Post by Rabbi Neil on Mar 6, 2019 16:50:48 GMT
This week, one of the Facebook groups I belong to shared a story about an evangelical leader who told her congregants that because of the law of first fruits, they should give her their entire salary for January – that is, their financial first fruits – or she implied that there would be strong Divine consequences. For a moment, I must admit that I thought that this was an ingenious way to raise funds. That quickly gave way to skepticism and anger at the misuse of religion once more in the news. The administrator of the group that sent out the post made a derogatory comment about religion, so I felt that I had to respond. My response has received nearly a nine hundred likes, and on this Shabbat where we celebrate our new members as well as our Board members, I think it’s appropriate to share an edited version of it.
Here in Santa Fe, ten years ago, homeless addicts would die on the street every winter. The shelters were full and no-one, including the city, was paying up for more shelter. So, under the direction of my predecessor, Rabbi Marvin Schwab, the interfaith community set up one of the only wet shelters in the country, that is, a shelter where you don’t have to be sober to be safe. There were no more recorded homeless deaths from exposure in Santa Fe after that. About a year after I became President of the Interfaith Leadership Alliance, as it had become known, the Shelter ran a campaign to raise about $80,000 to stay open during the summer for vulnerable women and children. As a result of our campaign, the interfaith community helped to raise just over $50,000 of that $80,000. A year later, we helped raise over $20,000 for Santa Fe Dreamers and Somos Un Pueblo Unido, two organizations committed to helping undocumented immigrants in New Mexico. Around the same time, we set up the Santa Fe Faith Network for Immigrant Justice after a series of meetings in our upper sanctuary here at Temple Beth Shalom.
After the events in Charleston, Mayor Javier Gonzalez called me on a Sunday morning and asked if I could help organize a Rally Against Racism for the next day. The following day, we had 1500 people in the plaza and an array of speakers to help unify us against racism, intolerance and violence.
When Paul Kovnat harangued me at one of our Social Justice meetings after he had heard that there were young adult homeless sleeping rough because they didn’t want to be in the Interfaith Shelter, within four days we had arranged for them to come and sleep on the floor of our Social Hall, with other faith communities following our lead. These vulnerable teenagers rotated between faith communities for three months, with members of this community regularly providing them with an extraordinary amount of food, stayed and offered good company and some even fixed their clothes!
Members of our community speak at the Legislature, speaking out for the vulnerable in our society, and we speak at the Board of Education, fighting for climate justice, and equality in schools. We help members when they can’t pay their bills, when they need pastoral support, we clothe those in need, we offer support to refugees. Our 5-star accredited Preschool takes in a disproportionate number of children from financially-challenged families so that their economic background does not disadvantage them from the very start of their lives.
That’s what I shared online, and it’s only part of what we do. What I didn’t mention was the pastoral network we have, or the spirituality that we help members explore. I didn’t mention the extraordinary educational events and programs we run that make us renowned throughout the state, from our regular Torah breakfasts to our religious school, the Hochberg Academy, our adult education events and more. I didn’t mention our youth group that connects teenagers to each other through a Jewish lens. I didn’t mention the L’Taken seminars in DC where we take young members from our community every year. I didn’t mention the importance of community, or the life-cycle events that we lead from cradle to the grave to help people mark the most important moments in their lives.
I heard it said once about all the social justice that Reform Judaism is just the Democratic Party with prayers. I understand where that thought comes from, but I don’t agree. Whereas Orthodox Judaism is halakhic Judaism, that is, Judaism that focusses spirituality around law in which God is obeyed, Reform Judaism is prophetic, focusing spirituality on creating a just society in which God is experienced. Both are valid perspectives on Judaism, both can claim support from traditional texts. Personally, I feel that the Reform perspective speaks to more people in the 21st century. As traditional authoritarian structures start to break down, a growing number of people are finding God not in law, but in justice, in compassion, and in expressions of love for those in need… in exactly the kinds of activities the prophets begged the people to engage in. In the first chapter of Isaiah, for example, the prophet says that God loathes rituals that are meaningless and detestable when offered with hands soaked in blood. Restoration, he says, shall be a time of justice and righteousness. From Torah all the way through to the prophets, the most common injunction is to welcome and protect the stranger, the person most unlike us. The prophet Micah says that God has shown us what is good – to do justice, love mercy and to walk humbly with God. That is the essence of Reform Judaism.
