Catholic Students Learn About The Jewish Passover

CATHOLIC STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT THE JEWISH PASSOVER

*Reprinted From The Los Angeles Times

In an effort to promote understanding, a Jewish rabbi and a Catholic priest host a Seder to teach high schoolers about the similarities and differences between the religions.

April 06, 2009|Jeff Gottlieb

It wasn't so much that about 85 high school kids were in a synagogue for a Passover Seder; it was that there was hardly a Jew in sight.

But that was the idea for this gathering, to teach Catholic high school students about the holiday that commemorates Moses' leading the Jews out of Egypt and slavery.

"Your faith wouldn't have existed if we weren't rescued from Egypt," Rabbi Isaac Jeret told the students who gathered at Congregation Ner Tamid in Rancho Palos Verdes last week.

This marked the third year that Catholic students went to the synagogue to learn about Passover, what Jeret called "for the Jewish people, our master story." He said the event "is one of the most important things we do in this synagogue each year. . . . We explore how different and similar our faiths are."

The Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith, in charge of ecumenical affairs for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who sat next to Jeret, said the archdiocese has engaged in many programs with Jews recently. "All are an effort to grow an appreciation of each other," he said.

Elsewhere, Catholic students also are attending Seders. This year, for example, all 1,200 students at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance attended Seders in the gym.

"We were looking to our elder sisters and brothers in faith," Smith said.

Neither Smith nor Jeret, the son of a Holocaust survivor, airbrushed the Catholic Church's past anti-Semitism. Matzo, the unleavened bread eaten on Passover, has led to "some of the darkest moments of history between our people," Jeret said. He told the students about "blood libels," when Jews were falsely accused of killing Christian children to use their blood in matzo.

"The result was many Jews were killed at the hands of the Church," Jeret said.

Smith, whose full shock of gray hair falls to his shoulders, later added, "The history between Catholics and Jews has not always been pleasant. We're still working on that."

The Ner Tamid Catholic Seders grew out of the close relationship between the synagogue and Catholics on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

In early 1999, at a conference at the Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, a Catholic unexpectedly proposed marching from the center to Ner Tamid to commemorate the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when German mobs attacked Jews, burned and vandalized synagogues and destroyed Jewish-owned stores in 1938.

About 1,000 people took part in the 1 1/4 -mile candlelight procession, and another 1,000 met them for the program at the synagogue. At Ner Tamid, the Catholics presented the synagogue with a sculpture made of unbreakable glass.

Out of that march came the Dawn Unity Group, dedicated to continuing the interfaith dialogue in Palos Verdes. The group holds four programs a year.

Passover, an eight-day celebration, begins this year at sundown Wednesday. Seders, in which the Passover story is read from the Haggada, usually are held in homes, not synagogues.

At last week's event, the Catholic youths sat at tables, with ceremonial foods set in front of them: matzo; charoset, a combination of apple, nuts, wine and cinnamon; horseradish; parsley; salt water; a roasted lamb shank bone; and a roasted egg. The males wore skullcaps that many Jews put on while praying.

Before the Seder began, Smith explained the significance of Passover from a Catholic perspective -- that as a Jew, Christ would have celebrated Passover and that the Last Supper was a Seder, something most students were not aware of. He pointed out that Catholics have adopted some of the symbols of Passover. For example, the four glasses of wine drunk at the Seder (at this one, the youths drank apple juice) became the chalice of wine that Catholics believe is the blood of Christ. Matzo is similar to the Communion wafer eaten at Mass.

In addition, according to the Passover story, when the Pharaoh refused to allow the Jews to leave Egypt, God rained down 10 plagues on the Egyptians. The 10th was the slaying of the first-born son. Jews placed lamb's blood on their doorways so the angel of death would know to pass them by.

Smith explained that the lamb was sacrificed so its blood would spare the Hebrew people in Egypt. "Early Christians identified Christ as the lamb being sacrificed," he said. "Christ becomes our paschal lamb."

Interfaith Seders are not unusual, and they come in many shapes and colors. Although one hope is that the Ner Tamid Seder will help demystify Judaism, what makes it different from other interfaith affairs, the rabbi said, is that the Catholic students are not paired with Jews. This gives students a chance to explore the similarities and differences between the religions in a more comfortable atmosphere.

"There is a conscious charge to do it for the Catholic community," Jeret said. "What it means for Catholics is the focus."

Michael Zapata, 18, said he was surprised by the similarities between the religions. "It gives me a different point of view," he said.

Andrew Knox, 15, said, "It gave me a better understanding of Jewish traditions and what influenced them."

But Jews still seemed a mystery to many of the students.

Edward Desouza, 14, said he hadn't known that the Old Testament is the Jewish holy book.

The group seemed surprised when Jeret told them there were just 13.2 million Jews in the world, compared with 1.2 billion Catholics and 1 billion to 1.5 billion Muslims. "I thought there would be more," said Joren Lagmay, 14.

For Bob Rothman, chairman of the Dawn Unity Group and a former Ner Tamid president, the Seder was a success.

"Part of the importance is having a priest explain to Catholic kids how this relates to their faith, that it is the Last Supper, the Jewishness of Jesus," he said. "This is why we do it. If people would understand that much, then we would be a lot closer together."

--

jeff.gottlieb@latimes.com

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

PURIM'S REAL HERO

The story of Purim, so simple at first glance, is anything but simple when examined more closely. Recounted in the Bible's Scroll of Esther, it appears on the surface to be a story of how the Persian Jewish community, approximately 2350 years ago, was condemned to annihilation by the decree of the King Ahashverosh and then saved by the selfless and courageous efforts of two Jews, Mordechai and Esther. The Persian king's decree had been engineered and manipulated by Haman, the king's most trusted advisor. The classical commentaries of the Jewish tradition view Mordechai and/or Esther as Purim's heroes. And, contemporary commentators point to the fact that they each took personal initiative, rather than awaiting Divine intervention for their People's deliverance, to explain the absence of even a single overt reference to God in the entire Scroll of Esther.

