Redeeming G-d
Rosh Hashanah, First Day
September 27, 2003
Two years ago, four planes were hijacked on what began
as a beautiful September day, far too many innocent lives were
lost, we and our country we have not been the same since. I
would ask you how that day had or has affected you. Many
Americans have been profoundly affected by this terrible
tragedy on our shores, less than a hundred miles from here,
in our State and near our nation's capital. For myself, I have
found my relationship with G-d affected in a number of ways
and I have found my definition of myself as a religious person
affected.
I have felt these past two years that even more than
four planes were hijacked on that horrible September day. G-d
was hijacked that day and G-d is being held hostage. This is
not the first time G-d has been hijacked in human history and
it won't be the last. This is not a new story but it has
happened again now and it has been weighing on me these past
24 months. I am a firm believer that talking through an issue
is helpful. I have chosen this intimate gathering of some 1300
of those who are most dear to me to talk through this issue.
My goal is to redeem G-d and in ways find myself as well.
The diabolical masterminds and perpetrators of these
heinous terrorist crimes view themselves as devoutly religious
men. They are described by others as religious, fundamentalist
Muslims. They massacre others in the name of Allah and believe
they are doing G-d's will. More than they believe, they know
without a doubt they are doing G-d's will. You can see how
horribly dangerous it is for men to have such a fundamental
faith that they believe they know what G-d wants and that G-d
wants them to terrorize, torture and murder? I have viewed
myself as religious but if they are called religious, call me
something else. We should not use the same word for what they,
and you and I believe in. When they murder they call out in
celebration Allah Akhbar - G-d is great. That is not G-d as I
know or want to know G-d. I want a relationship with G-d, but
with one universal G-d of all humanity who does not delight in
such barbarous acts. That is how Judaism understands G-d. It
may be hard however, to find G-d now. G-d has been hijacked
and is being held hostage. A core commandment of our
tradition is known as Pidyon Shivuyim the redeeming of
captives. Whenever a Jew was taken captive it was the
responsibility of the Jewish community, even at great expense,
to save that individual. G-d has been hijacked by the most
vicious circles and it is our responsibility to redeem a
captive G-d.
As I said, this is not a new story. G-d has been
hijacked before and held captive by others who saw themselves
as equally religious. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the
Crusaders, Christians marched through Europe to the Holy Land
to redeem Jerusalem from the Muslim infidels. That is their
term. Every one is infidels in the others' eyes. Well, that's
between the Christians and Muslims and best for us to stay out
of it. We don't need to pick sides but on the way to the Holy
Land the Crusaders scored points by saving Jewish souls and
converting us to their way. Their methods were somewhat heavy
handed. They held a sword in one hand and an invitation in the
other and thousands of us were slaughtered because we weren't
so interested in being saved, in fact we refused. If this
were the only such episode in our history it would be too much
but there were others. It happened again a few centuries later
in Spain during the Inquisition and the expulsion and at other
times in other places by those who believed they had a
monopoly on knowing G-d's will. G-d was on their side and
against all others. G-d has been hijacked many times
throughout human history by those who felt that they have an
intimate and exclusive relationship. G-d is again waiting to
be redeemed.
Elie Wiesel has said that as painful as it has been for
us to be a victim throughout our history, better that we have
been the victim and not the victimizer during the past two
thousand years. Now, great religious institutions review their
history and realize that their beliefs have led to human
suffering and especially Jewish suffering. Pope John Paul II
and others rightly ask for our forgiveness for a theology that
resulted in Jewish suffering and provided fertile ground in
Europe for the Holocaust to happen. The Catholic Church's and
other church's request for forgiveness is remarkable and
welcomed, and as they reach out to us we should reach back. It
may not be forgiveness that we can offer, how can we forgive
on behalf of the souls of those slaughtered throughout the
ages, but as we establish new relationships of respect,
understanding and trust we work together to redeem G-d.
Just two weeks ago, we commemorated the second
anniversary of 9/11. Days after the tragedies of 9/11
happened, we said that maybe America now understands what
Israel has been living with but I don't think we do. For us,
September 11 this year was a commemoration of what happened
two years ago and thankfully not since. In Israel, the week of
the 11th, this year, more lives were lost in more suicide
bombings. It was the 100th suicide bombing since this intifada
began. David Applebaum, an emergency room physician, also an
Orthodox rabbi was killed that week in Jerusalem along with
his daughter Nava who was to be married the following day. Dr.
