existential threat to Israel as well as to the West.

Here you have an Iranian theocratic administration which not only denies the Holocaust, but has announced its intention to wipe Israel off the map. Here you have an administration that stole and election in June and has brutally cracked down on its own people. The Iranian administration is making a mockery of human rights as it has arrested and murdered its own people, including the young woman Neda Agha-Soltan who was brutally murdered in an anti-government demonstration.

Discussions are to begin October 1st between the permanent members of the Security Council, Germany, and Iran. The purpose of the negotiations is to help the Iranians understand that they have a choice of joining the nations of the world in pursuit of peace or continuing down their very dangerous road toward nuclear proliferation. If these fail, additional sanctions could be forthcoming. The United States is now trying to lay the ground work for sanctions. The Chinese have been resistant, but on Thursday, the Russian President Medevadev announced that Russia might possibly support them.
The US strategy for the next three months should be the prevention of Iranian nuclear capability and a commitment that Iran will stop its refinement of enriched uranium and open up all of its facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Commission.

Our part as Americans and as people who support Israel is to help our fellow citizens understand that a nuclear Iran will lead to increased nuclear arms race in the Middle East. It will severely damage Middle East peace process. It will be an immediate threat to Europe and a potential threat to the United States. A nuclear Iran will increase the chance that world terrorist organizations such as Hizbullah, Hamas, and even al-Qaeda will receive nuclear weapons and use them against Israel, the West, or the United States. In the next weeks and months, we should be in touch with the Whitehouse and with our members of Congress via letters, emails and phone calls to let them know that we support sanctions and American efforts to prevent Iranian nuclearization.

It is up to us to state that as important as the health care debate is, the discussion of Iran nuclearization is even more pressing for it does nothing less than threaten the security of the free world.

The points that I have made today are indeed very serious and part of me thinks that this may be one of the most important sermons I have ever given in my life. One of the greatest Conservative Rabbis of the 20th Century, Arthur Hertzberg, once gave a sermon in the 1930s warning his congregation on Yom Kippur of the threat of Nazism. He was roundly excoriated for this sermon by his congregants and later asked to leave the congregation. I do not believe, thank God, that this is about to happen to me – but I do hope that you will take these concerns of mine, concerns reflected by most of the pro-Israel community in the United States, very seriously. In order to address these concerns, we will all need to work together.

Recently I asked a young girl in our congregation what if a bird which had a broken wing could fly. She answered me that it most certainly could not. I then asked her what would happen to such a bird. She answered that it would eventually fall out of a tree to the ground where it would be eaten by another animal.

We need both wings to fly!

Dealing with the Iranian threat will require that those on both the left and the right, liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, put aside their political pettiness and disagreements in order to come together. We need to reach out to people of all faiths and races, in order to help them understand just how serious this problem is.

The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hassidism, told a story about another bird. In his story, a young student came to his rabbi with the intention of proving that the rabbi was not as wise as everyone thought. He was going to ask the rabbi if a bird that he was holding in his hand was alive or dead. If the rabbi said the bird was alive, he would immediately crush it. If he said it was dead, he would open his hand and show the rabbi the living bird.

The rabbi understood when approach by the student what was going on and answered, “Son, I am not sure whether or not the bird is alive or dead or will live or will die – but I am certainly positive that the future of the bird lies within your hands.”
Now more than ever, my dear friends, I am convinced that the future of the free world lies in the ability of the United States to provide significant leadership for peace while making sure that terrorists and rogue states such as Iran do not possess nuclear weapons.

Earlier in this speech, I mentioned a rabbi who, together with his students buried the Megillah, the scroll of Esther in the Warsaw Ghetto. They buried it because the Haman of their time, Hitler, was threatening to kill all of them. They hoped that one day they would dig up the Megillah and take it to Israel and some of them did so.

If there is any lesson in that story, if there is any message that needs to be taken from this sermon, it is that the time has passed when we are going to bury our holy texts. The time has passed for us as Jews to bury our heads in the sand while Hamans, Hitlers, or Ahmenidijahads threaten our people and threaten the free world. In the words of Elie Wiesel, “We have learned to trust the threats of our enemies more than the promises of our friends.”

In the spirit of the famous twenty third Psalm, we “have walked though the valley of the shadow of death.” Our answer to those who would deny this fact would be to say that all it takes for memories to be erased is for lies to be unopposed. We have walked through the gas chambers of Auschwitz and the fields of Babi Yar, but this time more than sixty years later, “we will fear no evil.”

The time has passed when Jewish people are powerless. The state of Israel is indeed strong and the ability of American Jews to influence the current administration has perhaps never been stronger.

On this Yom Kippur, on this night of Kol Nidre, the holiest night of all the Jewish year, it is time for us to recommit ourselves to our God and to our People. It is time for us to recommit ourselves to the pursuance of peace and security for Israel and for our country.

The time has passed when Jews will bury Holy texts in the face of evil!

May God bless Israel, bless the United States of America, and bless us with a year of health, security and above all peace.

May the One who causes peace to reign in the high heavens, let peace descend on us from all of the people of Israel and all of the world, and together we say, Amen.

something incredibly beautiful musically from our RH services

2009-09-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

http://vimeo.com/6662801

Emily Siar, the singer, is 17 years old.

“The Eternal One, the Eternal God is merciful and gracious,

2009-09-20T21:16:00.001-07:00

“The Eternal One, the Eternal God is merciful and gracious,
endlessly patient…” Part II
Rosh Hashanah Morning 5970

Last night we looked at the prayer which immediately follows the Avinu Malkaynu during the High Holy days. Later this morning we will hear this prayer sung by Lane. Please take a look at the prayer now on page 122.

The prayer reads “The Eternal One, the Eternal God is merciful and gracious, endlessly patient, loving and true, showing mercy to thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin and granting pardon.”

I mentioned last night that when this prayer is recited we are asking God to forgive us of our sins and misdeeds. However, I feel that in a way we are reliving two occasions in the Torah wherein this prayer is to be found. Last night I spoke of how the prayer is found after the incident with the Golden Calf and after Moses receives the second set of the tablets containing the Ten Commandments.

Let us now turn to the second time that the phrase (although not in its entirety) appears in the Torah and let us see what lessons we might be able to learn from this occurrence.

The people of Israel have been wandering in the desert. It had been a year since they had been liberated from Egypt. Being close to the Promised Land, Moses decided to send out twelve spies to check out the land. The twelve spies were men of renown, one representative of each tribe.

The spies return from the land carrying a cluster of grapes that was so large that it needed to be carried on a pole by two men. All seem to agree that the land is indeed a land of milk and honey, a land with good grazing and good agricultural potential.

From here, however, the twelve spies break into two groups. Ten of the spies say “The people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the very large men, giants, there. 29Amalekites dwell in the Negev region; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites inhabit the hill country; and Canaanites dwell by the Sea and along the Jordan.”[2][1]

A commotion must have broken out. One of the remaining spies, Caleb, says, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.”

But according to the text: “The men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack that people, for it is stronger than we.” Thus they spread lies among the Israelites about the land they had scouted, saying, “The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers. All the people that we saw in it are men of great size ….. we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.”
Notice that they not only referred to themselves as grasshoppers, meaning that they viewed themselves as small and insignificant, but that they also said that they felt that others perceived them in such as way as well!

At this point, “The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. 2All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron.
“If only we had died in the land of Egypt,” the whole community shouted at them, “or if only we might die in this wilderness! 3Why is the Lord taking us to that land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be carried off! It would be better for us to go back to Egypt!” 4And they said to one another, “Let us head back for Egypt.”

Last night, when God was giving Moses the second set of commandments, it was God who described himself as “merciful and gracious, endlessly patient, loving and true, showing mercy to thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin and granting pardon.” This time however, it is Moses who uses God’s words to ask God to forgive the people. God answered that he will forgive the people but only their children, and not them, will enter the Promised Land.

Now when you ask most people what, according to the Torah, was the worst sin done by the Israelites while in the desert, most people will answer that it was the incident of the Golden Calf which we discussed last night. However, according to the Torah, this reaction of the Israelites to the report of the spies is the very worst sin. We know this because the punishment is not merely a plague, but a declaration that because of their slave like mentality, they would not be able to enter the Promised Land. Because they were still thinking like slaves in Egypt, they were not worthy or prepared to enter the land as a free people.

This story shows that like slaves, they did not have three critical ingredients necessary to proceed. First, they had lost confidence in their own abilities even to the extent that they transferred their own lack of self confidence to others by saying that others too perceived them as grasshoppers. Second, they had lost their faith in God, the very God who had liberated them from Egypt with “a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” Third, they had lost their vision as to what life in the Promised Land could be.

I would maintain that we are like them in that these are three sins of which many of us are guilty.

Many of us do lack self confidence. We do lack faith in our own abilities. Like the people in the desert, this is a great sin. Now in Judaism, sin is referred to as “het.” In modern Hebrew, it is the root to describe a missed free throw. It literally means “missing the mark” as though we were an archer who missed the bull’s eye on a target.

An earthly king came to a village and noticed that there were targets on the side of the barns of the building and that in the center of each target was an arrow. The king had never seen anything quite like this. He inquired as to whom the archer was for he wanted the marksman for his own army. The people of the village proceeded to inform him that the man that he was looking for was the meshugenah Yankele who went around firing arrows at barns and then painted targets around the arrows. Of course, at this point the earthly king lost all interests in Yankele.

The story intrigues me for two reasons. First of all, it shows me that one way to view repentance or teshuvah is to admit our wrong and then make the wrong into a right. This is turning something bad into something good. The arrows have been fired by us in a haphazard, helter skelter way, and now it is our task to paint the target around them!
Second, let us realize that unlike the earthly king, the heavenly king still desires that we be soldiers in his army. God still desires that we become agents of healing and repair. God still desires that we become (in Al Vorspan’s immortal words) “nudniks for justice!”

The second sin of the desert generation was that they had lost their faith in God. God had not only brought them out of Egypt, but it was God that had given them manna and protected them along the way. It is not easy to tell someone how to renew their faith in God, especially when, personally, I see the presence of God in so many ways. Recently, I have seen God’s presence in the mother who with a tear in her eye is trying to breastfeed her baby in an intensive care unit at the hospital. I see the presence of God in the son who stood by his mother’s bed constantly for two weeks until she drew her last breath.

I see the presence of God in the waves of the sea and feel it in the clear mountain air of the Blue Ridge or Rockies.

I see the presence of God in the way in which our young people cared for and nurtured the survivors who went with us on last year’s March of the Living. On that trip, one of our survivors, Rabbi Larry Berkowitz, was a survivor of Auschwitz. While we were standing at the steps of the gas chamber and crematorium number two, the steps from which people went down to change their clothes prior to gassing, Larry descended one of the steps and then said the following. “This is the place. This is the place where my mother and my younger brother and sister died. This is the step on which my mother saw her last bit of daylight or her last view of the moon and stars.”

In today’s Torah portion, an angel intercedes and acknowledges Abraham’s faith and prevents him from sacrificing his son. There would be no angel to rescue Larry’s mother, but less than five minutes later, Rabbi Berkowitz chanted the El Male Rachameem prayer for his mother, siblings and all of the victims and then led us in the Kaddish. It does not make a lot of sense to me even today, but at that moment I sensed in him some special meaning. Perhaps it was healing. Perhaps it was closure for him as an eighty two year old man who had been a sixteen year old adolescent with working hands in Auschwitz. I am not sure what it was, but even in that moment I felt the presence of God.

So I am not sure what the exact recipe is for getting back one’s faith, but I am convinced that getting it back can be quite important in helping us heal, in helping us to regain vision and in helping us to become healthy.
Recently my friend and our fellow congregant, Dr. Jim Adelman, loaned me a book entitled “How God Changes Your Brain” by Dr. Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman. For those who do not know Jim, he is a prominent neurologist in Greensboro and is really such an upbeat guy. I was visiting him as he was recovering from a hip replacement at which time he said to me, “Fred, you gotta read this book!”

Well, he was correct. The book is fabulous. The authors, both of whom are scientists and one of whom is a physician, demonstrate that functional brain scans show that certain positive things happen to our brain when we have faith in a loving God. Studies have shown that a belief that God will give us the strength and courage to face the vicissitudes of life may also improve our health, or at least the health of our brains. Our brains seem to me more dynamic than previously thought. Studies have shown that those who frequently pray or mediate are less susceptible to dementia and seem to be able to slow the onset of Alzheimer’s, apparently by actually changing the hardwiring of our brains!

Newberg and Waldman list eight ways to exercise your brain. They are, in descending order.

8. Smile

7. Stay intellectually active

6. Consciously relax

5. Yawn (though hopefully not during this sermon!)

4. Meditate

3. Aerobic Exercise

2. Dialogue with others

And the number one best way to exercise one’s brain is to have faith. In the words of Newberg and Waldman “Faith is equivalent with hope and optimism, and the belief that a positive future awaits us.” (p.164)

So today, let us not be like the Jews of the desert who when facing despair, lost their faith in a loving God. Rather as difficult as it might seem, let us maintain the faith that God can be a source of strength, courage and serenity and let us do so by looking for evidence of God’s presence in our world.

Finally, the third sin of the desert generation was that they had lost their vision of the Promised Land. A proverb in the bible states: “18For lack of vision a people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) What the verse literally means is that without vision, there is anarchy. The word for anarchy used here ironically comes from the same root as the word for Pharaoh. In other words, one could interpret the verse to mean that without vision we are slaves. Without vision, we re-enslave ourselves.

Those who are facing tough times need not only to get their “groove” back, they need to regain their vision. Those of us in their families and in their community need to become agents who help those who need it regain their sense of their own personal Promised Land.

Above all, the passage is telling us that God desires that we envision a better future in order that we might work towards its fulfillment.

In Judaism, there is a concept called, “Yeridah le tsorech aliyah” which translated means, “We go down only to ascend.” The Psalmist says: “From the depths I cry to you,” meaning that from the depths I cry to God to help me ascend! Therefore, our attitudes need to be that there is no such thing as “down.”