However, appearances can be deceiving. Taking nothing away from Mordechai and Esther, there aren't enough days in the year to celebrate the courageous undertakings of Jews who acted throughout history to save our People from disaster. And, to omit any direct reference to God simply because people chose to act first and pray later seems to deny God's hand in the successes and deliverances that we might ever achieve; an unlikely expression on the part of ancient Jewry on the whole and, some would argue, an unfortunate one on our part today. Is there room to understand Purim as a reminder that faith in God is not a prerequisite to Jewish participation, and even to Jewish heroism? Of course, there is. However, should this, in and of itself, constitute sufficient reason to elevate Purim's apparent heroes beyond so many other heroes of Jewish history who acted similarly in the face of equally grave circumstances while achieving comparable success? No, it shouldn't.

So, if there is a unique hero of the Purim saga, one worthy of Biblical mention and from whom we might learn enduring lessons, who was s/he? And, might this hero shed greater light upon God's absence from Purim's story?

It seems to me that Purim's true hero turns out to be the very man who decreed the annihilation of Persian Jewry in the first place. Yes, King Ahashverosh, the man whom history would rightly have tried and convicted for a genocidal attack upon his own Jewish subjects had he failed to annul his decree upon Esther's impassioned plea on their behalf, is indeed our hero! No, his annulment of the decree constituted nothing heroic; of course, this was simply the just and reasonable thing to do. However, when the king's motivations are considered more carefully, they may reveal how he was indeed Purim's hero, they may offer important insights into God's absence from the Scroll of Esther's recounting of the Purim story, and they may constitute collectively an accessible and virtuous model for today's leaders of the free-world, as the West struggles to acknowledge a serious existential threat posed by Expansionist Islam.

Had King Ahashverosh been motivated to annul his decree against his Jewish subjects solely due to his love for his beloved Queen Esther, his intervention might well have ended with the reversal of his decree alone. While he might never again have trusted his advisor, Haman, to the degree that he once did so, his love for Esther was hardly reason enough to order his Royal Army to engage in all-out war against the militia that Haman enlisted to destroy the Jews; shouldn't he have reasoned with them or even folded some of them into his own army rather than initiating what could easily have become a civil-war? Furthermore, as the Scroll of Esther recounts, the king allowed the Jews of Persia to rise up against Haman's militia, fighting alongside the king's army, in their own self-defense. Didn't the king risk anarchy among the various subjects in his kingdom by allowing the Jews to do so, rather than using his own army exclusively to render Haman's network harmless. After all, wouldn't such actions among one group of subjects encourage other groups to take matters into their own hands, as well?

It is possible that King Ahashverosh's decisions were motivated by more than his love for Esther and her People alone. Ahashverosh might well have realized that the Jews were the canaries in the mine-shaft, his own monarchy constituting Haman's next target. He might well have wondered whether some officers and soldiers of his own army were compromised by Haman's manipulations. Allowing the Jews to fight alongside his army might have discouraged those among the Royal Army who were less loyal from breaking ranks with officers and troops more loyal to the king's monarchy. Furthermore, empowering the Jewish population to defend itself alongside the king's forces might have encouraged even greater loyalty among his Jewish subjects, long into the future, as they might have come to understand that their fate and that of the monarchy had become bound inextricably.

As for God's absence from the story of Purim, King Ahashverosh might well have been motivated by self-interest in his determination to save his Jewish subjects and confront Haman and his militia with decisive force, having understood the broader implications of Esther's more focused concerns for her People. Decisions and actions motivated by self-interest do not necessarily constitute acts of faith. Seeing as there is no evidence at all that King Ahashverosh was a man of faith, it should not surprise us at all that God is not mentioned in the Scroll of Esther; Purim's real hero acted upon the most basic human instinct of self-preservation, though he achieved a Divine, just, and even righteous purpose.

The Neville Chamberlains of history might likely deem King Ahashverosh a war-monger; to the Jewish People, he is perhaps worthy of distinction as a heroic figure, having taken decisive action before it was too late. Today, most ironically, as Iran (modern-day Persia) inches ever-closer to developing the nuclear arsenal that its Expansionist Islamic leadership threatens to utilize to wipe the State of Israel off the map, leaders of the Western World might be well-served to take note that Iran is completing a nuclear infrastructure that will allow it to produce approximately fifty nuclear weapons annually - almost fifty times the arsenal necessary to destroy the tiny State of Israel. We would all be wise to learn from the decisive action that King Ahashverosh took against Haman's militia, protecting the canaries in the mine-shaft, empowering them to protect themselves alongside the king's own forces, and thereby both ensuring evermore their loyalty to the monarchy while protecting the monarchy from an ominous and impending threat.

The leaders of the free-world might take a page out of Esther's Scroll, learning from Ahashverosh's decisive but self-interested actions to determine how they may secure our own civilization, one far more just and worthy than the fate that the Hamans of the world might ever seek to perpetrate upon the Jewish People - and, thereafter, upon everyone else.

