Lessons of Thanksgiving

Throughout our history, the Jewish People has always championed causes of religious pluralism and a reverence for the rule of law, whether for Jewish law or the legal systems of the countries in which we have resided. The holiday of Thanksgiving serves as a foundational narrative for both the value of religious pluralism and the creation of the greatest legislation enacting the freedoms of religious practice that have ever been known to humanity; for those of the United States of America.

Thanksgiving is unique among our country's national holidays. Its roots are found neither in the ritual traditions of the Christian faith nor in the events or personalities of our country’s national history. In this sense, Thanksgiving is indeed reflective of a formative, pre-American narrative. It is a root-narrative shared alike by every migrant group that escaped persecution and coercion elsewhere to seek freedom. All Americans can derive important lessons about the freedoms we cherish from the story of Thanksgiving.

The first lesson is that laws are an expression of human experience, at least as much so as they may create the context for our future experience. We often imagine that our laws themselves protect our freedom. But, the Pilgrims flight from the religious persecution and coercion of Europe, in search of an opportunity to practice their faith freely, reminds all Americans that our underlying historical narratives of persecution and liberation are at the heart of all legislation that guarantee our freedom. Therefore, one important lesson of Thanksgiving, intuitive to the Pilgrims and transformed into legal codification by our nation’s founders, is that it is only to the extent that we remember our stories of liberation as Americans that we are likely to protect the laws that, in turn, protect our freedoms. No law stands forever unless it is reaffirmed; unless we remind ourselves of its purposes. Our legal protection does not depend upon the law itself, but rather upon our acute awareness of our collective national narrative, beginning with those who preceded the birth of our nation and inspired its great, new vision of freedom.

The second important lesson of Thanksgiving relates to the essential social contract that is implicit in American citizenship. This social contract must reflect an uncompromising commitment to religious pluralism in our society. There are two principles that must always comprise America’s pluralistic social contract: (1) Every faith community deserves its freedom of religious belief and practice in our country; (2) Likewise, all faith traditions must champion the value, practice, and legal tradition that protects religious freedom in America in order to ensure that any of us continues to enjoy the blessings of such freedom in our country.

As Americans of any faith, we must always remember that the social contract of religious pluralism requires of us not only to defend the freedoms afforded our own and other faith communities but also to demand of ourselves and of others that we and they do the same. There is an assumed “legal consideration” among all parties to the American pluralistic social contract whose enduring existence cannot be assured without our equal pursuit and implementation of both of these important components.

Thanksgiving is a festival of gratitude. In the Jewish tradition, we refer to this value as hakarat ha-tov – literally “the acknowledgment of the good” bestowed upon us by our Creator and/or by our fellow human beings. To be grateful, however, is not simply to feel a feeling or to recall with symbolic ritual a sense of gratitude dating back to the past and even felt sentimentally or substantially in the present. It is vital that we remain committed to the religious freedom enjoyed by all faith communities and committed to laws by our nation’s founders; it is equally important that we insist that such commitment is shared by all other faith communities - and their leaders, in word and in deed. Along with the retelling of the American story, from the period prior to our nation’s birth and onward, nuanced and broad adherence to both principles of the social contract of religious pluralism will ensure that our freedoms endure.  In this regard, to be vigilant is to grateful.

Rabbi Isaac Jeret is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid of South Bay, located at 5721 Crestridge Rd., in Rancho Palos Verdes. To learn more about the synagogue's extensive children's and adult programming, or to attend religious services, please consult Ner Tamid's website, www.nertamid.com, or call (310)377-6986.

JUDAISM’S THREE TIMELESS INNOVATIONS

JUDAISM’S THREE TIMELESS INNOVATIONS

by Rabbi Isaac Jeret
*Adapted from the Palos Verdes Peninsula News (9/16/2010)

Many of us are aware that Judaism introduced to the world, at least 2,500 years ago, the radical theological principle of a belief in one God, as opposed to the then generally accepted   pagan  belief in multiple gods. What may surprise some of us is that this theological innovation is but one of three fundamental principles that Judaism introduced that serve as the foundational values of Western civilization and that we might also recognize among the core principles of the Judeo-Christian heritage.

