With Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on the horizon, rabbis are planning their major sermons of the year.
Our community, like the rest of the country, is deeply divided on so many issues. We look to our rabbis for guidance and inspiration. What would you have them speak out on from the pulpit?
Please join this thread and share your preference, in a brief sentence or phrase.
….Tragically, in today’s culture it is archaic to suggest that on Rosh Hashana rabbis
are incumbent to inspire by teaching. Since so many American have an infantile understanding of G-D and the Revelation at Sinai, the covenant with Jews is all generations would be a good place to start. Minus the Biblical scholarship approach. How about the eternal wisdom of The the Torah as a start? No wonder American Jewry is on its way out. Most of us think leftist Liberalism is Judaism.
This is a tricky year. Regardless where you stand or live, there is much to worry us and be sad about. Thus, I plan to speak about hope, happiness and something that can buoy spirits. We are down enough.
In recent years, many of us have retreated & burrowed inward. A sense of community, of nationhood, of unity -- all shattered. A desire to understand those who harbor ideas we deem alien and dangerous, maybe dumb and fallacious -- gone and, looking backward, maybe foolish and naive. A reflex & urge to actually communicate with "the other" now seemingly useless and futile. So dear rabbi, I ask of you: is it possible to restore a sense of polity & comity & semi-mutual semi-respect? if so, how? And if not, are we destined to drift further apart til the drifting cannot be stemmed and unity and cohesion are but nostalgic fantasies? Ummm... I hope not but I, for one, can't offer any salve for our pain.
As a child growing up on the Lower East Side of NY, I remember my Uncle Moishe , who lost his first wife and 2 children in the Shoah , telling me about the time (in the early 1930's) when Zeev Jabotinsky visited his Shetl in Galicia and he addressed/cautioned them in their small wooden Shul,
"Yidden rateveh zich..ah mabul kimpt...Jews save yourselves, a storm is coming". They chose to ignore
Jabotinsky and almost all were killed in the "storm".
Is a storm coming or perhaps it is already here. Are we choosing to ignore it or to do something to avert a catastrophe that could lead to the end of our Republic as we know it ?
There is a Yiddish saying, "Dizol vaksen vie a tzible mit di kup in driet...You should grow like an onion with your head in the ground". I like onions but I hope we are not becoming onions.
There is really only one thing.that all Rabbis should talk about this holiday season. It caused the destruction of our Holy Temple 2x and most recently presented a horrible and dispicable sequence of events in Israel at the Western Wall area.
To see one Jew tearing the page from a Siddur and using it to blow his nose is not something one would expect to see anywhere..especially near the Kotel. Sinas Chinam..the jealousy, disliking, tormenting of any Jew by any other Jew is intolerable. We all have our opinions and interpretations of our Torah. These have to be respected by each other.... for until Mashisch comes, no one knows what is proper Torah respect. For 400 years our Temple stood and it seems we all got along.Then something went bad and only recently does it seem we are getting the opportunity to make amends...not only with Hashem but with each other.All Rabbis ..from every variant of Jewish ideology and belief should teach that to tolerate and respect one another is the only thing that will move Klal Yisrael forward to bigger and better things.It has to start in Israel at the Kotel and spread forth to wherever Jews of various beliefs and traditions live together. I hope and pray that we as a nation can work together toward this goal.Once achieved everything else will fall in place.
Rabbis would be wise to avoid politically charged topics. They will likely divide their members, at a time when we are already highly polarized. I think that anything rabbis can speak about that will encourage people to find meaning and purpose in their lives would be most appreciated, at this time when many of us are experiencing loneliness and despair.
David-Seth Kirshner may be onto something. Every other comment is so relevant and necessary, yet except for this past Shabbat Nachamu, I don’t remember walking out of shul buoyant and optimistic.
The concept might even be something I would look forward to.
Of course we have to take care of the needy, the refugees, the food insecurities, the climate, Supreme Court decisions that make us feel we’ve arrived at a new dimension, splintered society, divisiveness in North America and Israel,etc.
Maybe we give everyone a handout when they arrive about making an impact in these terribly painful times and refer to it, though not make it the focus.
There are congregations working with other neighborhood congregations and the JCC and JFS to create communities within communities- like a kibbutz, where I know that my “pod” is looking out for me as I commit to them. To know I will get a call a day to find out how I am; to be welcome to attend a lecture anywhere and that someone will take me because I’m anxious driving at night. To use all of our Jewish values to help people feel connected, warm, and eager to be that for others in need and more welcome to answer a call to action
Imagine feeling good about yontif, the sermons and yourself as a caring Jew.