*To listen to recordings of Rabbi Jeret's sermons and classes, and to consult a schedule of upcoming Services, classes, and other programming at Congregation Ner Tamid, please click on the following link: www.nertamid.com/rabbi

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

Hardening Hearts; Protecting Our Freedom

January 28, 2009
Parshat Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16)
By Rabbi Isaac Jeret

(Reprinted from the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles)

To the contemporary reader, the story of the ancient Israelites’ exodus from Egypt is every bit as compelling as it was to readers centuries ago. And much like the rabbis as far back as 2,000 years ago, there is an aspect of this story that remains troubling for many of us today — God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, effectively compelling Pharaoh to continue to subject our ancestors to slavery, even when Pharaoh might have chosen to do otherwise.

God’s actions appear to interfere with the integrity of the story and its message, allowing Pharaoh an excuse for his continued tyranny and even rendering Pharaoh a sympathetic victim. Is it not God who, having hardened Pharaoh’s heart after the first five plagues, bears sole responsibility for both the continued enslavement of our ancestors and the resulting destruction of Egypt?

This week’s Torah portion, Bo, begins with God’s charge to Moses to call upon Pharaoh yet again, introducing the eighth plague. In the Torah’s recounting of the narrative, God tells Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart ... that you may recount in the hearing of your sons and your sons’ sons how I made a mockery of the Egyptians ...” (Exodus 10:1-2).

But why would God want to make a mockery of the Egyptians? And why would God want succeeding generations to hear, and presumably retell, the story of how God did so? A commonly referenced talmudic answer to this question, attributed to the sage Resh Lakish, suggests there is a limit to God’s patience in awaiting one’s repentance; that given Pharaoh’s refusal to free the Israelite slaves after the first several plagues, God was unwilling thereafter to accept Pharaoh’s change of heart. However, this interpretation runs counter to many meaningful rabbinic sources who suggest that the gates of penitence and repair remain open, always, to the sincere of heart. Would Pharaoh have been insincere in his change of heart? We’ll never know, because God did not permit him the opportunity to correct his horrific subjugation of our ancestors, according to this interpretation. Wouldn’t our ancestors have been better off knowing with absolute certainty that Pharaoh and Egypt deserved their fate? Shouldn’t God have cared to find out?

Another interpretation suggests that God’s intent was to clarify for the Egyptians that there is a God to whom even their own king would succumb; that God is the redeeming force in the universe; that once unleashed by God, freedom’s will ultimately overcomes those who enslave and torment others, or seek to do them even greater harm, and that such designs will lead to the obliteration of all aggressors. However, wouldn’t this point have been made just as powerfully and, perhaps, to a more enduring pedagogical effect, if Pharaoh had been granted the opportunity to see the error of his ways and then transform the Egyptians into a liberating People themselves? Surely this would have made for a story of enormous consequence, potentially encouraging the abolition of all tyranny in the world.

Well, no.

Liberation, as with security, is rarely — if ever — achieved without confronting with decisive power those who aim to terrorize, subjugate and destroy others.

It strikes me that the primary audience for God’s excessive pursuit of Pharaoh, even to the point of hardening his heart, was the slaves and not those who enslaved. It was the Israelites whose grandchildren were intended to hear and repeat this story, not the Egyptians. Perhaps, as a liberated people, there was a lasting lesson to be learned from overcoming a persistent and stubborn enemy with evil intent. Perhaps the challenge of outlasting tyrannical adversaries and their desire to conquer and even to destroy liberty and humanity is one with which liberated societies have an inherent difficulty, especially when tyrants and their followers or proxies extend a false hand toward reconciliation. Perhaps God prolonged Pharaoh’s refusal to free our ancestors, hardening his heart for all to see and retell, so we might never confuse the contrition of those sincerely repentant with the manipulation of those bent on our destruction. Perhaps God was helping our ancestors avoid a tendency to which free but weary people might be forever vulnerable — that of compromising with a seemingly repentant tyrant who might then survive to torment them, with even greater effect, in the future.

Two weeks ago, our brothers and sisters in Israel unilaterally ceased their fire against a treacherous enemy whose leaders state openly that their ideology values death over life, an enemy who seeks the destruction of Israel and the marginalization, at best, of all Jews everywhere. Israel stopped shooting in order to honor the new path of respect and shared interests that our new president aims to pursue with the Muslim world. The new administration seeks to pursue diplomacy with the Muslim world as a preferred strategy toward our own nation’s security, turning away from the perceived errors of ongoing confrontations with our adversaries.

We might be wise to remember what might have been God’s most important lesson of the exodus for our generation: There are those, like Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, Hezbollah, Iran, and other states and terrorists-groups of the Muslim world whose hardened hearts no longer merit our olive branches, and extending them might make us more vulnerable and encourage evermore their evil designs, as they perceive our weariness for exactly what it is. For our own country’s sake, for Israel’s sake and for that of the entire free world, I pray this Shabbat that our new administration, led by a president who has instilled hope in so many, remembers God’s lesson that, as free but weary people, our willingness to compromise with evil may leave us unable to confront it in the not-too-distant future, when it will have grown stronger and we will have grown wearier and, by consequence, even weaker.

Sometimes, the best response to a hardened heart -- is with a hardened heart.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Isaac Jeret is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid, a warm, welcoming and inclusive congregation, affiliated with the Conservative branch of judaism and located in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. For more information, visit www.nertamid.com/rabbi

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

Radio Interview regarding Israel's war w/ Hamas

Upon returning from my recent trip to Israel, I was interviewed about Israel’s war with Hamas by KNEWS RADIO’s “Bulldog” Bill Feingold on Monday evening, January 12th. Click on this link to listen to the interview.

http://www.nertamid.com/rabbi/audiovideo.html

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

2009/1/6 -- DAY #10c: United As ONE …

This day (Tuesday) was one of the more difficult days of my journey to Israel. Beginning with the subdued dedication of the synagogue at the Beit Hachayal in Be’er Sheva and continuing with hospital visits with Israel’s wounded soldiers and their families; the pain of war was palpable in every interaction and experience. The day would conclude quite differently.