In addition to a belief in one God, central to Jewish faith and practice is the principle that protecting and saving human life takes precedence over all other Jewish precepts. In addition to the inclusion in the Torah's Ten Commandments of the prohibition against committing murder, the Talmud states that even the observances of Yom Kippur (the most sacred day of the Jewish calendar) and that of the Sabbath (the second most sacred day) must be abrogated to protect, preserve, or save human life.

This core value of the primacy of human life is drawn directly from several verses in the biblical Book of Deuteronomy, each of which suggests that the one God who created humanity could only have intended to reveal a religious and spiritual pathway that would promote and enhance life, and never to bring harm to us. The value of the primacy of human life is intended, therefore, to serve as an ever-conscious purpose for engaging in the entirety of the Jewish spiritual discipline, not merely as an implicit concern; no circumstance other than protecting our own lives or the lives of others, and only when threatened in earnest, justifies taking or risking human lives.

This value, and its nuanced interpretations, guides Jewish considerations regarding everything from health-care decisions   to  preemptive  and  reactive  self-defense,  and  it  obliges  us  to regard our existence in this world as intrinsically more important than any dimension of existence that might await us upon our passing from this world. How we choose to live our lives is infinitely more important than how we choose to die, unless, Heaven forbid, any of us should ever have to endure so grave a circumstance as one in which how we choose to die is the only life-choice left to us.

A third and somewhat related principle introduced by Judaism is the very notion that the future can and should be made to become more life-enhancing - more beautiful, more sacred, more just, and richer in meaning and purpose - than was the past or is the present of our individual or collective experience. Pagan societies anticipated their annual calendars in a revolving manner, with similar periods and their associated experiences thought to recur annually and eternally. Judaism envisaged at its inception, and continues today to encourage us to affirm and support, a revolving cycle of time that spirals upward, always toward the betterment of the individual and collective human conditions, and aspiring toward the evermore sacred.

Interestingly, and most relevant to the current period of the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), all three of these core values - God’s Oneness, the Primacy of Human Life, and our Commitment to a Better Future - are symbolized by the Shofar (the ram’s horn) that is blown throughout Rosh Hashanah and at the conclusion of Yom Kippur in Jewish synagogues worldwide.

The Shofar first appears in our tradition as Abraham is about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, erroneously hearing the call of pagan deities to cause harm to human life -- to his son, Isaac -- to satisfy “the gods.” God then intervenes, demanding of Abraham that he substitute a nearby ram as his sacrifice instead of Isaac. This formative narrative in the Book of Genesis introduced the Jewish value of the Primacy of Human Life by rejecting forevermore any notion of human sacrifice as a means to any desired spiritual end.

As God revealed to the Jewish People at Mount Sinai the Divine legislative foundation of Western Civilization - the Ten Commandments (each of which aims to uphold or achieve one or more of the three core values or principles noted above), the  Shofar’s sound accompanied our ancestors’ most powerful, consequential, transcendent, and collective experience of the   Divine Presence. Thus, the sound of the Shofar and the Oneness of God remain today bound inextricably in a shared and timeless Jewish experience. The One God calls to us, urges us, demands of us, and comforts us - each and all toward valuing and enhancing life, and building a better future.  God's Oneness also presupposes a central locus, One Place, unto which the Jewish People turns forever to find its spiritual center, the heart of the Land of Israel, Jerusalem.  It was unto this place - the historic  locus of the Holy of Hollies - that we have turned throughout our history to find direction and hope, and it remains so today, as we face eastward in our sanctuaries and turn eastward with our hopes and prayers, as much as the center of the Jewish      experience rebuilds in the State of Israel today.

