THE SECRET TO JEWISH SURVIVAL
By George Gittleman
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In 1897, Mark Twain wrote the following short essay published in Harper's Magazine
about "The Jews:" His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science,
art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are very out of proportion
to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world
in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain
of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians
rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor; then faded to dream-stuff and
passed away; the Greeks and the Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they
are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time
but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.
The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting
no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of
his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal
but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his
immortality? Mark Twain's words, though written over a century ago, still ring true today. We may not be as generous as he was in describing ourselves; nevertheless, there is something quite remarkable about the Jewish people, our contributions to the larger world and in our continued survival under the must trying of conditions. What's our secret? What makes us so tenacious? What's so special about our tradition that its values can endure and be so useful for so long? Only God knows for sure the secret of our survival. Nevertheless, tonight,
during this Holy of Holy times I think it worthy to at least ponder these questions,
and offer some tentative answers. The first thing that comes to my mind is memory.
Judaism is all about memory. These holy days themselves are full of references
to memory. One of Rosh Hashanah’s other names is Yom Hazikaron, The Day
of Remembrance. Yizkor, perhaps the most meaningful part of Yom Kippur literally
means, "to remember." And, during all these services we repeat, over
and over again the refrain, zokrainu l'chayim, remember us for life. The Baal
Shem Tov put it well when he said some 200 years ago "memory is the source
of redemption and exile comes from forgetting." (Sparks Beneath the Surface,
p.100) We are redeemed when we remember because it is only in memory that we
have any clue about who we are and what we are here for. Recently, I saw a movie that painfully illustrates how important memory is,
and how lost we are without it. It's called Momento, and it is about a man with
no short-term memory. He forgets everything he just heard, learned, did. He
could make love to you and a minute later not know who you are. He could kill
you and a second later not recognize the body or his hand in its demise. He
is utterly lost, used by those who know him, tormented by the fragments of his
life he can piece together by having them literally tattooed to his skin!
Much of today’s culture is like the movie. Cultural memories are fast eroding.
Our focus on memory however, is one of the things that keep us alive. For us,
memory is the tie that binds the chain of Jewish tradition from Avraham Avinu
to the present. Memory is the glue that holds the pieces of our lives together
in a meaningful way. In the book, The Last Navigator: A Young Man, an Ancient Mariner, the Secrets
of The Sea, the author, Steve Thomas, sets out to discover how the Polynesians
were able to navigate the Pacific without any instruments. Somehow, these ancient
mariners were able to navigate thousands of miles of uncharted waters without
any of the tools of navigation we take for granted. This is what he reports:There
was no powerful mathematical model one could apply…nor were there primers
and instruction books in case one forgot something. The Palu had only his senses
and his memory. So critical was memory to navigation that it defined his notion
of courage…. "To navigate you must be brave and to be brave you must
remember. If I am brave, it is because I remember the words of my fathers."
(Source thanks to Rabbi Larry Kushner, Rosh Hashanah Morning, 5758) The Palu used their memory to navigate the Pacific Ocean; Jews use our memories
to navigate the seas of time. It would be fair to say that the Torah is obsessed with idolatry. Besides being
one of "The Big Ten," the Torah repeatedly warns against the evil
of idolatry and interestingly enough, over and over again, the people succumb
to its allure. What's the big deal about idolatry? You're probably picturing
some primitive person bowing down to a statue or figurine and you’re thinking
you’re off the hook. "One God, no idols, no problem, right?"
Not so fast. The big deal about idolatry has little to do with actual idols
and more to do with values; idolatry is when we make something of ultimate concern
that is not of ultimate value. Idolatry covers worshiping an inanimate object,
but it goes far beyond that as well.
Lately this country has been experiencing the excesses of idol worship in a
big way. What am I referring to? Does the name "Enron" or "World
Com" jog your mind a bit? How about "Arthur Anderson?" The idol
mixed up in these company’s failings and the aftermath, of which we are
all feeling, is money. No doubt, the dollar is America's idol of choice. It's
not that money or the accumulation of wealth is intrinsically bad. Quite the
contrary, Judaism sees prosperity as a blessing and offers high praise for those
whom accumulate wealth and share it with those in need.