Yes, there are times of despair for many of us, but the sages tell us that despair is an essential part of Teshuvah. Despair needs to give us the power to move toward change, to break through the chains of what is holding you down or back. Despair is a birth pang to something else.
You may have lost your job. You may have suffered financial set backs. You may be ill. You may be worried about your children, parents or another loved one. You may be dealing with a difficult time at work and all of these can cause you to despair.

Yet the story of the spies is one that tells us not to despair, but to have faith that although we are down at this moment, we are about to ascend at the next moment. It is because of this that I have always felt that a Jew is a pessimist with hope!

So if this applies to you, listen to the following phrase, learn this phrase and share it with someone who needs it. The phrase is: “Every setback is a setup for a comeback.” Listen to it again. “Every setback is a setup for a comeback.” Now say it with me: “Every setback is a set up for a comeback.”

So once again the three most serious sins in the Torah done by the generation of the desert were:
1. Loss of confidence in their own abilities.
2. Loss of faith in God and
3. Loss of vision as to what life in the Promised Land could be.

In just a few moments we will stand before the open ark and Lane will chant the prayer that Moses asked of God when he asked God to forgive the people of these three sins. As we hear this, let us remember that all too often many of us have been guilty of the same three sins. Let us ask for God to help us regain our confidence in our own abilities, our faith in God and our vision as to what our personal “Promised Land” would look like.

Moses in our story says to God “7Therefore, I pray, let my Lord’s forbearance be great, as You have declared, saying, 18‘The Lord! slow to anger and abounding in kindness; forgiving iniquity and transgression; ….
19Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to Your great kindness, as You have forgiven this people ever since Egypt.”

God’s answer is “סָלַחְתִּי כִּדְבָרֶֽךָ”
“I pardon, as you have asked.”

May God pardon us for losing our vision and faith and may we all be blessed with a renewal of faith and vision, a year of blessing, health and peace.

May God bless us with peace in our lives and the lives of our families, our congregation and community, our nation and our world.

Leshanah Tovah tikatayvu – May we be inscribed for a blessing in the Book of Life! Amen

“The Eternal One, the Eternal God is merciful and gracious,

2009-09-20T21:14:00.001-07:00

“The Eternal One, the Eternal God is merciful and gracious,
endlessly patient…” Part I
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5970
Greensboro, North Carolina

During the High Holy days before we take the Torah out of the ark, there are two additional pieces of liturgy which are recited. These are not recited on Shabbat. The first is called the Avinu Malkenu. When we recite this prayer, we ask God to hear us and we acknowledge that we have sinned. We ask that we should be blessed with a good year and that the world should no longer be plagued by war and oppression. Finally, we ask that we all be blessed for inclusion in the book of life.

This year we will hear Max Janowski’s incredibly beautiful version of Avinu Malkenu four times and thanks to Janet and Brooks, we have added a violin and a cello part. The Avinu Malkenu soloists will be Emily Siar, Debbie Thacker, Jeanne Fischer and Lane Ridenhour.

The second piece of liturgy occurs immediately after the Avinu Malkenu and is sung by Lane. Turn to page 122 and you will see this prayer. The prayer reads: “The Eternal God is merciful and gracious, endlessly patient, loving and true, showing mercy to thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin and granting pardon.” Biblical commentators have viewed this phrase as the closet description of God’s attributes found in the Torah.

We hear this after the Avinu Malkenu as if to remind God that God should have mercy on us because of our sins and transgressions. By itself it is a very powerful moment. Immediately after it is sung, we proceed to take the Torah out of the ark.

However, I would like for us to consider that if we delve into the biblical background of this phrase, we might find that its awesome quality during this season is heightened and that it can have an additional meaning to us.

The phrase occurs twice in the Torah. The first time is in Exodus 34 and is said by God to Moses as God is granting to Moses the second set of tablets of the Ten Commandants. The second time occurs in Numbers in a slightly abbreviated form and is said by Moses to God towards the end of the incident of the spies.

Tonight, we will examine the story of the second tablets and tomorrow we will examine the story of the spies.

The first time the phrase “The Eternal God is merciful and gracious, endlessly patient, loving and true, showing mercy to thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin and granting pardon” is at the end of the story of the Golden Calf. You will remember the details. Moses is on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments and he seems to be delayed in coming down. The people, feeling insecure and abandoned, make a golden calf to replace Moses. When Moses does come down from the mountain, he finds people dancing in ecstasy around the calf. In anger, Moses throws down the original two tablets. A plague follows. God does not destroy the entire people. God will give Moses a second set of tablets during which God proclaims to Moses the phrase: “The Eternal God is merciful and gracious, endlessly patient, loving and true, showing mercy to thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin and granting pardon.”

So imagine that we are standing before the open ark and the terrible sin of building the Golden Calf is on our consciences. This is rather difficult to do, but while we may not have built an actual golden calf, there are certain things that we have done during the past year that remind us of their sin.

The first of these is how we have been reactive to others and to situations. For the people, they reacted to the insecurity caused by the delay in Moses’ return by doing something incredibly stupid; namely, rejecting the God who had freed them from Egypt and building a golden calf. For Moses, his reactivity occurs when in anger he smashed the tablets. How could he have possibly known that these precious tablets, the most precious thing ever given by God to humans, would be given a second time? In his anger, he has potentially done a catastrophic deed in terms of the future of humanity.

Friends. There is not one of us here who has not reacted either with stupidity or in anger when we feel threatened or insecure. These are not the moments in our lives that we would like to remember, but this is the time of year when we, as Jews, do remember these times, even if their remembrance is painful. Perhaps we were short to our children or to our parents? Perhaps you can remember a time when you overreacted to something a spouse or a loved one said? Perhaps there was a time when you answered a colleague at work with a short temper or thought ill of someone without pausing to think of their motivations or to understand the facts that led to their behavior. In all of these cases, being reactive instead of responding with calm and pensive thought, leads to wrong decisions and actions on our part and so often these decisions and actions are made out of anger.

The rabbis felt that when we respond in such a way, we are giving in to our Yetzer Hara, our inclination to do evil. Eighteen hundred years ago, a great teacher named Ben Zoma was asked “Who is mighty?” The answer given was than the mighty person is the one who can subdue his or her evil inclination. For the Jew, the ideal is not to be reactive but to be in self control. To the outside world, we seem to focus too much on our commandments and behavior and not enough on our theology. But this is not entirely true. Look once again how God is described in the verse. God is described as Erech Apayim which is translated as “endlessly patient” but can also mean “slow to anger.” When we are contemplative and non-reactive in our behavior, we are imitatio dei, imitators of God.

There is an incredible verse in Proverbs which reads, “It is better to be slow to anger than to be mighty and it is better to have self-control than to conquer a city.”

So the Jewish ideal of power is to be slow to anger, contemplative instead of being immediately reactive to situations.

So in this respect during the past year, there have been few if any of us who have not been like those standing at the base of the mountain waiting for Moses’ to come down. In our fear and insecurity, we have chosen reaction over thoughtfulness, weakness over true might.

So close your eyes for a few seconds and think of one instance during this past year when you have been overly reactive to something or someone else. Now open your eyes and let us continue.
* * * * * *
The second sin that plagued the generation who built the calf, as well as us, is the idea that if we have the gold, we will be happy. As a matter of fact, going for the gold, accumulating wealth, though not necessarily bad does not necessarily lead to happiness or to a life of meaning.

Anecdotally, we have heard that people who win the lottery are more prone to suicide and other self-destructive behaviors than they were before they won. If you want to see a miserable, but wealthy bunch of people, pick up one of the celebrity magazines the next time you are standing in a checkout line at a grocery store. This one is sleeping with that one. This one is an alcoholic. That one is overweight. You get the idea.

In a recent interview, Bernie Madoff’s secretary mentions that he was a quite irascible and demeaning man to work for.

But this desire for gelt as in the Madoff case has also done incredible damage to our country. It has led us to believe that it is all about “me” and not about the community. Madoff’s egregious crime, in addition to robbing retirees of the retirement funds, has caused incredible damage to Jewish educational institutions, federations and Jewish philanthropic funds. Being a psychopath, he did not hesitate to steal money from anyone, his best friends or even Eli Weisel.

While Madoff may be the extreme, I would maintain that a large part of the problems facing our country come from the desire of people to obtain more and more money without thinking of the consequences of their actions on the country or the world. Prime lenders and banks lent to get large commissions up front on their loans, without thinking what the harm could be if millions started defaulting on their loans. American car manufacturers continued to build large gas guzzlers because the profit margins were larger without thinking about the fact that these cars would increase our dependence on foreign oil and would adversely affect our trade deficit. The oil companies themselves lobbied against electric cars and alternative fuels, again, in order to maintain profits. Last year, our hardly benevolent pharmaceutical companies spent four times the amount on advertising drugs like Viagra and Levitra, than they did on research.
Going for the gold, going for the gelt, at the expense of others has really damaged this country by increasing unemployment and causing the value of investments to decline.

However, I would maintain that this too is a function of our Yetzer Hara, our inclination to do evil. The problem is not merely Madoff and the big corporations, it is us. What did Pogo, the legendary opossum of the famous Walt Kelly comic strip of yesteryear say, “WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US?” There are times when we have placed money before family. There are times when we have placed luxury ahead of being charitable. There are times when we have placed gelt ahead of learning, materials ahead of values. There are times when we too have built golden calves and caused the commandments to be smashed.

So now for a second time, close your eyes for a few seconds and think of one instance during this past year when you have placed the chase for material well being ahead of family, community, country or God. Now open your eyes and let us continue.

* * * * * *

The third sin that befell the generation that built the golden calf may be seen in Aaron. Listen to the actual text and focus your attention on the role of Aaron, the high priest and brother of Moses. Aaron is to be spiritual leader of the people and remember that in Moses’ absence, Aaron is also the head of the community. The text reads:

“When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.” 2Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4This he took from them and cast in a mold, and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” 5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron announced: “Tomorrow shall be a festival of the Lord!” 6Early next day, the people offered up burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; they sat down to eat and drink, and then rose to dance.[1][1]

What was Aaron thinking of? Why did he jettison his values so easily? Why was he such a failure as a leader?

The answer given by the rabbis is certainly an interesting one. The rabbis viewed Aaron as a peacemaker. He apparently would do anything to make peace, even if it involved a rejection of the covenant between God and the Jewish people.

So as we stand before the open ark tomorrow, let us contemplate how many times we too have taken the easy road. Maybe we just wanted to avoid conflict? May we just want to be well liked? When were those times when we did not stand up for what we know to be just and right?

For all of us, expediency sometimes comes at the cost of sacrificing our values. We know that Judaism is important and that it has a lot to teach us, yet there are so many other things that demand our time. A rabbi was once asked by a parent, “Rabbi, how can I be sure that my child will study Torah?” The answer that the rabbi gave was, “Your child will study Torah when he sees you studying Torah.”

Our children will emulate our values. If they see that Judaism is not all that important to us, then it will not be all that important to them. If they see Sunday after Sunday that we drop them off for religious school, instead of coming in to temple to be a part of the community and learn as adults, then we ought not to be surprised when they grow up to be like us. Indeed, the carpool tunnel syndrome is one of our greatest problems!

So now for a final time, close your eyes for a few seconds and think of one instance during this past year when you have sacrificed your values and chosen the easy or expedient way just because you wished to avoid conflict. Now open your eyes and let us continue.

* * * * * *

So tomorrow morning as we are about to take out the Torah and as we hear Lane sing the words, “The Eternal God is merciful and gracious, endlessly patient, loving and true, showing mercy to thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin and granting pardon,” let us remember the people who built the golden calf. Let us also remember the three sins we have silently recalled tonight and ask God for forgiveness. Like the people who built the calf, we have been needlessly reactive to stress, uncertainty and fear. Like them, we have all too often felt that riches could solve all of our problems and all too often have ignored how our own greed could be detrimental to the community. Finally, let us recall the times when we have sacrificed our values on the altar of expediency and popularity.

But then, let us listen to the words of the prayer. God is merciful to us. God is saying to us that we can be forgiven for these sins. If Moses can receive a second set of tablets, we can receive a second or third chance to repair our lives. God is acknowledging that we can change and become the individuals, the people, the nation and the world that God means for us to be. It is as though God is saying to us, “Go for it. Yes, you can and yes, you will. Come back to me. Learn Torah. Straighten out the crookedness of your life and be assured of My love for you!”
Thus assured of God’s love, may we all be blessed with a year of sweetness, goodness, love and peace.

AMEN

9/11 2009, Why is this day different?

2009-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

I think there is not one person here who does not remember exactly where he or she was when they first heard about 9/11. The trauma of almost 3,000 Americans dying on that day is indeed still with our nation. The number of Americans who died on 9/11 is actually greater than the number who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Bin Laden still has not been captured. The six years of war in Iraq has proven to be an unwise and unnecessary diversion from the fight against Al-Qaeda. The threat of international terrorism is still great and, frankly, I find little comfort in the fact that another major attack has not yet occurred.

With all that being said, there are certain things that make this anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy quite different. Allow me to explain.

Approximately 100 days after 9/11, I went to the leaders of the community with a proposal. My proposal was that on the year anniversary of 9/11, there should be a community memorial service. I mentioned to them that this might be done in one of two ways; either a large interfaith memorial service in a place like the Coliseum, or that we could encourage every religious institution to have some sort of commemoration on that day. Subsequently a meeting was held, at which time the response was less than enthusiastic. The neighboring churches said that they planned to ring bells in commemoration of the tragedy, but not much more was to be done and that year there was no community commemoration.

Nevertheless, Temple Emanuel organized a community commemoration of its own on the anniversary of 9/11. We created a wonderful memorial service. Some of the readings for that service are to be found in our service tonight. We lit the two candles like the ones that you see in front of you. We invited the entire Jewish community. Students from the American Hebrew Academy also attended. We parked a police cruiser outside of the entrance to the Temple and at the exact moment the first plane struck the World Trade Center, the police cruiser put on its siren. We stood in silence for two minutes to commemorate the moment.

This, by the way, is a memorial custom that comes directly from Israel. In Israel on Holocaust Memorial Day and on the Memorial Day for the Israeli soldiers, an air raid siren goes off and people stand at attention for two minutes.

