Tag: high-holidays

TQM for the Soul – Some Lunchtime Thoughts

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userpic=tallitA dear friend of mine, Rabbi Sheryl Lynne Nosan-Lantzke, has been posting over on Facebook at teaser about the High Holy Days: First “Getting…”, then “Getting ready…”, then “Getting ready for…” and so on, at a speed of about one per day. This would make the National Slow Talkers of America (and Australia) proud. She does, however, have a point — the High Holy Days start Wednesday evening (even in Australia), and now is the time to get ready. In that spirit, I went to TAS’s recent S’lichot study and service (although we didn’t stay for the service, as my wife wasn’t feeling well). There were some interesting ideas discussed in the study that I want to share, for they reminded me very much of the only useful thing I ever got out of TQM.

Normally, as one prepares for the HHD, one focuses on what one has done wrong in the past year, and how to “right the wrongs”. This is very much a “repent ye sinners” tone, and it is off-putting to many. The approach taken during S’lichot at TAS, however, was based on the approach over at Let It Ripple — and focused more on character development and character traits. In particular, we discussed the periodic table of character strengths. We discussed where were were already strong, and what character strengths we might focus on in the upcoming year to improve.

Here’s the TQM connection: the only thing I ever got out of TQM was the notion of +/Δ: when evaluating a program, don’t focus on what went wrong. Focus on what went right, and those areas where you can improve. The character strength approach is similar: identify those character strengths you have. Identify those strengths you want to improve. Don’t focus on your failures: be positive, move forward instead of looking back.

This is a notion I can support, and it doesn’t even require that you buy into the spirituality side. What a wonderful way to explore making yourself better in the coming year. I suggest looking at the table of character strengths, and seeing where you can be stronger.

 

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Learning from Political Compromise

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userpic=tallitFor the past umpteen years, when I go to High Holyday services, I bring additional reading with me. No, it’s not a paperback novel. It is companion books like “Gates of Understanding 2“, S.Y. Agnon’s “Days of Awe“, the Pirke Avot. Gates of Understanding 2 is particularly interesting, as it is “A religious commentary to help High Holy Days worshipers unlock the message behind the liturgy. Covers the history and tradition of the prayers, music in the service, synagogue poetry, the role of God, sin and repentance and much more. Also includes comprehensive notes to Gates of Repentance and a thorough index.” In particular GoU2 describes how this particular machzor (prayerbook) came to be in its present form — what was included, what wasn’t, and why.

This was highlighted for me last night when reading the history behind Kol Nidre, and its inclusion — or non-inclusion — in the Reform prayerbook. Kol Nidre is a mystical prayer dating back to the 12th century in Germany that nullifies vows made in anger or in haste. It was controversial for Reform because it implied to the larger community that Jews could not be trusted with their vows. So controversial was this discussion that in 1949 it was included in the first printing of Union Prayer Book (UPB) II, and then removed. Just that page was replaced with a double spaced prayer, the hebrew words for “Kol Nidre”, and in small type “The Kol Nidre Chant”. Even today an exact translation of the prayer in English is not in the prayerbook.

So today at services I brought with me the usual GOU2, but also a collection of older High Holyday Prayerbooks: UPB II, the Hillel prayerbook “On Wings of Awe”, and two prayerbooks produced by Temple Emet in the early 1980s. As we went through the service, I discovered that the current prayerbook was drawn from hither and yon (for example, Unetaneh Tokef was only in the YK Afternoon Service in UPBII), and many things were not translated the same.

So why am I telling you this? Any prayerbook — any service — is a political compromise. What you see on the page is the product of committees wrangling about what should be in or out to express a particular dogma or political point. Essentially, this means that you can’t pray wrong. If you don’t say the words, that’s OK. If you omit a particular prayer, that’s OK.

So what do you do? Again, the answer is in the prayerbook. The Torah portion from Deut. 30 (at least for Reform; traditional uses Lev. 18) emphasizes the need to make the right choice. The Haftorah, from Isaiah, does similar. Actions speak louder than words. Don’t just mouth the political compromise words about correcting failures. Change how you act and you behave. Don’t believe that sitting in a building twice a year will do it for you. Work to improve every day.