Upon returning to Tel Aviv, I joined a dear friend with whom I was delighted to have reconnected just a few days earlier and attended a rally in support of Israel's southern citizens and the IDF in the center of the city. Approximately 5,000 people were expected to attend. Tel Aviv is at the heart of one of the more liberal regions of the country. The steadfast solidarity expressed by the diverse crowd that gathered was encouraging and energizing.

Popular Israeli bands warmed up the crowd. The Deputy Mayor of Ashdod, a city hit hard by Grad-type missiles in the course of Hamas’ war against Israel’s civilian population, spoke eloquently of the unity that was both required and exhibited throughout Israel, during this difficult time. A young soldier, having recently concluded his three years of armed-service in the IDF, reflected upon his service in Lebanon and exhorted the crowd and all of Israel to strengthen with their spirit and without qualification all of Israel’s boys serving in defense of the country. He shared that, from his own experience in Lebanon, he understood, and wanted everyone to understand, just how important it is for Israel's soldiers to know what almost 90 percent of all Israelis feel: Israel is, indeed, entirely behind this the boys of the IDF and in solidly supportive of fighting -- and truly winning -- this war.

The Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel then urged those gathered, from Orthodox to secular, to pray, expressing his belief that no group of Jews has a license on prayer or a monopoly on God’s ear. I was stunned when he went out of his way to engage the crowd in a prayer on behalf of Jews world-wide who might be in peril or might need support; yes, Israel, even at war, expresses its care and concern for the entirety of the Jewish People, wherever we may be! This was one of the most unselfish and inspiring moments of prayer that I have ever experienced.

Finally, two young girls from Sederot, 9 and 11 years of age respectively, addressed the crowd. They shared their personal stories of their own survival of Hamas and other Palestinian terror; stories that neither of them should have been old enough to have been told about, much less to have lived. Their hope for a future of peace and tranquility were nothing short of courageous. Finally, the nine-year-old girl said the following: “Im K’var, Az Kvar! – If we have already taken the initiative to fight this war, let’s win it!” The crowd roared. I found myself choking back tears, hearing in the sweet voice of this adorable little girl both the return to a peaceful existence that victory would facilitate for her and her family and the utter terror and devastation that would obtain for them with any lesser result.

I left the rally, heading to dinner with my dear friend, holding these two little girls, their traumatic memories, and their courageous dreams of peace and quiet - all close to my heart. Li-El, his father, his entire family, and every soldier and family that I visited with earlier this day continue still to weigh heavily on my soul (see my earlier posts today to this blog). Back in Los Angeles, I have two boys of my own. If a ship had sailed 50 years ago from Europe, southeast into the Mediterranean Sea, instead of westward across the Atlantic Ocean, my two boys could easily have been this evening two boys from Sederot. Where we are, at any moment in time - as Jews in particular given our wanderings at the hands of our oppressors -- is nothing but an accident of history; that is, unless we aspire, or somehow manage, to be in the one place where we can shape our own history and master our own destiny as a People, rather than anywhere else, where the cauldrons of history have tended to mold our fate, and all too often leaving bereft and forgotten in our hour of desperate need.

This night, and whenever we so demand of ourselves as a People, we are all ONE; in our dreams, in our fears, in our love, in our yearnings, in our passions, and in our hopes -- in our conviction and in our solidarity. Such Achdut -- such unity -- is achievable only and ultimately when we are at home in our Homeland, and especially so when we are blessed, for even a moment in time if not forever, to share it all -- all that matters most to us, with those who matter most to us; when we're blessed to share all that we love, in the place that we love, with those whom we love.

Hear, oh God, Your People is Israel, Israel is ONE

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

2009/1/6 -- DAY #10b: In Memoriam – A Synagogue Is Dedicated

This morning (Tuesday), I traveled to the IDF’s Beit Hachayal (a Soldier’s Residence facility) in Be’er Sheva, to attend and participate in the rescheduled dedication of its synagogue in memory of my father and its adjacent library in honor of his two grandsons, my own sons, Jacob and Judah. The dedication was supposed to have taken place six days ago, but the bombing of Be’er Sheva that morning forced me to turn around when I was approximately halfway there from Tel Aviv; the early warning system for civilians to alert them to incoming missiles wasn’t working correctly and the IDF did not want to risk that something might happen during the dedication.

Between last Wednesday and today, the IDF’s ground-incursion into Gaza began. Israel’s foot-soldiers are now engaged in a war to defend Israel’s citizens and defeat those enemies that have attacked Israel’s citizens mercilessly for the last eight years. As such, today’s dedication of the synagogue at the Beit Hachayal was unlike any other that I had ever attended or participated in. It was subdued. No Torah scrolls were danced in, no food was served, and no music was played or sung. Israel is at war. The soldiers with whom I’d have otherwise danced and sang were in Gaza, defending the country. I cut a ribbon with minimal fanfare, posed for some pictures, and then I shared some remarks. I will share here an expanded version of my remarks in memory of my father and in dedication of the IDF synagogue at the Beit HaChayal in Be’er Sheva; an abbreviated version was spoken this day, very much in the hope that a more joyous and complete dedication will occur in the near future, when all of Israel’s boys of the IDF will have returned home safely from their sacred mission to defend our People and our Homeland:

My father, Henry Jeret, Harav Hanokh Menachem BEN Harav Yisrael V’Miriam, was a proud Jew. He grew up in Poland, watched his world disappear amidst the murderous destruction of the Jews of Europe at the hands of the Nazis, and vowed that he would do his part to ensure that such horror would never-again befall the Jewish People. Given the opportunity to assist in the effort to create the State of Israel, he did his part. Trading black-market cigarettes for arms – seeking willing traders among the Allied troops stationed in Austria and Germany, his job was to procure arms and to help to smuggle them to Palestine for use both in the defense of Jews living there already and in the endeavor to establish a sustainable and protectable Jewish State. My father lived for just longer than four decades subsequent to these undertakings, but he took his greatest pride in his participation in these historic achievements of the Jewish People; out of the ashes of the Holocaust, leading up to the declaration of the State of Israel, and culminating with Israel’s victory in its War of Independence.

