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Machzor Blog: Controversy For the Sake of Heaven

IMG_3949What do you we think people should want to hear rabbis speak about on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur?  Do they want to be comforted and soothed – reminded of the power of hope, the possibility of happiness or finding the means to peace? Or do they wish to be aroused and challenged by the brokenness in the world, the myriad needs of the Jewish community and the wrongdoing in their lives?

 The insight of one of my teachers in rabbinic school was that a rabbi’s job is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”  Most people I’ve met are fine with the first half of the dictum, but every year I hear from people who don’t want to come to services to be disturbed.  It reminds me of a joke about a new rabbi who sought advice from the synagogue Board about what she should talk about for her first High Holy Days.

 The president said, “Talk about something to do with being Jewish.”

“Great,” the rabbi replied, “I’ll talk about Shabbat.”

“Maybe not,” one Board member offered, “A lot of our members don’t observe Shabbat. They might take offense.”

“How about talking about Israel?” the rabbi offered.

 “What?!”, said several on the Board, “Do you want to create controversy the first time you speak? We have people here with such different ideas about Israel.”

“All right, I’ll talk about why people should study Torah more for themselves, not just send their children to Religious school,” said the rabbi.

“I don’t know,” some trustees said, “Why make people feel bad about what they don’t do.”

“In that case, what should I talk about?”

“Rabbi, just talk about being Jewish.”

IMG_4029Each person has different yearnings and needs for what they seek during the Days of Awe. Every one of us seeks both comfort and challenge, to be put at ease and goaded to action.  It is likely that at some point on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur you will hear a prayer, music or teaching you do not like, troubles you or challenges what you believe.  Instead of lashing out against those who offer a different point of view, use the strong feelings you have as a motivation for further reflection, conversation and respectful debate.

You do not need a rabbi or prayer to provoke you. Indeed, this is a time when our souls should be stirred. The weeks before and during the Days of Awe are a time for deep, inner, spiritual reflection. Honest self-appraisal (חשבון הנפש) cannot help but confront us with challenging questions. Have I been honest about my faults? Have done all I could for others?  Am I the man or woman I want to be? Is the person others see truly the person I am? What do I hide from others – and why?  Indeed, if you come to the synagogue expecting to be moved, but take no time before or during services for true self-reflection, the point of these days will be lost.  The goal is not to feel that we are bad. Rather, the purpose of these days is to become the best we can be and to seek a world that ought to be.

The Days of Awe, then, are inherently meant to trouble and disturb, to uproot and challenge. This is not, however, controversy for its own sake, but for the sake of Heaven. Such debate, our sages teach, will endure (Pirkei Avot 5:17).  May it be a time of good and blessing, but also one that forces us all to face the hard truths and unmet needs of our lives, our families, our people and the world. 

Rabbi Irwin A. Zeplowitz serves the Community Synagogue in Port Washington, NY.

Learn more about the new CCAR Machzor.  For more information about participating in piloting, email machzor@ccarnet.org.

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General CCAR News Reform Judaism

To the City of Boston

IMG_1662Suddenly,
in the light of day
darkness was revealed.
We are in shock. Stupefied. Angry.
Sad.

God,
If the heart of every living being is good,
and if the soul you have given us is pure,
how does evil appear?

Hear our prayer!

Help us to have faith when there is doubt.
Bring healing to those in pain.
Comfort us in our grief.
Give us courage in our confusion.
Grant us strength
to look straight into the darkness,
defiant and determined
to pursue peace and establish safety
in our fractured world.

Oseh shalom bimromav
You who make peace in the high heavens
Help us find the way to make peace here on earth.

Rabbi Karyn Kedar is senior rabbi of Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Deerfield, IL.

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General CCAR Israel News Prayer Rabbis Reform Judaism

Women of the Wall: The Sharansky Proposal

There are times when it seems that something fundamental might, just might, be shifting.  That’s how I felt following a discussion in which Rabbi Steve Fox and I represented the Reform Movement (for the CCAR), together with Rick Jacobs (for the URJ) and Jack Luxemberg ( for ARZA) , in a meeting with Natan Sharansky of the Jewish Agency, about his proposed solution to issues presented by the Women of the Wall. While an obligation of confidentiality limits what can be shared publically about that discussion, it has been widely reported that Sharansky envisions “one Western Wall for one Jewish People.” This would involve expanding the plaza leading to the Kotel and creating an area for egalitarian/pluralistic prayer to the right of the ramp to the Temple Mount. It would be equal in size and elevation to the existing prayer areas, with one access point to the plaza. Those seeking to approach the Kotel would choose between the gender-segregated and the egalitarian/pluralistic areas, with equal physical access to both. The latter zone would be supervised by the Jewish Agency, which is to say, a pluralistic body, not the present, Orthodox-dominated Kotel Foundation.

