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Message
From The Rabbi
Rosh Hashanah Sermon
207
Rosh
Hashanah Sermon 107
Rosh Hashanah Sermon 5766
Rosh Hashana 207
Almost every rabbinical school student and for that matter every
student who enters the gates of the Jewish Theological Seminary
takes a Jewish Philosophy course with Dr. Neil Gillman.
It is an important part of our development as Conservative
Jewish leaders and teachers. While just
enrolling in this course on its merits was enough there was another
side benefit. Each year regardless of
the exact title of the course Dr. Gillman would ask the most
over-matched looking student to get out of their seat and write the
word god on the white-board at the front of the room.
Now
you are thinking what is the big deal?
Well to some people this simple action speaks volumes about their
own views on god. For example, if you
write “G dash D” you recognize the inherent holiness of the name
itself, and therefore the prohibition of writing of god’s name
regardless of the language. If you write
it out but don’t capitalize, or if you do capitalize you are sending
two very different kinds of messages without knowing.
Dr. Gillman always looked for someone who would write “G
dash D” and then assailed them for being afraid of writing god’s
name in a language, that does not make one guilty of saying or
writing the unmentionable. I must admit
that I often went back to the first day of many of his classes in
which I was not even enrolled just to watch this scene over and over
again.
After the laughter, there were a few important messages that I think
Dr. Gillman was trying to teach all of his students.
To me the most important lesson is that we are sometimes so
afraid that if we talk about god on a real level that we will
somehow be guilty of blasphemy or that we might be struck down by
lightning where we stand. I would say
that the exact opposite is true. As Jews
we need to talk about god as often as possible to articulate our
feelings and ideas as we shape our own personal relationships with
god.
I
must admit something else to you. While
writing this sermon I had some serious moments where I doubted the
existence of god. I was working at home
on a Wednesday afternoon with my beloved Philadelphia Phillies on
the television in the background. The
Phillies were grooving and so was I. One
page, two pages, three pages and it is the eighth inning and the
Phillies are winning 8-2. Well to make a
long story short they lost 9-8 an inning later.
What a difference an hour makes as now I am shouting at the
television and wondering why god has not come through on the deal we
made when I locked myself in the closet during the 1980 world-series
after a Phillies loss. I let myself out,
graduated rabbinical school and still my Phillies have not come
through for me in twenty-seven years.
Seriously though, I often think about what it is that I think about
god. My thoughts and my relationship
with god changes all the time as I change and as my world changes.
The moment that pushed me to think about this more lately and
that led me to speak about it this morning was actually an accident.
I was looking for an old book through some boxes and I found
my personal theological statements from my first and last year of
rabbinical school. Let me say in my
defense that the one from my last year though still lacking is much
better than my one from my first year.
Upon entering school, I wrote that I believe that everything happens
for a reason or at least according to some divine master plan.
I also wrote that the problem of evil is human authored and
that the divine suffers along with humanity when evil triumphs over
good. By itself the previous statement
might not be horrible but in light of the first statement I shared
with you it is at the very least somewhat inconsistent.
As
a student who was three months from ordination I wrote some things
that I still believe. For example, I
think that it is appropriate to be angry and happy with god, that is
to say that in order to have a real relationship with god we need as
humans to be able to express human emotion towards god.
I also wrote that I believe that god has a unique and special
relationship with the Jewish people but that fact does not preclude
god from having unique relationships with people of other faiths.
Our name as the chosen people does not suggest that we were
chosen above someone rather we are chosen to lead special lives.
I
also wrote a few things at the end of school that time and
experience have shown me that I no longer agree with.
I wrote that I think that even the most horrific of tragedies
and the deepest sadness could be overcome with time and the strength
of the community. While I know that they
can be mitigated and that one can even learn to live a productive
life with the grief, I also know that it is never completely
overcome. I also wrote five years ago
that as a rabbi it was important that I be sure of my views on god
to help those in my community who might be having doubts.
Being completely certain of my views on god is not something
that I think is within my capability, and I believe that it is
important that you know that as the rabbi I am constantly struggling
with and changing my own definition of god and my relationship with
god. While I may not have all the
answers, I am committed to joining with you in our exploration and
struggle of all the possible questions and beliefs associated with
the divine.
