A Rabbi's Thoughts

I hate throwing myself into areas where I don’t belong…but with that said, I am quit an opinionated person -if you haven’t seen that yet ;).

As things have progressed over the last few weeks (millennium) in Eretz Yisroel – the Land of Israel, I have tried not to get overly passionate but I can’t help it. Especially with my brother-in-law spending the summer in the northern part of the country and a few good friends that are in the army as well as 5,000,000 people who are my brothers and sisters are well within the range of some guys who dont even recognize that we have the right to exist – I think I am allowed to express myself – at least on my own blog.

This story line isn’t new – it happens every couple of decades if not years. I don’t want to get into the details of the battle – who was supposed to do what and why they didn’t, what we should learn for the future and will the government last. There is a few other (million) commentators who will fill up your time with that.

I want to say something from a different perspective.

Anti–Semitism isn’t knew – it has been happening since the day of the first Semite. Bias against the Jewish people isn’t new - it started about the same time. . No matter what we will do there will always be those that will jump all over us. Even having an army which has such high ethical standards, that the enemy has to Photoshop or stage an event to get the world to cry out

Let me ask the big question WHY? Why are we held to different standards and why do so many people hate us.  Why isn’t it part of someones agenda to wipe Liechtenstein off the map (that wouldn’t be too hard – it is only about 62 square miles). Why have we had this problem forever.

Four summers ago I was traveling though Kenai, Alska [For those that have been up there,  it is about 80 miles southwest of Anchorage but being that you have to drive around the Turnagain Arm (an inlet of water that boats used to take to get deeper into land but when they turned around a bend and saw that it was leading to nowhere – they had to turn again – hence the name) it is about a 3 hour drive] visiting the small Jewish communities in rural Alaska (believe me, it doesn’t get more rural then that and, yes, there are Jews there).

We were just finishing our day of meetings, and we still had a few hours till it got dark (it was 5 pm and that day it was getting dark at 12:30 AM) so we decided to take the scenic route (although almost every road there is the scenic route) through a small but beautiful development which overlooked Redoubt Bay (maybe this one is because it was sooo cold that you started to redoubt your trip).

Standard practice was to roll down our window and ask “Excuse me Sir, would you happen to know if any Jews live in this area?” This was usually met by a blank stare or something like “I remember about 25 years ago I had a neighbor who once told me that he had met a Jew when he was in Anchorage”. We did have some very interesting encounters by using this technique, one even led to us making a ‘Bar Mitzvah’ of a 45 year old man and his 15 year old son which both never had put on Teffilin.

But I digressed…

My friend, Asher Yaras – now director at Chabad @ University of Rochester, rolled down his window and asked the above question. The man stopped for a moment and thought and finally said – “I don’t know any personally but I have a question. Do you have a second?” We pulled over to the side and got out of the car. He had met a man online who was Jewish and they had discussed many different topics about religion. The more he learned about Judaism – the more it fascinated him and perked his interest. The only thing that really bothered him was that if it makes so much sense and is such a nice way of life – why do we have such bad PR?

Here is the nutshell of the conversation as we all (Asher, myself and a guy who has met 2 Jews in his whole life) came to a common conclusion:

To blame it on politics or how we control Hollywood and the media or that the Goldbergs sunk the Titanic (or was that the icebergs?) is dumb because this concept has survived in every country and political situation since Moses split the sea and only let the Jews (and their close friends) through.

It came down to the question of, Are we the Chosen Nation – Are we better?

And I responded with the following example which hit the point home:

Let us say that you have a classroom with all level of students – each has a different role in the cooperative environment of a classroom. Each has some area of expertise and each adds something to the big picture. Now if there is a project that everyone is working on together and the teacher asks one student to take the lead and be an example for the other students how to accomplish this task, what should that student do? Shy away from the responsibility? Be humble and try to slip out of it? Tell the other students “Don’t worry, it is nothing big – you all can do it you don’t need my help”? Take the pressures off himself by delegating to the other students? All the above will only lead to discontent and lack of unity amongst the group. Not only that but the other students (who in other situations, they were the leaders and did the work) will begin to loose trust in the project manager and eventually begin to hate him. “He let us down. False humility. Doesn’t step up to the plate” will be from the complaints filed against him. Even more so…the other people involved with the group will now be able to scream anything they want against that specific individual being that they are all railing against him.