Applebaum, a religious Jew, was committed to saving lives, not
only Jewish live, lives. A teaching of the Talmud reads "One
who saves a single life, it is as if he saved a whole world."
Lenny Rubin, an officer of our synagogue and an emergency room
physician at Abington Hospital met Dr. Applebaum at Shaare
Zedek hospital last year. Lenny told me that when he entered
the emergency room, he saw the room filled Palestinians as
well as Jews. The hospital does not discriminate. Dr.
Applebaum saved many, many Palestinian lives. He comes from a
tradition that teaches "Choose life." His is the G-d we have
to redeem. His killer comes from a tradition that glorifies
death. His family could not have been more proud of him as
thousands celebrated in the streets of Gaza chanting Allah
Akhbar. They believe he has assured his place in heaven along
with 70 virgins awaiting his entrance. I'd like to see the
look of disappointment on his face. They have hijacked G-d and
religion and both are waiting to be redeemed.
Two years ago, Janie and I stood on the ground where
G-d had been hijacked more than any other time or place in
human history. Janie's father survived living there for two
years. We were at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. For Janie it
was a personal pilgrimage to go back to that place where those
numbers were placed on her father's arm and most in his family
perished. We stood in the barracks unchanged in 60 years. We
saw the crematoria and the gas chambers. Where was G-d then
and there? Our Talmudic rabbis spoke of the idea of Hastarat
Panim, G-d hiding G-dself. G-d was never more hidden than
during these horrible years but perhaps it was man not G-d
hiding Him. What is our response today?
Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz, writes in his
book Night that one day all of the inmates were forced to walk
outside and view a child who had been hung that day. He writes
that day, he saw G-d hanging from that tree. And so is G-d
dead? When I had the opportunity to sit with Elie Wiesel at
dinner before he spoke here some years ago, we spoke about his
belief in G-d. I asked him about those lines about G-d
hanging from the tree. Did he think G-d was dead? He told me
he had never stopped believing but it took some time for him
to reestablish his relationship with G-d. Elie Wiesel
dedicated his life to writing and redeeming G-d and was so
recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize. Peace redeems G-d. That
day, two summers ago in Auschwitz, I put on my Tallit and
Tephillin and prayed and recited the. I was alone at that
moment but I knew I had a Minyan and more of souls with me to
recite the Kaddish prayer. Peaceful and loving prayer redeems
G-d. As we were driving back to Prague from Poland that day,
Janie said to me "they took so much from us, from my father
there, they cannot take my belief in G-d as well." Janie
learned well from her father who survived that terrible night
and yet maintained a deep and loving faith in G-d, a love for
Torah and the synagogue. In the Spielberg Shoah tape that
Janie's father made, we've listed to him over and over again
say in his accented voice "People say to me how can you
believe in G-d? But I do. They say you are fooling yourself. I
say maybe I am but I believe in G-d. That is what has kept
me alive."
Judaism, the first great monotheistic faith, never
hijacked G-d for ourselves. We don't believe we have a
monopoly on G-d. A central teaching of Judaism says, "The
righteous of all nations of the world have a place in the
world to come." You don't need to be Jewish to enjoy Levy's
rye bread or to find favor in G-d's eyes. You don't have to
believe exactly like us. Isn't that an amazing thought for a
religion to have? You have to be a righteous person. Noah was
righteous and Noah came before there was Judaism. We therefore
don't actively save souls. Did you ever meet a Jewish
missionary. We don't missionize. We remain a quantitatively
small and yet a qualitatively great people. This is one of the
many reasons why the world needs to hear our voice. It is the
voice of respect for others. We, the discoverers of
monotheism, have never taken G-d captive for ourselves. We
don't call others the infidels. The prophets make the point
repeatedly that G-d cares not only for the Jewish people but
for Assyrians, Ethiopians and others. When we have thought
otherwise, the prophets admonish us.
In very different ways, G-d is taken captive by those who
believe they have an exclusive claim on knowing G-d's will.
