Category: blog archive

Gaza Flotilla and Israel #2: Choose Life

Our Torah teaches that placed before each of us at every moment is a choice. Life or death, blessing or curse. At every moment, with every step we take, we must choose. And those choices determine, literally, whether we, our children, our people and our values will live on.
U’vacharta bachaim – choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). Each of us, listening to our intellect and our conscience, determines what we do when we face each choice. Whether we go left or go right; whether we seek blessing or face curses. So it is with people. So it is with nations.

But what if you are a nation that whenever you think you are choosing life, all you seem to ever receive back are curses?  Such is the situation of Israel today.

Israel has a right, guaranteed by international law, to blockade an enemy sworn to its destruction. Routine checks may legally be made of boats coming toward the land of it’s enemy.  They are checking for missiles and weapons and goods that could be used to build bunkers and fortifications. Remember, Israel withdrew from Gaza only to face eight years of constant missile attacks on civilian populations. Now Israel expects only what every other nation at war demands: that it gets to choose life. 

Thus Israel boarded five “peace activist” ships in a supposed humanitarian flotilla, brought them to Israel’s port, checked out the goods and people, and delivered the goods to non-Hamas-controlled Gazans. Remember that Israel daily sends into Gaza huge amounts of goods, food
and water into Gaza. 

But on the sixth ship, Israel faced organized mob of people who were filmed on Al Jezeera, a day earlier, calling for martyrdom. This mob was committed to beating and harming, anything but life. This ship’s humanitarian mission – a guise really for an attempt to undermine the blockade – was taken over by individuals committed to cursing and harming Israelis at every turn. And the result was mayhem. Soldiers were injured and people were killed. We mourn every death.
U’vacharta bachaim – choose life.

There is a concerted effort to shackle Israel’s ability to make choices, to defend itself.  It’s hypocritical.

  • When North Korea sinks a South Korean ship, bringing a very tense region close to war footing, there is narry a blip in the world’s attention.
  • When Egypt imposes the same blockade on Gaza, fearful of an Iranian style theocracy on it’s borders, few raise concern.
  • But when Israel expects the right to ensure life for it’s people in the face of enemy enmity, Israel faces only curses from every direction.
It is so exhausting to listen to these curses again and again.  How does one respond?

When Spanish politician/journalist of the far left Pilar Rahola heard
the curses of Israel, she responded with incredulity. Read this.

When US Vice President Joe Biden was asked about the critique of Israel, he responded with forthrightness. “So what’s the big deal here? What’s the big deal of insisting it not go straight to Gaza? Well, it’s legitimate for Israel to say, ‘I don’t know what’s on that ship. These guys are dropping… 3,000 rockets on my people…. You can argue whether Israel should have dropped people onto that ship or not — but the truth of the matter is, Israel has a right to know — they’re at war with Hamas — has a right to know whether or not arms are being smuggled in.” Watch this from 33:09 forward (Or read this).

When you are asked about your reaction to the flotilla, what will you say?

  • Perhaps you will explain Israel’s right to defend itself by boarding ships. Read this
  • Perhaps you will remember the video that shows a crowd violently attacking those seeking to inspect the ship, proving that this was anything but a ship of peace. Watch this.
  • Perhaps you will think about the message of American-born Israeli Rabbi Daniel Gordis who said “Israel’s geographic vulnerability means that we do not have the luxury of caving in to the world’s condemnation. We will have to gird ourselves for the long, dangerous and lonely road ahead, buoyed by hope that what ultimately prevails will be not what is momentarily popular, but rather what is just.” Read more
  • Perhaps you will attend a rally this Sunday at 2:00 pm outside the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles. Info here.

There is much to criticize about Israel. Criticize the way that the army should have better prepared its troops for a more violent response. Criticize the way that Israel should have more quickly released videos and information in the post-operation diplomacy to more quickly to counter the easily anticipated onslaught of curses and criticism. Surely these bear critique. Israelis on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and Ramat Eshkol will argue privately and publicly about this more than you and I will ever imagine.

But don’t accept the world’s cry for an international tribunal to review it. Because those only curse Israel no matter what she does.

And don’t accept the critique of the UN Human Rights Council which never fails to ignore its member states’ actions (Iran, Syria, Libya) yet equally never fails to find the opportunity to single out Israel for condemnation.  

And don’t accept the discomfort, embarrassment, or self-loathing  that overtakes some of us – Jews, Americans, Israelis – whenever Israel’s decisions are met with world disdain, complaint and critique.