Money becomes an idol when it alone is the object of ultimate concern, when
the accumulation of wealth becomes an end in itself, a god to worship, an idol
to bow down to. The unraveling of Enron, World Com and others is an example
of the "N" stage of idolatry when, like a cancer, the perverted values
of greed have eaten away the bulwark of decency upon which our society is built.
This is what happens when you make something of ultimate value that is not
of ultimate concern, ones whole way of seeing the world becomes distorted like
an alcoholic who finds any way to justify getting another drink. In a way, this is all obvious to us. We know greed is bad, we can see that
America worships the god of "greenbacks." What’s hard for us,
what’s not so easy, is seeing ourselves as one of them, one of those "primitive"
folk making supplications to a modern idol of one kind or another. Somehow,
it’s the other guy who has the money problem, or it’s the other person
who worships her career. Somehow it’s always somebody else. And this is
when it is time to tell the truth – we are all idol worshipers. All of
us, somewhere in our lives, make something of ultimate concern that is not of
ultimate value. Our money, our jobs, our bodies, our hobbies, some are worse
than others, but all of us are prone to this basic human problem. Let’s check ourselves right now, see how we hold up to the avoda zera
litmus test. Imagine it were we, not those poor miners in Pennsylvania that
were trapped in that old mine. There we are, huddled together in that dark,
cold, quarried hole deep below the surface. The water’s rising, the air
is failing. What would we scribble on those notes to our families? What would
our ultimate concerns be as we face the cold waters of death? I bet you one
thing, I doubt our stock portfolios would be high on our list.
Nor do I think we would be beating ourselves up about not spending more time
on the job. How would we fare? How do the priorities of our lives match with
what our ultimate concerns should be? Judaism is obsessed with idolatry because idolatry keeps us from living full,
meaningful, holy lives. One of our secrets to survival has been, and still is,
our vigilance in fighting idolatry of all kinds. Our vigilance has kept us vital
and at times brought light to otherwise dark corners of the world. In fact,
now more than ever, we need to share what we know about idolatry. Now, more
than ever, the world needs to hear from us. That making things like money, power,
or prestige into gods to worship is the ultimate folly. Now more than ever,
the Jewish world needs to cry out against the false gods of our age. Now more
than ever, we need to champion what we know to be eternally true; values like
justice, equality, love and kindness - not money - are of ultimate concern and
God, our creator and sustainer, is the symbol of these ultimate values. It could
be that the reason for our survival as a people is for just these trying times. No idols, is one of our enduring values, remembered l’dorv’dor. Related
to our aversion to idols of all kinds is our belief in monotheism, perhaps the
greatest gift we’ve given to the world. We take monotheism for granted,
we can’t imagine for example, anyone taking seriously say the Greek Pantheon.
We just assume if there is a God, She is one. In reality however, even for us, monotheism is a very challenging concept.
As idolatry is not just about worshiping inanimate objects, monotheism is not
about just believing in one God. Behind the term, behind the verbiage is a profound
and unlikely concept. What monotheism really means is that our world, in spite
of all the conflict, disharmony and chaos, could be whole, could be one. One
God ultimately means one unifying force tying everything together, one giant
web of life, The World Wide Web of all life with God at the center. The world
could be one, we all could be one, no wars, no bloodshed, no pollution, no hate,
no strife, this is the ultimate meaning of monotheism.
