There is no generic teaching.  That is the problem I have with such government mandated programs as FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test).  Every student must pass the same test to be promoted or to graduate.  What of the student who is a unique learner, unable to take such a test but able to assimilate material in other ways?  When we insist that every child be the same, we lose our effectiveness as teachers.

The same problem is right here in our synagogue, where we expect the same performance and the same amount of training for every bar and bat mitzvah.  There are youngsters who are capable of doing more and those not as capable.  There are those with stronger Hebrew skills and those with less skill.  There are youngsters who need more tutoring and those who can get along with less.  There are youngsters who embrace the bar/bat mitzvah experience and those who are indifferent to it.  But the one thing that is true, every youngster is unique.  Only by seeing and embracing each child=s uniqueness can we run a truly meaningful bar/bat mitzvah program.

The lessons from the Passover Seder can be carried into life.  We must see the uniqueness of every child, and every adult for that matter.  We must listen and seek to understand.  If each of our children were exactly the same, then they would be redundant.  I urge parents, at Passover and throughout the year, to look carefully at each of their children.  What makes each one unique and special in the eyes of God?  How can we tell the story of our people to each particular child?

The key question every parent of every faith needs to ask is -  how can I embrace the uniqueness of each child God has sent me to raise?

PESACH

(5763)

PHARAOH’S PUBLIC RELATIONS

“We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.”

                                                            (Passover Haggada)

            Five plagues had passed, with five more still to come.  Moses was winning the great battle between God and pharaoh.  Not only the Israelites but even the Egyptians were becoming fans of Moses.  He was winning over the hearts and minds of the people.  Soon they would not only tell the Israelites to leave their country, they would send them out with gifts of gold and silver and precious clothes.

            All would be lost, unless Pharaoh took action.  And Pharaoh knew precisely what to do.  He hired the leading Public Relations Consultant in the entire Cairo area.  He would turn public opinion around, proclaim Pharaoh’s side to the world.  Budget was no object; Pharaoh could afford the best publicity money could buy.

            So Abdul, the founder of the Nile Public Relations Consultants met with Pharaoh.  He came with a whole list of ideas, and was ushered quickly into the throne room for his meeting with the king of Egypt.  So began a great public relations campaign.

            Abdul began, “First, we have to make it clear that Egyptians were here first.  It’s the Israelites who are intruders on our land.  Who told them to come here?  And who told them to be fruitful and multiply like rabbits, becoming a threat to the native born people of the land.  This is our land, and if they want to be here they must live by our rules.

            “In spite of their alien presence here, we Egyptians allowed them to participate in the greatest building project in the history of the world - the pyramids.  Some day these buildings will be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the only one still standing thousands of years from now.  These Israelites ought to be proud of their work, not bringing blood and frogs and insects onto us.

            “The Israelites were given every opportunity to assimilate and become part of our people.  What do they do?  They hold onto their Hebrew names.  They hold unto their Hebrew language.  They are shepherds, knowing that we Egyptians hate shepherds.  They insist that they are part of some ancient covenant with some god.  They do not recognize that in Egypt you Pharaoh are god.  Why do they have to keep themselves separate, instead of being like everybody else.

            “Pharaoh, I know that some people are upset because you threw the male children into the river.  But in all honesty, what choice did you have?  When a political leader has no choice, sometimes desperate measures are called for.  History will judge that you did the right thing.  Those Israelite baby boys may seem innocent now, but they will grow up and be a direct threat to you and your kingdom.  We must portray you as a decisive leader, willing to make the tough decisions necessary for the welfare of your people.”

            So the public relations campaign began.  Ads appeared in the major newspapers on behalf of Pharaoh.  Demonstrations began on college campuses.  Leading celebrities, actors and actresses, spoke out in favor of Pharaoh and against the Israelites and their plagues.  And in the end Pharaoh might have won the battle for the hearts and minds of the people.  Except one final plague hit, the slaying of the first born.  Every Egyptian home was bereaved.  But the plague passed over the Israelite homes, homes with blood on the door.  And the people realized in their sadness, right and wrong, good and evil, are not based on who has the greatest public relations budget.  When one human being is a slave master and the other is a slave, when one is the oppressor and the other is the oppressed, then one is the good guy and one is the bad guy.  Wisdom is the ability to tell the difference.