Israel is far from perfect. You may love its current government or disdain it. (This government is far from my favorite.) You may find much to criticize about its settlements, the coercive power of ultra-orthodox groups, the way this government drags its feet sometimes at solving the conflict with the Palestinians. (I criticize Israel regularly on all these issues!)

Yet existing in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the world, Israel makes choices few of us can imagine. Often those choices lead to results that make us squeamish.

But choices had to be made. Those ships had to be turned aside. Israel felt it had to act. Why?
U’vacharta bachaim. For life. For security. For safety. To uphold the blockade against hidden missiles and weapons.

But for now choose quickly to educate yourself. So that when you are asked what you think, you won’t fall into the trap of self-loathing.  Instead, head held high, demand that like every other nation, Israel gets the right u’vacharta bachaim, to choose life.

Gaza Flotilla and Israel: Finding Balance Amidst the Mayhem

The Baal Shem Tov (founder of Chasidism) urged his followers toward hishtavut, equanimity or levelheadedness.  He recognized that powerful emotions of others will sway us in directions that lead us away from emet or truth.  As we are assaulted by media messages about the Gaza Flotilla, let us strive for hishtavut (levelheadedness) in our response to the onslaught.

Here’s what is known:  A flotilla of 6 ships moved toward Gaza with the stated purpose either of delivering humanitarian supplies or of breaking Israel’s military blockade of Gaza. After repeatedly rejecting Israel’s request that the ships turn back or land at the Ashdod port for offloading supplies (which would be transferred by Israel to Gaza with the other humanitarian supplies Israel sends in almost daily), and after previous entreaties of the same by the European Union, the ships sailed forth toward Gaza.  We know Israeli troops peaceably boarded 5 ships and turned them back.  We know that on the 6th ship, soldiers were attacked and beaten. We know people died and many soldiers were injured.

  • It is too easy to throw hands up and blame Israel for making this happen. 
  • It is too easy to fall into the trap of accepting the news coverage accounts of a supposedly peaceful non-violent action by the flotilla to help the Gazans.
  • It is too easy to dismiss this as another way Israel embarrasses itself and our people. 

Hishtavut, levelheadedness, demands that we learn more so that we do  not jump to conclusions.  Why?

There is ample evidence:

Five steps to begin to judge for yourself:

  1. Watch this video of how the soldiers were beaten as they boarded the boat.
  2. Examine this history of the flotilla and peaceful attempts to turn it back.
  3. Read this Jewish Journal article addressing concerns on the flotilla but also on the blockade.
  4. Explore the legality of a blockade in times of war.
  5. Consider this Haaretz Israeli newspaper critique, appropriate but balanced.

Finally, remember, both knee-jerk condemnation of Israel and blind rejection of any critique of Israel fail the test of realism. One may critique Israel from a place of love (see the Haaretz article above). Too often, however, Israel has been on the receiving end of condemnation of supposed massacres which later turn out to be overblown propaganda.  So read Israeli newspapers leaning right (Jerusalem Post) and leaning left (Haaretz).  And with patience, come to determine the facts. 

Pay attention as the story unfolds over the coming weeks. Being a friend or lover of Israel is like being a friend or lover of anyone. It is a lifelong complex relationship. If you care enough (and we Jews should), then we will continue to engage in learning and understanding with openness to both supporting and when necessary sharing disappointment. We do both from love as we are guided by a hishtavut, levelheadedness.

No Less Than Thirty-Six*: Frume Sarah on Immigration

Add this to the list of “Posts I Wish I had Written”
This one was written by Frume Sarah

The amount of times the Torah commands us to care for, protect, or support the stranger. More than any other mitzvah.

When the professor of a class turns to the board (chalk, white, or Smart) and writes something down, you can be certain it is going to appear on the final. Literary repetition in the Bible is God’s Smartboard and will most certainly be on the Test. Though the phrasing may reflect word changes, the thematic repetition as a narrative tool indicates the importance of this leitmotif. God is really, REALLY serious about the treatment of strangers.

An undercurrent of hate and fear in this country has surged forth in recent weeks with the passage of an illegal-immigration bill, signed into law, in the state of Arizona. While the country was busy debating the constitutionality and humanity of Arizona SB 1070, also known as the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” the Arizona Department of Education ordered school districts to remove from the classroom teachers whose English was heavily-accented or whose speech is ungrammatical.

Yes, we have immigration laws that must be upheld. Yes, it is important that our children have teachers who model proper grammar. But the way in which these laws and policies are being written and implemented leave little question as to the motivation driving them.

Hatred of the other. The stranger. The immigrant. The alien. The man with dark skin. The woman who swallows “the ending sounds of words, as they sometimes do in Spanish.” It’s not the Caucasian man born in Europe. Or the woman from South Carolina.