[And, to tie this back to the other themes I’ve discussed: Don’t just talk about a congregation being friendly and welcoming. Go out and welcome a stranger. Go out and make a friend. Don’t just talk about the connections that exist — make new ones, and strengthen existing ones. Let your actions be your prayers, and you can remake the world.]

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The Role of Criticism

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userpic=soapboxThe place where I work has as its underlying goal “mission success”. Our goal is to help ensure that the mission (which I don’t need to state here) succeeds, and we work with the parties on both sides to make that happen. This means that we often point out flaws in reasoning or performance. Yet that isn’t criticism, because the goal is not to tear down, but to build up — to help the other parties succeed.

I’ve been musing about this as the service swelled around me last night. It relates to my discussion yesterday about the growth of sadism on the Internet and Internet bullying. It also relates to some discussion on Bitter Lemons (here, here, and here) about the roles of critics, the roles of professional critics, and whether certain individuals have been behaving appropriate.

What is the role of a critic? For that matter, what is the role of a troll? Often, what I see is that the role is perceived to be one that tears down. You’re not a critic unless you can see the flaws and highlight them. You’re not a troll unless you attack and hurt. But does simply identifying problems — whether out of love for the craft or the joy of hating — help in the long run? I don’t believe so.

To me, our goal in whatever we do should be mission success — that is, to ultimately help the mission succeed. If you are at work, you work to make your organization’s mission successful. When I write theatre reviews, it is to make the product better — I try not to just indicate a problem but to suggest (either direct or implied) ways to correct a problem. I won’t say — this show is bad. I will say — this is how this show can be better. The same is true of anything I write. When I wrote about the trolls, my goal was to find ways to make the problem better. When I write up high holyday sermons, it is not to find fault, but to indicate how they can be better.

Far too often, I see folks that believe criticism must be negative. Over at Bitter Lemons, there has been a touch of this — the implication that critics must not only see shows they like, but must have some they hate. I disagree — which is why perhaps I’m not a professional critic. I think that if you are going to write criticism, you must remember to put the adjective “constructive” before it. We must work together to build things up, to make people better, to make society better — to do better in everything we do.

This relates directly to today, Yom Kippur. At services, we enumerate our flaws and failures. We do this not to tear our selves down and belittle us in front of others, but to acknowledge where we can do better, and to vow to — in the upcoming year — work on correcting those failures. I know this has always been a goal for me: acknowledge what works well, work to fix the failures.

Let us work together to battle those whose goal is mission failure — who just want to bring down the mission, who just want to tear down people, who just want to make themselves superior by making others feel inferior. Let work together to make things better.

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RH Sermons 5774: What I Didn’t Hear

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userpic=tallitThis year’s Rosh Hashanah services are over. I indicated in my last post that the most meaningful part of the service for me is the sermon, and so I thought I would share with you some thoughts on the sermons I heard. More important, I think, I what I did not hear, or what I heard between the lines. A lot of this was heard through the filter I’ve been doing recently for $mens_club.

Erev RH. The Erev (evening) Rosh Hashanah sermon talked about the efforts at $current_congregation to create a caring community — and more importantly, how people tend to refuse any offered help out of a fear of appearing weak or less than.  The point being made was that it is just as important to accept offered helped as it is to offer help. This was a good subject to talk about. It demonstrated that the congregation was one that cared about its members.

But to my ears, I was hearing something a little different. After all, caring communities exist in other forms of Judaism. In particular, within Orthodox, the caring community just shows up when needed — no questions asked, and “no” is not an acceptable answer. So, just as the Rabbi related in her personal story, not only do we need to teach people that it is OK to ask for help, we need to go out and give help when it is needed, with no opportunity for refusal. If you look at the community building in the mega-church community, this is what is done, and this is the goal.

