Today is Rosh Hashanah. Happy Birthday to the World; you turn (according to tradition) 5774 today. According to science? Well, that’s a different story. In any case, World, here’s a special Rosh Hashanah birthday present for you — a collection of Jewish-themed news chum to entertain you, before folks go off to services:
- Jews in Politics. If you’re Christian and in Congress, it’s easy. You go to church, the media follows, and you get to show people how pious you are. But what if you are Jewish? The Washington Post has an answer to that question, exploring how Jewish members of Congress balance piety with their National responsibilities. I found this a real interesting story. I never knew, for example, that Barbara Boxer was an observant Jew (for those not familiar with the lingo, those tend to be code words for someone who is more observant than the typical Reform Jew — that is, either Conservative or Orthodox (which are both Jewish movements)).
- Rethinking the Bar/Bat Mitzvah. The New York Times has a fascinating piece — well worth using as one of your limited number of free articles — on how congregations are experimenting with what the b’nei mitzvah of the future should look like. The problem is best put by Bradley Solomon, director of the new effort: “We didn’t realize it,” but we sent the message to families that if you want to be a bar or bat mitzvah, you have to join the synagogue. And what they heard was, ‘When you’re done, you can leave the synagogue.’ We’d like to go back to our roots and say, How can we make it a point of welcome and not the exit point that it’s become?” Basically, they are battling the “Religious School Industrial Complex”: Reform leaders say American Jewry unwittingly sowed the seeds of its own stagnation in the 1930s and ’40s when synagogues, to expand their membership, began to require three or four years of religious school attendance as a prerequisite to the bar mitzvah. Synagogues built classroom wings and charged tuition, which became a vital income stream for congregations. Children and their families go through what some rabbis call an “assembly line” that produces Jews schooled in little more than “pediatric Judaism,” an immature understanding of the faith, its values and spirituality. Most students deliver a short speech about the meaning of the Torah passage they were assigned to read, but they never really learn to understand or speak Hebrew, only to decode the text. All they understand is the party, and that’s a bad thing.
- High Holiday Music. To tell you the truth, I don’t get much out of High Holiday services. To me, the sermon is the most interesting part. The prayers are high sounding but devoid of meaning, and the music … well, to some it is inspiring and lifting, but to me, it tends to drive me to auxiliary HHD reading such as this or this as it drones on. But perhaps that is changing. Here’s an article on how younger Jews are attempting to reshape High Holiday music. As one of the Cantors involved in the effort, Basya Schecter, says that in many traditional synagogues, the cantor’s prayers are “the wings that everyone else would ride on,” and what the community sang was given less weight. “And, in our generation, it’s really about the energy and the momentum of the entire community together, creating space for people to have their own experience, whatever that is.” I’d love to see the music revitalized — the problem, as I see it, is twofold. First, there is tradition inertia, especially around the HHD, where people don’t like to change the tradition because it is tradition and their only connection. Second, the problem is the Cantorial leadership, for the HHD is one place for a Cantor to shine and show off, and this might reduce the number of moments of “all eyes are on the Cantor and choir”.
- A Historic Meeting. This one is a little tangential, but given the KKK has targeted Jews as well, I think it fits in. There was recently a historic meeting where a top representative from the KKK met a top representative from the NAACP. It took place in Casper WY, between the President of the NAACP in Casper and a kleagle (Organizer) of the Klan. Why did the meeting take place? For months the NAACP hadbeen hearing reports that black men in Gillette were being beaten up. Invariably the men were with white women when assaulted. Then Klan literature showed up around town. The NAACP president considered rallying against the Klan, but then decided to try something different: talking.“If you want to talk about hate, get a hater,” the President said later. “Let him tell you something about hate.” So they met. Will it change anything? That’s unknown, but even if it doesn’t reduce the hate, it may reduce the violence. My favorite line is the explanation of why the Klansman joined the Klan: “I like it because you wear robes, and get out and light crosses, and have secret handshakes. I like being in the Klan — I sort of like it that people think I’m some sort of outlaw.” Sigh. Still, the meeting shows the value of doing something unexpected to battle hate. Let this inspire you for the new year — instead of hating, sit down and learn about the other person. Spend the year trying to see people as people, and not ideologies. Help make the world a better place.