PESACH

(5762)

DID IT REALLY HAPPEN?

“You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time.”                                       (Exodus 12:17)

Last year on Pesach a prominent Los Angeles Conservative Rabbi said in a sermon that the exodus did not really happen as the Bible portrays it.  This created a storm of controversy both in the local and national press.  Opponents wrote that the rabbi was undermining the faith of Judaism.  Why celebrate Passover at all if the exodus did not happen as reported?  Supporters wrote, on the other hand, that Judaism must stand on historical and scientific truth. 

As I read both sides in this debate, I found it very difficult to become passionate about either side.  I never thought the exodus story was literally true, anymore than I think the story of creation at the beginning of Genesis is literally true.  The Bible is not a book of history, science, or archeology; it is a book of faith which offers profound insights about the relationship between humanity and God.  And whatever the actual events of the exodus were, deep in my heart I believe the essential truth remains.  Once upon a time we were slaves, today we are free.  And God had a hand in that redemption that brought us from slavery to freedom.

Perhaps I need to explain this idea further.  Scientists today speak about emergent properties.  These are properties of an object that make it greater than the parts.  For example, the brain is made up of hundreds of thousands of interconnected neurons.  Each individual neuron can be studied and described.   We cannot see the mind in any one or even any small set of neurons.  Only when we put all these neurons together does the mind emerge.  The mind is an emergent property of the brain.  So it is throughout the universe that properties emerge, that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Emergent properties also occur if we study history.  A number of individual events takes place.  Water turns to blood; maybe it was real blood or maybe simply a red algae.  (I grew up in Los Angeles, where we often had such red tides where the ocean turned red.)  Frogs multiplied in the land.  A plague struck and killed many prominent first born sons, including the son of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.  An Israelite man who grew up in Pharaoh’s household had the clout to become the chief agitator for freedom. A number of individual events occurred, none of which seem to reflect the hand of God.

Put them all together, however, and suddenly a vision emerges.  These are more than random events, just as the mind is more than a bunch of connected neurons.  Put them together and suddenly we see the hand of God.

Our tradition teaches that miracles are not separate from nature.  Rather, miracles are actually built into nature.  This is the meaning of the passage in Avot (The Ethics of the Father) that “Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath (of Creation) at twilight.” (the passage continues with ten miracles mentioned in the Bible.  (Avot 5:8) Miracles are not God changing nature, but rather are built into nature itself.  We look at natural events, step back, and say “God did this with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”

This view of God’s role in the unfolding events fits into the modern scientific paradigm.  Until Einstein, scientists were reductionists, attempting to understand the universe by breaking it down into its smallest parts.  The whole was simply the sum of the parts.  After Einstein, scientists realize that the whole is far more than the parts.  Reductionism no longer works.  We cannot understand the human soul by studying individual neurons. And we cannot understand God’s role in history by studying individual events.  Only by taking the broader view can we see God’s role in history, that it was God who brought us out of Egypt.  That is what we celebrate on Passover.

SEVENTH DAY PESACH

(5761)

VICTIMS AND OPPRESSORS

“In every generation a person must view themselves as if they were redeemed from Egypt.”

                                                                                    (The Passover Haggada)

            Our local newspaper, the Fort Lauderdale (Florida) Sun Sentinel carried a large front page story the morning of Passover.   It featured a picture of Rabbi David Steinhardt, a prominent local rabbi, and a series of examples on how various groups both Jewish and non Jewish, are reliving the Passover redemption.  The ancient story of the Israelites exodus from Egypt became the paradigm for various modern exodus movements.  The article quotes Rabbi Steinhardt as saying that the story of the Exodus - the misery of bondage and the glory of liberation - “is part of our root experience as Jews, and is the single most important event in our history.  It has shaped who we are as a people.” 