Seeing it that way, our dogged belief in one God uttered twice a day for the
last 2,500 years or so seems like a shout in the void, doesn’t it? Nevertheless,
this message is needed more than ever today. Whether we want to face it or not, we are in an environmental crisis. Global
warming, even our anti-environment president has had to admit that yes, perhaps
there is something to the hubbub about climate change. The ozone layer, well
they can now see the holes in it, and folks living in places like Australia
are really feeling the affects. Then there are our oceans, these vast, seemingly
impenetrable bodies of water that cover most of the earth. Turns out, they are
not as monolithic as we think. In fact, they are being polluted and depleted
of fish at an alarming rate. Some scientists have gone as far as to say that
our oceans are dying, and if they die, we die. Then there is the local scene,
the loss of wildlife habitat, the ever-growing water shortage; the on-going
ruin of the coastal streams like the Russian and Navarro rivers. The list is
endless and too frightening to comprehend. What’s amazing to me is how
oblivious we stay– me included- to how dire this crisis is. A twin to our environmental crisis is the fact of globalization. It’s
fantastic to me to think how the religious inspiration of our "primitive"
ancestors still rings so true today. We really are one. More and more we are
able to see the truth of the shema. Technology, trade, and sadly, greed, are
collapsing almost every barrier between one continent and another, one society
and another, one culture and another. We really are becoming "one"
whether we want to or not. 9/11 and its aftermath has really awakened us to
this new reality. Up until 9/11 we felt only the benefits of globalization,
now we see the dark side as well. We see that globalization empowers all kinds
of people for good or bad. We see also that living in a truly global village
carries with it an immense responsibility. We see for example, that as the richest,
most powerful player in this global village, justice and fairness require us
to contribute on a global scale to the needs of the web of life we are integrally
connected. We also see that, like any organic system, what we do here in America
has an affect almost everywhere else. There is a story, a midrash, an ancient sacred Jewish legend, which speaks
directly to our situation today: What a great time to be a Jew. What a great time to be able to teach the truths
of monotheism to the world. What a great time to shout out with all our might:
shemah yisrael adonai eloheynu adonai echad! What a great time to reflect on
this eternal teaching ourselves. What a great time to ask ourselves how we can
more fully live at one with ourselves, and those around us. This day is called
Yom Kippur, which in English is translated as The Day of Atonement. Perhaps
we could also see this time as the day of "at-one-ment", the time
we really focus on becoming more at one with the world around us and ourselves. The last enduring value on my list tonight is integrally related to the other
two. It is the profound Jewish conviction that we are all, black or white, old
or young, male or female, gay or straight, equal before God. We are all, as the Torah teaches, bnai adam b’tzelem elohim, children
of Adam, children of the earth, coming from the same source, created with the
same spark of Divinity. What a concept! In spite of our physical differences, in spite of our religious
differences, in spite of our cultural differences, according to the Torah, we
are nevertheless ultimately one people before God. The ultimate equality of
all humanity is expressed well by this passage from the Talmud:
All humanity comes from Adam to teach us that to destroy one person is to destroy
a whole world, and to preserve one person is to preserve a whole world; that
no person should say, ‘my parents were superior to yours!’ (Mishneh
Sanhedrin, 4.5)
To further stress the universality of humanity, the Talmud goes so far as to
say that the greatest verse in the whole Torah is: Zeh sefer toldot adam…adam
bidmut elohim asa oto. "This is the book of the generations of Adam…in
God’s image was Adam made." (P. Ned. 9:4) Why? To illustrate how fundamental
the equality and sanctity of all life is in Judaism. As we look at the world around us, in light of this fundamental Jewish teaching,
we can’t help but despair. Let’s start with Israel. When will the
suicide-murderers realize that the innocent men, women and children they are
killing are God’s creature just like them? When will the hate-mongers in
the Arab world realize that Jews are God’s creatures just like them? Conversely,
after what has happened in Israel these last two blood-soaked years, how will
the Israeli public, how will we, begin to believe and accept the fact that the
Palestinians are also, b’nai adam b’tzelem elohim? I don’t have
any great wisdom regarding the horrible situation in Israel. I can’t boast
a vision that will see us clear of the bloodshed and violence currently marring
almost everyday of life in Israel. The one thing I will say is this, until both
sides can see each other as b’nei adam btzelem elohim, there is no hope
for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
What about the home front? How does this concept of ultimate equality before
God apply to our lives here in Northern California? A little over two summers
ago Northern California had an explosion in hate-related crimes; two Synagogues
in Sacramento were firebombed, a gay couple was murdered outside Redding, Jewish
preschoolers were gunned down in a small Southern California town, and a Philippino
postal worker was murdered. In response to these crimes, the Hate-Free Community Project of Santa Rosa
was formed. Its inception was actually at an interfaith service we held at Shomrei
Torah right after the attacks. The idea behind the project was and still is to educate the community through
seminars and guest speakers, about hate-crimes, their causes and how to prevent
them. The hope is, through education we can prevent such crimes from occurring
in Santa Rosa. Our goal is 60% of Santa Rosa’s definable groups, businesses,
non-profits and religious organizations. When we hit 60%, we will proclaim Santa
Rosa a Hate-Free Community.