600228_10151500068330673_1867844465_nThis not an optimal solution, which would require full and equal access to the entire plaza and the Kotel itself and transferring authority over the entire zone to a pluralistic, broadly representative body. We must not forget that the Kotel area is both a religiously important site and the venue of major national gatherings. Whereas its present character is alienating for many Israelis and other Jews, it could and should become a source of unity for all Israelis, whether they consider themselves religious or secular, and the entire Jewish People.

Clearly, the Sharansky proposal falls short of that ultimate goal. Nonetheless, we cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. The essence of this compromise has elicited a very positive reaction by Anat Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall and a courageous leader of Progressive Judaism in Israel, and the NY Times reported that Schmuel Rabinowitz, the ultra-Orthodox rabbi of the Western Wall, has declared he will not oppose it. Israeli President Shimon Peres deserves praise for interceding with Rabinowitz to press for moderation and for Peres’ public support for Jewish pluralism.

A host of critically important details remain to be resolved and major questions must be answered. How much will this cost? Who will pay for it? How long will it take? How will the governance of the larger area be addressed? What happens in the interim? And what is Plan B, if this ambitious proposal cannot be implemented? Will a third section be carved out, geographically or temporally, within the existing prayer zone to allow for pluralistic/egalitarian prayer?

One thing is clear. The role of the Israeli police needs to change completely and immediately. Heretofore, the police have been an instrumentality of ultra-Orthodox intolerance and oppression, threatening and arresting women for wearing a tallit or praying aloud near the Kotel. This is intolerable. Just this morning, Israeli police arrested five women for wearing tallitot at the Kotel. Remarkably, the judge before whom they were arraigned ruled that the women did not disturb the peace. Rather, she held, those who sought to interfere with their observance of Rosh Chodesh were the provocateurs. The obligation of law enforcement is to protect everyone who seeks to pray at the Kotel from harassment or assault. This was a point I emphasized strongly in the discussion, one that I consider central to both the interim period and the long term.

I also raised the question of whether this is a “separate but equal” approach to the problem. “Separate but equal,” in the context of American law, was repudiated by the US Supreme Court in 1954, in Brown vs. Board of Education, which proclaimed that separate was inherently unequal. Sharansky responded that his proposal differs fundamentally from the American situation, where the intention of the invalidated laws was to segregate the races. Here, he argued, the intent is not to segregate, but to create the opportunity for all Jews to worship at the Kotel according to their own beliefs and practices.

IMG_4021I believe that argument has merit. When Jewish sovereignty over the Kotel was regained in 1967, the entire Kotel, from the present prayer area down to the Southwest corner, was recognized, including by Orthodox leaders, as one sacred precinct. The proposal is an opportunity for us, too, to affirm that view. But while expressing support for the approach in this situation, subject to an acceptable resolution of the details, I cautioned that it should not be seen as a precedent or paradigm for resolving other issues in Israeli society, such as ultra-Orthodox attempts to impose gender segregation on public buses and occasions.

A host of potential obstacles and possible opponents stand in the way of implementing this proposal: some Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox, Israeli archeologists, the Islamic Waqf, which manages the Temple Mount, Jordan, which sees itself as custodian of that precinct, or international bodies. Nonetheless, the proposal is historic. For the first time, the government of Israel seems ready to recognize that it is accountable to all the religious streams of the Jewish People and to make a major financial and political commitment to fulfill that accountability. This represents a dramatic and historic step forward.

This promising development is only the beginning of the process, not its culmination. In the weeks and months to come, as details of the program are clarified and questions are answered, as opposing views are addressed and hopefully, overcome, I believe that we, as individual rabbis and as the CCAR, the rabbinic leadership arm of Reform Judaism, need to do three things: work to ensure a satisfactory resolution of the details of the proposal, rally support for the proposal, and step up our advocacy on the larger issues of justice in Israeli society that the Women of the Wall situation symbolizes.

Rabbi Rick Block is Senior Rabbi of The Temple – Tifereth Israel in Cleveland, Ohio, and President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.  

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Machzor Blog: The Holy Days? Yup, It’s Time…

CloudsOur congregants usually know a good bit about the link between a Pesach Seder and freedom, that to be in a sukkah is to celebrate the beauty and fragility of our lives in nature, and that we honor bravery and frivolity on Purim, dedication and faith on Chanukah.  When asked about the High Holy Days, most know to focus on what it means to begin again with a New Year, to pray for the future of our world and community, and to do soul searching work in our strivings to try again to hit the mark.

Why is it that on these Holy Days our synagogues are full to overflowing – do they come just to observe the New Year and repent in public?  It is true; they gain strength in connection to one another and find comfort in doing the sacred work with others. I know that many of us lead great worship – but that can’t be the reason so many show up.  The cynic in me could say it’s because they’re “supposed to.”  But I have to believe that some are coming because they are searching for God. 

What kind of God, I don’t know – and perhaps they don’t know either.  But if they might not always articulate it, during the Holy Days our people are looking for a deeper understanding of God.  Our liturgy is certainly focused precisely on God – more so than the other holidays we celebrate; prayer after prayer, kavanah after kavanah, vidui after vidui.  Many of my congregants will tell me that they don’t believe, or that they believe in something more general and of the “spirit” — still they come and sit through hours of recitation, song, and sermon – all of which are focused on God.