This is my fourth High Holiday Season at the synagogue, and I figure
it is about time that I speak about god.
The best advice I ever received in terms of choosing sermon topics
was to write what ever I was thinking about in a given year.
I am always thinking about god. I
could probably stand here talk for ever about god but I think it is
fair to say that you deserve a forty-five minute sermon, nothing
more and nothing less.
There are so many aspects of god that I need to explain to fully
articulate my ideas about and my relationship with god.
For me, it comes down to two universal questions about god
and one particular to Judaism. How do we
deal with the problem of evil and the suffering of the innocent in
contrast to the idea that in a perfectly created world there either
would be no evil or only the evil would suffer?
How do we explain the delicate balance between free will and
destiny or a divine pre-ordination of every moment of existence
throughout the past present and future?
How do I explain the covenant between god and the Jewish people, and
what it commands of me when it has probably been broken by both
sides throughout history?
I
am not sure what a perfectly created world would look like, but evil
exists within everyone because it is part of the basic human
make-up. We all have potential within us
for good and evil and that ongoing struggle is the very definition
of what it means to be human. At the
risk of being trite nobody is perfect and part of being human is
being inherently flawed in some way. To
me, it is part of the beauty of creation both initially and in a
daily ongoing fashion. There are many
times when human do good in the face of unimaginable evil, and
unfortunately there are times when the converse is true as well.
But I like to believe that good does outweigh evil, and that
just because some go unpunished for their evil behavior does not
give the rest of us license to just abandon what we know to be good
and right.
If
there is ever a place where I feel inadequate as a rabbi it is in
the face of unspeakable tragedy. A
situation where someone suffers or even dies when clearly
undeserving. But I guess in a way we are
all inadequate in such a situation because none of us can neither
bring the person back nor give a real adequate explanation for their
suffering. All we can do is be there for
the person when they need help getting up or a shoulder to cry on.
There are certain mysteries to the world and god that I guess
we will never understand. Some add to
the splendor of god and others might make us just as angry.
As long as they affect us in some way, spurn us to alter our
course, to me the how is unimportant.
While somewhat unsatisfactory, this explanation is better than
letting the weight of it all break our resolve and by extension our
will to live on.
The
question of free-will is one of the most oft-debated issues
throughout the history of human philosophy.
In many respects it is the basis for every other
philosophical discussion that takes place.
If we have no free will then there is no need to debate why
we exist, what we do, or anything of the sort as we are merely
puppets at the hand of the divine puppeteer.
I think that most people even in a limited capacity believe
in free will in some sense. That is to
say that on some level, human beings either have, or believe that
they have some control over their lives.
Since I am about to speak a little about creation let me at least
take one moment to weigh in on the debate that pits biblical
creation against evolution. I do not
believe that we need to choose one or the other.
We read the bible through our own modern lenses even when we
read it in what might be described as a literal way.
It is difficult even with the text to know exactly what
happened during creation. Evolution is
science based on guesses and hypotheses that could be true but that
are inexact. I do not believe that we
need to choose nor do I believe that believing one way makes one
more or less meaningful for any of its believers.
As
humans we have always thought that we were the greatest creation.
Even if you only ascribe an iota of divine credit to
creation, humans are certainly a creation with among the most
ability of all of them. If our actions
are pre-ordained, then when we do something good there can be no
divine credit for a meaningful creation.
In addition, when we do something bad all of the blame must be
directed towards god. For me, the
greatness of our creation is the ability be a higher thinking being,
the ability to do the right thing and the chance to become full
partners in the ongoing miracle of creation.
We also do the opposite, but that is the risk you have to
take for those good moments. Rabbi David
Hartman the noted modern Jewish Philosopher commented that he best
understood the relationship of god and humanity when he sent his
kids off to the army and college. He
wrote that he would have been thrilled to be able to go with them
and protect them at all times, what would they have accomplished
then? Humans have free-will because
through it we can bring the greatest praise to the name of god.
The
particular question of god’s relationship with the Jewish people and
how it has been affected over time I think is the hardest one for me
to answer. If I look at the biblical
sources god is everything to the Jewish people from mother, father
and husband, to comforter, listener and peacemaker to jealous and
vengeful. In this instance the Bible
provides little help for me. I might
also look at the biblical sources of the covenant and the second
paragraph of the Shema is the best place to look.