When we started the project, we naively thought that we could complete the project
in a year. Some two years later we are still a long way from completion. In
fact, in many ways we are struggling. For example, it was easy to get the liberal
religious community to commit to the trainings. That was my job, and in 6 months
90% of the interfaith community joined. What about the other denominations?
What about the Catholics for example, who make up 1/3 of all religious Santa
Rosans? In spite of a lot of effort, including a meeting with the Bishop, the
Catholic Church has yet to sign on to the project. The same is true for all
the more traditional or fundamentalist Protestant churches. So far, not one
has agreed to be a part of the project. You see from our liberal perspective it is self-evident that all people, regardless
of their race, regardless of their sexual orientation, regardless of their religious
background, are equal before God. We take this fundamental Jewish belief to
heart. Unfortunately, much of the world, and a big chunk of Santa Rosa do not. Up until recently, I had a rainbow sticker on my car. I displayed it out of
my own commitment to pluralism. I also stuck it on my bumper to show my solidarity
for Lesbians and Gays who have been regularly harassed for displaying the sticker.
After being harassed myself a couple of times, and threatened with a knife once,
I peeled off the sticker. I, frankly, was afraid, especially for my kids.
As many of you know, I wear a kippah pretty much all of the time. Wearing a
kippah these days is an interesting thing to do. It used to be that wearing
a kippah was a curiosity for people. They’d stare; occasionally ask a question,
nothing too annoying or threatening. Since 9/11 and especially since things
in Israel have heated up, what it means for me to wear a kippah has really changed.
Most people are still curious, but now there is often an air of hostility associated
with it. Now I wonder sometimes, is it safe to wear a kippah in public? I believe
it is, but there have been a few incidents, one in Sacramento and one San Francisco
where identifiable Jews, i.e. Jews wearing a kippah, have been harassed, and
in one case beaten. Zeh sefer toldot adam. "This is the book of the generation of Adam ...whom
God created in God’s image." Our rabbis teach us that this verse is
more important than any other found in the Torah, because its message of the
universal humanity of all people. It’s an essential message that each person
has infinite value, that all life is precious; all people deserve dignity and
respect. I believe it is one of those eternal truths that have helped keep us
alive. I also believe that now, more than ever, it is our mission as Jews here
and abroad to champion this redemptive teaching to the world.
Over 100 years ago, Mark Twain mused over how such a small, persecuted people
could contribute so much to society and survive the vicissitudes of so much
history. God knows the true story. Still, I bet our penchant for memory along
with the enduring values embedded in our memories has something to do with why
we are still around. What would the world be without us shouting into the wind? Who would take our
place as the truth-tellers, the ones willing like Abraham before us, to smash
the idols of every age? Where would we be without at least the idea that in
God’s oneness the world could be made whole? What future lies before us
without the vision that all people are truly equal and blessed before God, infinite
in value, worthy of dignity and respect?
I can’t say for sure why we’re still around. What I do know is this
– we are needed as much now as in any time in our history.
Blessed is God, The Ground of All Being, who has made us Jews, or who has brought
us into the folds of the Jewish Community. May we have the strength and the
courage to bring the eternal truths of Judaism to a world in sore need of our
help in the years to come. |