My father was a man of faith. He witnessed God’s miraculous hand where others saw random chance and arbitrary choice. As much as he experienced his own survival during the Shoah as an expression of God’s Will, he experienced the creation of the State of Israel as the commencement of the redemption and ultimate liberation of the Jewish People and humanity on the whole. For my father, Israel was more than a dream or even a vision, it was a guarantee; one that began and would always sustain with the assurance that our People would never-again be led to slaughter as sheep and one that could, in potential, evolve into the most beautiful and inspiring expressions of both Judaism and Jewishness in our history. However, at minimum, Israel was for my father and remains for me, a guarantee that Jews will continue to exist; with this guarantee, the Jewish future is at least as certain as any other and a vibrant and compelling one is at all possible.

My father taught me many lessons. I carry them with me, both intellectually and as they are indelibly inked upon my soul. He taught me that the words, “never-again” are sacred words; that they bring meaning and honor to the numerous past degradations and sufferings of our People as much as they can bring safety and security to any current generation of Jews, if acted upon, and when done so before it is ever too late. He taught me that “never-again” begins with our freedom as Jews to express in our Homeland our own unique values, toward our own unique purposes, as we, ourselves, choose to define our own destiny. He taught me that “never-again“ begins with our freedom as a People to organize without fear, to make Jewish and secular choices as we desire and as would benefit our People, and to defend these God-given rights, on our God-given land, as ever necessary.

Finally, he taught me his greatest, and most important, life-lesson, one that I strive never to forget and always to teach unto others: The survival of the Jewish People is the deliberate choice and ultimately the obligation of the Jewish People alone; God can help, but, only if we help ourselves before it is ever too late, and we ought never entrust our security or defense unto any other nation or state, for no one holds our interests and concerns at heart as we do so ourselves. To my father, who watched as one transport after another led our People to their murderous ends, and as the Allies in the cause of Freedom and Liberty failed to intervene as they might have, this lesson was obvious. How it can be anything other than obvious to anyone in the world today remains a mystery to me, given only the most recent history of the State of Israel, much less the entirety of its historic national defense over the last sixty years. It is with this, my father’s greatest life-lesson, in mind, and equally mindful that our People is facing a treacherous and hateful enemy in a war that is truly existential in proportion for the Jewish People and for the State of Israel, that I share the following observations upon this sacred but rightfully understated occasion.

As the world has entered the 21st century of the common-era, we, the Jewish People, are challenged more so than we have ever been to view clearly our strengths, vulnerabilities, opportunities, and responsibilities, and to respond wisely to the realities that they represent. Illusions abound, often the result of our newfound freedom and prosperity in a modern world, and particularly as we have been granted the rights and opportunities for each of these in North America. We have come to believe our own press, to see our strengths, but, to ignore – and even to deny - our vulnerabilities, cherishing instead the illusory-myths that cloud their view:

1. The volume of that which Jews produce, Israelis in particular, in the way of intellectual, scientific, and artistic achievement, and the overall excellence that Jews achieve per capita in any of the disciplines in which we strive, suggests that we must be quite large in number; in actuality, we are very few.

2. Our rate and breadth of achievement should suggest that many in the world would want to join us, or join forces with us, toward the betterment of all of humanity; yet, we are decreasing in population and the line is short with nations and individuals courageous enough to ally themselves with us.

3. We feel so secure financially and politically, acting as if we were barely a minority, if one at all, and often airing our dirty laundry in public; yet, many who seek to cause us harm turn our scornful words toward one another against all of us as a whole and encourage the world to count the days until our destruction is at hand.

The irony is that, if we were to focus upon the truths above rather than the illusions, we would likely have fewer vulnerabilities to worry about; if we acknowledged the minority-at-risk that we are, we would be more protective of our reputation as Jews, more appreciative of the unlikelihood of the extent of our achievement, more careful to act wisely and decisively to defend our present and sustain our future, and more prudent and thoughtful in prioritizing our efforts and contributions to the world-at-large when our relatively scarce resources dictate that we, ourselves, should be our greatest priority.

Our collective escape into an illusion of security and influence is well and dangerously apparent in our current-day distortion of the “never-again” imperative. Let me explain. Today, we imagine that diplomacy will achieve our greater aims for security so that we will not ever-again need to utilize force to defend ourselves and protect our Homeland. We imagine that the degree to which we show ourselves as flexible and considerate is the degree to which others in the world will do the same toward us, including our fiercest adversaries. We assume that our military strength is a given and that it is insurmountable. When our enemies exhibit a complete lack of regard for our might, we describe them as irrational, imposing upon them our own values and concerns as we would apply them, reassuring ourselves that with the right leadership they would surely see the world as we do. With every one of these self-deceptions, we have deluded ourselves toward the belief that our enemies will respond positively to us because they truly want to do so, but cannot yet do so because of political or social circumstance. We elevate tyrants to the virtue of moderates to sustain our self-deception and to live within the fantasy of false-hopes. In Israel, one of the primary underlying motivations for this self-deception is the belief that, if Israelis are not to able to participate in the freedom, security, and prosperity that the rest of the Western World appears to enjoy, then Israelis will simply give up on the Zionist dream and even leave Israel, a theory backed by statistics that appear to show this trend.