The drug trafficking that makes its way across the border is a legitimate concern. As is the manner in which we attempt to control it.

As this issue continues to be debated in the public arena, let us not forget that we too were “strangers in a strange land.” Throughout most of our history. Rashi suggests that when the Torah says “you know the feelings of the stranger,” it is the recollection of our painful experience in Mitzrayim that instructs us to “know how painful it is when (we) oppress him” (Comment on Exodus 22:20, 23:9).

Mere days remain before we stand again at Sinai. Now is the time to heed God’s Call. Now is the time to take God’s Test.

Please take a moment and sign an Open Letter Supporting Humane Immigration Reform. It was drafted by Justice Team members from IKAR.

*36, 33, 24 — different sources share different numbers.

Living the Holy Life

We are told to live holy lives, remembering we are created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. What does this mean?

Professor/Rabbi Arthur Green in his new book Radical Judaism (pg. 121-2) offers this teaching in the name of Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel:

“Why are graven images forbidden by the Torah?” I once heard 20th century Jewish thinker Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel ask. Why is the Torah so concerned with idolatry? You might think (per Rabbi Moses Maimonides) that it is because God has no image, and any image of God is therefore a distortion. But Heschel read the commandment differently. “No,” he said, “it is precisely because God has an image that idols are forbidden. You are the image of God. But the only medium in which you can shape that image is that of your entire life. To take anything less than a full, living, breathing human being and try to create God’s image out of it-that diminishes the divine and is considered idolatry.” You can’t make God’s image; you can only be God’s image.

I learned from my teacher Rabbi Jonathan Slater, of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, that “This is a wonderful way to understand the meaning of the prohibition of idolatry, and is suggestive for how to live. That is, how can we live our lives so fully, so honestly, so freely that we make God manifest through us? How can we avoid making ourselves into an imposter, a fixed image of God, an idol?”

May this Shabbat provide you with moments to reflect upon how to live more holy lives.

You, Me and God, Sitting Around a Campfire

We celebrated Shabbat around a campfire in Old Agoura tonight. 210 of us in a circle, singing, smiling, praising the Holy One.

Is it really Jewish to feel so inspired out in the open? Sitting under the stars? Gathering around a campfire?

Moses was inspired by flames dancing in a bush in the wilderness. Why are we?

A story…

When the most spiritual of rabbis wanted to speak with the Holy One, he would go out to the forest, to a special place known only to him, where he would sing special words to a particular tune, and by doing so, open his conversation with the Holy One.

Over time, his students forgot where exactly in the forest he would go, but they still felt the need to commune with the Holy One. So they would gather somewhere, build a fire, sing those special words to his particular tune, and open their conversation with the Holy One.

Then, their students lost their connection with the words that opened the conversation, but they knew how to build a campfire and how to sing song. So they gathered somewhere, built the fire and sang.

As the generations passed, they forgot to go out into nature. They forgot to build the campfire. They forgot the words. Some even forgot to sing. But still, they yearned. For something inspiring. For a connection to the Eternal.

So at Or Ami, we reignite the spark within, as we sit around a campfire. We sit under the stars, because we recognize that the Holy One is most often felt amidst the wonder of the natural world. And we sing ancient words to new melodies because the music and the experience touches our soul.

FIrst Transgender Rabbi, Reuben Zelman, to be Ordained

Five former Or Ami interns – Jordana Chernow-Reader, Ari Margolis, Dan Medwin, Lydia Bloom Medwin, and Sara Mason-Barkin – will be ordained Rabbi this Sunday at Hebrew Union College’s Ordination ceremony.  Be sure that I will blog about that on Monday. 

Also exciting is the ordination of Reuben Zellman, the first transgender Rabbi.  The Jewish Journal writes:

As a child, Reuben Zellman found life anything but cut-and-dry. “I’ve always had a complicated gender identity,” he said. “As a kid, I liked both boys’ and girls’ clothes, and both boys’ and girls’ toys.”

At 20, Reuben — who grew up as Claire — made the decision to begin living life as a man. “That’s what was right for me,” he said simply, declining to elaborate on his personal history.

Several years later, he said, he found his calling: to become a rabbi. In 2003, Zellman became the first transgender rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and, for that matter, in the entire Jewish community.  Read on.

10 Lessons I Learned from My Mom, Linda Kipnes

Happy Mom’s Day! (Those are three of the most inspiring women – My Mom, My Wife, My Sister-in-law.)

Having finished cooking breakfast, giving my wife a heart-felt mushy Mother’s Day card, taking a nap (I woke up so early, I slid out of bed so as not to wake her), and cleaning the kitchen (imperfectly, I’d probably get just an 85%),  I turn from my wife-the mother to my mother-the mom (I sent my mother a Mother’s Day card earlier this week).