            The article focused on three groups seeking liberation today, the efforts of the black community to overcome slavery and discrimination, the efforts of women to achieve equality, and the efforts of gays to be accepted by society.  The article spoke of the prominent role of Jews in each of these great liberation movements, as well as other quests for social justice.  The article implied that the Passover seder is not simply about an ancient family ritual, but is an invitation to modern political activism.  The thrust of the article is that the leftest leanings of most Jews grows directly from the story of our Exodus.

            There is certainly some truth to this.  Yet, to apply the ancient story of our slavery and redemption from Egypt to modern liberation movements raises some troubling questions.  Who plays the role of the Israelites and who are the Egyptians today?  Who are the victims and who are the oppressors?   If people of color are the Israelites, the victims,  then whites are the Egyptians, the oppressors.  If women are the victims, then men are the oppressors.  If gays are the victims, then straights are the oppressors.  As a white, male, heterosexual, it is easy to be labeled the oppressor.  And I have heard the words “racist,” “sexist,” and “homophobic” thrown around too often.  I have seen too many people claiming to be victims, saying that they could succeed if only we could overcome the oppressors.

            Are blacks victims?  Certainly there is a long history of using the Exodus story for inspiration in overcoming discrimination.  From the early spirituals sung among slaves to Martin Luther King Jr.’s rhetoric about crossing the Jordan River to the Promised Land, the Bible gave hope to people who were victims of a society that refused them equal rights.  Racism still exists.  However, today there are prominent voices, both white and black, that are calling for an end to all racial preferences, set asides, and quotas.   I have met many prominent black doctors, lawyers, business people, professors, clergy, and other professions who have made it on their merits and abilities.  Sometimes the most pernicious racism is when people see themselves as victims, as oppressed, as unable to achieve without special set asides and preferences.

            Judaism teaches a color blind view of society.  The Talmud teaches “Every human is descended from the same man [and woman], so that no person can say my father is better than yours.”  (Sanhedrin 4:5).  A modern way of interpreting this Mishnah might be Dr. King’s famous words, that people should be judged “not by the color of their skin but the content of their character.”

            Are women victims?  Feminism has certainly changed how women have viewed their professional opportunities.  Countless professions have opened up for women from medicine to the rabbinate.  Today however, when more women than men attend college, it is hard to picture women as victims. Too often the rhetoric of feminists has become stridently anti-male.  It is hard to forget Gloria Steinem’s famous quip, “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.”  (Much to the dismay of some extreme feminists, Steinem was recently married.)

            Judaism teaches a balance between the masculine and the feminine.  “No man without a woman, no woman without a man, neither without God.”  According to the Kabbalah, the Universe itself is sustained by this balance between the male and the female aspects of God.

            Are gays victims?  The issue of gay liberation is a complex one, and deserves a fuller treatment than I can give here.  Certainly nothing should be done to take away the human dignity of individuals attracted to members of their own sex.  Nonetheless, Judaism still sees heterosexual marriage as a norm for society.                                                

            The Kabbalah understood the exodus story as a redemption from self-imposed victimhood.  The oppressor is not some malevolent outside force.  It is our low expectations of ourselves.  We can bring ourselves from slavery to freedom not by overthrowing the oppressor but by changing our own expectations of ourselves.

                                                                                THE HUMANITY OF OUR ENEMIES

(5760)

            In the haggadah we all said Ele Shebekol Dor vaDor Omdim Aleynu Lecholoteynu In every generation a new enemy arises to destroy us.  There are always a new group of Jew haters waiting in the wings:

            -We finally escape from Egypt, Pharaoh is drowned, and there is Amalek waiting to destroy us.

            -We throw out the Syrian Greeks at Hanukkah and rededicate our Temple, only to have it destroyed by the Romans.

            -We defeat the Nazis and establish a Jewish state after two millennia, only to have Arabs dedicated to its destruction.

            -Here in the United States, we finally live in a land relatively free of antisemitism, only to see Jew hatred rising in Argentina, Russia, and throughout the world.