Finally, the Shofar is envisaged by the biblical Prophets to herald the onset of a Messianic Age, an era understood in a more contemporary context to be earned by virtue of a comprehensive and uncompromising human endeavor to eradicate tyranny and terror and introduce true understanding among Peoples with real differences in culture and faith. For the Prophets, these human strivings are inspired by God's ethical  urging and spiritual call, and driven by our commitment to God's teaching of the Primacy of Human Life.  The Shofar then symbolizes an era of true and sustainable peace, one based upon an evolved and shared consciousness on the part of all humanity of these three foundational and revolutionary Jewish innovations. Of course, the Shofar does not act as a magical cure, but rather awakens us to action, allowing our prayers to begin our journey of concern and responsive deed beyond the sanctuary, throughout the year.

On Rosh Hashanah, along with all other Jewish communities around the globe, we will awaken to the call of these three sacred values and principles, as we blow the Shofar together as a community. At the conclusion of Yom Kippur, we will conclude the High Holy Days, united as ever with our   People, with a final sounding of the Shofar. Turning toward Jerusalem, as always, we will pray fervently that the   concluding Shofar-sounding will stir our hearts to hear evermore the moral-calling of the One God, strengthening evermore our commitment to the Primacy of Human Life with all of its profound and significant implications, and inspiring us evermore in our efforts to work, given our Commitment to a  Better Future, for the Jewish People and for all of humanity.

Rabbi Isaac Jeret is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid in Rancho Palos Verdes. To learn more about the synagogue’s inspirational Services and classes, please go to www.nertamid.com or call (310) 377-6986.

RECLAIMING PASSOVER PRIORITIES

by Rabbi Isaac Jeret

The Passover seder has evolved and changed throughout the ages. Many of us might not know that the "four questions" were originally "three questions," and one of the three -- preparation of the paschal lamb -- is no longer asked.

Until recently, most Jews read the same haggadah at their seders. Today, different denominations have published haggadahs that include new passages, omit older ones and rearrange the order. And many of us have created and printed personal haggadahs each year for our own family seders.

But the single greatest change to the seder in the American Jewish experience might be our prevailing focus on a more universal theme and message related to liberation.

Whereas the particular Jewish experience of subjugation and liberation was once the central expression of the seder, the persecution of others and their need for liberation has influenced the great majority of the changes to both the haggadah and the seder experience for American Jews.

In discussing this phenomenon with people planning seders over the last several years, they've often shared their concern that their non-Jewish guests or family members might feel excluded, if not offended, should their seders focus too much upon the historical Jewish experiences of subjugation and redemption or the threats facing Jews today. Some have shared that they omit entire passages in the traditional haggadah that reference the Jewish experience of persecution and liberation beyond that of the exodus from Egypt.

Ironically, I've found over the years that non-Jews attending seders come with the expectation, and often the hope, of experiencing a particularly Jewish occasion. When we opt to universalize the theme to the exclusion of the unique historical Jewish experience, we may be responding to our own discomfort with a particularized focus on our history of persecution or our desire to concern ourselves with the welfare of Jews living with less freedom than we might enjoy today. In doing so, we might be avoiding or even denying our own vulnerability, as a miniscule minority among the world's population.

Over the last several years, and this year in particular, world events leave us little room for such self-indulgence. While it is admirable indeed, and very much in keeping with fundamental Jewish values championing life and liberty, for us to be sure to include in our seders our commitment to the liberation of all human beings, Iran is only several months away from developing a nuclear arsenal capable of destroying the State of Israel, home to the world's largest, youngest and only growing Jewish population. Iran's radical Islamic leadership has expressed openly its aim to wipe the State of Israel off the map and, if we do not act immediately and decisively, it will soon have the means to do so.

We can make a difference, even at this late hour. And we can start at our seders.

We can encourage our guests or our fellow attendees to become involved in a nationwide undertaking to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. We can begin by consulting the Web site of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee at http://www.aipac.org/theiranianthreat.asp. We can download and distribute at our seders, and to our friends and relatives nationwide for distribution at their seders, important background material on this issue and links to legislation pending in the House of Representatives and the Senate that deserve the strongest support of our representatives in Washington, D.C. Via the AIPAC Web site, we can all lobby our representatives to support these initiatives. Each of us, and all of our guests, should be encouraged to contact AIPAC's offices as soon as possible after the seder to learn how we can all be even more helpful in this sacred and urgent mission to keep the means to annihilate the State of Israel out of the hands of those who seek such an end.