Top Ten Lessons I Learned from My Mom

  1. If you can organize and delegate, you often get a big hand in setting the vision and molding the organization.
  2. Motivating others is the key to leadership. 
  3. A strong woman makes a wonderful, reliable partner, wife and mother. Thus I married another strong woman.
  4. Women should be rabbis and presidents and business owners and leaders of all kinds.  Why? Because they are capable. How do I know? Because my mom could be any of those and more.  
  5. My ability to communicate through my writing is one of my strongest gifts. My mom taught me that, and so that makes her the mother of my blogging too!
  6. Good ideas are better when articulated well.  Over the years Mom was one of my best editors. 
  7. A simple way of talking is often more easily understood than a fancy vocabulary.  Mom taught me that when as a teenager, I was fretting that I didn’t know or use enough big words. 
  8. Parenting is an imperfect craft. Kids don’t come with instruction manuals, so sometimes you gotta go with your gut. 
  9. When things get overwhelming, no one offers a loving, non-judgmental ear like a mom.  Even today, I can call her up, just to unload, and by mutual consent, she promises not to carry the worry beyond the call.
  10. Unconditional love feels amazing. I got it from my mom.  I found it from my wife. I try to share it with my family, immediate and extended.

Over the years, my mom taught me important lessons about love, forgiveness, dignity and integrity, hope and sadness, organizing, leadership, group dynamics, family and more.  My mom, Linda Kipnes, is the best mom of all!  She’s also very active: once learning to ride a motorcycle, and above right, riding in the front of Disneyland’s Space Mountain rollercoaster.

Mom, I know you will read this eventually since you subscribe to my blog! So Happy Mother’s Day!

Honoring an Inspiration: My Mentor Rabbi Jim Kaufman Retires

My wife and I spent last evening at my previous pulpit, Temple Beth Hillel (Valley Village, CA), for a dinner and Havdala service honoring Rabbi Jim Kaufman and Sue Kaufman on the occasion of his retirement.  Rabbi Jim stands apart as one of the greatest influences on my congregational rabbinate.

Dinner was delicious; the program heartwarming.  I had the opportunity to share a few words about my experience with Rabbi Jim. I said:

A story… I came to Temple Beth Hillel (Valley Village, CA) in 1994 in my third year of the rabbinate, and left in 1999 as what I thought was as a seasoned rabbi. I owe that growth to the nurturing I received under the mentorship of Rabbi Jim Kaufman.

For five years I served as Rabbi Jim’s Associate Rabbi and Director of Education. I left to become the solo rabbi at Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, CA. Over the intervening eleven years, as my congregation has grown considerably, I have come to realize that much of that vibrancy can be directly attributed to the lessons I learned from Rabbi Jim. He taught me:

  • Make your synagogue a warm, haimische home.
  • Since Jewish values have meaning only when turned outward to fix the world, make social justice central to your mission.
  • Behind every great rabbi is an even greater spouse. My wife Michelle and I knew, from the moment we walked into the scrumptious Sukkot new member dinner Sue Kaufman hosted in their backyard, that Sue and her family knew how to create a welcoming environment.
  • Make sure people with disabilities know that the synagogue doors open wide to them.
  • If you can, grow a goatee. The grayer the better. For some reason, it makes people think you are wise.
  • Spend time at Camp Newman – it will inspire temple members to send their kids and it will keep you young.
  • When someone is sick, call once, twice or more. Even if they tell you not to call, call anyway or stop by. It will be deeply felt.
  • Make your family your first priority – at home, around the synagogue, in your office. In the end, they are your legacy, your support, your most precious possessions.
  • Treat each person as an individual. Don’t hide behind policies, but thrive with the personal pastoral touch.

Rabbi Jim treated me always as a partner, even inviting me disagree whenever the ideas warranted it. But mostly, I learned from Rabbi Jim how to be a congregational rabbi. Naively, I thought that after 5 years, I had learned all I could from this rabbi.

But, at Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, I daily faced challenging issues, more complex and nuanced than I ever could have imagined. The congregation had put its trust in me to deal with these issues. But I confess, often I didn’t have a clue. So what did I do? I developed a problem-solving routine…

A congregant would call me up with a problem. I would listen, perhaps take notes. I would offer comfort and assure them that together we could get through this. I told them that I took their concerns so seriously that I wanted a day to think it through. Then I would hang up the phone.