The entire experience gave me an appreciation of just how wonderful Jewish tradition is in commemorating deaths of loved ones. The idea of saying Kaddish for loved ones on the anniversary of the death apparently has no parallel in Christianity. Here, we very quickly put up a memorial plaque on our Yahrzeit memorial just outside the sanctuary. The plaque reads, “For our brothers and sisters,” with the date September 11, 2001.

After the first year, other than mentioning collectively those who were tragically lost, there was no special commemoration. We lit the plaque on the board and we said Kaddish for the victims. I was rather amazed at the fact that, year after year, including most especially the 5th anniversary of 9/11, there seemed to be very little ceremony for this tragedy in our country. Yes, there were commemorations at the Pentagon, at the Pennsylvania Flight 93 crash site, and at the World Trade Center site. Other than this, there seemed to be little or no local commemorations of the tragedy.

All that was true until this year, it is my impression that this year there is greater awareness of the tragedy of 9/11 than there has been in any year since the first. People are posting on Facebook. Emails are flying across the internet. Words of memorial can be found in many places. A day of service has been planned by many. There is much greater press coverage than in the past.

So the question that I would like to ask is why? What makes this year different from the past years?

I’ve only been able to come up with one answer, and that is that we have a new President. During the time of the Bush presidency, there did not seem to be the same motivation to commemorate this tragedy as there is now. In my opinion, this motivation comes from two sources. First of all, it comes from the left in our country. The left in our country is very much interested in commemorating 9/11 this year in order to make a statement that the left remembers and has confidence that President Obama will be a sufficient steward of the security of the United States.

There was no reason to do this in the aftermath of 9/11 as long as Bush remained as president. People united behind the president during those first few months after the attacks, and expressing their confidence in his ability to defend our nation. But now with President Obama, the left needs to make a new statement.

But there is also a need by the right to make a statement. The right in our country wants to say the following, “During the past eight years, there has been no additional attack on American soil, and this was due to the stewardship of the Republican president.” Now it seems to me, there is a political move afoot that through the increased commemorations of 9/11, doubts about President Obama’s ability to protect America will be increased.

In other words, what we’re seeing is both on the left and the right attempts to politicize today’s commemoration. I have to tell you that from a Jewish point of view if this is true, then we would condemn both approaches. In our opinion, we have been remembering 9/11 every single year because that’s what we as Jews do.

Every single person who died on 9/11 was like a star in the sky whose light continues to shine through the blessing of their memory. Every single person who was murdered that day was unto himself or herself a world complete. Each one of them is mourned by their loving family. Each one of them had hopes and aspirations that were taken away by murderous terrorists. Each one of them was a blessing to those that knew them, and through the good deeds they performed while alive each one of them was a blessing to humanity.

So what does this 9/11 really mean to us today?

It means for us that we as Jews, and we as Americans, should remember – every single year. Politics should not color the shape of our remembrance. It also means that we need now to think about special anniversaries and the way in which we will remember. For example, we’ve had here at Temple Emanuel the discussion that on the 10th anniversary we are going to try to host a large and significant commemoration of this tragedy.

Unfortunately, the second thing that 9/11 means today is that the fight against Al-Qaeda is still not complete. As a matter of fact, the murderous terrorist influence of Al-Qaeda and radical Islam seems to have increased since 2001. Osama bin Laden has not been captured, and the influence of Al-Qaeda is to be felt throughout the world, particularly in the Arab world. We know especially that there are cells of Al-Qaeda in both southern Lebanon and in Gaza. Again, the fact that no attack has occurred on American soil is not one that particularly gives me comfort given the dedication of Al-Qaeda and other radical Islamic cells to do harm to American citizens.

The significance of 9/11 is also one that needs to be considered in light of the current efforts of the government of Iran to create a nuclear bomb. Two days ago, the United States’ government announced that Iran now has enough refined uranium to create a nuclear bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency has indicated that with the current level of centrifuge refinement that Iran could create two nuclear bombs a year. The potential to create numerous bombs is there.

All of this power will soon be in the hands of a government that has sworn to wipe Israel off the map, and to do great harm to the West.

I applaud the attempts of the Obama administration to engage the Iranians in dialogue. Up to now, these attempts have been met without much success. The purpose of such engagement should be to present to the Iranian leaders that they have a choice. They cannot have their cake and eat it too. They face two radically different futures. One is a future where if they give up their nuclear aspirations, they will receive significant aid from the West and will be able to create prosperity for their people. In this vision, the Iranian people, proud of their Persian heritage, will indeed take their place among the community of nations.

Their second option would be to face severe economic sanctions, sanctions which could wipe out their already stressed middle class. In addition to that, there is always the possibility of some sort of military intervention by the United States or Israel or both.

In addition, this engagement could increase the American leverage to draw others into sanctions against Iran in the future. The others that we are speaking of here are particularly Germany, Russia, and China.

Finally, the purpose of engagement could be to serve as a justification to the world in case harsher measures against Iran are needed.

Recent elections in Iran have shown that democracy there is an illusion. Human rights for those that oppose the regime are indeed imperiled. A nuclear Iran would be an absolute nightmare for the United States and the free world. In the midst of all of the attention paid to issues such as the economy and healthcare, we must not forget the issue of Iranian nuclearization – an issue which threatens our country and its allies.

Our Arab allies are no less concerned a nuclear Iran would set off an arms race in that part of the world. The chances of terrorist organizations getting their hands on a nuclear weapon would be much greater. A nuclear Iran would seriously undermine our efforts to achieve a comprehensive Middle-East peace agreement, because it would undermine moderates in the region. Iran would become the bully of the neighborhood as it seeks to exert force over that part of the world.

Our window of opportunity is rapidly closing on this, negotiations cannot be open-ended. Iran cannot “rope-a-dope” the United States.

On September 24, Ahmandinejad will speak at the United Nations. A huge demonstration is planned. The demonstration is sponsored by a coalition of Iranian, Labor, Jewish and other organizations.

This is the month that President Obama has said is the key month. Either Iran comes to the table to seriously negotiate, or other stronger measures will need to be taken. An bill could be introduced into Congress next month entitled the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009. Currently in the House, Congressmen Miller and Coble are co-sponsors of this, as are Senators Hagan and Burr in the Senate.

It is indeed important to remember this new threat on this commemoration of September 11th, 2009. The potential for mass murder is indeed greater at this juncture than in recent memory, because of activities of the Iranian government.

This is the weekend in which we read from a passage from Deuteronomy that begins, “We are standing here this day,” at the end of the passage we are encouraged to choose life so that we and our children may indeed be blessed. The text says that God has given us the choice between good and evil, the choice between life and death.

The events of 9/11 and its aftermath present us with the same choice. We must, as a country, choose to remember those who died. We must avoid politicizing this tragedy by means of internal American politics. We must as a country and as the free world find a legitimate way to effectively combat the threats of mass murder that still exist.

We must not hide our heads in the sand or pat ourselves on the back because no additional attack has occurred.

We must above all be those who choose life by not only protecting our security, but also by loving God and witnessing to humanity that God wants us to love one another. May we be blessed to see the fulfillment of the vision of the Prophet Isaiah who wrote, “Nations shall not live to up sword against nation.”

May this be not only our vision, but our blessing for the United States and for the world.

Repeal Prop 8 video

2009-09-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

The following is an unusual video calling for the repeal of Proposition 8 in California. The video presents an interesting historical perspective. The background music is from the Christian hymn "Agnus Dei" (Lamb of God) as sung by Rufus Wainwright. If you like this as much as I do, please feel free to pass this link along to others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjHHklgnbXQ

Nazis in Greensboro- Our Response August 28, 2009

2009-08-29T01:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow the National Socialist Movement will hold a closed-door business attire meeting at a downtown hotel. Somewhere between 50 and 150 people will be coming. The purpose of this National Socialist Movement meeting, as I understand it, is to increase their activities and their recruitment efforts in some twelve states in this part of the country.

I went on the National Socialist Movement website and there I found 25 core beliefs. Some of them are:

“We demand the union of all Whites into a greater America on the basis of the right of national self-determination.”

“Only members of the nation may be citizens of the state. Only those of pure White blood, whatever their creed, may be members of the nation. Non-citizens may live in America only as guests and must be subject to laws for aliens. Accordingly, no Jew or homosexual may be a member of the nation.”

“The right to vote on the State government and legislation shall be enjoyed by citizens of the state alone.”

In short, the National Socialist Movement is nothing more than a reconstituted Nazi Party here in America, and it is this movement that is meeting tomorrow here in Greensboro.

On Monday, I was asked to attend a meeting of 35 community leaders from Greensboro. At that meeting, we decided on a course of action. The main thing that we decided upon was that there would be no direct confrontation of the Nazis. We were concerned that people would get hurt in the course of a direct confrontation. We were concerned, as well, that direct confrontation would lead to greater publicity for the Nazis – which then could lead to increased interest by recruits to the Nazi effort. In other words, our thoughts were that we did not want to do anything which would provide them with even more publicity than they were already getting.

So what did we decide?

We decided to get the word out and make a petition for the community. The statement is entitled “No Hate In Our Town,” and is available by visiting the Temple Emanuel website at www.tegreensboro.org and clicking the link to sign the petition. The statement reads "In response to the National Socialist Movement (neo-Nazi) conference in our city, we reaffirm our absolute commitment to continuing our community's efforts to build a Greensboro free of bias, bigotry and racism. We encourage all people to signify their commitment to building bridges of understanding by wearing a multicolored unity ribbon beginning this weekend.

Together, we will build a community that is safe, just, inclusive and respectful of all." If you wish to sign the statement, I urge you to do so this weekend.

We decided, also, to encourage people to wear a multi-color ribbon to express our approval and appreciation of diversity in Greensboro and of America. We are doing our best to encourage churches, particularly, to hand out ribbons at their services on Sunday and have their clergy make statements about condemning the meeting of the Nazis here. To any of you who are not members of our congregation and who regularly attend church services on Sunday, I encourage you to contact your ministers first thing tomorrow morning and encourage them to participate with ribbons. As you can see, it is very simply done, the ribbons are about 5 inches long and all you need is a straight pin and some ushers to hand them out.

Some people have asked, is this enough?

Quite frankly, I have had people call and email me saying that even this is too much, that the more that we do, the more we will help the Nazis spread publicity. On the other hand, I’ve had people tell me that this is not enough. Therefore, because I am being criticized on both sides, I feel that we might be doing the right thing!

I do not know how the students at our local universities will react? I know that tomorrow there is a demonstration at 3:00pm on South Elm Street, and I imagine that many of our young college students will attend that demonstration. I will not be attending because it is Shabbat, and because, despite my reservations, I feel that making a statement, giving interviews, and handing out these ribbons is where I should be at this time.

Why are they coming to Greensboro?

Some people think that it might have to do with the sit-in movement. This year will mark the 50th anniversary of the four young men from North Carolina A&T University who sat-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter. This sit-in led to more than fifty other sit-ins which occurred in the following weeks throughout America. I am delighted to tell you that the International Civil Rights Museum will open the 1st of this coming February. I am hopeful that people from all over the United States, especially young people, will visit the museum and see the four stools where these four young men sat. By the way, one of those four, Dr. Franklin McCain, will be our featured speaker at our Martin Luther King service in January this year. Dr. McCain and his three friends sat down in order that others could stand-up for freedom and justice in our country.

Still other people say that the reason for this event in Greensboro has to do with the Klan-Nazi shootings of 1979. In those shootings, five demonstrators, three African Americans and two Jewish doctors were savagely murdered by the Nazis. Those who perpetrated this murder were never brought to justice. This is a controversial, and extraordinarily sad, part of Greensboro’s history.

The leaders of the National Socialist Movement say, however, that the reason why this is being held in Greensboro is because of the city’s central location.

More important to me is why the National Socialist Movement, the Nazi Party, is making such an effort to organize recruitment. In my opinion, this has to do with several disturbing things that are happening right now in the United States.

I believe that as a white supremacist group, the National Socialist Movement is tapping into a segment of racist America that is very ugly in its tenor and tone. I do believe that there are people in the United States who cannot accept, and will not accept, that our country has elected an African American President. Such people feel that control of the country is slipping out of the hands of white people.

The second thing that I think is important is the debate over healthcare. The outpouring of millions of dollars by insurance companies to lobby against any sort of healthcare reform in Congress has led to the creation of an atmosphere of worry and fear in our country. Earlier this month I spoke and wrote about the usage of Nazi imagery among the anti-healthcare demonstrators. I would like to remind you that when Rabbi Koren and I attended a healthcare briefing in Raleigh at which President Obama spoke, we saw a man at the outside of the center holding a sign which read, “Obamacare = National Socialism.” It is incredibly disturbing that some of our politicians have actually sought to demagogue this issue and to increase the amount of fear and worry in our country. The idea that any sort of healthcare reform would include death panels that would put our grandmothers in danger is absolutely absurd.

It is not the role of Temple Emanuel or this Rabbi to take a specific position on healthcare legislation. I would like point out that there are many different versions of healthcare resolutions in Congress, one in the House and at least three in the Senate. What I think is important to understand is that, from a Jewish perspective, it is absolutely immoral in society for some people to be denied proper healthcare due to lack of financial resources. From our perspective, the current situation of health care in our country is untenable financially and questionable morally.

Therefore, without being specific, we in the Jewish community support all efforts towards health care and insurance reform in the United States. The details need to be worked out, but again the status quo is untenable.

It is disturbing to me there is usage of Nazi propaganda and that the Nazis in the guise of the National Socialist Movement are using the frustration some people feel to increase their recruitment efforts. Theirs is an America that is ugly. Theirs is an America that is only for white people. Homosexuals, Hispanics, Jews and Asians and others are not welcome in their America. The America of the neo-Nazi party is an America which is filled with bias, bigotry and racism. It is an America that is filled with hate.

As Jews we have been the victims of such Nazi hatred in the past. Six million of our brothers and sisters, including one and a half million children, perished because of the Nazi Party. More important than this, the lesson for all of us is that we will not only fight against the Nazis and what they represent, but that we will take a firm stand for what is important to us as Jews.

Tonight, we are not only saying that hatred, bigotry, and racism have no place in our community, but we are also saying that we stand for justice.
As Jews, we believe, as did the biblical prophets, that a society that is not based upon justice is a society that is not secure for anyone – particularly minorities.