The other thing I did not hear was how we go about finding out that people need help. After all, you can’t get to the point where they can refuse the help if you don’t know they need help in the first  place. There needs to be a proactive relationship with the members of the congregation where we are reaching out and helping each other, and some mechanism where people needing help can be identified, even if they are too proud to ask for it themselves. This requires some sensitivity — it requires knowing people well enough to tell when something is off — to read between the lines.

RH Morning (Rabbi). This morning, the Rabbi did a whole talk about what Reform Judaism is, and why it isn’t ReformED Judaism. I agreed with him 100%, although I did wonder why he didn’t draw the distinction between Reform and Orthodox, and Reform and Christianity (perhaps the latter might have offended?). If you are not familiar with the difference: Orthodox believes that Torah is the literal word of God — and therefore it must be followed as written. Reform believes that it is Divinely Inspired, and must be reinterpreted in the context of the times. This is a critical distinction, and why you can have someone who is Orthopractic and Reform, and someone non-practicing who is Orthodox. As for Christianity, Christians just have a different conception of the nature of God and Messiah than Judaism. That doesn’t make it bad; it just makes it not-Jewish.

What I didn’t hear, however, was why we were getting this particular message? Are we seeing a movement of people out of Reform to non-denominational Judaism? To Orthodoxy? It didn’t answer the question of why it is important to be involved with the official denomination, especially as there is a growing number of congregations that are no longer affiliated with URJ.  Useful questions to ask, but unanswered.

One thing I did hear was an emphasis on how Reform Judaism was “authentic”. I believe this was an attempt to reach out to the GenXers. If you recall, in my last $mens_club post I indicated how GenX is believed to be searching for more authenticity. They could be jumping to Orthodoxy or other approaches believing them to be more authentic. This could have been an attempt to combat that flow.

RH Morning (Congregational President). This was a pretty good talk about how the congregation is a sacred community, and how it builds relationships. I was pleased to hear a number of key words that fit with what Ron Wolfson and Synagogue 3000 folks are doing. However, there were two things that caught my ear for not being present.

First, both on RH Morning and the previous evening, the congregational board speakers emphasized how their relationships came out of the bonds from Religious School. The school brought them in, and they built relationships from there. That works for many. But it doesn’t reach out to the underserved communities — the empty nesters, the intentionally childless, the singles? For those not growing up in the religious school, how do we build the relationships?  How do we reach out to those, and how is community created for those people? That’s a good question, and one that needs to be answered. [I believe that one answer is to build those relationships through various affinity auxiliaries. $mens_club and $sisterhood are a great starting point. I remember the days of Couples Clubs, and there can be other groups that build the relationships other than the schools. Of course, to do this, you need to know your members and their passions.]

The other thing I didn’t hear related to building those relationships. $Congregational_president encouraged people to join committees, to get involved, and to suggest programs and events. I heard that as being the wrong direction. To build the relationships, the congregation needs to take the action. Call members on a regular basis to see what is happening with them, and to see how they might get involved (this addresses the Erev RH call to find people that need help). It also shows the congregation as caring, and doesn’t depend on the people on the margins to take action. Telephone trees were important for a reason — they are a person to person outreach that overcomes inertia on the margins. Secondly, the emphasis on programming and events is the old model of limited liability — it emphasizes that the value (read dues-paying-value) of a congregation is measured by its programs, not the community it creates. Create the community, the programs will come from there. One other thing that wasn’t said: The congregation also needs to ensure that once these new people come to these programs / committees / events, they are welcomed without question. That hasn’t always happened in the past, and just as one must overcome margin inertia, there’s an equal (and opposite?) clique inertia, where people only want to deal with those they like and who don’t welcome and almost push away those not in their circles. Welcoming must be universal, and that takes training.

In any case, that’s what I heard over the last two days. If you attended services, what did you hear?

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Jewish News You Can Use

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userpic=camelsToday 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.