Now was the time to figure it out. After counting to ten to make sure I didn’t freak out, I turned to my main source of wisdom. I picked up the phone and called my mentor. Rabbi Jim listened to the issue, paused thoughtfully, and patiently guided me to the solution. When I needed, he even told me what to do. Then I would pick up the phone, call back my congregant, and be able to offer his words of wisdom, giving them comfort and giving them confidence in their Rabbi Kipnes. I recall this happening about every other week. And although by the end of my second year I stopped calling him, it was only because Rabbi Jim’s way of being a rabbi was by then deeply ingrained in my heart and soul.

There are a host of rabbis out there who learned from Rabbi Jim at camp and from his shining example in the Pacific Area Reform Rabbis organization and in the community.

Personally, I have had many rabbinic teachers over the years, but without a doubt – and my wife Michelle and I agree on this –the man who told me at my interview that he wasn’t really interested in being a mentor – he only wanted a rabbinic partner – had been the greatest influence on my rabbinate. Rabbi Jim, thank you for being the mentor par excellance. Thank you for making me into a rabbi.

So to you Rabbi Jim, and to you Sue, mazel tov on wonderful 37 years at Temple Beth Hillel. Thank you for transforming me into the rabbi I am today. Mazel tov. 

Other tidbits I would have added had there been time: 

  • Rabbi Jim taught me also to love of great red wine. Following his lead, I used days off from Camp Newman to go wine tasting in Napa, and have since learned to request a taste before ordering a glass when out to dinner. Because of Rabbi Jim, I have the early makings of a wine snob. Rabbi Jim taught me to appreciate the nose, the legs, to savor the taste of red wine. I still have far to go to gain Jim’s appreciation of the better bottles.
  • Rabbi Jim taught Michelle and me early on that our precious children are part of our lives and should have a place in our synagogue. From the earliest days, my children were a fixture in my office, running up and down the ramp, being held in my arms during services, growing up in our Early childhood center. Our children love being Jewish and seem to appreciate their father’s role as a rabbi. We attribute that in large part to Rabbi Jim’s insistence that the rabbi embrace and never forget his role as a father too.

6 Distinctive Features of Reform Judaism

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, offered these as six distinctive features of Reform Judaism:

  1. We view the Jewish tradition as growing, evolving and always changing, and we celebrate creative change in all areas of ritual and practice.
  2. We assert that the equality of women in Jewish life is non-negotiable.
  3. We draw the boundaries of Reform so as to include rather than exclude, and we welcome gays, lesbians, the interma
  4. We embrace Jewish worship that is creative, dynamic, vibrant and participatory.
  5. We see tikkun olam as an essential element of our Reform identity – in fact, as the jewel in the Reform crown.
  6. And we believe in real partnership between rabbis and lay people as essential to our Jewish future.

What do you find to be the distinctive features of Reform Judaism?

Do Women Count in a Minyan? Of Course!

Just prior to a shiva minyan (after a funeral) service at the mourner’s home, I was approached by a congregant who asked me “Rabbi, are women included in the minyan?” This veteran Or Ami congregant, an active Jewish woman, surely knew that our congregation, and this rabbi, recognize the uncompromising egalitarianism intrinsic to Judaism.  Unlike our orthodox brethren (of Jewish, Catholic, Muslim and other faiths too) who graft a foreign patriarchal stream into a once egalitarian tradition and thus do not count or fully include women, we count women as full partners in the minyan (the 10 adult Jews needed for a communal prayer service).

Knowing that she must have been teasing me, I said with a straight face, “sure, as long as you don’t sing the prayers out loud…”  She, a few other longtime congregants and I all chuckled at that, and I turned back to my preparations for the service.

My wife contends that sometimes my sarcastic humor is not evident to people who do not know me.  Case in point: a few moments later, another congregant approached, saying that some of the other non-Or Ami guests were shocked to learn that the mourners were part of a synagogue which, apparently orthodox, did not include women in the minyan!  Unfortunately, their shock turned initially to embarrassment as I explained to them the underlying joke. After the service, we finally laughed about the whole situation.

It did give me pause. I would have hoped that most of the Jewish world, by now, would have embraced our God-given egalitarianism so that anachronisms  – like not counting women as part of a minyan – would be a thing of the past. Alas, this is not so.

In many places around the world, women are still considered secondary or second class citizens.  Sure, there is an attempt at apologetics to explain away the differentiation.  But in truth, they remain of secondary status. And in Israel, these attitudes lead to other, more drastic situations:

The Reform Movement has worked for full equality of women – ordaining them as rabbis and cantors, having them serve as Temple presidents, inviting them back into the center of Judaism as was intended.  May the attitude, that there is anything okay with the segregation of women – on buses, in prayer, in a minyan – soon be an artifact of the past. 