G-d gave us a mission. He chose us to be a light unto the nations and to make the world a better place. That does not exclude anyone else from this mission – it just appoints a project manager. If the leader shirks his responsibility – everyone has a right to be upset (and more) at him. It is a beautiful mission that we have. A great responsibility that comes with great rewards. We must live up to this G-d given role of being better people ourselves, a light to the nations and of course to perfect the world around us.

This does not mean that we would not have suffered throughout history  - G-d has strange ways and we will never understand them but to constantly excuse ourselves for being different – doesn’t make anyone like us anymore.

It can be difficult to be chosen all the time and have to constantly live up to higher standards, as Tevya said – “G-d maybe choose someone else from time to time” but with it comes the rewards and the accomplishments that only responsibility can bring.

May I mention a few names that might ring a bell? Matisyahu. Dmitriy Salita. And for the politician out there , Joe Lieberman. OK – regardless of your political opinion now, but 6 years ago – he made us all proud.

Pride doesn’t have to mean nose up in the air and all snotty. It can be an inner sense of worth and appreciation of your mission on this earth.

OK – You can all start screaming at me (I would prefer if you do it in the comment box – not on the phone)!

A few weeks ago I had a ‘Wow’ moment (one of those times when you smile to yourself and say “this is great”) that really brought home a concept that I have been trying to appreciate myself and to teach it to others.

Here goes…

Being a Rabbi in the greater NY area, I receive many emails from various organizations asking me for my opinion about world affairs, the future of the Jewish community and other world altering issues ;). Some slip into the [spam], some ignite interest and others, I actually respond to (I guess it depends on who their PR/Marketing team is and/or the time on my hands). There was one email I got about the direction that the Jewish community is going. They wanted to know the demographics, my programs, the age, growth, and many other questions. At first I didn’t respond but they kept emailing me again and again that they need my opinion. So I went to the link (probably just to stop them from emailing me) and took this 15 minute survey. Towards the end, they had one question that made it all worth it.

Not just the survey was worth it but my whole education and  position as a Chabad Rabbi.

Here it is:

How would you describe your affiliation:
Orthodox
Conservative
Reform
Reconstruction
Chabad

I was soooo excited I did the Horah.

Why the excitement, you ask? Let me explain;

At first it bothered me, why did Chabad go last. If it went by the way the Rabbi led his own life – it belonged with the Orthodox. If it was about the way the congregation was ran – i.e. the Halachic standards – it still belonged with the Orthodox. If it went on the members of the congregation – it can fit into any of them (my community will define themselves very comfortably as “Reform” or “Conservative” Jews – some will even say unaffiliated). It can mean none of the above – but that won’t make sense – who is none of the above.

It must mean - all of the above! Chabad can’t be defined as a particular denomination – everyone feels a part of it. To say that our community is specific to a certain type of Jew would not be true.

Chabad ideology is based on the fact that there is no such thing as denomination. We are part of one people and there is something deeper that unites us all regardless of outward practice. The Rebbe repeated this so many times that our job is to touch every Jew regardless of their background or affiliation. Our Jewish soul is a part of G-d and just like He is unchangeable and always complete – so to is every Jewish soul. That (-the soul) is what makes us Jewish and it is that which has help us strong for 3000 years. Sometimes the external trappings might get in the way but why stress that – let us focus on the beautiful essence that ties us together as a family, forever.

To bring home this point, I googled “define: shirt” and got: a garment worn on the upper half of the body.

Now, every shirt has a label – Calvin Klien, Zegna, cotton, polyester, tumble dry, dry clean only, Seer Sucker, etc Yes, each one of these are trying to explain to the consumer why their needs will be solved with this specific garment. One is better for the summer, winter, Tux or golf. But they are all describing external attributes about a shirt. They are not describing the essence of what they are = a shirt is a garment that covers the upper part of your body.

Imagine a store that said “Shirt Cleaners – Golf Shirts Only”. They are missing the point of what a shirt cleaner is - - a place that is able to clean ALL shirts. If only CK is allowed in – you are not servicing shirts – you are servicing a specific external appearance.

A Jew is a Jew because He or She has a soul. That is regardless what they do with it (of course it would be nice (and more productive/holier/rewarding) if it was active). Which is why we don’t give labels to people – that would be loosing focus on the essence of who they are..

Labels do belong on shirts – but when it comes to people – lets try to be as inclusive as possible.