What does this mean for us cantors and rabbis?  We often get so caught up in the choreography and the theatre, the seamless cues and flawless singing, the profound yet intimate sermons and reflective iyunim – that we forget that our congregants need tools to find their way to the Divine.  Do we as clergy focus enough on the challenges and opportunities we all have with the God of this liturgy?  Do we give our congregants the tools to dig deep into the realm of belief and faith?

They come to us with questions, even if not openly articulated: If God created this world, on this New Year, why is it so broken?  If God asked Abraham to sacrifice his beloved one, is the pain that I experience in life to be considered a sacrifice as well?  How can I be written into the Book of Life if I do not “believe” in the way I think I’m supposed to believe?  

We, as clergy, always find the timing of the Holy Days difficult (but they’re always right on time) – perhaps our frustration is also with the fact that we don’t have ample time to teach about these Days, to dig deep, to study the rituals and texts, to examine Un’taneh Tokef and B’rosh haShanah yikateivun – how can we live with such a powerful God, and still hear the kol d’ma’ma daka? 

IMG_2568The High Holy Days get lost in the shuffle of summer’s transition into fall.  We should use them as an opportunity to directly engage in a conversation about God, and the new machzor may be the tool with which we can initiate these conversations with our congregations: Conversations about belief, faith, and the different pathways to, and expressions of God in our lives. 

A few years ago Rabbi Rachel Cowan spoke to the Commission for Worship, Music and Religious Living, and reflected on the fact that many congregants don’t feel comfortable talking about God – they assume we, their clergy, have the God thing all figured out and therefore are embarrassed that they don’t and don’t know how to ask us.  Maybe now is the time to begin these conversations using the unique texts of our Machzor as our guide and facilitator.  Let’s begin again.

Cantor Rosalie Boxt is the cantor of DC-area Temple Emanuel in Kensington, Maryland, is the Director of Worship for the 2013 URJ Biennial, serves as a member of the URJ Adjunct Faculty and is on the faculty of Hava Nashira.  She is a past vice-president of the ACC, and serves on the Executive Committee of the URJ Kutz Camp.

Learn more about the new CCAR Machzor.  For more information about participating in piloting, email machzor@ccarnet.org.

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Machzor Blog: Waiting All Day for Yizkor

imagesThe hour of the day is late, but the seats in my congregation on Yom Kippur are full.  It is time for Yizkor, and despite the exhaustion and hunger draining us all, everyone is all here.  Many have been waiting all day – some, all year – just for this moment.

When I was a newly ordained rabbi, I had a hard time understanding Yizkor.  I had not experienced death or loss as an adult, thank God, and the power of Yizkor was a mystery to me.  I tried putting on the airs of a knowing wise rabbi, tried to put on my best well-modulated rabbinic voice as I conducted the service, but, honestly, Yizkor was an awkward hour for me.  Today, I can’t say I have any great chochmah about the mysteries of death and mourning much more now, but 15 years later, I do know some of my own losses.  I have sat with many more grieving people, held their loss with them, and shared their pain.  And as I grow older myself, I see the arc of my own life and, more and more, can project how, one day, it will reach its conclusion.  Like the rest of Yom Kippur, Yizkor is our ritual to help us confront our true doubts and fears about life.  As much as ever, we need our Machzor to be an effective tool to help us shape a meaningful Yizkor.

The poetry and readings of Yizkor in the old Gates of Repentance have taught me a great deal.   Their words echo in my mind throughout the year: “Scarcely ushered into life, we begin our journey to the grave…”  “If some messenger were to come to us with the offer that death should be overthrown, but with the condition that birth should also cease…”  “In the rising of the sun and in its going down…”  Gates of Repentance did set the stage for my generation of rabbis by teaching us what Yizkor could mean, how it could affect our lives.

And yet, updates are needed for the new machzor.  The Yizkor of Gates of Repentance (GoR) is crammed too full with words, at least for me.  It feels at times like a dry desert of words, when we need a spiritual pool to immerse in.  It still dwells too much on the martyrdom of the Holocaust, especially at its climactic moments.  The Psalms traditionally found in Yizkor are treated more like obligations than opportunities.  But music is critically important to the power of Yizkor.  The occasions for music in the GoR are almost all from the Classical, composed set, and very formal.   Elegant though they are, I believe today’s congregations appreciate more contemporary music, or music that is paired-down, even at Yizkor, and it would be helpful to have texts that facilitate this kind of music.  I fell in love with the Carlebach “HaNeshamah Lach” in GoR (page 485), and I thirst for more musical opportunities like this in the new Mishkan HaNefesh (the new machzor).  We might even ask:  Can the pages of a machzor encourage the use of niggunim?