 

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New Year Observations

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userpic=tallitRosh Hashanah starts tonight at sundown (I was going to say “For those who are Jewish”, but Rosh Hashanah starts whether you are Jewish or not; you just may not observe it). If you didn’t read my “L’Shanah Tovah” post of last evening, go read it. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Great. That post talks about customs, but it doesn’t say what Rosh Hashanah is. If you are like most people reading this, you probably don’t know (hell, you probably just think of it as a day a number of people aren’t at work, or a day you might get off of school). Rosh Hashanah (“Head (Rosh) of the Year (Ha-Shanah)”)  is just one of four new years observed historically by Jews. Here are each of them, with a description (from the Soc.Culture.Jewish FAQ):

Rosh Hashanah (Tishri 1)
Also known as Yom Hadin, Yom Hazikaron (Day of Remembrance) and Yom Teruah (Day of the sounding of the shofar). In traditional congregations, the shofar is not sounded when Rosh Hashanah falls on the Sabbath. This holiday celebrates the creation of the world, and as such is the new year for calculating calendar years, sabbatical and jubilee years. This holiday is characterized by the blowing of the shofar. During the afternoon of the first day, many follow the practice of tashlikh, symbolically casting away sins by throwing stones into the waters. Rosh ha-Shanah, the 1st of Tishri, never falls on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, in order that Yom Kippur should never fall on a Friday or Sunday and Hoshana Rabbath should not fall on the Sabbath.

The one practice unique to Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, in accord with the biblical command “… it is a day when the horn is sounded” (Num. 29:1). Since it falls on the first day of the month, when new months were proclaimed by the Sanhedrin on the basis of the testimony of witnesses, there existed an uncertainty as to when exactly Rosh Hashanah would be. Even when the Temple stood, it was sometimes necessary to celebrate two days of Rosh Hashanah due to the late arrival of witnesses. As a result it was decided to celebrate two days every year. Unlike other holidays, this is unrelated to the diaspora.

Rosh Hashanah is also known as yom ha’din, “the day of judgement”, when according to the Talmud, God determines who will be inscribed in the “book of life” and who will be inscribed in the “book of death” for the coming year. The decision is made on Rosh Hashanah and sealed ten days later at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. One’s behavior in the interim can supposedly alter a harsh decree, thus the period from the beginning of Rosh Hashanah to the conclusion of Yom Kippur is known as the Ten Days of Repentance. During the Middle Ages, it also became common to refer to Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur as the Days of Awe.

After the service in the synagogue, it is customary for worshippers to wish one another le-Shanah tovah tehatem ve-tikatev (May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year). It is traditional to eat bread and apples dipped in honey followed by the meditation, “May it be Your will to grant us a good and sweet year.”

In Ashkenazi communities, a special custom known as Tashlikh occurs; it invokes the recitation of biblical verses and a prayer near a body of water. It is performed on the first day of Rosh Hashanah (unless the first day falls on the Sabbath, in which case it is deferred to the second day). The custom symbolizes purification of sin in the water.

Tu B’shevat (Shevat 15)
The day designed as Rosh ha-Shonah la-Ilanot – the New Year for Trees. This day was set aside in the Mishna on which to bring fruit tithes. It is still celebrated in modern times. Fruit that began to grow after the flower stage (or to ripen, according to Maimonides and the geonim, before Tu bi-Shevat, belongs to the previous year. Fruit reaching the stage of development after Tu bi-Shevat belongs to the new year. The consequences of this determination is whether ma’aser sheni, the “second” tithe (first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the seven year cycle), or ma’aser ani, the tithe for the poor (third and sixth years of the seven year cycle) are to be taken from the fruit. The importance of this determination stems from the prohibition against setting aside fruit from the new year’s crop as a tithe for the previous year’s crop. To facilitate compliance with the commandments of orlah and fourth year’s fruits, this date is used to determine the first four years that the tree bears fruit. Tu bi-Shevat also marks the beginning of the second year in a tree’s life, so long as it has taken root some time before Tu bi-Shevat. This date was chosen “because most of the winter rains are over” (RH. 14a) and the fruit has begun to ripen.