We, as Jews, are taking a stand tonight to say that society must be built on compassion, that economic inequity and inequality should have no bearing on whether or not a person receives proper medical attention.

We, as Jews, tonight are taking a stand for tolerance and for diversity. We are wearing these ribbons to say that our vision of America is one where within each ethnic and racial group, each person is a divine manifestation of the image of God and they bring forth that which is best, that which is most godly within their very being. That’s why we’re wearing these ribbons tonight.

We are making a stand for brotherhood, sisterhood and above all peace.

We believe in an America built upon justice, compassion, tolerance and peace where people work together for the common good. We believe that when we work together and create coalitions for goodness we not only bring more peace to our world, we bring more of the presence of God.

On the Passing of Senator Edward Kennedy

2009-08-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today, along with many Americans, I mourn the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy. The pursuit to repair the world and social justice is a core value in Jewish tradition. Because of this, the Jewish community found itself allied with Senator Kennedy on several of his legislative initiatives. Despite the fact that Senator Kennedy encountered fierce opposition on many of these initiatives, he, always the “lion,” was undaunted in his pursuit of a more compassionate, equitable and just country.

Specifically, we in the Jewish community allied ourselves with Senator Kennedy on the Voting Rights Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Mental Health Parity Act, the State Children’s Health Act (SCHIP) and others. It is difficult to imagine our country today without these critical pieces of legislation initiated by Senator Kennedy.

Senator Kennedy was a staunch supporter of Israel, as well as a very strong voice for freedom for Jews in the former Soviet Union. Many Jews who possess this freedom today and who live outside of the former Soviet Union owe a debt of gratitude to “Teddy” for their freedom.

The Senator was well known as a passionate advocate for health care reform in our country. In our congregation, we do not favor a particular bill or approach. Most of us believe that the status quo is untenable financially and from a moral and religious perspective, highly unethical. Personally, I believe that I am on firm ground in my belief that the biblical prophets, particularly Amos and Isaiah, would be appalled at the status quo and would preach against it.

For so many years in the United States Senate, Senator Kennedy was the embodiment of social justice. While not all Americans agreed with Senator Kennedy all of the time, he will be remembered as a valiant fighter for greater access to health care, more compassion for the poor and the elderly, student loans so that more could afford college tuition, funding for stem cell research, and the rights of minorities and women.

Our country will miss his voice and spirit of justice. May his memory be a blessing!

Gun Violence Against children

2009-08-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

I do not know if you saw the program on gun violence in Chicago recently on CNN.

So many children have been murdered in Chicago due to random gun violence. I cannot imagine the depth of grief that these parents have.

I have become aware of the following letter which has been drafted by Father Michael Pfleger of Chicago. I subsequently signed the letter. The letter calls for

1) Re-instate the Federal Assault Weapon Ban as a permanent law.
2) Call a National Summit to address the national gun violence epidemic, highlighting problems and possible solutions to the problems.
3) Call for a Federal Agency to collect, track and disseminate national data on firearm violence to youth.

Below is the letter. To sign the letter, contact Pastor Pfleger at

pastorpfleger@ameritech.net

FUTURES NOT FUNERALS
A coalition of people of faith dedicated to demanding peace and ending violence

Dear Mr. President,

During your historic run to the White House, you challenged us to act within the urgency of the moment and urged us to be the change that we wished to see in the world. As you most certainly know, we live in a very urgent time in our country. The loss of jobs, the loss of homes, and the instability of the stock market have made times troubling for all Americans. But there is a problem that most people have overlooked. Our children are dying at highly alarming rates, but not due to swine flu or due to other diseases like pneumonia. Our children are being killed by another epidemic-scale disease known as gun violence.

This is a preventable illness, but we are doing all that we can as parents, as community activists, and as faith leaders. We are being the change that you asked us to be. But, Mr. President, we need you to act in the urgency of the moment. There is not a minute to waste. We are now faced with the fact that our children are no longer being killed solely by bullets, but by the unwillingness of others to act on their behalf. It is not enough for us to rely upon the personal responsibility of our citizens. It is also the legislative and executive responsibility of our Government. With that being said, our coalition is asking for three main initiatives from your Administration:

1) Re-instate the Federal Assault Weapon Ban as a permanent law.
2) Call a National Summit to address the national gun violence epidemic, highlighting problems and possible solutions to the problems.
3) Call for a Federal Agency to collect, track and disseminate national data on firearm violence to youth.

We do not have any time to waste. Every three hours in the US, a child is killed by gunfire. We need Federal intervention. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that the ultimate measure of a human being is not where that person stands in times of comfort and convenience, but where that person stands in times of great challenge and controversy. Thank you for your consideration. We need your vision, we need your support, but we also need your action.

God as a Role Model

2009-08-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

One of the most central teachings of Judaism is that we are to try to emulate what God does. Imitating God is one of the highest acts of holiness. The basis of this belief is to be found in Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 22 wherein the Torah commands us “to walk in Gods ways.”

The rabbis then asked, "What is it that God does that we should imitate?" Several examples are given.

In Genesis, God makes clothing for Adam and Eve. Thus according to the sages, we too should clothe the naked. But even this is open to interpretation. On one level, it means that we should put clothing on our children. It could also mean that we should give clothing to the needy. Giving old but usable clothing to Goodwill comes to mind here. Yet there is even a higher level. It is only humans who wear clothing. Therefore clothing the naked could mean that we are to do anything that will make people more human. This means anything that we can do to educate people to become more civil and more educated, especially in Torah and in ethical and human values. This lesson is one that really needs to be learned by those who are currently attending healthcare forums for the expressed purpose of shouting their anger and preventing legitimate discourse.

What else does God do?

Well God visits the sick. After Abraham’s circumcision, the Torah states that "And God appeared to him by the Oaks of Mamre." Therefore, we too should visit sick people. Often, there are many other things that come into our lives which seem to give us an excuse why we do not have enough time to visit the sick. This I call the tyranny of the calendar or lately in my case, the tyranny of the blackberry.

Nevertheless, we are to make the time to go and visit the sick. We are to go and listen to them, cheer them up, pray and meditate with them and simply to “be there” to let them know that they are loved. The rabbis even tell us that one who visits the sick relieves some of the pain of the illness.

God also comforts mourners. The Torah states: "And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that G-d blessed Isaac his son" (Genesis 25:11). Therefore we too should comfort mourners. We should go and visit their home after the funeral. There too we should be good listeners and we should pray with them that God out of the “valley of the shadow of death,” they should find the light of healing.

God also buries the dead. At the end of Deuteronomy, the Torah states that God buries Moses in a valley. (Deuteronomy 34:6). If God buries Moses, even the more so, we are to participate in the actual burial of our dead. This is the basis for the Jewish belief that at the end of a funeral, each individual actually shovels three spades of earth into the open grave. This is actually called a “Hesed shel Emet,” an act of loving kindness. This is such a holy act because of the fact that it is something for which the person from whom it is done can never repay us. Giving a loved one or a member of the community and honorable burial is as it were a great favor, and honorable deed, a favor which the diseased cannot return.

I have always loved this ritual. It provides a sense of closure and it seems to give such great honor to the dead. At my father’s funeral, I watched as some one hundred and fifty people participated in this Mitzvah. There were people there that I had not seen in years. It was a though I was watching my father’s history and the history of my childhood pass by in front of my eyes. I felt a sense of gratitude towards those who had come to his funeral and who were participating in his actual burial.

For this reason, I have also found it rather strange to attend a funeral when the community leaves before the casket is lowered and there is no opportunity to shovel dirt into the grave. I often find myself asking, “When are we going to finish what needs to be done?” I also think that it is a little strange that we allow grave diggers who did not know the person to complete this task. I imagine that one hundred years ago in North Carolina, everyone helped bury the person who had died. In modern times for some reason, we find this to be too distasteful. In so doing, we have lost an opportunity to imitate God, to do what God did when God burying Moses more than three thousand years ago!

One of the strangest passages in the entire Talmud seems to imply that God even prays! This is really problematic. To whom does God pray?

We Jews are absolute monotheists. Earlier in the service we recited Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohaynu Adonai Echad. Listen Jews! There is only one God. Listen people the God who created the universe is also the same God who is found within each one of us.

The passage in question begins with Rabbi Yochanan saying that he once heard Rabbi Yosi once ask the question “How do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, says prayers?” A verse is quoted from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 56:7) the verse states "I, meaning God, will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in the house of My prayer". However, the words My house of prayer could also be translated as the house of My prayer.” If so Rabbi Yosi asks, what is God’s prayer?

Rabbi Zutra answers that the prayer of God is “May it be My will that My mercy may suppress My anger, and that My mercy may prevail over My other attributes, so that I may deal with My children in the attribute of mercy and, on their behalf, stop short of the limit of strict justice.”

Why would God need to say such a prayer? The answer is not so simple.

Elsewhere in the Talmud (B. Rosh Hashana 17b), there is a passage wherein God actually teaches Moses how to put on a prayer shawl or a tallit in order to pray for the forgiveness of the people. The passage in question occurs after the sin of the Golden Calf and God is showing Moses by example how to ask for forgiveness on their behalf.
So now if we go back to the original passage of God’s prayer – Following that passage, there is a scene is described wherein Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha once entered the innermost part of the sanctuary and saw God. God asked the Rabbi Ishmael to bless whereupon Rabbi Ishmael said, “May it be Your will that Your mercy may suppress Your anger and Your mercy may prevail over Your other attributes, so that You may deal with Your children according to the attribute of mercy and may, on their behalf, stop short of the limit of strict justice!”

What had Rabbi Ishmael done here? He had repeated the original prayer of God!

The great medieval commentator Rashi says that the verse, “To walk in all His ways (Deut 11:22),” means that just as God is merciful, so too should we be merciful. Just as God does acts of kindness, so too should we do acts of kindness.

So the importance of this is that God is the ultimate role model. God clothes the naked, visits the sick, comforts the bereaved, buries the dead, teaches us how to pray and how to put on a talit and, most importantly, deals with the world through kindness, compassion and love.

For those of us who are parents, let us realize that for our children, we too are the ultimate role models. If they see us being angry, they will be angry. On the other hand, if we are compassionate, they will be compassionate. If they see us taking care of our elderly parents, then they will take care of us when we are elderly and in need of care and love. If they see us praying, they will take prayer seriously.

The list could go on and on.

Rabbi Levi Cooper of the Pardes institute in Jerusalem writes: “Education is not just about telling someone else what to do, how to act or when to speak. Education is more about modeling worthy conduct. In truth, the educator teaches the self. The passion of the educator breeds enthusiasm in the student; conversely the student can "smell" an educator who lacks fervor or who has lost eagerness. Our sages paint the image of God as an educator teaching by example, passionately praying. God does not just command: "Pray!" The pedagogic lesson that the sages suggest is more refined; God encourages us: "Pray as I do." If God teaches by modeling desired behavior, surely when we educate - as parents, as community leaders, or in any setting - our first order must be to teach by example.”

Friends. On this holy Shabbat, may it be God’s will that we will become imitators of God that we will do what the Torah says that God does. Above all, may we, especially those of us who are parents, accept the challenge of being good role models for our children.

The Health Care Debate and the Usage of Nazi Imagery and Propaganda

2009-08-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

About twelve days ago, I received a call from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. The RAC had been contacted by the White House about President Obama’s upcoming trip to Raleigh to speak about heath care, and they requested a few rabbis attend. They had three tickets and wanted to know if I was interested.

I, of course, said yes and had the incredible chutzpah to ask if they could get another ticket for me. Two hours later, I received an email from the White House itself to inform me there would be an extra ticket which I promptly gave to our Associate Rabbi, Rabbi Andy Koren!

Sometimes, it just does not hurt to have the audacity to ask!

We enjoyed our time there. The discussion was thoughtful.

However, on the way out, we passed a demonstrator who was holding a sign which said, “ObamaCare = National Socialism”. The other rabbis stood by in amazement as I confronted the person holding this sign. I told them that, as a rabbi and as a Jew, I found this sign to be particularly offensive.

If you are not aware, National Socialism is a code word for Nazism and the holder of the sign understood this very well. The word “Nazi” is actually an acronym for the words “National Socialist Workers Party.”

I mentioned to the demonstrator that I accepted his right to disagree with the President and to express such disagreement. However, comparing Obama’s health care plan to the rule of the Nazi party in Germany was terribly hurtful to Jews who had lost one third of their population, six million souls - of whom one and a half million were children – to the Nazi death machine. As a matter of fact, as far as Jews are concerned, the Nazi party is about as far away from healthcare as one could get. Using this imagery seemed to me to be quite hurtful.

But more is involved here.

When I lived in Israel, I had to opportunity to meet on several occasions with a woman named Ruth Eliaz. Ruth was a survivor of Auschwitz. Ruth’s story is extraordinary.

Ruth was pregnant in Auschwitz. Most of the time pregnant woman and women with young children were sent directly to the gas chambers as soon as the cattle car transports arrived. Ruth was chosen in the selection to be a worker. As her pregnancy continued, she tried her best to cover her stomach knowing full well that if she were to be discovered, she would be sent directly to the gas chamber. Eventually the pregnancy could not be hidden any longer. Ruth was taken to the infamous Nazi doctor, Doctor Josef Mengele.

In Auschwitz, Mengele conducted horrific experiments on Jews, especially on Jewish twins. Mengele told Ruth that he had something special in mind for her and that he would allow her to continue the pregnancy to term. After Ruth gave birth to a baby boy, she began to breast feed the child. Mengele had her brought to him whereupon he strapped her to a gurney and injected her breasts with poison so that she would not be able to feed her baby. The purpose of this “experiment” in his mind was to see how long a new born baby could live without being fed. Of course, in the women’s section of Auschwitz, there were no other women who could breast feed Ruth’s baby. Eventually, after several days of seeing her child suffer, Ruth could stand it no longer and she smothered her own child.

This terrible story actually has somewhat of a decent ending in that Ruth did survive Auschwitz and after the War made it to Israel where she married, and they had two children of their own. Both of the children served in the Israeli army, one of them was a pilot in the Israeli Air force.

After the war, the infamous Dr. Mengele escaped to South America and was never brought to trial as a war criminal.

I tell this story to your tonight because we need to truly understand what “health care” meant for Jews who had the misfortune of living under the rule of National Socialism.