A Prayer for Mothers, on the Eve of Mother’s Day

A Prayer for Mothers
by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

Leader: Today we give thanks for mothers.
All: For loving nurturers and strong providers.

Leader: For mothers who birthed us, for mothers who raised us, mothers of birth and of choice.
All: For stepmothers and adoptive mothers and all those who have a mothering role in our communities. We give thanks.

Leader: For mothering energy in all its sources, from women, from men.
All: For the Creator God who is mother to us all—we give thanks.

Leader: Today we give thanks, we give praise—and we remember the dangers of motherhood.
All: Giving thanks is not enough. We must do more to protect mothers here at home and around the world.

Leader: So many die in childbirth. So many more become sick or injured during pregnancy.
All: Give us strength, O God, to do all we can, to protect these most vulnerable women.

Leader: We think not only of mothers we know, mothers in our family, in our community.
All: In this our global family, every woman is my sister. Every woman, even those whose name and face I will never know, is my sister, a fellow child of God.

Leader: For every woman who dies while bringing new life into the world—who dies because she could not access medical care.
All: Am I my sisters’ keeper?

Leader: For every infant life that ends too soon, due to lack of health care. For the pain of that mother’s loss.
All: Am I my sisters’ keeper?

Leader: For every woman who wishes to be a mother but cannot. For every woman who does not have the resources to have a healthy pregnancy and to care for the children she already has.
All: Am I my sisters’ keeper?

Leader: We are our sisters’ keepers. We are the hands of God, the work of the divine in the world.
All: We give thanks to our mothers, by praying and working for the safety of mothers and future mothers throughout the world.

Leader: Creator God, Mother and Father—protect and watch over mothers. Give your strength and protection and love to all who give a mother ‘s love to those in their family or their community.
All: Loving God, keep mothers safe. And give us the strength to work to ensure that all who wish to bring life into the world can do so in safety and joy.

Leader: Am I my sisters’ keeper?
All: I AM my sisters’ keeper!

Hot Tub Time Machine

We went with friends to see the movie Hot Tub Time Machine, hoping for some foolish fun instead of a sappy chick flick. We went in with low expectations and came away with a few good chuckles. On the way out, my friend Peter hoped that at least I could get a good sermon out of it. Taking him up on the challenge:

Hot Tub tells the story of three unsuccessful friends who go back in time and face the possibility of renewing their lives. Worried at first that they would unalterably change the future for the worse, each ultimately faces the chance to improve upon it all: relationships, friendships, and career.

It is like Yom Kippur without the fasting. On Yom Kippur, we each face our past, weigh the imbalance of our deeds and misdeeds, and then commit to make decisions that will lead to new possibilities and a new better future. Without the ridiculous trigger of a Russian beer induced hot tub time machine, we can – nonetheless – change our future by altering our present.

The best part is that we need not wait for a time machine to wisk us off or even for Yom Kippur to take us forward, because the gates of teshuva – of repentence, turning, change – are always open.

So soak in the hot tub of time and take a chance to improve your present and future.

We Met Randy: Survivor of a War Fought by Conscripted Child Soldiers

Congregation Or Ami Social Action Chair Laurie Tragen-Boykoff writes:

Over a hundred of us at Congregation Or Ami joined together last Wednesday evening to hear from a young man who spent eight years of his life running from a mad man. In order to avoid capture and conscription as a child soldier, Randy told us of walking four miles each evening and sleeping in abandoned warehouses with hundreds of other children trying to escape the same fate. He escaped capture and he survived.

Through the efforts of Invisible Children, a very unusual grass roots organization, Randy, and other children – both who were caught and those who were not – have been given a second chance. By Invisible Children’s beautifully creative efforts to bring this ongoing crisis to light in America, hundreds of children have become the benefactors of Invisible Children. They are being reintegrated into their families and schools. A new generation of leaders is being raised; hopefully it will be a generation that will prevent the likes of mad men – Joseph Kony, Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Cambodian genocide’s Pol Pot – from ever bringing genocide into the world again.

Or Ami congregants were inspired and moved to act. Scores of us ended the evening by providing ongoing educational scholarships and other needed support. And your children came through, as well:

Teen Josh Wolfson writes: I was very inspired by Invisible children, not just because of the horrible situation they are in, but because they made me realize how much I have. I live in a beautiful city like Calabasas, I go to a great temple, I get an excellent education, and I get all that handed to me because I was born into a great family. I was dealt a tremendous hand, yet these kids, they aren’t even given any of those cards. They grow up in situations that most adults could not even handle, and I feel like, if I can help with the issues in one of these talented kids lives, with just 35 dollars a month, than I will give up that much for as long as I can.

