About the Ultra-Orthodox

Inevitably, when leading a discussion about Israeli politics or society, somebody asks about haredim (so called "ultra-orthodox Jews" also, in some circles, "black-hatters").  Often it's a question based on our separation of church and state: why do the haredim get special benefits for being so religiously strict? Why does the state support religious institutions?  Here's a paragraph from today's online Haaretz editorial that explains it more clearly than I have seen in a long time:

Haredi politicians have always manipulated Israel's governments for their own ends, exploiting the fact that they hold the political balance of power in order to free their constituencies from sharing the burdens: For example, the Haredim have been liberated from studying core subjects in their schools, from compulsory military service and from the need to work - while living off the public's largesse in the form of stipends and allowances. Now even many members of the community recognize that the current situation cannot go on because the national economy will collapse under the growing burden.

And if you are interested in the religion-state divide (or lack thereof) in Israel.  Read Gideon Levy's op-ed piece from Dec. 16th. I'm not sure it's the best or most balanced article, but the analogy he draws between rabbis and dance club bouncers makes it worth the read.  Especially given the fact that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, though not a rabbi is a former nightclub bouncer.

Top 10 Ways Congregations Shape and are Shaped By Society

The Alban Institute's founder, Loren Mead, put out this list on the Institute's weekly e-mail.  I have abridged the content but not changed the list itself. Does this list apply to Sinai? Does it matter to you personally whether it does or doesn't?  Each point has a question that flows from it. All of them are important but I'd like to hear your thoughts on any of them.

1. Strangers meet on common ground. In today's outside world, we are taught to steer clear of the stranger. But it hasn't always been this way. In our congregations, we have a laboratory for reaching out beyond ourselves and our families. Dare we think of the possibility of a public world ruled by the values of hospitality?
    
2. Fear of the stranger is faced and dealt with. We have all sorts of stereotypes and prejudices, all kinds of unexplored myths about "others." Can our congregations become intentional laboratories for exposing us to people outside our groups?
    
3. Scarce resources are shared and abundance is generated. We seem to be a social order in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Who is there to speak for and act on another vision? Our biblical heritage speaks of abundance, not scarcity: The more you have, the better I will be. Can we bring this consciousness to the world we inhabit and nurture it in our congregations?
    
4. Conflict occurs and is resolved. Our tradition brings perspectives about forgiveness and reconciliation that help us reach out to one another for community—not just cessation of hostility. As we deal with our differences, we learn about reaching beyond hostility in the public world toward a different vision of society. Can we learn to use our own spiritual resources of forgiveness and reconciliation within our own communities, learning to bear witness to the same power in the world outside our congregations?
5. Life is given color, texture, drama, a festive air. Every act of worship should be a laboratory in celebration of community. [Our temple on Simchat Torah] and a town park on the Fourth of July—both speak to what community means. Does our congregation help its members pursue a vision of what the larger community is called to be?
    
6. People are drawn out of themselves. In a society with strong pressures toward privacy, the public realm needs congregations to draw people out of their hidden aloneness and train them for community. Can we our congregation be counter-cultural (against the cultural trend toward isolation) and help people to become neighborhood leaders helping citizens enter the lives of their neighbors.
7. Mutual responsibility becomes evident and mutual aid possible. Many congregations have a list of people to pray for—the sick, the shut-ins, the grieving. Taking responsibility for one another is taken for granted in our congregations but not in our public arenas. Can our ordinary community life be a beacon to our society at the same time that it prepares us to offer these gifts of service outside our congregational bounds?
    
8. Opinions become audible and accountable. In this I must admit that congregations have as much or more to gain from as to give to the public. The modest political systems within congregations need to be opened up to the candor with which public figures articulate and defend positions. Would our congregation be strengthened by more such accountability?
    
9. Vision is projected and projects are attempted. People in congregations are regularly exposed to transcendent visions of what life is supposed to be. Congregations are grounded in a sense of God’s purpose and movement through history—something that does not fade after a few decades, as does political optimism.  In a gun-flooded society, congregations know about a world in which swords are turned into plowshares. Can we bring these visions to the larger world?
    