I'd like to get some Jewish perspective on how to deal with cognitive dissonance. For example: Ukraine has a terrible history of antisemitism, yet I want to cheer on their efforts to resist Soviet aggression/annexation. I read repulsive Facebook posts from people I know, yet they are caring friends. I need a Jewishly grounded philosophical framework for this.
I would like rabbis to talk about Democracy. What is it and how can it be preserved? Can the diminution of others, the holier-than-thou attitudes that pervade a spectrum of Jewish life and American life in general be replaced by greater understanding? If so, how? This has to be done without platitudes. Our world is literally and figuratively "burning up." Whether we like it or not, we are on this small earth together. Can the leaders of ALL faiths find ways to join to help create new dialogues about saving our earth, saving our cultures, respecting diversity and the beauty of the universal quest for God, meaning and purpose in every faith? Can they do it together? We need Days of Atonement not only for our own personal misdeeds but for the misdeeds of our corrupt leaders, our profit mongers, our short-sighted decision-makers who have no care for the future. A lot to tackle, I admit. But maybe on the upcoming High Holidays we can begin again to find a way.
With an increasing number of young people identifying themselves as Jews by 'culture' rather than by 'theology' (because they see Jewish culture as demonstrably 'life-enhancing'), they should be encouraged to expose children to knowledge about Judaism at least through Bar or Bat Mitzvah.
Viewpoint diversity. Woke and cancel culture and the potential to raise the spector of antisemitism illiberal ideology from the left. Some good ideas are here: https://jilv.org/sermons/
This is truly a challenging year for rabbis and the list of urgent and challenging topics is so long; for me, the priority topic would be the intersection of politics and Jewish values...this could relate to Israel or to domestic issues; I realize this can be a minefield and some congregations could be deeply divided but our country is in crisis about the truth, about faith in our institutions, about fairness, justice and democracy; a statement about the guidance provided by Jewish values for navigating these difficult times and choosing where to stand would be vital this year.
I'd love to see bold and clear visions of the synagogue/temple/shul's particular role in being a compelling third (or second!) space for people across demographics and ideologies to be in community with one another.
….Tragically, in today’s culture it is archaic to suggest that on Rosh Hashana rabbis
are incumbent to inspire by teaching. Since so many American have an infantile understanding of G-D and the Revelation at Sinai, the covenant with Jews is all generations would be a good place to start. Minus the Biblical scholarship approach. How about the eternal wisdom of The the Torah as a start? No wonder American Jewry is on its way out. Most of us think leftist Liberalism is Judaism.
This is a tricky year. Regardless where you stand or live, there is much to worry us and be sad about. Thus, I plan to speak about hope, happiness and something that can buoy spirits. We are down enough.
In recent years, many of us have retreated & burrowed inward. A sense of community, of nationhood, of unity -- all shattered. A desire to understand those who harbor ideas we deem alien and dangerous, maybe dumb and fallacious -- gone and, looking backward, maybe foolish and naive. A reflex & urge to actually communicate with "the other" now seemingly useless and futile. So dear rabbi, I ask of you: is it possible to restore a sense of polity & comity & semi-mutual semi-respect? if so, how? And if not, are we destined to drift further apart til the drifting cannot be stemmed and unity and cohesion are but nostalgic fantasies? Ummm... I hope not but I, for one, can't offer any salve for our pain.
"SURVIVING THE COMING STORM"
As a child growing up on the Lower East Side of NY, I remember my Uncle Moishe , who lost his first wife and 2 children in the Shoah , telling me about the time (in the early 1930's) when Zeev Jabotinsky visited his Shetl in Galicia and he addressed/cautioned them in their small wooden Shul,
"Yidden rateveh zich..ah mabul kimpt...Jews save yourselves, a storm is coming". They chose to ignore
Jabotinsky and almost all were killed in the "storm".
Is a storm coming or perhaps it is already here. Are we choosing to ignore it or to do something to avert a catastrophe that could lead to the end of our Republic as we know it ?
There is a Yiddish saying, "Dizol vaksen vie a tzible mit di kup in driet...You should grow like an onion with your head in the ground". I like onions but I hope we are not becoming onions.
Barrie Weiser
There is really only one thing.that all Rabbis should talk about this holiday season. It caused the destruction of our Holy Temple 2x and most recently presented a horrible and dispicable sequence of events in Israel at the Western Wall area.