Teen Ian Sharon: During Temple Teen Night, we had the experience of witnessing the tragedy in northern Uganda. We watched a video about the war in northern Uganda, and how one man can tear a family apart. A man named Kony is forcing his men to kidnap children in the middle of the night and forcing those children to fight for his LRA army. If his child soldiers cry, he will hurt them or even kill them. If a child soldier escapes and is caught, he will be executed. Now, Kony and his men are capturing children in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic. The Invisible Children organization camps outside of the White House, and also lets communities like ours know about the horror and the terror of Kony’s actions. I even bought a bracelet and explained the horror to all of my friends, telling them to tell other people. I am helping the Invisible Children by letting my voice be heard, unlike the child soldiers in Northern Uganda.

Though Invisible Children has helped empower the people of Northern Uganda, the conscription of child soldiers is a plague, spreading to the Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. There is still much to do and an enemy of children and people everywhere to defeat. For further information, contact Social Action ChairLaurie Tragen-Boykoff or visit the Invisible Children website.

Unchain Your Faith: One Rabbi’s Radical Ideas about God

Originally published in Tribe (February 2010)

When our Israelite ancestors participated in the Exodus from Egypt, they liberated themselves from much more than just slavery and Pharaoh’s taskmasters. By means of the Ten Plagues, which dismantled the Egyptian pantheon, the Israelites witnessed the defeat of the Nile god, Sun god and Pharaoh’s (false) god complex. Crossing Yam Suf (“Sea of Reeds”), they left behind 400 years of Egyptian-influenced preconceptions about religious faith.

In the intervening 3,000 years, we Jews again have found ourselves enslaved by a host of oppressive ideas about our Jewish religion. Some of these misconceptions arise out of selective misinterpretation of our sacred texts; others result from the growing misguided fundamentalism that has steadily seeped into our Jewish and non-Jewish worlds.

As Passover — our festival of liberation — again approached (and passed), perhaps it is time for our generation of Jews to liberate ourselves from a new set of preconceptions about what Judaism really holds to be true.

1. God Shaved the White Beard
With all of the Torah’s anthropomorphisms, it is difficult to escape the tendency to think about God as the guy with a white beard in a white robe. But God, as far as our Jewish tradition is concerned, ain’t no white guy and ain’t got no beard. In fact, if we take the Second Commandment seriously (“make no idol or image …”), we soon realize that God is a “nobody” and literally has no body. We Jews accept that God is the most real “nothing” around. God just is.

2. God Lacks Name Recognition
Contrary to popular belief in Jewish circles, God’s name is not Adonai, Yahweh or Hashem. “God” isn’t even God’s name. “God” is a title, a job description. According to Torah, our ultimate sourcebook for all things Jewish, God’s name is a four-letter word: Yud-hey-vav-hey (known as the Tetragrammaton). Like most four-letter words, it is unpronounceable. Literally. Each of these letters is silent until combined with a vowel, but since the Torah was written without vowels, it is impossible to figure out exactly how to pronounce God’s name. Some people pronounce Yahweh based on the vav being vocalized as the German “w.” Others read the yud as the German “j” and get Jehovah. Lawrence Kushner, the Reform Jewish rabbi-mystic, notes that each of the letters represents the non-sound of air moving through the throat and mouth. He once wrote that God’s name is the sound of breathing.

4. God Is Known by a Euphemism
Adonai means “my Lord” (or “my Lords”). Since we do not know how to pronounce God’s name, we need a creative way of addressing God. Adonai — “My Lord” — is a highly respectable, important-sounding euphemism. Adonai conveys that God is hierarchically the top dog. Within its Old World, aristocratic context, the lord was more powerful than the rest of us. It is like calling God the “Celestial CEO.” Of course, Hashem, favored by the Orthodox and the superstitious, means “The Name” and is a euphemism for “Adonai,” used lest we misuse the Holy Name.

5. God Is Not a Being; God Is a Verb
Torah understands God’s four-letter name as a meaningful combination of three verbs: Hey-vav-hey, or hoveh, signifying the present tense and meaning “Is”; Hey-yud-hey or haya, meaning “Was”; Yud-hey-yud-hey, or y’heyeh, meaning “Will Be.” In Torah and for Jews, God is that which was, is and will be forevermore. As we sing in the prayer “Adon Olam,” God is the sum total of existence. Don’t worry about whether you believe in God. It doesn’t matter. Because God just Is-Was-Will Be. The question, instead, should be whether you are willing to open your eyes, your mind and your heart to the continuously sacred flow of Existence.