Two days ago, Rush Limbaugh compared grassroots supporters of President Obama as "the real brownshirts" and on his website an Obama healthcare logo is put side-by-side with a Nazi symbol.Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) wrote the following in response to Limbaugh:

“As a Democrat who founded the Institute On The Holocaust and The Law, I have a lesson for Rush Limbaugh. Today, there are survivors of the Holocaust with tattoos stenciled on their arms who are registered Democrats. And he's treated them with vile contempt. Limbaugh has the right to be the buffoon that he is. He has no right to compare Americans to Nazis who exterminated 6 million Jews. I know he won't apologize. I do expect my Republican colleagues to denounce his comments. The Holocaust taught us that silence in the face of evil expression becomes acquiescence to evil. And what Limbaugh said is pure evil.”

Again, while it is perfectly legitimate to agree or disagree with the proposals on the table, comparing a proposal to Nazi policies is really beyond the bounds of proper political discourse.

In 1996, I met Leah Rabin, the wife of Prime Minister Rabin who a year earlier had been assassinated by a lone Jewish gunman. Prior to his assassination, Rabin’s opponents had held demonstrations wherein signs were held up of his face pasted on a picture of a Nazi SS uniform. Ms. Rabin blamed her political opponents for not forcefully condemning such hysterical propaganda and she felt that this propaganda had created the atmosphere necessary for the crazed assassin to be cultivated.

This demonization of political opponents is currently taking place in our country, and it is a disturbing phenomenon. By the way, in the 1930 and 1932 elections, Nazi Brown Shirts would often go to the rallies and meetings of their political opponents with the expressed purpose of making enough noise to totally disrupt the meeting.

Folks, we as Americans are dealing with fire here. I have heard a rumor that the Secret Service was processing three times the amount of threats against President Obama when compared to recent presidents. If true, some of this may be accounted to the positions for which he advocates, but some of it could also be attributed to overt racism. Regardless, the demonization of the president and his positions by the extreme right is, in my opinion, a contributing factor to threats against his personal safety.

You might remember that last summer, then candidate Obama went to Israel and placed a prayer in the Western Wall, the holiest site in all of Judaism. When asked what the contents of the prayer were, he answered that he asked God to protect him and his family. In the current atmosphere, this prayer has even greater meaning, and it should not only be his prayer but ours as well!

The health care debate in our country is at a critical crossroad. A lot is at stake for our future, but the way in which we need to find a solution to this problem needs to be civil and respectful.

I would like to suggest a few additional assumptions upon which the current discussion needs to be based. These are:

1. Scare tactics based upon false information have no place in this discussion. The Nazi’s called this the “Big Lie” technique. What this meant is that if one continued to tell the same lie over and over, no matter how outrageous it was, the gullible public would eventually begin to believe it. In this case, the extreme right accuses proposed policies of giving the government power to kill the elderly by requiring living will documents. However, encouraging doctors to speak with their patients about a living will makes good sense. It is the ethical thing to do and, economically, it is a prudent thing to do if it prevents people who do not wish to be kept alive in vegetative states from being sustained for months or even years connected to sophisticated and expensive machines. It is a gross statement to say that this policy will lead to the government deciding to kill elderly people. This is not a "slippery slope" argument, but an example of grotesque propaganda in the tradition of the “Big Lie” Technique.

2. Our current system of health care is not as good as we think it is. According to the World Health Organization, while the United States spends more money on health care than any other nation, our overall rank is thirty-seventh in terms of the quality of healthcare for the entire population. People in other countries do live longer than we do and our ranking in infant mortality is thirty seventh.

3. Doing nothing is not an option. Currently 18% of the GNP is siphoned toward health care – the highest rate in the developed world. By doing nothing to curb this growth, figures may climb 30% or more. Health care premiums and deductibles will continue to rise and fewer small businesses will be able provide health care as a benefit to their employees.

4. Finally, the figures for the cost of health care from the Congressional Budget Office need to be taken seriously. Current plans in the House which could add a trillion to the deficit are not acceptable. Cost-cutting measures are a critical component of any heath care reform or expansion of coverage. By the way, the president himself has stated that he will not sign a health care bill which is not revenue neutral.

Almost one thousand years ago, the great Jewish scholar, Moses Maimonides, listed health care as the number one item on his list of services which a community must provide for its people. Emphasis on the community and its needs, as opposed emphasis fulfillment of self gratification and greed, is a fundamental Jewish value.

We are living during a very difficult time as far as health care costs are concerned. It is important for us as a nation to find a solution to this problem if we want our nation not only to have better health care, but to be economically competitive in the coming decades. Finding this solution will necessitate not only a lot of creative thinking, but will also require a lot of civility and respectful debate. Perhaps most important, it will require a lot of prayer, for we will need God’s help as a nation to take us from where health care is today to the place where it ought to be, a place wherein all of us, as holy manifestations of the Divine, will have access to high quality and affordable health care.

The Govt is going to kill your Granny!!!!

2009-08-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

1. Text of hysterical rumor:

On Page 425 of Obama's health care bill, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every 5 years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier. Yes... They are going to push SUICIDE to cut Medicare spending!!! And no, I am NOT KIDDING YOU! So those of you who voted for Obama have now put yourself and your own parents in dire straights... Congratulations!

2. Text of pp. 425-430 (Section 1233) of the actual bill, which, as far as I can tell after wading through several pages of legalese, merely amends Title 18 of the Social Security Act to stipulate that Medicare will pay for — not mandate — "advance care planning consultations" between individuals and physicians every five years, during which a spectrum of end-of-life options can be explained and discussed so said individuals can knowledgeably choose their own treatment preferences in advance.

For more on this silly rumor see

http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2009/07/27/health-care-bill-page-425-the-truth.htm

Three Goals for the New Year

2009-08-09T06:26:00.000-07:00

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. The word “rosh” means “head,” and “shanah” means “year.” Many rabbis throughout the centuries have pointed out that Rosh Hashanah could also be read as “rosh hashinui,” which means the “beginning of change.” And so, as kind of a exercise in self-examination, or what the rabbis’ called heshbon hanefesh, I am beginning to think about what three changes I would like to see – either in myself or in the world – in the coming year. Please think about joining me on this journey.

Iranian Nuclearization

There is no greater problem facing Israel and the free world than this problem. The mad-men in Iran have already shown their lack of respect for democracy by their actions during the recent election and are responsible for the oppression and the murder of many of their political opponents.

The Iranian leader, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, is the world’s foremost supporter of terrorism. Thousands of dollars in weapons are sent by Iran monthly to Hezbollah and Hamas. Ahmadinejad has publicly stated his desire to wipe Israel from the map.

There are now more than 7,500 centrifuges in Iran making low-grade uranium. German intelligence recently stated that Iran could go nuclear within the next six months, and the American Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said this summer that, “Iran’s nuclear ambitions are the greatest current threat to global security.” The prospect of a nuclear arms race among the Arab nations in response to Iran is indeed scary. Behind the scenes, we know that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt are very concerned, as are Sunni Muslims, about the prospect of a nuclear Iran.

Even scarier is the religious dimension, suggesting that the 12th Imam could very well come if Israel were to be defeated. Because of this religious dimension, there is word that the Mullahs in Iran might be willing to sacrifice an Iranian city or two if it meant that Israel ceased to exist.

Therefore my first hope and prayer is that, somehow or another, the free world will wake-up to this incredible threat to world peace. The United States, together with other countries, must tighten the economic sanctions on Iran – this could be done immediately. If the Iranians refuse to give up their nuclear designs, and refuse to enter negotiations with the rest of the free world, then the option of force must be considered. In short, this is the greatest change that we need to pray for and work toward in the coming year.

Being Judgmental

At a recent seminar I attended, the following question was asked by the leader: “What would be your number one priority for making a change in your relationship with the most significant person in your life?” The answer that was given by more than two-thirds of the people was, “I would like to be less judgmental and less critical.”

This, my friends, is not solely a problem for our intimate relationships. It is a problem that we have in almost all our relationships. While there is certainly a time when criticism is justified, the rabbis tell us that compassion and love should be at least in equal measure to our judgmental tendencies. The Baal Shem Tov taught that love of one’s fellow Jew – or, I might add, love of one’s fellow human beings – is the primary commandment.

So, my own personal goal, and one that I would wish for all of us, is that the next time we are prone to criticize; we step back and try to think, “Why is this person doing what he or she is doing? Can I understand this person better? And, can I respond to him or her with compassion and love instead of with judgment and criticism?”

Our Precious Heritage

Judaism is indeed a precious heritage. It has been given to us, le dor va dor, from generation to generation, for more than 3,000 years. If we go back several generations we find that our family members lived and breathed their Jewish faith as well as their commitment to God and the Jewish people. Judaism also has so much to say about our current situation. Whether it is environmental problems, corporate greed and financial malfeasance, or the quest for peace – Jewish tradition provides many sign-posts that could be extraordinarily useful in improving our world.

Sadly, there are all too few of us who recognize this. All too often, we are controlled by the tyranny of our calendars. On our list of priorities, the study of Torah, being involved in a Jewish organization, prayer, and working for social justice often are too far down the list. These activities are often neglected.

And yet, we in the Jewish community need one another. Judaism says that how we behave does not affect us alone, it influences others – this is why we need a minyan, ten people, for worship. This is why people in Judaism are not to just “do their own thing.” Judaism tells us that, like instruments in a symphony, each of us has our own particular contribution and notes to play – and if we do not play them, the overall music of the Jewish people is diminished.

So, my final prayer for this year is that we will recognize the beauty of our heritage in greater ways and, to a greater extent, find ways to manifest that beauty through our study, prayer, and action.

May the year 5770 be a good and a sweet year for all of us – but more than that, may it also be a year of change and repair!

A Perspective on Gaza

2009-08-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

A Perspective on Gaza

In August 2005, Israel took a bold risk for peace by unilaterally withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. In a dramatic move that caused great trauma among the Israeli public, Israel dismantled all 21 Gaza settlements, many of which had been firmly established for more than 35 years, and relocated approximately 8,500 residents.

Israel had hoped that the people of Gaza would use this opportunity to develop their economy – that a Gaza free of an Israeli presence would lead to stability, security and peace. When the Israeli government withdrew its citizens from Gaza, they left many homes and greenhouses intact as a basis for a Gazan economy. These greenhouses and the collateral agri- business connected to them were worth 14 million dollars, produced sales of over 100 million dollars and employed thousands of Palestinians.

However, rather than utilize these resources or seek to develop an economy of their own, the residents of Gaza destroyed much of the Israeli infrastructure which had been left behind. In January of 2006, the people of Gaza democratically elected Hamas, a group recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. The international community, represented by the “Quartet” of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations set three requirements for recognizing Hamas: acknowledging Israel’s right to exist, renouncing violence and accepting previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Hamas said no to all three.

The international community understood that there is no point in attempting to negotiate with a group that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. As Israel continued to allow aid to flow through border crossings into Gaza, Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Strip increased their attacks. To date, these groups have fired more than 7,000 rockets and mortars into Israel.

It has now been three years since an Israeli soldier named Gilad Shalit was kidnapped from within Israel by Hamas. During that time, in violation of the Geneva Convention, the International Red Cross has not been allowed to visit him and check on his well being. Israel has made significant efforts to exchange hundreds of Hamas combatants for this one soldier. Most Middle Eastern analysts now believe that were a prisoner exchange to take place, the blockade of Gaza would be suspended. This is also why the G8 this summer called for the immediate release of Gilad Shalit.

Israel has been placed in a difficult position. On the one hand, the Jewish State does not want to occupy the Gaza Strip. On the other, Israel has an obligation to protect its citizens. To this end, Israel has sought to alter Hamas’ cost-benefit ratio for firing rockets at Israeli civilians. Since Hamas violently crushed the Fatah opposition within the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel has reduced the flow of goods into the Hamas controlled area. In times when Hamas fires fewer rockets, more goods are allowed into the Strip. When they fire more rockets, or are successful in their attempts to murder Israeli civilians, the crossings are shut down entirely.

Israel lives in a tough neighborhood. Its neighbor, Hamas, has a charter which calls for Israel’s destruction. Hamas receives massive funding and weapons from the Iranians via 800 tunnels which go between the border of Egypt and Gaza. (One wonders why Egypt is not held responsible for the blockade as well as Israel.) If the humanitarian crises there are really as great as we are led to believe, then why isn’t Hamas relieving the suffering by means of those tunnels? The answer is clear and it is that amidst the standard level of fiscal corruption, there is more interest in importing weapons through these tunnels than there is in bringing in supplies for the people of Gaza.

Let us not be confused about the situation in Gaza. The flow of goods from Israel is restricted, but not shutdown. Egypt operates their border with Gaza independent of Israeli control. Most importantly, Israel and the Quartet have both expressed a desire to allow more goods into Gaza once Hamas accepts the principles laid down by the Quartet.

The responsibility for the situation in Gaza rests with the people of Gaza and the Hamas government which they elected, a government that refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist, refuses to halt violence and refuses to abide by previous agreements. Put simply, if Hamas wants Israel to allow more goods into Gaza, it must first abandon its dream of destroying the Jewish State.

Finally, I share concern and pain for all people in the area - the poverty of Gazans, and the fear of Israeli parents about their children getting bombed in their bedrooms at night. With all of the above, I am fully supportive of President Obama's initiative to push parties to the negotiating table, and I pray for peace.

Summer Diplomatic Initiatives

2009-08-09T06:22:00.001-07:00

The summer has seen several diplomatic initiatives. These include Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Washington as well as the visit of Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority. President Obama gave a major speech to the Arab world in Cairo. Significant as well were the Lebanese elections in which Hezbollah, as a client of Iran and an inveterate enemy of Israel, was dealt an enormous setback. As I write, the results of the election in Iran are being protested and in a speech, Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about a two-state solution. When you read this, the impact of these events might be known.