This past summer, I followed with great interest the debate in
the Episcopal Church in America about the choice of a gay
priest Gene Robinson to be the Bishop of New Hampshire. The
conservative elements in the church threatened to leave the
Episcopal Church if the Rev. Robinson were confirmed as
Bishop. They repeatedly said "It's not G-d's will to have a
gay Bishop. They say it's not G-d's will to have a gay priest
and they say not G-d's will that two gay persons who love
each other live together in some kind of sacred committed
union. How do they know G-d's will so well? I hear a tone of
arrogance
whenever I hear someone begin a sentence "G-d's will is...."
Should two Jewish gay individuals in love who are committed to
each other be afforded a religious commitment ceremony by
their rabbi? Should an avowed gay individual be permitted to
become a rabbi? In the Reform and Reconstructionist Movement
the answer today is yes if they are otherwise qualified. In
the Orthodox world this will happen just after women are
counted in the Minyan. This is one of the most pressing issue
for our movement, the Conservative Movement in Judaism today.
I was rooting for Bishop Robinson. I was happy that he was
chosen and confirmed. From the little I learned about him, he
seems like a good man, caring, compassionate. I don't know
exactly what G-d's will is on this issue. I don't think those
conservative voices really know any better than I do. They
know their own opinion, they ascribe it to G-d and G-d again
is held hostage.
This summer I read Walter Isaacson's biography of Ben
Franklin. Isaacson says Franklin was during his 84 year long
life, America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer and
business strategist. Towards the end of Franklin's life after
serving as our first ambassador to France, he was elected a
few times as governor, they called it president of
Pennsylvania. On July 4th 1788 he was too ill to attend the
parade on Market Street. He watched it from his bedroom window
and in his diary he wrote "the clergy of different Christian
denominations, with the rabbi of the Jews, walked arm in
arm." Franklin contributed to the building campaigns of every
church in Philadelphia and the one synagogue Mikveh Israel to
which he contributed 5 pounds in April 1788. Towards the end
of his life Franklin wrote "I believe in one G-d, Creator of
the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He
ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we
render to Him is doing good to his other children." That is
the G-d Franklin believed in, that is the G-d I believe in.
That is the G-d waiting to be redeemed by us. Franklin knew
about redeeming G-d.
There is a beautiful Kabbalist understanding of the
recitation of the Kaddish. When we recite Kaddish after the
passing of a loved one we say Yitgadal V'Yitkadash Shmey Rabah,
Magnified and sanctified is G-d's name. It is a prayer of
praise to G-d at the time of the loss of a loved one. How, why
would we praise G-d at this time? The Kabbalists say that
while we mourn the death of a loved one, G-d too grieves. In
response to G-d's grief, we offer words of praise, words of
comfort. G-d comforts us and we comfort G-d. Yes, G-d Who is
seen as omnipotent, omniscient is in need of us. At times in
need of our comfort. Now that some have hijacked and taken G-d
captive, G-d is in need of being redeemed. I am in need of
affirming a G-d of tolerance, love, compassion and
understanding.
How do we redeem G-d? Some might say if we could only
live in a world that has moved beyond religion that separates
us, we would live in a better world. That is not my answer.
There is so much else that could and would separate us as
well, race, national borders, more. There is a need for those
of us, committed to our own religious traditions and
respectful, tolerant, appreciative of others to have our
voices heard. When I sit with clergy of other faiths in the
Northampton, Southampton and Wrightstown Ministerium that is a
small act of redeeming G-d. When we are committed to our own
faith and the future of our people and are respectful,
tolerant, understanding of others and they of us, together we
redeem G-d in a very big way.
I hope when you leave the synagogue today you walk out
with a feeling of love for yourself, for your family, for the
Jewish people and for all good people in the world. The idea
of love dispersing from this Sanctuary is what I think
religion should be. That is how we redeem G-d. Others have
hijacked G-d and G-d is waiting for our act of redemption. In
our morning and evening service, each day, we recite the
blessing Barukh Atah Adon-ai Ga-al Yisrael. Praised are You O
G-d, redeemer of Israel. And praised are those who in their
love, understanding, respect and faith redeem G-d. Amen
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