IMG_4107Another note: The 23rd Psalm presents its own challenges, because the King James language is so well-known and beloved, but gendered, and the more modern gender-neutral versions are so clumsy (including, in my opinion, the recent attempts by the CCAR).   Leading a recent shiva minyan from Mishkan T’filah for a House of Mourning, I encountered quizzical looks and puzzled faces when we reached the new translation of the 23rd Psalm; the spell of the moment was broken by its awkwardness.  (“Where did ‘the valley of the Shadow of Death’ go?” one person wondered, let down by the new language.)

But the best words I speak on Yom Kippur are at Yizkor when I am simply silent, and just sit down.  A few years ago, I found instructions for a guided meditation at Yizkor that invites the congregation to re-experience their lost ones again, asking them to hear their voices, feel their touch, imagine the words they would share were they to encounter them once again.  We need the white space on the page to offer this experience at Yizkor.  More important than the words of prayer, the Machzor can facilitate our true experience of prayer.

Grief is very often accompanied by intense loneliness.  Sometimes on Yizkor I think the members of our congregations experience it in isolation, even in a crowded Sanctuary.  Our Conservative colleague Rabbi Harold Kushner writes that “the primary message of the twenty-third Psalm is not that bad things will not happen to us.  It is that we will never have to face those bad things alone, ‘for Thou art with me.’”  Although each person’s loss is personal and unique, often beyond expression, if the new Machzor could somehow build bridges among us all during Yizkor, and if it could help us feel that indeed we are not all alone, we would all be stronger.

Rabbi Andy Vogel is the rabbi at Temple Sinai in Brookline, MA, a 300-family congregation.  He was ordained at HUC-JIR in New York in 1998, and is a member of the Machzor poetry committee.

Learn more about the new CCAR Machzor.  For more information about participating in piloting, email machzor@ccarnet.org.

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I Am the Glass: A Reading for Yom HaShoah

Unknown-1I am the glass

Once clear, smooth, perfect.
Protecting the store, the home,
the eyes.

I am the glass.
Shattered now, broken, sharp,
dangerous.

I am the book.
Once a source of peoplehood,
philosophy and learning.
Inspiring the spirit, the mind,
the person.

I am the book.
Burning now in a flame of hate.
A precursor to the fate of a
community.

I am the synagogue.
Once the house of learning,
the house of prayer, the house of
gathering.

I am the synagogue.
Aflame now, the end of
an era of safety in Europe.

I am the rabbi.
Once a teacher, a leader,
a dignified transmitter of Torah.

I am the rabbi.
Humiliated now on the streets
of Germany.

Forced to choose between
desecrating the Torah
and surviving the night.

I am the child.
Once carefree and innocent,
Laughing, playing, free.

I am the child.
Terrified now as they take
my father away
Shaken by an evil in this night.

I am the glass.
Repaired now by a People
that will never give in.
A window into a future of hope,
of goodness and peace.

I am the glass.

Rabbi Karen Bender is at Temple Judea in Tarzana, CA.

 

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CCAR on the Road Ethics Rabbis Reform Judaism

Recalling MLK Jr and Maurice Eisendrath

An e-mail arrived from the indefatigable Art Waskow reminding us that April 4th is the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..  The reminder included a photo from a demonstration at the Arlington National Cemetery along with valuable excerpts from King’s prophetic remarks about Vietnam delivered at Riverside Church.

From L to R: Rabbi AJ Heschel, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, Rabbi Everett Gendler
From L to R: Rabbi AJ Heschel, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, Rabbi Everett Gendler

The photo showed Rabbi Heschel to one side of King, and this prompted me to look at another photo of that demonstration.  In this fuller one, King is flanked on the other side by Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath carrying a Torah, and beside them a youngish flag-carrying rabbi from Princeton, NJ (the latter, I).

I feel moved to share this with you on what will be the 45th anniversary of King’s tragic removal from our midst because we often forget to mention Maurice in the reminiscences about King.  The Arlington National Cemetery ceremony was important, moving, and not heavily attended by public figures.  Notably absent were any representatives of the Urban League or the NAACP.  They disapproved of King’s challenging publicly the morality of our policy on Vietnam since LBJ, supporter of civil rights, was also the primary advocate of that very policy.  But at this particular event there was Heschel’s blessed supportive presence, and there also was Maurice Eisendrath carrying a Torah in further support.  Those of us who knew and cherished Maurice are fewer with the passing of the years, so this seems an appropriate time to mention him with the respect and affection that so many of us felt for him.

That Maurice came with a Torah to this particular act of moral witnessing captures perfectly some of his most admired qualities.  This march, held on the sacred ground of our national cemetery, was solemn, not high spirited.  It absorbed the painful testimony of surroundings that expressed human dedication, courage, suffering and sacrifice..The stated proposition of the march, that our engagement as a nation in Vietnam betrayed the basic American values for which these deceased had offered their lives, was not at that time a crowd pleaser.  Pragmatic institutional calculations probably said, not great for UAHC fund raising, especially among big givers, and Maurice dearly loved and devoted his life to that institution. But justice is justice, the truth must be proclaimed, and so Maurice proclaimed it in his characteristically vigorous, energetic way.  The real bottom line for UAHC (now URJ), after all, was prophetic Judaism, and Maurice was accountant par excellence in those calculations.