Nevertheless, for me there are certain points that are and will be valid this month no matter what occurs in the next few days. These are:

1. I support President Obama’s efforts in peacemaking in the Middle East. As a realist, I am somewhat skeptical as to the chances of success, but as a Jew, I am prayerful that one-day peace will come to Israel and the Palestinians. I think that it is especially wonderful that in his Cairo speech, in the capital of the most heavily populated Arab country, President Obama reaffirmed the strong commitment and ties between the United States and Israel, and that the President spoke of the evil of Holocaust denial. Some think that the narrative of Israel begins with the Holocaust. This has now become a piece of Arab propaganda. As we know, this is not the narrative of Israel. We have had a connection to the land for thousands of years; the Zionist return began in the second half on the nineteenth century.

2. This is not the time for partisan politics so far as Israel is concerned. We need friends of both parties in Congress. We need to insure that the administration will place peace demands on the Palestinians and the Arab states, not just upon Israel. Public criticism and demands of Israel by the administration, which will only increase Arab intransigence, has thankfully been toned down.

3. Here is the most important point. Israel, the United States and the free world can ill afford to lose sight of Iran’s desire to create a nuclear weapon. The Iranians have mastered the process of making Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) but have not yet learned how to make or weaponize High Enriched Uranium. We need to stay focused on prevention. No matter who wins the elections in Iran, now is the time for serious diplomatic engagement. At the same time, Congress should give the President the tools he would need if Iran does not begin to negotiate in good faith. These would include the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act of 2009, which authorizes state and local governments to divest from companies investing in Iran’s petroleum and natural gas sector and protects fund managers who divest from such companies from potential lawsuits, and the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act which would limit Teheran’s ability to import refined petroleum products.

Let us pray that peace will indeed come to that part of the world. In the past, Israel has taken extraordinary steps for peace when the other side has talked the talk, but not walked the walk.

Finally, I urge you to keep informed on these issues. These diplomatic efforts are proceeding at an incredibly brisk pace.

On Passover - Pharoah and Iran

2009-03-26T21:03:00.001-07:00

Recently, I returned for a series of meetings in Washington concerning the Israel’s security. The concern that Iran is coming very close to manufacturing a nuclear bomb is very real. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that Iran now has over 2000 pounds of low enriched uranium and close to 6,000 centrifuges to refine that amount. The IAEA estimates that Iran will very shortly have enough enriched uranium to make a nuke. In February, Iran launched a satellite into orbit.

At the same time, Iranian TV puts on a show with university “professors” saying that Harry Potter is a “Jewish Zionist” plot. I mention this because is shows the nature of the intellect that concerns those of us who love Israel. DS- help rewrite this sentence)

While in Washington, Phil Segal and I met with our two senators and several NC congressmen or their legislative assistants. We asked each of the elected representatives to make a statement on the floor of the House and the Senate on this issue.

There is great fear that with the economic troubles and the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Iran issue will be pushed to the back burner. Maybe the Iranians are actually hoping for this. The Israelis are very concerned.

Much more political advocacy is needed on this in the coming months. Hopefully a combination of engagement and sanctions will be effective in persuading Iran not to take this very dangerous path. In addition, the low price of oil is also making things more difficult for the Iranian government.

I am happy to report that the Greensboro Jewish Foundation has divested from all companies doing more than 20 million dollars of business per year in the Iranian oil and natural gas sectors. (More than 80% of Iran’s foreign income comes from these oil and natural gas.) 10 out of 12 of the most populous states have now done the same with their state employee pension funds. Legislation in Congress would protect fund managers from suits regarding such divestment. Unfortunately, North Carolina has yet to divest from these companies, but I am hopeful that we as a Jewish community will begin to raise this issue with our state legislators.

Three thousand two hundred years ago, a wicked Pharaoh imperiled our future. Each year, we are commanded to “see ourselves as though we had actually been in Egypt” and experienced this miraculous liberation.

Perhaps this year, the real meaning of Passover is that once again Jewish life and freedom are imperiled. Many in Israel feel that the need for advocacy has never been greater. I am convinced that our ability as American Jews to respond has also never been greater.

We should not forget! It has now been more than 1000 days of captivity for Gilad Shalit who is being held by the Iranian client Hamas. This Passover, say a special prayer for his liberation at your Seder.

Finally, this month I will be attending my ninth March of the Living in Poland and Israel. There will be 22 of us from Greensboro, 12 from Temple Emanuel, 8 from Beth David and 2 from AHA. Joining us once again will be my colleague and friend Rabbi Eli Havivi. In our travel group of 62, there will be four survivors.

The story that we will tell and teach is also a story of Exodus. This time the exodus is from the darkness of Europe to the freedom of Israel.

Let us never take Israel for granted and let us never become so preoccupied with other problems that we as American Jews cease to be concerned about Israel’s security.

Hag Pesach Sameach! Happy Psssover to you and your family!

The Left Buys the War Crimes Accusation

2009-03-26T20:56:00.001-07:00

You might want to take a look at the following analyses from the Honest reporting web site. It shows the shoddy nature of the reporting about "Israeli War Crimes.”

http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/War_Crimes_and_Shoddy_Journalism.asp

I am a liberal in most everything but the subject of Israel’s security and Israel’s right of self defense. The thing that amazes me is that there are those who are on the American left, especially the American Jewish left who are so quick to criticize Israel, even before a full investigation of the alleged incident has occurred.

Other recent example of this type of phenomenon would include Jenin and the accusation of Israeli shelling of a school in Gaza during the recent war.

Of course, we hear nothing from such people about the fact that Gilad Shalit has now been in prison for more than 1000 days.

We hear nothing from such people about how the IAEA last month said that Iran now has 1000 kilos of Low grade Uranium and 5600 centrifuges to refine it into bomb grade material.

We hear nothing from them about how the Iranians last month improved their rocket technology to the point where they were able to send a satellite into orbit.

We hear nothing from them about how that the Iranian leaders rejected the recent overtures of Obama to negotiate.

Finally, we hear nothing from them about how the Iranians broadcast a show two weeks ago with professors from Teheran U "showing" how Harry Potter is a Jewish Zionist plot.

Meanwhile, MJ Rosenberg, the darling of there IPF, writes in the Huffington Post that it would have been a good thing if Chas Freeman had been appointed. In the same vein on his blog, he castigates the America Jewish community for opposing his nomination, the nomination of a man who has served on the board of China's Oil company, who receives money from the Saudis and defends the Chinese response to Tianiman Square.

Freeman is a man whose recent pronouncements only demonstrate a certain instability of personality and thought, a man whose nomination was not opposed by most Jewish organizations, who chose to sit this one out.

Frankly, the prospect that Iran may become a nuclear power really bothers me. I am afraid that the Iranians are laughing with glee at our preoccupation with the economy. This preoccupation gives them the opportunity to go nuclear under our radar.

Chas Freeman, the Pro Israel Lobby and J Street

2009-03-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Below are three articles concerning the Chas Freeman incident and his parting shot at those of us in the pro Israel lobby.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301856.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031302800.html

http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/03/12/why_freeman_himself_was_wrong_about_what_his_defeat_signified

For the most part, the pro Israel lobby, including AIPAC was surprisingly silent on this. The only organization that I know of which openly opposed his nomination was the ZOA (Morton Klein).

The articles show just how misguided this nomination was and not only concerning Israel and the Middle East.

What bothers me however is the response of J Street and the Israel Policy Forum which kind of go along with the idea that the pro Israel lobby brought him down and that in so doing we "shot our wad" and made the Obama administration angry. I really am bothered by this response and it seems to me that they are very close to saying the all of us as Americans and especially Jews should have kept quiet and that Freeman would not have been so bad.

Frankly, I really understood the need for such organizations during the Bush administration. I see less of a need for them now.

As the father of a son living in Israel and as one who served extensively in the territories in the IDF, I do feel that Israelis should have the opportunity to determine their own destiny. I once asked Tony Lake, an Obama advisor and a former high ranking official in the National Security Council if he thought that the Obama administration should impose a "peace" agreement on Israel. His POV was that any imposed settlement without the buy in of both parties would simply be a "piece" of paper, not a real peace. I would also say that an imposed settlement would show very little respect for Israel as a democracy and would be rather paternalistic. It would remind me of the attempt by the British to draw lines in the Middle east after WWI.
These attempts messed up the situation rather than improved it.

J Street and the IPF seem really close to the idea that the US should impose a settlement. Their reaction to the War in Gaza was troubling and R. Eric Yoffe's critique of J Street was justified.

For me, their reaction to the Freeman nomination is equally troubling.

Harry Potter - A Zionist Plot?

2009-03-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

This is one of the reasons why I am so concerned about Iran.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGsHUfl9xEE

This one shows the very real problems Israel faces in the media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op5vT3vnfOk

A Sermon for GLBT Sabbath

2009-03-09T17:40:00.001-07:00

Rick Warren: Evolving or Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?
A Sermon for GLBT Sabbath
March 6, 2009
Rabbi Fred Guttman

Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Temple Emanuel

I say the word “Welcome!” with all of my heart and soul. Here are Temple Emanuel, we are desirous to communicate that gays and lesbians are truly welcome, not merely tolerated.

Gregg Drinkwater, executive director of Jewish Mosaic, a Denver-based Jewish GLBT organization has written, “Unless lesbian and gay Jews are explicitly invited, they don’t feel synagogues are safe. As a result, they don’t engage with Jewish life through these institutions.

One of our goals tonight is to specifically invite gays and lesbians to be a part of our mishpocha, our community. There will be no asterisks, not hidden messages. We will sincerely welcome all who wish to explore the Jewish journey towards spirituality and social justice.

The first thing that I wish to announce is that we will be having a special GLBT Passover Seder on April 12th. The Seder is open to the entire community and will be based upon the Stonewall Seder, a Jewish ritual celebrating Jewish GLBT pride. We do not have any idea how many people are interested in this Seder which will be led by Rabbi Amy Morrison of the American Hebrew Academy so we have not determined a cost. If you are interested in attending this Seder, and one does not have to be Jewish to do so, pleased sign the interested sheet on the stage of the Social hall after the service. There will be other information and articles placed on the stage as well.

Frankly, I had no idea how much this issue would be front and center when we decided to hold this service. I knew that Proposition 8 would still be a very big issue in California. I had no idea that just yesterday its appeal would come before the California Supreme court.

Yesterday, Ken Starr argued that the majority have the rights to restrict the rights of a minority. What an astonishing statement! Let me be totally clear. As a Rabbi and as a Jew, I reject all attempts to limit the rights of any minority by a tyrannical majority. Let me be perfectly clear, that we reject any attempt to create an apartheid situation in this country where in gays and lesbians are placed on the other side of some legal wall.

For us, this is an example of the blurring of the wall of separation between church and state. If a church down the street from me does not wish to welcome gays or to affirm the right of gay and lesbian couples to enter into covenantal relationships sanctified by the church, that is all right with me. I can accept this and respect their religious convictions.

I do have a problem with the government trying to define what a marriage is and what is a civil union, especially at a time when we have so many other problems. This is a slippery slope in my opinion. Once the state denies legal protection for any subgroup of its citizens, how long is it going to be before they deny protection for another subgroup? It might be a religion or it might a race or an economic group. It may even be aging chubby and balding Jewish males as far as I am concerned. YIKES! Seriously, this is a very disturbing part of American society and Ken Starr's statement about the power of the majority should cause us great concern.

On the state level, there are three issues of importance at this time. The first is the re-introduction of the School Violence Prevention Act which would require all public schools in the state to adopt strong, clear policies against bullying and harassment for all students. The bill contains critical language enumerating categories of students that are often targeted, including physical appearance, race, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression. After the service, you will be able to pick up and sign a postcard to our elected state Senators and Representative expressing your support for this bill.

Second, Representatives Pricey Harrison and Earl Jones have sponsored a bill that would expand the protection of the state hate crimes law to gays and lesbians. We need to support his legislation and to support our local representatives for their courage in pushing this bill. This far all that they are receiving is the wrath of the homophobic. They need to hear from us.

Third, last week more than 1,000 people rallied for the legislature to vote for a ban on gay marriage. Bills have been filed but no additional action has been taken. The state already has a law that prohibits marriage except in the case of one man and one woman — the people arguing for the constitutional amendment say that the law does not offer strong enough protection. To me it is amazing that this would be the concern of anyone given the tremendous deficits and the very real possibility of curtailment of services that our state currently faces.

Let me be perfectly clear on this. Temple Emanuel and the Reform Movement oppose all such state initiatives and as we opposed Prop 8 in California, will oppose all such actions here in North Carloina.

So now, let us examine the very interesting topic of Rev Rick Warren and the Inaugural prayer.

Although he is well known in Christian Evangelical circles, Rev. Warren remains unknown and somewhat of an enigma to those outside of such circles.

President Obama’s invitation to Rev Warren was controversial. Non Christians worried that his prayer might be one meant to proselytize non Christians and thus would be not be inclusive. After all, in his Inaugural prayer in 2001, Rev Franklin Graham said “May this be the beginning of a new dawn for America as we humble ourselves before You and acknowledge You alone as our Lord, our Savior and our Redeemer. We pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Many non Christians felt that such language excluded them.

A far greater expression of concern came from GLBT community. In the last election, Rev. Warren became an ardent supporter of Proposition 8 in California. In supporting Proposition 8, Rev. Warren made statements comparing homosexuality to incest and pedophilia.
Rev. Warren is a complex figure. Prior to the Proposition 8 controversy, many felt that Rev. Warren was evolving in his acceptance and understanding of non Evangelicals. For them, his support of Proposition 8 and his ignorant and biased statements were very disappointing and in their opinion, these statements should have disqualified him from praying at the inauguration.
Still others felt that the Obama invitation was an admirable outreach effort, one that if Rev Warren is really evolving, could help this process. One lesbian woman said to me, “I felt that he was not asking him to be a part of his cabinet, but merely trying to reach across the aisle and be inclusive.” One conservative Christian friend of an acquaintance said that the selection of Warren made him open his mind to the possibility that Obama might be okay after all.

The most vocal supporter of the Warren invitation among GLBT activists was the well known pop music singer, Melissa Ethridge. In the December 22 edition of the Huffington Post, Ethridge wrote: “Brothers and sisters, the choice is ours now. We have the world's attention. We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but before we change minds we must change hearts. Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning to listen. They don't hate us, they fear change. Maybe in our anger, as we consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands. Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for HIV/AIDS causes all around the world. Maybe if they get to know us, they won’t fear us.”