In the Diaspora (exile), Tu bi-Shevat has lost its halakhic and agricultural significance, yet it is still regarded as a festive day. Thus, no fasting or eulogizing is permitted, nor is the Tahanun prayer recited. Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed and his disciples began the custom of eating fruit on this day. For this purpose, they composed liturgical poems (piyyutim) and a seder for Tu bi-Shevat eve, during which they drank four cups of wine. This custom was adopted first by varios Sephardi communities, and then by Aschkenazi Jewry who initiated the custom to eat on Tu bi-Shevat the fruit for which Eretz Israel is famous.

In modern Israel, this is the day when children plant trees in the forests and in public places.

New Year for Kings (Nisan 1)
Nisan is the first month of the Hebrew calendar; in Mishnaic times it was celebrated as the New Year for Kings and months. In biblical times, kings reckoned the years of their reign from the first of Nisan. If a king mounted the throne on the previous day, then the Ist of Nisan marked the beginning of the “second year” of his reign. In addition to this “new year”, the Mishna sets up three other New Year’s: Elul 1, for animal tithes, Tishrei 1 (Rosh HaShanah), and Shevat 15, the New Year for Trees/fruit tithes. Ever since the Babylonian diaspora, only the Rosh HaShanah and Tu B’Shevat are still celebrated.

New Year for Animal Tithes (Taxes) (Elul 1)
This day is set up by the Mishna as the New Year for animal tithes, which roughly corresponds to a new year for taxes. This is similar to the tax deadline in the United States of America, on April 15. The date is disputed; Some authorities claim that it was observed on Tishrei 1 (Rosh HaShanah). The actual date is now merely academic; This holiday has not been observed since the Babylonian diaspora.

Every year, Rosh Hashanah reminds me… that I’m part of a minority religion. I’m reminded every time someone schedules a meeting or event on the first day of Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, effectively (unthinkingly) excluding most Jews from attending. I see this happening at work, where we have multiple applicant interviews scheduled, and major conference are taking place. Now look at the few major Christian holidays — Christmas and Easter. Are these typically work days with meetings scheduled? In fact, Christmas is even a National holiday! Yes, we have official separation of church and state — which means there isn’t an official state religion — but Christian values are still infused throughout our society (and America is one of the most religious countries, even without a state religion).  Here’s yet another example.

So, to my friends observing Rosh Hashanah, a Happy New Year. I hope you don’t miss too much while the world goes on around you. To my friends not observing Rosh Hashanah…. I wish you a Happy New Year as well. May you find in this new year what you need to find in life. May you be healthy, may you be happy, and may find love/continue to be loved.

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L’Shanah Tovah – Happy New Year – 5774

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Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, starts tomorrow night. Thus, it’s time for my annual New Years message for my family, my real-life, Blog, LiveJournal, Google+, and Facebook friends (including all the new ones I have made this year), and all other readers of my journal:

L’Shana Tovah. Happy New Year 5774. May you be written and enscribed for a very happy, sweet, and healthy new year.

For those curious about Jewish customs at this time: There are a number of things you will see. The first is an abundance of sweet foods. Apples dipped in honey. Round challahs. Honey cakes. The sweet foods remind us of the sweet year to come. As for the round challah. Some say they it represents a crown that reflects our coronating God as the King of the world. Others suggest that the circular shape points to the cyclical nature of the year. The Hebrew word for year is “shana,” which comes from the Hebrew word “repeat.” Perhaps the circle illustrates how the years just go round and round. But Rosh Hashana challahs are not really circles; they are spirals… The word “shana” has a double meaning as well. In addition to “repeat,” it also means “change”. As the year goes go round and round, repeating the same seasons and holidays as the year before, we are presented with a choice: Do we want this shana (year) to be a repetition, or do we want to make a change (shinui)? Hopefully, each year we make choices for change that are positive, and each year we will climb higher and higher, creating a spiritual spiral. The shape of the Rosh Hashana challah reminds us that this is the time of year to make those decisions. This is the time to engage in the creative spiritual process that lifts us out of the repetitive cycle, and directs our energies toward a higher end.
[Thanks to Aish Ha’Torah for these insights]

There are also apologies, for during the ten days starting this evening, Jews examine their lives and see how they can do better. On Yom Kippur (starting the evening of September 13th), Jews apologize to G-d for their misdeeds during the past year. However, for an action against another person, one must apologize to that person.