These assumptions are erroneous, however, and for two reasons. Let’s remember first and foremost that trends explain the past and the present of social phenomena; however, one moment, a new awareness, or one current event can bring any trend to a grinding halt. Secondly, the great illusion shared by Israelis and by the rest of the Western World has been that Israel has faced treacherous enemies while the rest of the West has not. In fact, the only differences between Israel and the rest of the West are the following:

1. Unlike the rest of the West, Israel has faced directly and unceasingly – for over six decades – the powerful hatred and destructive intentions of political Islam, whether expressed in a secular or religious manner. Israel has suffered and defended itself against the aggression and political expansionism of Arab countries, Islamic states, and Jihadist terrorists throughout its existence. The rest of the world has only recently come face to face with these phenomena and is inexperienced, and often naïve, in its quest to understand and deal with them.

2. The effects of the war against Islamic expansionism are beginning to include a financial and military cost to the rest of the West that Israel has had to bear uniquely until now. The economies and security considerations of other Western countries may well come to look like Israel’s long before Israel’s comes to look like theirs.

3. Israel’s view of Islamic expansionism is not clouded by anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, the rest of the West, Europe in particular, is easily confused by Islamic expansionist propaganda, in part due to its own history of misguided distrust and destructive hatred of the Jewish People.

4. “Peace is our preferred option, while it is our enemies’ last resort” -- another of my father’s teachings. The lesson, not only of the Holocaust, but, also very much of the sum-total of Jewish History is that diplomacy may work when it is the only option left to our adversaries, and it may not work, even then. The diplomatic possibility of peace-making with the enemies of both Israel and the West, with any enduring hope, exists only when our enemies know that we have the force to defend ourselves and the absolute willingness and intention to use such force as required. Moreover, whether peace is ever achieved or not, our survival is not dependent upon it with this approach. A life of meaning can be achieved without the extravagance that financial and material wealth – the so-called, “peace-dividend,” might provide; it cannot be achieved if we are destroyed. Peace is not a necessity, it is a preference. We must revaluate peace itself as our preferred option, rather than a necessity for survival. When our enemies understand that we can live without it, they are far more likely to join with us in seeking it.

It is time for the Jewish People worldwide to reclaim the never-again imperative without reservation and with pride. It is time for the State of Israel to make no more apologies whatsoever for its undertakings in the defense and protection of Jewish lives; this is the guarantee with which its existence was initially and can always be justified, whether the world understands it or not. It is time, once again, for Jews to take care of Jews, not while ignoring the rest of the world, but not by allowing the rest of the world to define or limit in any way when, how, or with which measures the Jewish State should act in its own self-defense and in defense of Jews worldwide. No one has, ever-again, the moral right, to dictate to the Jewish People whether and how we should enact the guarantee of survivability that the State of Israel represents for the Jewish People. The entire Western world would be wise to follow suit.

In closing, when King Solomon dedicated the first Temple in Jerusalem, he instructed all Jews to direct their prayers to the one place that God would reside with God’s greatest presence in our world, the center-place of the Jewish spiritual experience, the Temple in Jerusalem. He then prayed to God, petitioning God always to hear the prayers of those whose hearts were turned in prayer toward Jerusalem’s Temple. Today, upon dedicating this synagogue, knowing with pride that Israel’s finest young men and women share their heart’s concerns and gratitude in this Beit Tefilah – this House of Worship, humbly, and with no illusions of any comparison to King Solomon, I petition God to dwell in this space. I pray that God will always hear the prayers of every individual who enters through the doors of this synagogue, that God will protect them, that God shield them from harm, and, always, that God will bring the soldiers of Israel home, back to their families, back to their country, and back to their People, alive and well, and victoriously. AMEN.

Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh Ha-Olam; Shehecheyanu, Ve’Key’manu, Ve’hey’ge’yanu, La’Z’man Ha-zeh / Blessed are You, God, our God, Sovereign of all Time and Space; Who has kept us alive, and sustained us, and brought us unto this moment. AMEN.

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

2009/1/6 -- DAY #10a: Visiting Wounded Boys of The IDF at Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva …

This afternoon (Tuesday), I visited with soldiers wounded in Gaza over the first three days of the ground-incursion and their families. I can’t quite describe how I feel upon leaving the hospital. I want very much to write this immediately, while driving back to Tel Aviv. However, I am finding it difficult to choke back the tears; so many young lives in peril, others lost, some families hoping against hope while others thank God for their good fortune – while others are utterly devastated. I have to write this now because every detail of every soldier and his family is precious, and I know that if I wait until this evening to write this entry, details will be missed. In reading my documentation of, and reflections upon, some of my hospital visits today, readers should know that I will take great care to avoid discussing anything that might be too personal on the part of the soldiers or their families while, at the same time, I will try my best to enable you to gain a sense of the impact of my visits this afternoon; quite likely, the visits made a greater impact upon me than they did upon those with whom I visited.