At this especially difficult period in King’s life, severely criticized by the leaders of the major civil rights organizations, suffering daily threats to his own life and to his beloved family, can we imagine what the presence of Rabbi Heschel, Rabbi Eisendrath, and the sefer Torah must have contributed to King’s morale and sense of Divine support?  The attached photo may convey some of the mood.

As in life all of us were and are able to offer support to the righteous among us, so do the memories of those righteous ones, of King, of Heschel, and of Eisendrath, bless and sustain us.

Rabbi Everett Gendler is retired and lives in Great Barrington, MA.  

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Gun Safety Is a Jewish Issue

images-1Gun safety is a Jewish issue.  Since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, Jews have played a prominent role in advocating for gun safety.  There are, to be fair, Jews on the other side of this debate and some in between.

Nevertheless, a compelling case for sensible legislation aimed at reducing gun violence can be framed from the Jewish tradition.  The Torah urges us to conduct ourselves scrupulously and safely (Deut. 4:9:  “Take utmost care and watch yourself scrupulously”) and commands a homeowner to build a railing around the roof “lest you bring bloodguilt upon your house if anyone should fall from it” (Deut. 22:8). From this precept the Rabbis concluded that a person should not keep wild dogs, shoddy ladders, or other dangerous objects in the home lest they cause bloodshed (Babylonian Talmud (BT), Bava Kamma 15b).

The Talmud forbids a person to sell weapons to anyone who might use them inappropriately (BT Avodah Zarah 15b). After John Hinkley attempted to assassinate President Reagan with a handgun in 1982, Orthodox Rabbi J. David Bleich wrote a powerful open letter to the Jewish pawnshop owner who unknowingly sold Hinkley that handgun:

“Jews ought to be in the vanguard of those seeking to impress upon our legislators that handguns are indeed ‘stumbling blocks’ which must not fall into the hands of the ‘blind.’” (“Should Jews Sell Guns?”, referencing Leviticus 19:14, “You must not insult the deaf, nor place a stumbling block before the blind.”).

safe_image.phpOur Movement must continue to lead the way on this issue.  In February, the RAC (Religious Action Center) helped organized an interfaith call-in; thousands of people of all different faith traditions picked up the phone to put religious pressure on our legislators, and another such day is being organized for April 9th.  The URJ seeks partnership with Pastor Rick Warren; they also got Mike Bloomberg to promote the message for NFTY.

What might sensible gun safety legislation look like? 

One.  Universal Background Checks should be utilized in every gun sale, including guns sold online, at gun shows, and through private sales.

Two.  Ban the Sale of High-Capacity Weapons and Ammo Clips to Civilians.  No legitimate self-defense or sporting purpose exists for these military-style, high-capacity weapons and magazines.

Three.  Gun Trafficking Should Be Made a Federal Crime.  Currently, prosecutions only happen through a law that prohibits selling guns without a federal license, which carries the same punishment as trafficking chicken or livestock.  Existing laws must be enforced more effectively, and new laws–with harsher consequences–drawn up to criminalize gun trafficking.  We would like our legislators to propose a (remarkably!) modest limit to the number of gun purchases to one gun per person per month.

We should also work Movement-wide and with partners within and without the Jewish community to initiate direct discussion with key players in the firearms industry, meeting with manufacturers and distributors to request their adoption of responsible practices:  imprinting firearms with Firearms Identification Numbers; researching new technologies such as “smart guns” (guns that only owners can fire); and video recording all gun purchases at the point of sale.

By 2015, it is projected that annual deaths by gun in America will exceed traffic fatalities for the first time in history, at around 33,000.  That’s more than ten times the victims of 9/11, each year for the conceivable future, unless we stand together and demand change.

Gun violence has besmirched not only the honor of our country, but also the honor of responsible gun owners.  The   intransigence of a politically influential minority has impeded our ability to save thousands of lives each year with just a few common-sense measures–measures favored by a majority of Americans.

To be a Jew is to hope.  To lead a community of faith is a hedge against despair.  And to champion the cause of Reform is to believe that change is never impossible. 

I for one still hold aloft the Divine promise of the Prophet Micah, of a day when each of us “shall sit beneath vine and fig-tree, with none to make us afraid” (Micah 4:4).

 

Rabbi Jonathan Blake serves Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, NY.

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I Preferred the Book

bibleThe Bible is inherently cinematic. it has the global story filled with dramatic tension, complicated personal lives, special effects, war, comedy, power, surprises, and much more. It is Game of Thrones with more violence and sex, but without Peter Dinklage.