That however also provides me little help as I do not believe
in that kind of system of Judaism that is strict reward and
punishment.
When I take a close look at biblical Judaism and see how the
covenant exists in the world there are again examples of breaking
the covenant by both the Jewish people and by god.
The Jewish people, well where do I start?
We know that throughout time we have not always held fast to
our end of the agreement, but we have to ask of god if our
punishment has always been commensurate with the crime.
Some would choose to say that the covenant no longer exists. It was
broken by God during the Holocaust for example, and that Jews who
still feel a part of the covenant feel that way from a completely
voluntary position. This too does not
sit well with me as I believe in a divine covenant with the Jewish
people and have great difficulty in simply erasing it.
I therefore choose to read the biblical explanation of the
covenant as the blueprint for the covenant that in its essence
remains the same throughout time, yet in so many ways has changed
since the moment the people entered the land.
To
me the covenant with the Jews is our opportunity to lead great lives
based on the Torah and thousands of years of Jewish history and
tradition. I guess here too I must spend
a minute on the authorship of the Torah.
I believe the Torah has divine inspiration, but ultimately pen to
paper there was at the very least significant human involvement.
In addition, humans have been explaining and expounding upon
Torah for generations. There is no
difference for me in the strength and authority of the Torah whether
it was written entirely by god, entirely by humans or by both.
It is our book, the only one we have and that alone gives it
all of the authenticity that I need.
As
Jews and as members of this divine covenant we have the
opportunities to open our lives up to all the complexities and
beauties that life can offer as a Jew.
To me it is a unique experience unlike any other in the world that
makes me feel blessed every day to be a Jew.
God’s part of the covenant is the world and its creation.
We were all I believe, created with ability and potential as
humans, and the tradition of living good and just lives as Jews.
The covenant does not provide guarantees.
A covenant with god is by definition a leap of faith.
Divine conversations and inquiries could go on forever.
In the absence of universally accepted visual direct proof of
the existence of god means that these kinds of discussions will go
on forever. Many of you here today may
share viewpoints and many more may disagree as well.
I want you to let me know. Over
the next few months I am beginning a program here at CSI called
divine conversations. The first step is
for as many of you that would like to mail and come share your
thoughts on god. I want to know what you
think. In part because I believe it will
help me as I continue to shape my ideas, but more importantly
because I think that a community that engages in serious talk about
god will grow together spiritually and emotionally because of the
conversations. Finally, I think that
regardless of what we feel and think about god we need to talk about
it regularly. More details of the
program will follow as we go forward.
Mother Theresa was recently nominated for sainthood and during the
process many of her notes and letters have been made public.
''In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss,'' she
wrote in 1959, ''of God not wanting me -- of God not being God -- of
God not existing.
“If you only knew what darkness I am plunged into.”
Needless to say this has caused a great uproar.
Some more fundamental Priests Mother Theresa’s ongoing
detractors have stated that this is another example of why she
should never be considered a saint. Her
admirers are saying that these were few moments of doubt amidst
decades of surety and that plenty of saints in the past had their
moments of doubts as well.
To
me, this courageous expression of doubt is an integral part of the
very reason that she is a saint. Mother
Theresa worked in conditions of poverty and squalor that are
unimaginable. It would probably be
inhuman to not to have some doubts about the existence of god while
seeing human suffering on that scale on a daily basis.
The fact that she had doubt makes her a more real and in my
opinion effective servant of god. I
think that it is only natural to have moments where we doubt the
existence of god. What we do with these
moments is far more important than the fact that we might have them.
We can respond by turning away, or we can respond the way
Mother Theresa did by getting involved.
By rolling up our sleeves and discussing our doubt and doing things
that might help to alleviate it.
I
can not believe that I waited four years to talk about god and I can
not believe that your forty-five minute sermon is coming to a close.
I will leave you with the following thought.
We are entitled to our beliefs about god regardless of what
system or paradigm they may subscribe to.
The important thing is that we have these beliefs and that we
are thinking about them and wrestling with them on a constant basis.
I hope that the New Year brings us all a better understanding
of our relationship to god, and consequently a closer relationship
with god as well. I look forward to
discussing these ideas with you and to growing together.
Shanah Tovah
Rabbi Joshua Gruenberg