Li-El, 20 years old and married just about one year ago, remains in critical condition. He hasn’t regained consciousness since he was first hit by a mortar shell fired by Hamas Terrorists last Saturday evening, sustaining severe head injuries. His father, Effie, speaks (in Hebrew) of the miracles that have graced his son, his only son, to remain alive; hope remains. When he was hit by enemy fire, the company-doctor was nearby and aided him immediately. His evacuation was tended to with clockwork precision. His doctors at the hospital went to work without delay. Effie prayed for his son; one tear slowly rolled down the side of his left cheek; he didn’t notice – he hadn’t slept in over two days, as he sat either with his son, or outside his son’s room, with his entire family. Effie told me that he believes that God wants the Jewish People to live freely and safely in Israel and that his son believes this too. Effie lamented that Israel had learned far too little from the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and northern Israel in 2006. He asked rhetorically, with both sadness and frustration, “Why does Israel have to go to lengths any greater than any other country to protect the civilians of the enemy? Why not conduct war as others do so, like the Russians, the Americans, and others? Why risk the lives of young men like Li-El by utilizing ground-forces and having them engage an enemy sworn to kill them, street to street and house to house? Is Jewish blood cheaper than any other blood?” I had no answers. I just held his hand and listened. My heart was slowly tearing; I felt that Effie was right, and he knew that I felt that he was right, but there was nothing really nothing that I could say in response that would helpful to him – or help Li-El. Effie’s cousin was sitting nearby. He started chanting Psalm 127, asking for God’s intervention on Li-El’s behalf. Effie and I joined him, briefly – this could help us all.

Then, Effie seemed suddenly to recall that I had said that I was from Los Angeles when I introduced myself at the outset of my visit: “Koby Bryant!” he exclaimed, “My son and I haven’t missed one game – my son, whenever he’s home from the army, of course – even the game last year when the Lakers lost to the Celtics by 40 points!” For those who know better than others my own sports-team preferences, no, I did not share that I am a Celtics fan. Effie asked that we exchange phone numbers. We did so. He asked that I call to inform him in advance of my next visit to Israel; we agreed that the three of us – Effie, me, and Li-El – would get together to watch a Lakers’ game upon my next visit. With God’s help, we will do so. I asked for his boy’s name; Li-El Hoshea Ha-Kohen BAT Miriam. He made certain that I understood that the name Hoshea implies by its meaning that God will save his son. His wife, silent throughout my visit until this moment, asked me to include in my prayers only her son, and not her, or Effie, or anyone else in the family – all she needed was for God to take care of her boy. Li-El’s wife sat silently throughout the visit, dazed and exhausted. As I left the room, I felt the deepest, sharpest pain in my soul that I recall having ever felt in my life. Li-El Hoshea Ha-Kohen BAT Miriam – God, if there is a prayer in this world that you might hear right now, please, God, hear the prayers of Li-El’s parents, his wife, and his family; please hear this prayer.

Oren, 20 years old and single, was hit by shrapnel. He assured me, as he assured himself, that he would be fine. His injuries were minor, he said. They weren’t quite as minor as he would want to believe, though the prognosis was a good one. Oren was surrounded by boys and girls of the IDF and volunteer-visitors from the Be’er Sheva area. They were keeping him company, keeping his spirits up. His spirits were high, but it will still be a few days before he goes home to continue to recover and to begin to rehabilitate his arm and leg. All he wanted was to get well enough, quickly enough, to rejoin his unit and continue to defend Israel’s men, women, and children against Hamas; aside from Li-El, who would likely have felt similarly, this was the sentiment among all of the soldiers with whom I visited; they are proud and they feel a great sense of responsibility to one another, to their fellow soldiers, to their country, and to the Jewish People. As Oren shared, and as had been shared by so many soldiers throughout the week, he has no choice but to return to battle when he is able to do so; he is fighting to protect his own family and his home from people who want to kill him and destroy Israel. As he concluded, “we are fighting a war in our own backyard, not thousands of miles away from home – if we lose, we won’t have a home!”

As I walked toward my fifth visit, I ran into Chana outside the room. She was holding the hand of a soldier’s wife, giving her comfort and strength. I asked her if she was from the area. She explained that she is from the north of Israel; Be’er Sheva is in the south. I asked her what brought her down south. In a kind, comforting voice, she explained: She had lost her older son in the summer of 2006 during Hezbollah’s war against Israel, launched from Lebanon. Now, her younger son is serving in Gaza, just two years later. Coming down to stay in the south of the country allows her to be closer to the one son whom she has left. Visiting soldiers in the hospital and comforting their parents and families, gives her something to do and makes use of the pain that she felt while her eldest child was in the hospital before he died. Chana is truly a Jewish Hero, of enormous proportions. Room after room, her hugs and soft words aided and comforted the parents of children who had been wounded in battle. Chana is my hero today, along with each of the boys that I visited.

Yo-ad, Yarit, and Maxim were all wounded at the same time. They were admitted together to the hospital and they were given one large room to share after their initial recoveries from surgery, respectively. Maxim was outside in the hallway when I arrived. He is one of Israel's fastest track-runners. His left hand was injured by shrapnel. As a Lone-Soldier (a soldier in the IDF without immediate family in Israel), it was inspiring to see, and most comforting to him to have, his "adoptive" Israeli family at his side, helping to raise his spirits and help with his care.

Yo-ad's wounds required greater intervention to ensure that his right arm will regain proper and full function. Without going into greater detail, with God's help and with rigorous rehabilitation, Yo-ad will recover, hopefully fully, though the recovery will take time and it won't be easy. What struck me about Yo-ad most immediately was that, from the moment I walked into his area of the room, he was my host. It was as though Yo-ad and I were simply conversing in his living-room. There was something unreal about the hospital surrounding us, as if it were a theater-set. This could only have been so because Yo-ad wanted it to be so; neither his injuries nor the challenges that they would yet pose would define Yo-ad. When I shared with him and his mother that I am a Rabbi from Los Angeles, Yo-ad asked if I knew Yishaya Braverman, who served together with him in the same IDF unit and returned to Los Angeles less than one year ago, after his army service concluded. When I told him that I do know him (Yishaya's father, Rabbi Nachum Braverman, is a colleague of mine in Los Angeles and a fellow supporter of FIDF), he asked that I send Drishat Shalom to his buddy, love and regards that I so look forward to sharing personally (Yishaya, if you are following this blog, please know that I will be back on Thursday night and will call you then - I don't have your number or your email here with me). Yo-ad's mother then explained that the family-ties run even deeper, as her husband is the Chief Rabbi of Caesarea and he and Rabbi Braverman are close colleagues and friends as well; Olam Katan -- it is indeed a small world. As Jews, we might well have only 2 to 3 degrees of separation. After all, we are truly a very small family. Yo-ad will recover. He is a strong young man, with a big heart. With God's blessings, his recovery will be a complete one.