So when The History Channel’s The Bible miniseries was announced, I was curious to see how a modern television version might put out a sweeping run of biblical stories. Along with millions of Americans, I watched the 10 hours of The Bible and I found those key elements – it was dramatic (the overbearing score reminded me of that), intense (the constant violence made sure I knew that), and passionate (all the shouting made sure I was aware they were playing IMPORTANT characters).

ht_mark_burnett_and_roma_downey_bible_lpl_130227_wg

The Bible was produced by Mark Burnett (from Survivor) and Roma Downey (from Touched by an Angel) as a….well, passion product. They hope to bring over a billion new readers to the Bible. To help you on your journey there is the companion website, and they have created a merchandising machine – a companion novelization (Stephen Colbert had something to say about that), soundtrack,, DVD (on sale today!), mobile app, and more. Their “passion product” has also become a money making machine.

But while they attempted to make a family-friendly, marketable Bible for today, there were some areas of significant concern. And areas where I would have wished things were different.

 

TRUTH and ACCURACY

With a disclaimer at the beginning, the series plays a little fast and loose with the written Bible story. But who is to say what is accurate? Is the literal word? And even if it is, how does one represent conflicts and contradictions? It is a rewritten version for the purposes of condensed story telling. We do that when we tell any Bible story – leaving out sections, modifying for our audience. The teller tries to convey the “Truth” of the story without as much concern of the “truth”.

This is found in all cinematic storytelling – it is the big historical flaw in the “biopic”. Conversations, characters, timelines, events, facts are made up for the benefit of the narrative flow. For example, Roger Ebert defended the The Hurricane and distortions in biographical films in general, stating “those who seek the truth about a man from the film of his life might as well seek it from his loving grandmother. … The Hurricane is not a documentary but a parable.” From Lincoln to Argo to The Iron Lady – every biopic is flawed on its history. And so it is with The Bible.

ashton-kutcher-steve-jobs-movie

Since people often remember movie versions (accessible, condensed, visual) over the page, The Bible may be how some learn about and remember the Biblical tale. That is the nature of biopics. We are perhaps doomed to have a generation that thinks of Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs and to live with its flaws.

Sex and Violence

The Bible mini-series was made for the long-term market. It will be shown in Christian Sunday Schools across the country. Sex is a no-no in that setting. So Lot doesn’t sleep with his daughters. David’s cuts off the Philistines’ foreskins – but it is only alluded to those already in the know. Sex scenes are only hinted at, but never shown. In this way it is nothing like Game of Thrones.

But violence. Apparently violence is just fine anywhere. So this production amps up the violence. Every battle, stabbing, stoning, beating is emphasized. Extra conflicts and battles, including a gladiator fight, are introduced. One of the angels (perhaps intentionally the Asian one) does a double-bladed stabbing in fine action film formula. Just as I always imagined the angels. While not as gory as the Mel Gibson pseudo-horror flick The Passion of the Christ, it is plenty bloody.

Judaism

caiaphas-the-bibleThe Bible mini-series is about the Hebrews and the Israelites, but until the New Testament, it isn’t about the Jews. They may be Abraham’s or Moses’ people, but they are not a religious people. When Isaac is born there is no discussion of circumcision (too sexual anyway). When he is almost sacrificed, the animal doesn’t even have horns to become a shofar or to be caught in the thicket (like the text clearly says). When the Passover story is told, every single ritual aspect is omitted. But whenever a “religious” (i.e. bad) Jew is shown in the New Testament section, he is always wearing a tallit. Apparently, Jews wore their tallit gadol (the one over shoulders) all the time  in Jesus’ time.

Clearly some thought was put into the prayers and Hebrew said in the series. It isn’t gibberish. But L’cha Dodi in the morning before reading scripture? While one wouldn’t count on the Judaism to be very accurate (Keeping the Faith takes place in modern times and they made tons of errors), I don’t think the High Priest walking among dead bodies was a good choice. But some things I liked. Intentional or not, the Last Supper is clearly NOT a seder as they are happily munching on bread and there is no matzah in sight.

I was naturally concerned on how Jews would be portrayed in the Jesus scenes. It appeared some efforts were made to limit blame to Caiaphas and the Priests among the Jews. It is certainly not any more antisemtic than what one already thinks of the written Gospels. At one point, the guards restrict who can appear before Pilate in the “Crucify him!” scene setting up a favorable crowd (sort of like entry to nightclub). No one shouts, “His blood be upon us and our children!” But the series won’t be doing any favors for Jewish-Christian relations.

Gender

Rahab

The role of women in the Bible text is, at best, mixed. The miniseries doesn’t seem to make much of an effort to positively portray anyone woman in the Genesis story and others: Eve, Lot’s Wife, Sarah, Delilah. As the story goes on, there begin to be positive women models – typically in a role as a good wife or mother – Miriam, Pharaoh’s Daughter, Rahab (pictured), Samson’s mother (although she is inconsistent). The New Testament women are very strong – The Virgin Mary (played by Roma Downey as an older woman), Mary Magdalene, Pilate’s wife.

Positive stories with women at the lead are completely omitted such as all the other women in Moses’ life, Deborah, and Esther.