As much as Rabbinic Judaism regularly expounded on matters of law, even it also regularly encouraged behavior that we would still today see as profoundly moral. It saw the imitation of God as key. With that in mind, Talmud (Sotah 14a) says that just as God clothed the naked (with Adam and Eve), so should we clothe the naked; just as God visited the sick (with Abraham), so we should visit the sick, and so on… They also said (Sifre Deut 49; 85a) that to walk in God’s ways meant to be full of compassion, to be gracious, slow to anger and full of mercy and truth. The moral core of Judaism which Reform Judaism, which this community, so clearly elaborates upon, is based around the central verse of Torah – ve’ahavta l’re’acha kamocha – show love to your neighbor as you would have it shown to you (Lev. 19:18). While I understand the reasons that Reform Judaism gave itself its name, I do wish that it had called itself Prophetic Judaism, or Compassionate Judaism, because that’s what it fundamentally is. That’s what we do here. We uphold not just the relevant ritual traditions but also we embody the best of Judaism by ensuring that it is not just hollow ritual. Here at Temple Beth Shalom, we ensure that ritual and social action are intricately woven together.
More than that, we explore and create. Our Ritual Forum, for example, helps us adapt our rituals to the modern age, for example with our forthcoming communal seder in a few months’ time. Our Voices for Women group is looking at new rituals, apparently including a new way to ritualize tashlich on Rosh Hashanah. Reform Judaism is living Judaism, it’s ethical Judaism. Temple Beth Shalom is the epitome of that.
For our new members, I understand why you’re here. I had never even been to Santa Fe before when I saw the job posting for this community. What leaped off the page was a vibrant, exciting, moral, caring, fun community for all ages. I uprooted my entire life to be the Rabbi here. That even meant sacrificing the adorable British accent that my daughter had. But I and my family, hopefully like you, were welcomed warmly into this community. This community became our new extended family.
For our Board members, past and present, we honor your commitment to Temple Beth Shalom. Were it not for your tireless efforts, this community would not be so successful. It takes real dedication to be on the Board of a Temple. Indeed, it takes real dedication to make it through a single board meeting! But we are already a successful community and are becoming an even more successful community. The last 12 months have been extremely positive for our community, and 2019 will bring exciting challenges and opportunities. There is much work to still be done. Our community is by no means perfect. But we are growing together, learning together, making mistakes and forgiving together. We are exploring new approaches to Judaism together, all the while reminding ourselves of our heritage, particularly our prophetic heritage. I firmly believe that the intellectual and spiritual future of Judaism will be centered in Reform Judaism, and I firmly believe that the intellectual and spiritual future of Santa Fe’s Jewish community will be centered in Temple Beth Shalom.
To those who have joined our community recently, we welcome you. To those who have helped lead our community, we thank you. And to everyone else, to all those who contribute to our community to make it the loving, extended family that it is today, we appreciate you. To all in our community, we pray for Divine blessings of health and happiness, and let us say, Amen.
Here in Santa Fe, ten years ago, homeless addicts would die on the street every winter. The shelters were full and no-one, including the city, was paying up for more shelter. So, under the direction of my predecessor, Rabbi Marvin Schwab, the interfaith community set up one of the only wet shelters in the country, that is, a shelter where you don’t have to be sober to be safe. There were no more recorded homeless deaths from exposure in Santa Fe after that. About a year after I became President of the Interfaith Leadership Alliance, as it had become known, the Shelter ran a campaign to raise about $80,000 to stay open during the summer for vulnerable women and children. As a result of our campaign, the interfaith community helped to raise just over $50,000 of that $80,000. A year later, we helped raise over $20,000 for Santa Fe Dreamers and Somos Un Pueblo Unido, two organizations committed to helping undocumented immigrants in New Mexico. Around the same time, we set up the Santa Fe Faith Network for Immigrant Justice after a series of meetings in our upper sanctuary here at Temple Beth Shalom.
After the events in Charleston, Mayor Javier Gonzalez called me on a Sunday morning and asked if I could help organize a Rally Against Racism for the next day. The following day, we had 1500 people in the plaza and an array of speakers to help unify us against racism, intolerance and violence.
When Paul Kovnat harangued me at one of our Social Justice meetings after he had heard that there were young adult homeless sleeping rough because they didn’t want to be in the Interfaith Shelter, within four days we had arranged for them to come and sleep on the floor of our Social Hall, with other faith communities following our lead. These vulnerable teenagers rotated between faith communities for three months, with members of this community regularly providing them with an extraordinary amount of food, stayed and offered good company and some even fixed their clothes!
Members of our community speak at the Legislature, speaking out for the vulnerable in our society, and we speak at the Board of Education, fighting for climate justice, and equality in schools. We help members when they can’t pay their bills, when they need pastoral support, we clothe those in need, we offer support to refugees. Our 5-star accredited Preschool takes in a disproportionate number of children from financially-challenged families so that their economic background does not disadvantage them from the very start of their lives.