As for our non-Jewish guests, wouldn't we be doing them a great disservice were we to ignore this issue at our seders as one of central concern to us as Jews? Shouldn't they know that both the painful and the miraculous lessons of our history help us determine when and how we must act in the name of Jewish self-preservation? If we reclaim our Passover priorities, priorities that demand our Jewish self-concern shamelessly when warranted, more than a few of our non-Jewish guests might well join with us in our urgent endeavor to keep Iran from harming our brothers and sisters in Israel. As we invite them to expand the base of support that will be required to ensure that Iran's aims are never achieved, we might well be surprised to learn just how much they may feel included in our seders, enlightening us about why they accepted our invitations to attend our seders in the first place.

Rabbi Isaac Jeret is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid of South Bay, a warm and inclusive synagogue-community on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, in Los Angeles, CA. For more information about Ner Tamid, call (310) 377-6986 or visit www.nertamid.com.

Rabbi Isaac Jeret
Spiritual Leader
Congregation Ner Tamid of South Bay
www.nertamid.com

Inclusive Governance & Constructive Opposition

Next Tuesday, there will be winners and there will be losers. At first glance, the winners would appear to include the victor in the presidential and congressional elections, and their supporters; the losers would appear to include the runners-up among the candidates, and their supporters.

In truth, however, the winners might include both those victorious and those unsuccessful in their electoral bids, and their respective supporters -- so long as they revisit, as we must all revisit in our country, the role of an inclusive, governing majority and a constructive opposition. Those who emerge as the voice of the majority must reach out, across the aisle, to embrace, engage, and include the opposition in the work of governing and legislating for our country. And, in turn, the opposition must serve in its vital role in a democracy in a constructive manner.

This doesn't mean that the majority shouldn't seek to enact policies and legislation, or that it shouldn't govern on the whole, in a manner that reflects its values. It should do so, with confidence, without arrogance, with civility, and with an open ear to the voices and opinions of the opposition. In other words, those in the majority would be wise to acknowledge the limitations of their mandate. Such an awareness would then lead them to lean toward the center, toward moderation, whether from their elected position to the right or to the left of the political center. To be inclusive in governance means, by consequence, to respect the mandate of the opposition, as well, and to account for its perspective when determining policy. The majority must treat the opposition with respect and must aim to learn from its wisdom, not only because the opposition reflects a constituency that could easily become the majority in the future, but, far more importantly, because to do otherwise would be to diminish the humanity and dignity, and to disregard the intelligence and fundamental worth, of those with perspectives that differ from the majority.

Likewise, a constructive opposition is not one that is oppositional intrinsically. It should oppose articulately, passionately, but, always respectfully those matters of policy with which it disagrees. It should not oppose or seek to diminish the people who voice them, believe in them, vote for them, or legislate and enforce them, for many of the same reasons.

Respectful discourse -- civility -- is the only basis upon which our government, indeed our society as a whole, might ascend yet again toward the virtues associated with intellectual honesty, among them the capacity to govern, and to be governed, from the center of the political spectrum. Respectful discourse is required not only when the camera is upon us or when the tape is running. Respectful discourse is both the prerequisite for reclaiming our public and personal appreciation of dissent and divergence of opinion and the product of it. Our near-term and long-term viability as a society will depend upon our ability to rediscover our capacity to foster and project an inclusive majority and a constructive opposition, and it all begins with respectful, but, truthful discourse. Ultimately, such discourse and, by consequence, such an orientation toward governance, can return our country to the more moderate governments, most common throughout the history of our great nation.

As the Talmudic Sages taught with regard to those disagreements of opinion that are well-intended, but, unclear in their resolution: Elu Va'Elu Divrei Elohim Chayim -- Both opinions are words of the Living God.

May our elected representatives in government, whether of the majority or the opposition, always aim to reflect a purity purpose in their efforts, and may they always remember to respect one another for aiming to do so!

Rabbi Isaac Jeret

Spiritual Leader

Congregation Ner Tamid of South Bay

http://www.nertamid.com/rabbi