Race

the-bibleRarely are Biblical characters portrayed as shorter, dark-skinned Middle Eastern types in American and British films.It is no different here. But they aren’t blond and blue eyed either. The beards are dark even the skin isn’t swarthy. Jesus, however, looks like a movie star at all times – even when bloody and beaten – especially around the average looks of the “Jews”.

But the racial issues is noteworthy because in contract to the “white” actors in all the leads, several roles were cast otherwise:

  • The Angels – Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel are White, Black, and Asian.
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  • Samson – For no reason I can gather, Samson is a very dark-skinned actor. This is not color blind casting as his mother is also played by someone black. With the Philistines being completely white, it sets us an interracial tale or as one article called, a Mandingo fairy tale.
  • the-devil-on-history-the-bible-barack-obama-leadSatan – Much has been made how the actor playing Satan looked like Barack Obama. You be the judge from this picture. Let’s accept Downey and Burnett’s claim it is not true. But what is true is that the actor playing Satan is not dark skinned and was made more “black” for the role. So even if it isn’t anti-Obama, it is a bit racist.

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A note on other casting. Saul should be very tall and handsome according to the text. David should be a red head. Saul wasn’t that good looking or charismatic (above right). And in fact, Saul, David, and Jonathan in the series are all brunettes and all are 6’1”.

Theology

The Old Testament scenes have a very basic theology.

  • Trust in God
  • Trust in God
  • Trust in God
  • The land of Israel is “ours” thanks to God’s promise

The New Testament scenes have an overriding theology too.

  • Trust in Jesus

Such an approach makes sense given the diversity of churches that they hope will use the video. The basic Zionistic element of Abraham and Moses and David is in keeping with a standard religious right approach to Israel today. Christians are more frequent visitors and to Israel than Jews (some say 58% to 25% of visitors). Israel is a big part of the ultimate belief in Jesus’ return and this fits nicely with Christian Zionism.

The Mini-Series

As a mini-series it was fair. Like many mini-serieses it was often plodding – parting of the sea, Sodom, road to Golgotha – as scenes dragged. The Samson story was interminable. The need to jump from story to story made for curious omissions. A novice to the Bible story would have trouble following big chunks, despite the smooth narration of the great Keith David. The actors were also always reminding you that this was the Bible with their extremely intense portrayals, which were always followed by more violence. And it was not in any way “inspiring”.

While it has nice costumes and sets and animals that feel “biblical,” it also was clearly limited in its budget. Crowd scenes were enhanced with CGI that didn’t match up to the final battle in The Lord of the Rings. Other times, the scene was tightly cropped and poorly realized such as Samson destroying the arena. Most notably was how few Hebrews were standing on the shore of the Sea when Pharaoh’s army approach. It wasn’t 600,000. I’m not even sure it was 60.

travis-fimmell-vikings-450-history

When fast-forwarding through the commercials, I kept stopping at the preview for The Vikings thinking the show was back. I guess if it is more than 500 years old, one bearded guy looks like another.

Future

The series got incredible ratings – the most-watched cable entertainment telecast of the year. The ratings did skew older in age.

Therefore, Hollywood and TV will now embrace religious themed productions since they are sheep. Even with all its controversies, The Passion of the Christ still made $600 million in box office. As this is mostly clear of such issues (even the ADL hasn’t said anything), expect numerous religious and biblical focused shows. There is a lot on the way already including the Jesus of Nazareth miniseries from Michael Landon, Jr.

This was a decently done, but generally slow and bombastic telling. It didn’t live up to the cinematic version in my head when I read these texts.

Read the book. Not the companion book, but the actual book.

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Rabbi Mark Kaiserman is currently living in Southern California where he is the Interim Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Fountain Valley.  This blog originally appeared on RaMaKBlog.

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A Real Passover Journey: The Road to Marriage Equality

Rabbi Denise Eger speaking at the rally in Washington, DC.
Rabbi Denise Eger speaking at the rally in Washington, DC.

I just returned from three days in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the beginning of Passover and an important crossroads on the road to freedom for the LGBT community.  The first two days of Passover were momentous because this year’s story outlined in the Haggadah was more personal than ever before.   The Haggadah reminds us to imagine that we went forth out of Egypt ourselves. As I stood on the steps of the Supreme Court on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, the first two mornings of Passover, surrounded many dressed in red  worn for LGBT equality, I knew I was marching out of Egypt.

This year the Supreme Court of the United States heard two important cases about the freedom to marry for gay men and lesbians in our country. On the first morning of Passover, California’s Prop 8 case was heard. This case concerns whether or not Proposition 8 that was passed in November 2008 is legal. In other words, can a majority of voters take away rights from a minority!  Marriage equality was legal in California from June 2008 until the proposition passed in November 2008.  More than 18,000 couples married during that time.  I had the privilege of performing the first marriage in Los Angeles County.