10. People are empowered and protected against power. Congregations, in their life of worship, act out and celebrate the importance of freely given gifts shaped and conformed by structures of authority and custom. They also understand the limits of human integrity, the presence of sinfulness, and the necessity for larger frames of value. Does secular society have something to learn from our congregation's understanding of power and limits?

Bar Mitzvah Training: It's not just a job....

The New York Times story about on-line bar mitzvah preparation caught lots of attention (at least for a few minutes).  You should read it if you have not.  It offers a window into some basic problems we face in the American Jewish community today.  First, what do synagogues matter anymore?  It is possible to do everything Jewish without a synagogue.  We often say that the community you find in a synagogue is vital to your Jewish life and not available anywhere else.  Whether or not that's true, the parents featured in the article don't seem to care.  And yet, they DO want bar mitzvah ceremonies for their kids.  Or do they?  The other important issue in the article is about the meaning of bar/bat mitzvah?  The final line of the article says it all: "Once Joanne Kapsack had found a rabbi for Eli to work with, she pretty much bowed out of the preparations, she said. “I just cared about the party."  I am sure this happens equally often in our temple (and others).  I must admit that I have never been a bar mitzvah party naysayer.  I've either stayed out of it and treated it as something outside my scope or I have embraced the idea of the parties as part of the mitzvah and part of the community gathering that can occur.  But, nothing has disappointed me more than hearing the post-event assessment from two recent bat mitzvah mothers: it was a let-down.  They whole experience, when it was all said and done, was a let down for these mothers.  What else could it be after all the hype, the buildup, the money and time spent on it?  I have no problem adopting new technology - though I don't really want an office that looks like the trading floor of a brokerage house.  I have no problem with adopting different standards than previous generations simply accepted in order to become temple members. I also have no problem with completely revolutionizing the way we do Jewish education in general.  But I do have problems with the ongoing march toward deification of bar and bat mitzvah.  Within this trend is not so much innovation as desperation.  We will do anything, it seems, to make our kids and ourselves feel good while we and they wallow in ambivalence about our Judaism.

We just found God

For immediate release

Temple Sinai Board of Trustees announced tonight that God has been found and returned to the temple's mission statement.  "Apparently, God had been inadvertently lost these past ten years," says Rabbi Jonathan Roos, "we were pleased to see how easy He was to find."  Mission statement experts report that 91% of all consumers, members or customers of an organization never look at a mission statement.  "It is no surprise," one expert who wished to remain anonymous told us, "that God could be dropped from a mission statement without anybody realizing it.  It probably happens all the time."  Board members were pleased to see God back in the temple mission though nobody could remember exactly when He left.  God's return to the mission statement still requires full congregational approval at the annual meeting in May 2011.  Roos does not expect much resistance to God's return but reminds readers that "hester panim" - God hiding from humanity - is a common divine behavior that could occur at any time between now and the meeting.  Other sources, however, were quick to point to Hasidic teachings that say, "Where is God? Wherever we let God in."  Still, you might want to show your support for God at the May meeting.

(Caveat: this is not a real press release but a joke suggested after tonight's board meeting where a motion passed unanimously to add the phrase "worship of God" to our temple mission statement)

Israel is for liberals

Tablet Magazine (online) ran a story showing Israel to be a liberal's dreamland.  While the mainstream news is dominated by stories of the Obama administration clashing with the Netanyahu government over housing in Har Homa, another picture of Israel emerges from the stories of Gili Shem Tov and the Israeli Health Ministry's approach to medical marijuana.  Shem Tov is a sports reporter on Israeli TV and openly lesbian. She is also now the first competitor on any country's version of Dancing With the Stars, to dance in a same sex couple.  The Health Ministry is considering paying for marijuana for medical use for Israelis in the national universal medical coverage.