6. The Best Place to Find God Probably Isn’t in the Synagogue
With apologies to the very institution that employs me, the synagogue probably is not the best place to find God. Although we usually expect to find God there (after all, God did say in Exodus “build me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among you”), the overabundance of ritualization and the proliferation of wordy ancient prayers often impede a person’s natural ability to bond with the Divine. God is best found everywhere in every moment. That’s why the ancient rabbis knew God as HaMakom, “The Place,” meaning God is in every place, everywhere: here, over there, up there (pointing skyward), down there (pointing earthward), in there (pointing inside you and me). Wherever we can stop focusing on ourselves and our own material needs as well as open our eyes to the reality and beauty surrounding us, we might find God. The kabbalists know God as Ein Sof (“No End”) because God is everywhere, the Essence that is without end. Moses found God on a mountaintop, and so can you. Miriam encountered God at the shores of the sea, and so can you. The Levites — originally ritual singer/musicians — heard God in the sweet multi-instrument musicals they played, and so can you. Elijah experienced God in the still small voice within that spoke to him and, yup, so can you.

7. Ordered Jewish Prayer May Not Be the Best Way to Talk to God
Almost two millennia ago, a bunch of now-dead white Jewish rabbis, culminating with Rav Amram Gaon (died 875), laid out a series of required prayers and prayer themes, which became the order of the service as we know it. They were concerned with creating a unified order of service for the far-flung Jewish community. Like the biblical ancestors who created a system of worship — animal sacrifices — that mimicked but Jew-ified the surrounding practices, these rabbis did what everyone else was doing, wove together words and biblical passages into prayers to create a new way of talking to God. Although the ancient words can be engaging intellectually, they are theologically 2,000 years old and feel like it. Even for a fluent Hebrew speaker, praying those words and allusions can feel like trying to talk to your friend using Shakespearean English. The words sometimes don’t let us speak the praise in our hearts.

8. The Big Secret Your Rabbis Don’t Want You to Know
You can talk to God using normal language as easily as you iChat with a friend. Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (grandson of the founder of Chasidism), taught his students hitbodedut, an intimate way to connect with God. He told them to go off into a field and talk to God, aloud, just like you would talk to your neighbor. God listens, Nachman contended, and, following his lead, his students experienced deeply this powerful spiritual reality. I regularly practice hitbodedut out in the field. Or while driving in the car. Or sitting, waiting in the carpool pickup lane. It is wonderful and very Jewish. I feel listened to, heard and appreciated. I don’t ask for things; I seek understanding and strength. I pour out my heart and speak of my problems. God listens. I gain clarity. My thanks are spoken; God hears my praise. Try it. While you are alone. Or while sitting silently in the sanctuary while the cantor intones the ancient prayers. You might find a new friend in God.

9. God Facebooks,Tweets and Texts Along With Us
You won’t find God by friend-searching “God,” even if some jokers misappropriated the name. Instead, God Facebooks us through our friends. After all, our rabbis, responding to the question about how we can fulfill the commandment to love God, turned to Leviticus 19:18, equating loving God with v’ahavta l’rayacha kamocha (loving your friend as yourself). If you love your friends, treat them well, deepen connections that uplift but do no harm; then you have Facebooked the Holy One as well. The friend of your friend is … God. God also tweets us regularly. Those short 140-character messages come to us from all over — through the loving words of friends, the inspiring lyrics of songs, the uplifting news stories of people helping people, the wordless sound of wind blowing through trees or water crashing on the Malibu seashore. Those pithy little messages are easily ignored if you don’t read them for what they are — tweets from Tetragrammaton. Oh, and God texts us regularly. Choose a text — Torah, Talmud, Midrash, siddur — and get to know it. Like a message from a lover, God’s texts must be explored on multiple levels to uncover any hidden meanings or delicious nuance.

10. The Messiah Has NOT Come Yet
Let’s tell the truth. The Messiah — that figure who will bring an end to hunger, homelessness and violence and will lead us to universal piece — has not come yet. We Jews long ago rejected the idea of a Messiah who could die before accomplishing his/her tasks. That’s why Jesus, an inspiring teacher, was not our christ (Greek for “messiah”); why Bar Kochba, the second-century revolutionary once called messianic by Rabbi Akiva, was not the Messiah; and why Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, who died in 1994, is not the Messiah either. For Jews, the Messiah does not die. Instead, take a page from the Talmud: If you are planting a tree (or doing some other life-affirming act) and someone comes running to say that the Messiah is coming, complete your holy task first, and then go look later. Give tzedakah. Talk to God. Treat others with kindness. Don’t let all the Messiah talk turn you away from your holy work.