On Wednesday the Court heard Windsor v the United States.  Edie Windsor sued the US for not recognizing her marriage to Thea Speyer. Upon Thea’s death Edie had to pay $363,000 of federal estate tax because the Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA would not recognize her as the legal spouse. Edie knew this was an injustice and wanted to do something about it. She and her partner of over 40 years were married in Canada but the federal government did not recognize their marriage when Thea died.

Our Reform movement has long been an advocate for equal rights for the LGBT community.  The first resolution of support came in 1964 by the then National Federation of Sisterhoods now Women of Reform Judaism, who called for the decriminalization of consensual sexual relations between adults!  In 1984 our then UAHC in a biennial resolution called for federal recognition of domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples and equal federal benefits to marriage! And our own CCAR endorsed civil marriage for gay men and lesbians early on in the marriage equality movement in 1996!

But on Tuesday morning as I prepared to speak at the rally on the day the California Prop 8 case was being heard I could feel the wheels of history literally turning.  You could feel it in the young people who turned out to support marriage equality. You could feel it in the older lesbian couples who flew in from Ohio just to be there.  You could feel in the gay dads schlepping their two young children to meet other families just like theirs!  Even when the opposition marched toward the several thousand gathered to support marriage equality-the opposition didn’t stay long.  The National Organization for Marriage and the Catholic Church bused in lots of Catholic high school students to march against marriage equality, many of whom were told they had to go or lose class credit! But the opposition marched toward us and was peaceably turned around by pro-marriage equality activists and the Capitol police. They marched back to their gathering place chanting, “One man, One Woman-only That’s what the Bible says!” I guess they haven’t read the story of Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah!

908758_10151519110782487_2128985697_nAs I took the podium to speak, I looked out on a sea of American flags and rainbow flags and people adorned in red it gave new meaning to the Red Sea! The crowd was so diverse, every race and ethnic group seemed present.  The signs people held aloft –included children of gay and lesbian parents who had homemade signs that proclaimed “Let my moms get married.”  One of my favorites was “Bigotry is not very Christian.”  Other couples had signs proclaiming how long they have been together 7 years-to 40 years to two older gentleman clearly in their 80’s who had been together nearly 60 years. It was very inspiring to be with Americans of every stripe who simply wanted their rights and responsibilities to care for their spouses.   I met a couple one in a wheelchair who had been the first to marry in the West Point Chapel.  Of course one was Jewish!

The scene outside as I spoke was different than the highly structured form and format of a Supreme Court hearing.  Even as some of the conservative justices wondered aloud if our country was ready for marriage equality, calling “it an experiment that hasn’t been around as long as the internet” it was clear from the number of years many of the couples has been together that gay “marriage” has been around forever. What hasn’t been around is the legal recognition and the protections embedded in the legal definition of marriage.

As I spoke about the Passover story and the themes of the holiday from degradation to dignity, from oppression to freedom the crowd understood that it was their story too.  Nine justices were deciding at the very moment and all were wondering if their hearts would be hardened to the arguments or whether finally LGBT couples who wish to marry will be able to do so.  In June we will find out how the Court will rule. So I am counting the days along with counting the omer.

Tuesday evening I had the privilege of co-leading a Prop 8 Passover Seder at the Equality Center at the Human Rights Campaign building. Formerly the B’nai Brith headquarters it was a poetic spatial affirmation between the Jewish commitment to tikkun olam that used to take place in those very rooms and the continuing work for equality and justice that is done now in the same space! The Passover Seder was organized by a former Religious Action Center Legislative Assistant, Joanna Blotner who now works for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights.  Joanna grew up in our movement. She worked at HRC for several years after her time at the RAC. She is a straight ally. But she and a group of friends organized an amazing Seder with an inspiring Haggadah dedicated to equality for LGBT people and intertwined with the story of our Exodus from slavery!   More than 115 primarily young people in their 20’s and 30’s celebrated Passover together and talked about the meaning of equality, the meaning of liberty and the meaning of tikkun olam in the context of the Passover story.  I don’t know whether I was more moved by leading the Seder or being with these inspiring young leaders like Joanna!

There is no stopping now.  Whatever way the court rules (and pundits are having a field day trying to figure out from the questions how they will decide) the arc of justice is bending rapidly.  Just see the cover of the recent Time magazine. Watch the push for marriage equality in places like Minnesota, Rhode Island and Illinois.

And yet there are plenty of places where the LGBT community faced continued bigotry in the form of legislation. You can still be fired in 33 states in the United States for simply being gay. And in Arizona there is a terribly hateful “bathroom bill” aimed at transgender people.  And of course young people are still being bullied for perceived sexual orientation on school yards everywhere.

I have hope. This Passover gave me hope that we are on our way to the Promised Land. I have hope that the court will restore marriage equality in California. I have hope that DOMA will be declared unconstitutional. I have hope that the march to full equality is in full swing.  And I hope you all will actively work toward these freedoms in your community and work to actively help your young people learn how they can make a difference too.

Rabbi Denise L. Eger is the founding rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami, West Hollywood’s Reform Synagogue. She is currently President Elect of the CCAR.