To see one Jew tearing the page from a Siddur and using it to blow his nose is not something one would expect to see anywhere..especially near the Kotel. Sinas Chinam..the jealousy, disliking, tormenting of any Jew by any other Jew is intolerable. We all have our opinions and interpretations of our Torah. These have to be respected by each other.... for until Mashisch comes, no one knows what is proper Torah respect. For 400 years our Temple stood and it seems we all got along.Then something went bad and only recently does it seem we are getting the opportunity to make amends...not only with Hashem but with each other.All Rabbis ..from every variant of Jewish ideology and belief should teach that to tolerate and respect one another is the only thing that will move Klal Yisrael forward to bigger and better things.It has to start in Israel at the Kotel and spread forth to wherever Jews of various beliefs and traditions live together. I hope and pray that we as a nation can work together toward this goal.Once achieved everything else will fall in place.
.
Rabbis would be wise to avoid politically charged topics. They will likely divide their members, at a time when we are already highly polarized. I think that anything rabbis can speak about that will encourage people to find meaning and purpose in their lives would be most appreciated, at this time when many of us are experiencing loneliness and despair.
David-Seth Kirshner may be onto something. Every other comment is so relevant and necessary, yet except for this past Shabbat Nachamu, I don’t remember walking out of shul buoyant and optimistic.
The concept might even be something I would look forward to.
Of course we have to take care of the needy, the refugees, the food insecurities, the climate, Supreme Court decisions that make us feel we’ve arrived at a new dimension, splintered society, divisiveness in North America and Israel,etc.
Maybe we give everyone a handout when they arrive about making an impact in these terribly painful times and refer to it, though not make it the focus.
There are congregations working with other neighborhood congregations and the JCC and JFS to create communities within communities- like a kibbutz, where I know that my “pod” is looking out for me as I commit to them. To know I will get a call a day to find out how I am; to be welcome to attend a lecture anywhere and that someone will take me because I’m anxious driving at night. To use all of our Jewish values to help people feel connected, warm, and eager to be that for others in need and more welcome to answer a call to action
Imagine feeling good about yontif, the sermons and yourself as a caring Jew.
I'd like to get some Jewish perspective on how to deal with cognitive dissonance. For example: Ukraine has a terrible history of antisemitism, yet I want to cheer on their efforts to resist Soviet aggression/annexation. I read repulsive Facebook posts from people I know, yet they are caring friends. I need a Jewishly grounded philosophical framework for this.
I would like rabbis to talk about Democracy. What is it and how can it be preserved? Can the diminution of others, the holier-than-thou attitudes that pervade a spectrum of Jewish life and American life in general be replaced by greater understanding? If so, how? This has to be done without platitudes. Our world is literally and figuratively "burning up." Whether we like it or not, we are on this small earth together. Can the leaders of ALL faiths find ways to join to help create new dialogues about saving our earth, saving our cultures, respecting diversity and the beauty of the universal quest for God, meaning and purpose in every faith? Can they do it together? We need Days of Atonement not only for our own personal misdeeds but for the misdeeds of our corrupt leaders, our profit mongers, our short-sighted decision-makers who have no care for the future. A lot to tackle, I admit. But maybe on the upcoming High Holidays we can begin again to find a way.
With an increasing number of young people identifying themselves as Jews by 'culture' rather than by 'theology' (because they see Jewish culture as demonstrably 'life-enhancing'), they should be encouraged to expose children to knowledge about Judaism at least through Bar or Bat Mitzvah.
Viewpoint diversity. Woke and cancel culture and the potential to raise the spector of antisemitism illiberal ideology from the left. Some good ideas are here: https://jilv.org/sermons/
This is truly a challenging year for rabbis and the list of urgent and challenging topics is so long; for me, the priority topic would be the intersection of politics and Jewish values...this could relate to Israel or to domestic issues; I realize this can be a minefield and some congregations could be deeply divided but our country is in crisis about the truth, about faith in our institutions, about fairness, justice and democracy; a statement about the guidance provided by Jewish values for navigating these difficult times and choosing where to stand would be vital this year.
I'd love to see bold and clear visions of the synagogue/temple/shul's particular role in being a compelling third (or second!) space for people across demographics and ideologies to be in community with one another.
How difficult it is for US and Canadian Jews to be optimistic re our messed up world.
Grief, loneliness, and/or despair. Would prefer that the sermon not be centered on the rabbi's personal lived experience.