Yarit's family was simply surprised and elated to receive a visitor from abroad. While Yarit did not want to speak at length (he was tired from the numerous local visitors who had been with him all day!), his mother took me aside. She told me that Yarit is a kind and loving boy, that he is frustrated that he got hurt because he feels that by not being with his unit he isn’t helping them. There was probably very little that I could have said to Yarit that could have helped to ease his frustration. I told him that we were all proud of him – all of us -- and that he carried every Jewish person with him into battle as he fought to save Jewish lives from Hamas. He smiled, for a brief moment, and then he closed his eyes and rested.

There were other beautiful, wonderful, inspiring soldiers and families with whom I met this afternoon. Don’t think for a moment that their stories are any less compelling. I simply have nothing left within myself to draw upon to write any longer; I’m drained, and my soul aches.

Please God, heal them now.

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

2009/1/5 -- DAY #9: News From The Front …

Today was a day of phone calls and meetings in Tel Aviv. Conversations with unofficial but reliable sources indicated that the fighting in Gaza is fierce, but, that the IDF is achieving its aims on the battlefield. At this point, much of the fighting is taking place street to street and house to house. A confirmed and then published report indicated that one Golani soldier was lured into a tunnel by Hamas gunmen and only avoided being kidnapped by virtue of his heroic self-defense in a dire situation. Still, Hamas reported that two Israeli soldiers were indeed kidnapped. Thank God, this announcement proved to be false. Unofficial sources speculated that Hamas was simply engaging further in psychological warfare, in typical fashion, aimed at demoralizing and striking fear in the hearts of the young men of the IDF. Other sources speculated that Israel’s successful thrusts into the IDF had sufficiently cut-off communications between Hamas terrorists and their command and control that some among the Hamas leadership in Gaza might actually have thought erroneously that Hamas had indeed kidnapped two soldiers. Either way, the important news for Israelis and for the families of all IDF soldiers defending Israel against Hamas attacks was that the reports of the kidnappings were incorrect. Meanwhile, reports do indicate that Israel has indeed captured several Hamas terrorists, another sign of the superb work being done by the IDF.

As for Israel’s southern cities, they continue to bear the brunt of Hamas’ deadly and treacherous missile-fire, as they have so endured such abuse for eight years running. Long-range fire appears to be decreasing but, just as Hamas has not yet fired the anti-tank weapons that they are believed to have, the IDF is said to believe that Hamas may be holding back some of their longer-range missile capabilities for a later point in the war.

Anti-Israel rallies and demonstrations throughout western-Europe and elsewhere are leaving Israelis rightfully shocked and stunned. Virtually every Israeli with whom I speak shares his or her disbelief that the world cannot understand that anyone killed in Gaza is being sacrificed needlesly by Hamas, and is truly being killed by their own leadrship and their misiles, given that the Israeli initiative would never have commenced, and would certainly stop, if Hamas would simply stop firing their missiles, mortars, and guns and agree not to commence again such clear violations of all human decency and illegality according to any proper reading of international Law.

Meetings with various providers related to this coming summer’s Ner Tamid sponsored trips to Israel are productive, as plans move forward for two exciting and meaningful trips.

News of additional wounded and the possibility of up to four soldiers killed trickles in at this late hour. I hope and pray that I’ll wake up to the news that these reports are incorrect, as well.

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

2009/1/4 -- DAY #8c: Israel’s Air Force

My final stop of the day was at the Ramat David Air Force Base, in Israel’s northern region. Visiting in my capacity as the Chairman of the Rabbinic Cabinet of The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the meeting included a briefing on the development of the base and its operations, opportunities to meet with pilots and ground-crews, watching several take-offs and landings, and gaining an up-close and personal understanding of the lengths to which Israel’s Air Force goes to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians. Palestinian civilians are called more than 5 minutes in advance of an attack on every populated structure that houses terrorists or weapons-caches, to ensure that they have ample opportunity to avoid injury or worse. When compared to the 15 seconds that most residents in Israel’s south have to find shelter when Israeli alarms signal that incoming Hamas missiles are headed toward their intended civilian targets, one understands how very much Israelis would appreciate the very five-minute warning that Israel gives to Palestinian civilians. However, Hamas won’t oblige, because its very intent is to injure, maim, and murder Israeli civilians.

The courage and humanity of Israel’s pilots and other Air Force Personnel was stunning. I confess that I do not know whether I share their sympathy right now for the very Palestinian civilians who elected a Hamas government knowing full well that it intended to wage a war of terror upon Israel. Still, who we are as Jews, and who Israel is as a Jewish state, depends upon the choice to be as humane and loving as possible, even when the cost to Israel, its soldiers, and its civilians might grow greater as a consequence; we must always remember that civilians and soldiers are the targets of the Hamas missiles that will be utilized, and the personnel who will be alive to launch them, when the Air Force doesn’t strike.

Today ends with the news that one combat soldier of the Golani Brigade has been killed. It is a sad day for Israel, although the defensive initiative in the south is progressing very well, as it appears. Israel’s heart grieves with one family tonight; may tomorrow bring with it peace and quiet – for all of Israel.

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