So, in that spirit:

If I have offended any of you, in any way, shape, manner, or form, real or imagined, then I apologize and beg forgiveness. If I have done anything to hurt, demean, or otherwise injure you, I apologize and beg forgiveness. If I have done or said over the past year that has upset, or otherwise bothered you, I sincerely apologize, and will do my best to ensure it won’t happen again.

If you have done something in the above categories, don’t worry. I know it wasn’t intentional, and I would accept any apology you would make.

May all my blog readers and all my friends have a very happy, healthy, and meaningful new year. May you find in this year what you need to find in life.

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Yom Kippur Thoughts

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Today is Yom Kippur, and so I thought I would share you some thoughts related to High Holiday Services… and such. Normally, our congregation has two adult services: early and late. Because trying to get the rest of the family out “early” to anything is difficult, we had tickets for the late services last year. This year, they combined the adult service into the single “late” service… which we went to for Erev Rosh Hashana. For the rest of the services, we went to the “early” service… which was the family service, for families with kids 8 and under.

Guess what. We liked it. No parking problems, you could find a seat up front, and the service was only an hour. So there are kids running around. That’s the future of Judaism!

So, as I normally talk about our sermons, you get the “kids” sermons (yes, we did hear one adult sermon on Erev RH — you can read it here):

  • On Rosh Hashanah morning, Rabbi Shawna spoke about why the rams horn was chosen to be the instrument for the shofar. This was after a number of percussive approaches (banging rocks) were dismissed, and instruments made of materials of war (metals) were ruled out.
  • On Erev Yom Kippur, Rabbi Shawna provided a story about a girl who had to pound nails into a wall whenever she lost her temper. After she learned how to control her temper, she removed a nail for every day she was calm. But the holes remained, showing that the damage from the words we use often remains even after we apologize.
  • This morning (Yom Kippur), Rabbi Lutz told a story about a man lost in the woods for Yom Kippur, who simply recited the Hebrew alphabet, on the basis that God could form them into the prayers he needs to hear.

Nice sermons, and nice services.

--- *** ---

Of course, while this was going on, we had Iran’s speech in the UN. I find it hard that the UN is permitting someone to speak who is denying the current and future existence of one of the UN’s member nations. I wonder how much of the tension in the Middle East would go down if there was simple recognition of Israel’s right to exist as a nation. Of course, the problem likely isn’t Israel’s existence as a nation, but it’s existence as a Jewish nation. These same nations, however, have no problem being explicitly Islamic nations. They also have no problems hating Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish nation.

This was highlighted to me when I was reading about Egypt’s reaction to President Obama’s speech yesterday:

“Egypt respects freedom of expression,” said Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood movement once banned by the U.S.-backed secular dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. But “not a freedom of expression that targets a specific religion or a specific culture.”

On the surface, this might make the Internet more civilized. Let’s prohibit hate speech against religions and cultures. No hate speech against Islam. None against Christianity. None against Jews. Wait… what was that last one? I wonder if these nations that are protesting anti-Islam videos would be willing to take down the equivalent material promoting hatred against Jews? Probably not.  Especially not on sites out of government control.

Free Speech … and limitations on speech … go both ways. If you want to have free speech and the ability to spew what you want, then sometimes you hear things you don’t like. Be an adult and ignore them. Don’t let them make holes that never heal. Of course, it would be great if people learned not to spew hate speech in the first place. This is something adults learn to do. But some people remain children, and spew things without thinking of their impact on others. They say I’m sorry after the fact, but that doesn’t undo the damage.

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Children’s services. Perhaps they aren’t just for children anymore.

G’mar chatima tova.

Music: Say Darling (1958 Original Cast): Something’s Always Happening On The River

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