So who is Rev Rick Warren and is he really evolving or is he a wolf in sheep’s clothing? What if anything can be learned from the text of his Inaugural prayer that might help us answer this question?

Rev. Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, California, is the author of a Christian best seller entitled, “The Purpose Driven Life.” The book has sold 20 million copies generating $400 million in sales. Saddleback has more than 20,000 members, making it one of the largest churches in America. Pastor Warren is one of the most influential and powerful Evangelicals in this country.

In 2004, Pastor Warren told pastors that there are 5 non-negotiable issues that should determine their support for a presidential candidate. These are:
1. Abortion
2. Stem cell harvesting
3. Gay marriage
4. Human cloning
5. Euthanasia

Shortly after the 2004 election, Warren began to change his tone. He began to focus on issues such as poverty and AIDS. For example, his church has more than 300 community ministries to groups such as prisoners, CEOs, addicts, single parents, and those with HIV/AIDS. Recently, the church fed 42,000 homeless people – three meals a day – for 40 days.

The Jewish community also began to reach out to him. This was done not in relation to support for Israel, but out of a sincere desire to understand the phenomenon of Saddleback Community Church as a “Mega Church.”. This effort was led by Dr. Ron Wolfson of the Synagogue 3000 organization. Wolfson is the author of a book entitled “God’s To Do List.” The book uses analyses of Biblical texts to urge people to create a list of what God does. From here, readers are encouraged to make their own lists based upon God’s list and to use that list to improve or repair the world. Warren endorsed the book in the following words. “"This book is built on a great premise: Figure out what God does and then do that with other people! Simple but profound. I loved this book!"

At the 2007 Biennial of the Union for Reform Judaism, I attended a session moderated by Wolfson where the main speaker was Rev. Warren. I remember well that at that time, Warren referred to Wolfson’s book by saying “It will preach!” I was astonished how far Warren had seemed to have come. There seemed to be a real process of ideological growth going on as evidenced by his expanded field of interests and associations.

One cannot underestimate the relationship between process and personal connection. Even for Evangelical Christians, it is difficult to be anti-gay when a member of their family is gay. For example, former Vice-President Cheney was relatively quiet on this issue in the former administration one can assume because of the fact that his daughter is openly gay.
As the personal connections of straight people with GLBT’s are increasing, it will only be a matter of time until there is almost total acceptance of GLBT’s in the United States. Nevertheless, as a father of three children in their 20’s, it is clear to me that for their generation, the GLBT issue is much less of a “problem” than it is for some in my generation (I am 57 years old.)

Many GLBT’s were somewhat mollified that Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire was chosen to deliver the invocation on Sunday at the opening Inaugural Event at the Lincoln Memorial.

On the other hand, I asked a lesbian friend of mine what she thought of Warren’s invocation. She told me that she was particularly disturbed by the following line in the invocation. “Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.” At that moment she felt that the phrase “justice for all” included everyone in Warren’s world except GLBT’s.

As for Rev Warren’s invocation, I thought that it was quite admirable. As a Southern Baptist, he theologically is unable to pray except “in Jesus’ name." This is based upon his reading of John 14:6 which reads: “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. “This makes it very difficult for him to pray in a public setting without offending Jews and other non-Christians. Simply put, his choice is either to give a prayer which would be meaningless to him or to give one which would offend others.
In a similar manner, Warren seemed to go out of his way to be inclusive. The second paragraph from the text of Rev. Rick Warren's inaugural invocation reads "The Scripture tells us Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is one. And You are the compassionate and merciful one. And You are loving to everyone you have made."

In this paragraph, Rev. Warren was trying to tie the three western religions together. The first sentence is the Shema, from Deut 6:4. This liturgically and theologically is one of the most important lines in Judaism. The second sentence is clearly a reference to the beginning of the Koran. The third line "And you are loving to everyone you have made" is in my opinion a reflection of the overarching Christian message of God loving the world and Jesus telling us that loving God and neighbor is the summation of the law. (See also Psalm 145:8-9 – “God is compassionate and loving towards all.” And John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.)

At the end of the invocation, Rev Warren said “I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesus (hay-SOOS), who taught us to pray, Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Notice how interesting the first line here is. Rev Warren does not say “We ask this in the name of the one who changes lives, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesus (hay-SOOS),” but emphasizes that this is an expression of his personal faith. It is also an act of inclusion that he recited the name of Jesus in Hebrew, Arabic, English and Spanish.

This was followed by the “Lord’s Prayer” Although it is not commonly thought of as anything but a Christian prayer, from a Jewish perspective, there is nothing objectionable in the context of the Lords Prayer. Some scholars have even maintained that echoes of this prayer maybe found in Jewish prayers from the time of Jesus and after. To me, many of the ideas expressed in the Lord’s Prayer “sound Jewish.”

At the end of the “Lords Prayer,” Rev Warren says “Amen” and not “In Jesus name we (or I ) pray. This again was his attempt to be sensitive to the diversity of his audience.

Rev. Warren’s prayer at the inauguration was a creative and honest attempt to balance his own personal theology with sensitivity to the religious diversity of his audience. Certainly, I cannot help but feel that President Obama’s invitation to him to recite the Inaugural Invocation was not only an attempt to reach across the aisle, but also an effort to help Rev Warren continue on the journey of openness that he has traveled since 2004.

So let us hope that in some way, this experience for Rev Rick Warren will lead him to an even greater embrace of the issues of war and peace, economic injustice, global warming, hunger, poverty and health care.

The over arching question about Rick Warren will be, “Is he truly evolving or is he a wolf in sheep’s clothing?” Is his real desire is to covert non Christians to Christianity and to deny GLBT’s basic rights? Can Warren’s view on rights of GLBT’s ever change? Will he apologize for his statements comparing GLBT to pedophilia or incest? Is he truly a new kind of evangelical or is he just a likeable personality still preaching bigotry?

Only time will tell.

Friends. I am so grateful to all of you tonight for coming to this service. I am grateful for the opportunity to worship in freedom and for the fellowship that this service has engendered. We are guided by the very basic belief that all human beings are created b’tselem Elohim The verse in Genesis, “And God created humans in God’s own image, in the image of God, God created them; male and female God created them” needs to be taken seriously by all. As Rabbi David Saperstein said in Congressional testimony in support of Economic Non Discrimination Act that “regardless of context, discrimination against any person arising from apathy, insensitivity, ignorance, fear, or hatred is inconsistent with this fundamental belief. We oppose discrimination against all individuals, including gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, for the stamp of the Divine is present in each and every one of us.”

Let us end tonight however with a special prayer for tolerance and justice.

May it be your will God that we all will seek as the prophets of Israel taught to establish justice within our gates, and to seek peace and pursue it. May our country uphold the cause of the orphan and the widow, the gay and the lesbian, welcome the stranger, provide food and clothing to the poor and needy. May our country truly live up to the words of Your teaching: "Proclaim liberty throughout the land, to its inhabitants,” that none shall be enslaved, but that all shall go free, that each person may realize the purpose for which he or she was created - that we might all be engaged in the work of repairing Your world, of never being satisfied with the world as it is, we try to create the world as it ought to be.

May this be your will and may it be our task. And together we say, Amen.

Article on Gaza was propaganda of the worst sort

2009-02-01T05:51:00.000-08:00

Sunday, February 1 - Greensboro News and Record

The recent article by John D. Young, "War is Not the Answer in the Mideast," is particularly troubling (News & Record, Jan. 24). The first problem was its placement in the paper. The religion page should not be used for political punditry. Under the cover of religious jargon, Young's essay was actually an opinion piece condemning Israel's behavior in the war with Hamas.

But aside from its placement, Young's article was propaganda of the most misleading and obscene type. For example, he writes: "But just as time stands still because of the horror of the Holocaust to remain forever a raw, present moment, likewise for the Palestinians their suffering has become unending."

Young sees a close parallel between what the Nazis (whom he calls by the more neutral term "Germans") did to the Jewish people and what Israel is "doing to" the Palestinians. He is trying to say that the Israelis are the new Nazis and the Palestinians are the new Jews.

Perhaps Mr. Young needs to be reminded of just what the Nazis did. In 1942, they embarked upon a comprehensive plan to murder every last man, woman, and child of Europe's 11 million Jews. They succeeded in murdering 6 million of them. It should be obvious that nothing the Palestinians have suffered can compare to that of Jews during the Holocaust. Israel isn't hunting down Palestinian women and children. Israel has no desire other than to live in peace with its neighbors. Most Israelis support a two-state solution.

Young also writes: "The desperate plight of the Palestinians must melt our cold hearts so that we can respond in ways that embrace compassion and love." That's a wonderful thought, and in fact I agree. But where was his compassion when 1,176 Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorists in this decade by suicide bombers? Where was his compassion for the children of southern Israel when they were given all of 15 seconds to find a bomb shelter because of incoming rocket and mortar fire from Gaza? Hamas fired more than 6,000 rockets at civilians in southern Israel. Is that not worthy of Young's compassion?

If Young is a pacifist, then clearly he's an ill-informed pacifist. Either that, or his pacifism simply does not extend to Jews.

But it's not just Jews who get no compassion from Young. Did he protest when Hamas leaders massacred Palestinians loyal to Fatah in the violent coup that overthrew the Palestinian Authority in Gaza? Are Arab lives worth less when taken by fellow Arabs?

No one can deny the suffering of Palestinians. But so much of this suffering is due to the criminal behavior of their own leadership. Nevertheless, I feel for their plight. As a Jew, I am deeply pained by the loss of innocent life in Gaza.

Our Jewish community here in Greensboro has not ignored the human dimension of this tragic and unnecessary conflict. At the services of both of our congregations and at our community rally, we recited a prayer for both the children of Gaza and the children of Israel. The prayer was shared with other clergy, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and many of them used it in their worship services. The prayer represents our attempt as a community to transcend the issues that divide Israel and the Palestinians and pray a universal prayer for children. The prayer may be accessed at www.tegreensboro.org.

The end of the prayer reads: "We ask your blessings for the children of Gaza and the children of Israel who are the grandchildren of our ancestor Abraham. For the children of Gaza, the children of our kinsman, Ishmael, remember that you heard his cry and sent your angel to comfort him and his mother Hagar. For the children of Isaac and of Jacob, remember your mercies toward Isaac and your blessings toward Jacob. God, who gives life and who is called by many names, God who knows the value and the fragility of every life, send these children your angels to guide and protect them. Bless these children, and keep them from harm. Turn Your face toward them and grant them peace!

To which I say, "Amen!"

Blago and the Smell Test

2009-01-26T18:23:00.000-08:00

I have recently sent an email to some of my colleagues in Illinois and asked for their feedback on the following.

There seems to be sufficient evidence that as a politician, Blago is rather “slimy.”

That being said, I am a little concerned that his impeachment trial might be a “Kangaroo Court.”

“Justice, Justice shall you pursue,” says the Torah. Perhaps this could be interpreted, “Justice for the good guys and justice for the slime balls.”

I have seen too many cases where our justice system has been corrupted by politics. There are numerous examples here in NC. The most egregious example of which I am aware was the political prosecution, conviction and jailing of the former governor of Alabama Don Siegelman. The Seigelman case was profiled on 60 minutes and on MSNBC. More that 50 former state Attorney Generals wrote a letter to the Justice Department saying that this case did not pass the smell test. Scott Horton in Vanity Fair has written brilliantly on this miscarriage of justice. Siegelman was eventually released by the Circuit Court pending appeal.

So to those in the know in Illinois I ask. Does the Impeachment trial of Blago pass the smell test or is it another example of the justice system being used for political gain?

Hamas, Gaza and Israel

2009-01-26T18:01:00.001-08:00

In December the founder of Rabbis For Human Rights, Rabbi David Forman, told us that the problem with being a Jew in Israel was that Israel had the problem of protecting its bodily security, while also preserving its soul. Unfortunately , the recent war with Hamas points this out in a stark way. Israel responded only after years of shelling from Gaza, and yet the destruction and the loss of civilian life in Gaza is tragic. The loss of life there is something for which we as Jews are deeply sorry.

Now that the cease fire has taken hold, we hope that it will continue. We are aware that Hamas has announced that it will rearm and will eventually start this madness again. At that time, Israel will once again be forced to act in self-defense to protect its citizens against acts of terrorism;

Hamas desires that it borders with Israel be open without any restrictions on what it can bring in. Of course, Israel is concerned about the continued smuggling of weapons and thus Israel will continue to control its own border with Gaza as well as the coast and airspace. The closures of Gaza, which do not include humanitarian aid, have been done in response to the firing of rockets on southern Israel.

Let us not forget that Egypt also has a border with Gaza, and Israel has absolutely no control over that border. It is Egypt’s choice to keep it closed. The eight mile border with Egypt is also where Hamas has dug 500 tunnels to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. Someone who holds Israel solely responsible for closures in Gaza simply does not understand this fact.

Israel has now withdrawn once again from every square inch of Gaza. The people of Gaza can now choose to rebuild their country or to continue the acts of terrorism by firing more rockets into southern Israel. Let us hope that they will chose peace this time.

Israel actually went out of its way by not only allowing the passage of humanitarian supplies but also supplying fuel and power to Gaza. There is nothing in international law that requires a country to encourage economic activity in an entity that is ruled by a regime that is officially dedicated to its destruction and commits acts of war against its citizens. The combination of humanitarian supplies through the Israel-Gaza border and massive smuggling of foodstuffs through tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border kept Gaza’s population adequately supplied.

The moral responsibility for the suffering in Gaza lies squarely with Hamas, which has rejected the conditions of the Quartet (U.S., U.N., EU and Russia) to engage with Hamas: accepting the previous agreements between the PLO and Israel; recognizing Israel (as the PLO had done) and renouncing violence. Israel made clear that it too would engage with Hamas if it accepted those very basic conditions. Indeed, Israel has encouraged economic development and international aid to the PA-controlled West Bank since PA president Mahmoud Abbas has long accepted the three conditions and has acted to prevent hostile acts against Israel.

It is my hope that the new Administration will work actively to make this cease fire durable and sustainable. In some way, the international community will now need to step up and insure that Hamas will be prevented from rebuilding its terrorist infrastructure. This is especially true of their capability to launch rockets and mortars against Israel. Such an inability on the part of Hamas would cause the efforts of all to be focused on the long-term improvement of daily living conditions for the people of Gaza.