We Jews seem destined to have enemies.

            How ought we to relate to our enemies?  The New Testament quotes Jesus as saying, "If your enemy come to smite you on the cheek, turn the other cheek."  In other words, don't stand up for your rights when your enemy comes to destroy you.  If we Jews followed Jesus advice, we would have disappeared off the face of the earth centuries ago.

            The Torah says about our enemies, haba lehargecha takum lehargo, If someone comes to destroy you, rise up and destroy them first.  The Torah allows self defense.  The Torah recognizes that there is evil in the world, and that we do not need to tolerate it.

            However, there is another message of the Torah, one that is particularly relevant for these last days of Passover.  Yes we have to defend ourselves.  But we also must recognize the humanity of our enemies.  They too were created in the image of God.

            On Tuesday morning we read in the Torah that if your find a lost object of your enemy you must return it.  That's right, if you find Saddam Hussein's wallet you must return it with all the money intact.  So too, if your enemies ox is burdened under a heavy load, you must lift the load.  Basic ethical laws apply even regarding our enemies.  These laws remind us of their humanity.

            Usually on a holiday we chant the full Hallel, Psalms giving thanks to God for His kindness to us.  Not so the last six days of Pesach.  We shorten Hallel, recognizing that we may have escaped from Egypt, but they had to suffer ten plagues, they drowned in the sea.  For the second of the four cups of wine on Passover, we remove a drop for each plague, diminishing our joy just a bit.  And who can forget the famous passage in Megillot, when the Israelites crossed the sea and the angels on high began singing God's praises.  God rebuked them, "My children are drowning, how can you sing praises."

            Even the Egyptians were God's children.  We Jews do not celebrate our military victories.  Even Hanukkah was changed by the rabbis from the celebration of a victory into the celebration of a miracle.  The haftarah has a decidedly anti-military message, "Not by might and not by power, but rather by My spirit says the Lord."  Military is a necessary evil, but the enemy are still God's creatures.  Or, as the late Golda Meir so beautifully said, "I can forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, I cannot forgive the Arabs for making us into killers."

            How should we relate to our enemy?  Judaism is clear.  "Who is strong?" Avot de Rabbi Natan teaches, "Whoever turns an enemy into a friend."  The Talmud tells the story of Rabbi Meir and his wife Beruriah.  Meir had a vicious enemy that used to stalk him as he walked to the Beit HaMidrash.  Once he stood praying for his enemy's demise.  His wife stopped him, "Don't pray for his death, pray that he change his ways."

            How can we recognize the humanity of our enemy, even when they have been so cruel?  That is a key question.  It is not easy.  But we Jews have always done it.  Take the Nazis, evil incarnate.  They treated Jews as vermin in their quest to kill every one off the face of the earth.  We Jews captured their mastermind, Adolph Eichmann, and placed him on trial.  We would have been justified perhaps treating him as he treated us, gassing him or torturing him.  But we did not.  We protected his human rights as we put him on trial, he was allowed defense counsel and even regular clergy visits.  Justice was done and he was hanged.  But we never took away his humanity.

            What a powerful message for our children and our children's children.  The worst enemy the Jewish people have ever known was treated like a human being.  Just as we never forget that Pharaoh was a human being, even if a highly deluded one.

            Passover is ending.  Next week is Yom HaShoah, when we remember the destruction of six million Jews.  A week later is Yom Atzmaut, the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel.  These are major events that ought to be commemorated and celebrated.

            As we celebrate Israel's anniversary, we ought to remember that the Palestinians too are God's creatures, created in His image.  Certainly Israel ought to do what is necessary for her security.  I will leave that in the hands of the generals and politicians.  At the same time, any statements that dehumanize the Arabs has not place in Jewish life.

            We Jews have a powerful message to give the world.  It is not love your enemy.  It is not turn the other cheek.  It does allow for self-defense and the meeting of our security needs.  But it says, even as you fight, even as your enemy drowns in the sea, never forget that he or she is also a creature of God, created in the image of the Eternal.