"Never Mind"
D'var
Torah: Behar-Bechukotai
May 15, 2009
It took reading it in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on line that I learned that President Obama declared May as Jewish American Heritage month. Did you know that this is Jewish American Heritage month? I didn’t. Is someone keeping it a secret? The purpose of Jewish American Heritage month,as Haaretz explained, is to promote the accomplishments of Jewish Americans and the great contributions that Jewish Americans make to the United States. Now that we know this is Jewish Heritage month, what should we do to celebrate?
I think I'll pass. As I read the article, I found my own reaction to be less than luke warm. As I think about it more, I can see positive elements to it but I remain not all that excited about it. Do we need a designated month to promote our contributions to our country? Let our accomplishments speak for themselves. The need for a Presidential Proclamation seems to speak to a perceived need for this public promotion of our accomplishments. I don’t feel this need. I am not a fan of self promotion. Let our deeds personally and communally speak for themselves. Let our great contributions in the fields of literature, science, medicine, music, comedy stand on their own. On the other hand, as I think about this more and the constant concern of anti-Semitism growing in our midst, and the contributions in the world of finance of the likes of Bernard Madoff, maybe a reminder of how we have helped to build our country since the first Jews landed in New Amsterdam in 1654 is not such a bad idea. I'm still less than luke warm.
Something in the language of the proclamation curbs my enthusiasm. It is the usage of the term "Jewish American" throughout the document. Are you a Jewish American? Am I? Well, I am Jewish and I am an American, born and raised in this great country but I don’t see myself as a Jewish American. I am an American and I am Jewish but my being Jewish is so important to me that it is more than an adjective that modifies what kind of an American I am. I, in fact, don’t like the term Jewish American.
A well worn values clarification is the discussion of whether we are Jewish Americans or American Jews. On first glance there may not seem to be any difference and they may be interchangeable but my reaction to the term Jewish American makes it clear to me that there is a difference. I would refer to myself as an American Jew.
In discussing this Wednesday evening in Confirmation Class, we discussed what is a more powerful word, a noun or an adjective. The weight of opinion is a noun. I don’t want my Jewishness to be reduced to an adjective. I am a Jew. I am Jewish. Period. My Jewishness doesn’t comment on the type of American I am. I also mentioned to the class that in all of the hyphenated American, African-American, Polish-American, Italian-American,Irish-American, these Americans no longer live in the land of theirpre hyphen modifier but our being Jewish is not a relic of the past that we have left in coming to America. Our being Jewish is a living, dynamic part of our being. I somehow feel much more comfortable seeing myself as an American Jew.
When Janie and I attended the opening ceremony of the Maccabi games in Tel Aviv four years ago, we cheered the loudest when the Stars and Stripes were carried in by the American athletes. In Israel, we were proud to identify loudly as Americans. Here, in America, where it is given I am an American citizen along with hundreds of millions of others, I find myself most loudly identifying as a Jew.
While I find myself supportive of much of President Obama’s agenda, I oddly enough found myself parting company with the President proclaiming for, whatever his reasons, Jewish Heritage Month. As I did a bit of research which means going into Google, I learned that President Obama did not introduce this Jewish Heritage Month. The month of May was first proclaimed by President George Bush in May 2006. It doesn’t seem to have become a big hit in the past few years but President Obama re-proclaimed this Jewish Heritage Month.
I read the actual proclamation and was quite impressed. It was penned by someone who clearly has an understanding of Judaism. It is in fact, besides the repeated use of Jewish American, a wonderful document until the very last paragraph. Here, read this last paragraph yourself. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
How did the phrase “in the year of our Lord” become part of this Proclamation. Ouch! This hurts. In the very document which celebrates the contributions of the Jewish community, the very year is placed within a Christian context. The words year of our Lord don't belong in any government document. That these words are included in this document praising the Jewish community, is just dumb and dumber.
And one more thing. If the author of this proclamation were smart and smarter, (s)he would have written in this very week of this proclamation, "the Torah portion read in synagogues in all fifty states of our great country includes the words of Leviticus 25:10 “Proclaim liberty throughout the world unto all the inhabitants thereof.” It is these words that are inscribed on the Liberty Bell housed in Philadelphia, the cradle of our nation’s founding. With these words the great bond between the United States of America and its Jewish citizens was forged and that bond has grown stronger and deeper since that bell first rang."
I did a bit more research - googled again - and found that just about everyone has a Heritage Month. Best known is African American History Month in February. There is also Native American Month, Italian American Month, Polish American Month and on and on and now we have, whether we want it or not, a Jewish American Heritage Month. Outside of the African American History Month, these other months have faded into oblivion just as they got started. When I discovered this in my extensive research, I could only think of those immortal words from the late Gilda Radner in the role of the elderly hard of hearing Emila Litella on Saturday Night Live "Never Mind!"
Shabbat Shalom,