If the day should come when Hamas must ends the rocket and mortar attacks against Israel, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, renounces violence, and agrees to accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, I do believe that Israel will make painful concessions for peace. Thought it seems now to be quite far away, I still believe that a two state solution might people possible. I still pray for the day when and Israel and a Palestine will live side by side with in peace and security.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, wrote a prayer which ended as follows.

“May the day come soon when the people of Sderot and the people of Gaza will live together in peace. no longer fighting one another, but helping one another to live in freedom and dignity. That day will come. It could be a hundred years away or it could be today. It's up to Hamas and the countries that give it arms. And for the sake of Palestinian children, and Israeli children, Let it be today!

But in the meanwhile we say,
Beloved G-d - The G-d we worship - The G-d of life who told us to sanctify life
Al Rahman, the G-d of compassion - The G-d of Avraham, Ibrahim, father of our several faiths
Show us the way to live your way.
The way of Salaam,
The way of Shalom.
The way of Peace.”

To which we all say, “Amen!”

My Talking Points on Israel

2009-01-26T17:57:00.000-08:00

Those of us who are pro Israel and pro peace should:

Encourage the new Administration to work actively to support a durable and sustainable cease-fire in Gaza, as soon as possible, that prevents Hamas from retaining or rebuilding its terrorist infrastructure, including the capability to launch rockets and mortars against Israel, and thereby allowing for the long-term improvement of daily living conditions for the people of Gaza.
Reiterate that Hamas must end the rocket and mortar attacks against Israel, recognize Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence, and agree to accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.
Affirm that we believe strongly that the lives of innocent civilians must be protected and all appropriate measures should be taken to diminish civilian casualties and that all involved should continue to work to address humanitarian needs in Gaza.
Call upon the United States government to encourage efforts that will result in the release of Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas in June 2006, as quickly as possible.
Reiterate our strong support for a just and sustainable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict achieved through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in order to ensure the welfare, security, and survival of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, and a viable, independent, and democratic Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the State of Israel.
Express vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, and recognize its right to act in self-defense to protect its citizens against acts of terrorism.

On Bernie Madoff and Jews

2009-01-15T14:55:00.001-08:00

Rabbi Marc Gellman has recently written his last article for Newsweek. He is an outstanding rabbi and I rarely disagree with him. I will miss his voice at Newsweek.

In his last column, Rabbi Gellman wrote:

"One of the very worst things you did has to do with the Jews. You are responsible for reviving the "Jew game." I heard of the Jew game from a boy who became a man last Saturday. I asked him once if he had ever experienced anti-Semitism in school."

Up I this point I found myself in agreement with the article. At this point, I found myself saddened. I think that Marc has gone into the Galut insecurity mode of "Mah Yomru Hagoyim? What will the non Jews say?"

Frankly, I am not all that concerned about an increase in anti Semitism as a result of Madoff. Anti Semites are going to hate us no matter what and I am not a fan of a very large organization that has outlived its usefulness and seeks to find anti Semites under every rock while it pays its CEO a huge salary.

Here is what I wish Marc had wrote. "One of the very worst things you did has to do with the Jews. We are a people who constantly have had to struggle with the challenges of both persecution and assimilation. Your shenanigans have made this task even more difficult. Many of the charitable foundations from whom you have stolen were dedicated to strengthening Israel and the Jewish people. Many were dedicated to helping kids go to Israel and to Jewish education.

We live in a time when many very wealthy Jewish philanthropists are finding the cause of Jewish education to be "non sexy." As a result, they are seeking different venues for their money, primarily in the field of more universal concerns. In so doing, they have given up on educating Jews for the next generation.

Many of the foundations from whom you stole Bernie still found support for Jewish education to be worthwhile. As a result, you have done great damage to our people and made the tasks of those who in support of the Jewish community and especially in support of Jewish education much more difficult. Thus Bernie, you have done great damage not only to our people and but also to our future.

You have betrayed us in a vile way. Your ultimate punishment will come from God.

My daughter Maital on Gaza

2009-01-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

Inflammatory Comments Fuel the Fire
Maital Guttman

With family living in Israel and with two cousins currently serving in the Israeli army, I have been watching the situation carefully. It is heartbreaking. It is tragic. Innocent people on both sides are suffering. But now is not the time for inflammatory remarks. Now is not the time to callously throw around words like "genocide." Now is not the time to point fingers at only one side, without taking a critical look at what both sides are doing. I'm afraid that this only adds fuel to the fire, in a time when we should all be self-critical, to look at the facts on the ground, and call for an end to violence on both sides. At the end of the day, I believe that the Palestinian people are suffering the most, but the blame cannot be placed solely on Israel, but on the Hamas leadership as well

In 2005, my Israeli cousin and friends attended a peace rally which called for withdrawal from Gaza. Israelis believed that the Palestinian people have the right to govern themselves. It was a hopeful time, and was the beginning of the end of the occupation. A year later, my cousin was in the army, and was pulling his own Israeli people out of their homes in Gaza. The hope was that this would be the first step towards peace.

Sadly, this did not happen. I remember the shock and dismay Israelis felt when Gazans voted Hamas into power. In July 2006, Hamas leaders issued this statement: "The annihilation of the Jews here in Palestine is one of the most splendid blessings for Palestine. This will be followed by a great blessing, Allah be praised, with the establishment of a Caliphate that will rule the land and will be pleasing to men and God."

Contrast this with the statement made by Israel's Foreign Minister recently: "While confronting Hamas, Israel continues to believe in the two-state solution and remains committed to negotiations with the legitimate Palestinian Authority in the context of the peace process."

Whose leadership, then, is outwardly calling for a genocide?

Since taking power, Hamas has worsened the situation for the Palestinian people. Hundreds of Palestinians have been murdered by fellow Palestinians. In 2007, at least 344 Palestinians were killed by their own people. One wonders why a Palestinian life is worth more when it is taken by Israeli soldier? Why is there no outrage when Hamas calls for the public to serve as human shields for terrorists as it did earlier this year?

Since the Israeli withdrawal in 2005, about 6,500 rockets have been fired into Israel, largely at
nearby Sderot. Children became used to hearing the alarm and having 15 seconds to run to a shelter. If Mexican terrorists (or worse, the Mexican government) fired an average of 40 rockets on San Diego daily, would the US not have the right and responsibility to protect her people? The same is true for Israel, which has tried negotiations and waiting for more than two years. But Hamas ended the cease-fire and also now is getting more powerful rockets that reach further into Israel. Israel had no choice but to respond. Every country has a right and obligation to protect its people.

With that being said, I am greatly saddened by the numbers of innocent Palestinians killed. I can assure you that the last thing Israel wants is to send her young soldiers into harms way, unless absolutely necessary. I can assure you this is not meant to be an attack on Palestinians, but on the terrorist organization that is Hamas. Humanitarian aid, food, and ambulances are allowed into Gaza, and I consider it my responsibility as an Israeli and a Jew to hold Israel accountable, and to make sure that it does all it can to avoid a humanitarian crisis.

To be honest, I am not sure what the end result will be. I fear that in an attempt to take out the terrorist infrastructure that fires rockets into Israel, that the destruction, trauma, and loss of life will only breed more hatred. I am especially concerned for the Palestinian children whose trauma I fear will lead them towards extremism.

In the end, I believe the average people on both sides want peace. I must believe this to be so. I dream of a time when our people can come together, play sports, travel to each other's countries, and have two states living side by side peacefully. I don't think this can happen without brave and forward-thinking leadership, willing to do what may be unpopular for the ideal of peace. I pray for the Palestinian people and for my own people in Israel, and I challenge us all to do what we can to quench the fires of misunderstanding and hatred, rather than to fuel them.

It is so easy to blame one side or another, and I know our communities and families may do so easily, but we are a generation that believes we can make a difference, that has travelled and been able to see life from another's perspective, and that still holds onto the ideals that one day we may all sit together in peace. Inshallah. Shalom.

Maital Guttman is an independent Documentary filmmaker in Hollywood.

Reflections on the Election, Israel and Partisan Politics

2009-01-08T18:24:00.000-08:00

I have now lived in North Carolina for over thirteen years. As one who cares passionately about the State of Israel, I have lobbied on behalf of Israel with North Carolina senators and congressmen. On this issue, I have been fortunate to develop very good relationships with both Republicans and Democrats. I have managed to become friends with elected officials with whom on many issues other than Israel, I have great disagreement.

While the majority of our congregation tends to vote Democratic, I was also diligent during the campaign season, to examine Senator McCain’s record and position paper on Israel. The bottom line was that I found both Senator McCain and Obama to be very Pro-Israel and I was very careful not to be drawn into discussions about which one would be better for Israel. Frankly, I felt that no matter which candidate won, Israel would find a friend in the White House.

My feeling is that Israel needs all the friends in Congress it can get. Occasionally, there is a congressman or a senator who is indeed anti-Israel; but thank God that these seem to be few and far between.

For the first time in recent memory, North Carolina was a battleground state in the Democratic Party primary. Before the primary, Senator Barack Obama came to Greensboro and asked to meet with three members of the clergy. I, along with an African American minister and a Presbyterian minister, were fortunate to spend some twenty minutes with the senator. I thought it was unique that on his first trip to Greensboro, he would reach out to clergy in such a way.

Before our meeting with Senator Obama, I contacted the Leadership of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and asked them if there was any particular question that they wanted me to ask the senator. The answer was that they were interested in knowing who the Senator felt were his key Middle East advisors. I proceeded to ask the question and the very next day received a list of six people who the Obama campaign viewed as their closest advisors on Israel. I passed these on to the national leadership. I also had an opportunity to talk with Obama about issues concerning health care and the elderly.

One month before the general elections, a political analyst in Washington, DC told me that North Carolina would go for John McCain. In the end, however, North Carolina was to be a battleground state in the general election and Obama would win by some 12,000 votes. This was the first time the state has gone democratic since 1976.

Therefore, it was with great disappointment that I observed that the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) was trying to make Senator Obama’s support of Israel appear to be questionable. They did this through a fear campaign and innuendo. The fact that Senator Obama once spoke at a dinner honoring a Palestinian or once knew somebody who had some sort of connection to a more pro-Palestinian view point was used by the RJC as a way to gain Jewish votes for McCain.

This scare tactic was most significant in the state of Florida. Despite all of the efforts of the RJC to increase the amount of Jews voting for McCain, Jews once again voted overwhelmingly Democratic. They learned to be comfortable with Obama on Israel and the Middle East and, in my opinion, never became comfortable with Sarah Palin as the Vice Presidential nominee.

What disturbs me the most, is that we had two very Pro-Israel candidates running for President and yet the RJC still seemed to make Israel into a “wedge” issue. Quite frankly, this amounted to their making an issue where there was not one and was done in the most selfish, partisan way. God forbid that there is a candidate who really is not a supporter of Israel and her security.

Until that time, as long as both Democratic and Republican candidates support Israel, it is very dangerous to use Israel as a grossly partisan political tool. It is my hope that in the future those in the Jewish community, whether they be Democrats or Republicans, will refrain from unwarranted and highly partisan attacks on candidates because of perceived or made up issues regarding Israel. Such attacks do not serve the legitimate and long term interests of Israel and her security.

My Friend Kay

2009-01-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

My friend, Kay. We served on the board of the NCCJ together and we worked out at the same gym. One day shortly after the mayor of Greensboro decided not to run for re-election, I was sitting on a stationary bicycle next to Kay. Kay had told me that she came from a political family and that her uncle had been the governor of Florida. I said to Kay, “Why don’t you run for Mayor?” Her response was, “Being Mayor doesn’t interest me, but I am thinking about running for something else.”

A few weeks later, Kay announced her intention to run for the North Carolina State Senate. She won that election easily and was re-elected several times.

In the past few years, I have become much concerned about some of the votes taken by United States Senator Elizabeth Dole; particularly votes concerning veteran’s affairs, the war in Iraq and children’s health care. Every time one of her votes bothered me, I sent an email to Kay encouraging her to run against Senator Dole. Each time, I received a response from Kay that she would indeed consider the request.

Kay came very close to announcing her candidacy a year ago and at the last minute, decided that she would not run. Apparently, she did not think that Dole could be beaten or that she would be able to raise enough money as a candidate. Legend has it that the day after she decided not to run, Kay received several calls from prominent national Democratic Party politicians pledging their support should she run.

She changed her mind and after a significant primary challenge, started the campaign against Senator Dole more than 10 points behind in the polls. At this time, I helped the campaign write her policy statement concerning the state of Israel.

However, it soon would come out that Senator Dole in 2006 had only been present in our state for thirteen days. Kay’s campaign ads were indeed magnificent, with two southern elderly gentleman saying that Dole was 93, meaning 93rd in effectiveness within the US Senate.

At the end of the campaign, Senator Dole released a vicious attack ad on my friend Kay implying that she was “Godless.” Having known Kay for many years, I knew Kay as a former board member of her Presbyterian church and as a Sunday school teacher. She is a devout Christian. The ad seemed to have backfired.

On election night, the media declared my friend Kay to have won very early on in the evening. One of Kay’s favorites sayings is: “At least my husband can vote for me!” (Bob Dole is not registered in the state). Another was that she wanted to give Senator Dole “a pair ruby red slippers and send her back to Kansas.”

The night before the election at Kay’s request, I organized a telephone conference call with Kay and her family. The call was in the form of a “prayer meeting.” Kay and her family were all over the state. On the call were Kay’s two Presbyterian ministers, an African American Baptist minster who is a good friend, and me. We prayed that God would bless Kay and give strength to her no matter what the outcome of the election. We also assured her that as her friends, we would be with her then and in the future. For all of us, it was indeed a very spiritual moment.

I was privileged to be at the victory party for Kay as she gave her victory speech after the election. For me, it was indeed one of the more exciting moments of the entire political campaign season. On January 6, I was privileged to attend her swearing in ceremony and to say a hearty “Mazal Tov!” to her.

They say that all politics is local. Kay is an outstanding human being and humanitarian. She is a good friend of Israel and the Jewish people. I think she will make a wonderful United States Senator and I am indeed privileged to call Senator Kay Hagan, my friend.