That’s what I shared online, and it’s only part of what we do. What I didn’t mention was the pastoral network we have, or the spirituality that we help members explore. I didn’t mention the extraordinary educational events and programs we run that make us renowned throughout the state, from our regular Torah breakfasts to our religious school, the Hochberg Academy, our adult education events and more. I didn’t mention our youth group that connects teenagers to each other through a Jewish lens. I didn’t mention the L’Taken seminars in DC where we take young members from our community every year. I didn’t mention the importance of community, or the life-cycle events that we lead from cradle to the grave to help people mark the most important moments in their lives.
I heard it said once about all the social justice that Reform Judaism is just the Democratic Party with prayers. I understand where that thought comes from, but I don’t agree. Whereas Orthodox Judaism is halakhic Judaism, that is, Judaism that focusses spirituality around law in which God is obeyed, Reform Judaism is prophetic, focusing spirituality on creating a just society in which God is experienced. Both are valid perspectives on Judaism, both can claim support from traditional texts. Personally, I feel that the Reform perspective speaks to more people in the 21st century. As traditional authoritarian structures start to break down, a growing number of people are finding God not in law, but in justice, in compassion, and in expressions of love for those in need… in exactly the kinds of activities the prophets begged the people to engage in. In the first chapter of Isaiah, for example, the prophet says that God loathes rituals that are meaningless and detestable when offered with hands soaked in blood. Restoration, he says, shall be a time of justice and righteousness. From Torah all the way through to the prophets, the most common injunction is to welcome and protect the stranger, the person most unlike us. The prophet Micah says that God has shown us what is good – to do justice, love mercy and to walk humbly with God. That is the essence of Reform Judaism.
As much as Rabbinic Judaism regularly expounded on matters of law, even it also regularly encouraged behavior that we would still today see as profoundly moral. It saw the imitation of God as key. With that in mind, Talmud (Sotah 14a) says that just as God clothed the naked (with Adam and Eve), so should we clothe the naked; just as God visited the sick (with Abraham), so we should visit the sick, and so on… They also said (Sifre Deut 49; 85a) that to walk in God’s ways meant to be full of compassion, to be gracious, slow to anger and full of mercy and truth. The moral core of Judaism which Reform Judaism, which this community, so clearly elaborates upon, is based around the central verse of Torah – ve’ahavta l’re’acha kamocha – show love to your neighbor as you would have it shown to you (Lev. 19:18). While I understand the reasons that Reform Judaism gave itself its name, I do wish that it had called itself Prophetic Judaism, or Compassionate Judaism, because that’s what it fundamentally is. That’s what we do here. We uphold not just the relevant ritual traditions but also we embody the best of Judaism by ensuring that it is not just hollow ritual. Here at Temple Beth Shalom, we ensure that ritual and social action are intricately woven together.
More than that, we explore and create. Our Ritual Forum, for example, helps us adapt our rituals to the modern age, for example with our forthcoming communal seder in a few months’ time. Our Voices for Women group is looking at new rituals, apparently including a new way to ritualize tashlich on Rosh Hashanah. Reform Judaism is living Judaism, it’s ethical Judaism. Temple Beth Shalom is the epitome of that.
For our new members, I understand why you’re here. I had never even been to Santa Fe before when I saw the job posting for this community. What leaped off the page was a vibrant, exciting, moral, caring, fun community for all ages. I uprooted my entire life to be the Rabbi here. That even meant sacrificing the adorable British accent that my daughter had. But I and my family, hopefully like you, were welcomed warmly into this community. This community became our new extended family.
For our Board members, past and present, we honor your commitment to Temple Beth Shalom. Were it not for your tireless efforts, this community would not be so successful. It takes real dedication to be on the Board of a Temple. Indeed, it takes real dedication to make it through a single board meeting! But we are already a successful community and are becoming an even more successful community. The last 12 months have been extremely positive for our community, and 2019 will bring exciting challenges and opportunities. There is much work to still be done. Our community is by no means perfect. But we are growing together, learning together, making mistakes and forgiving together. We are exploring new approaches to Judaism together, all the while reminding ourselves of our heritage, particularly our prophetic heritage. I firmly believe that the intellectual and spiritual future of Judaism will be centered in Reform Judaism, and I firmly believe that the intellectual and spiritual future of Santa Fe’s Jewish community will be centered in Temple Beth Shalom.
To those who have joined our community recently, we welcome you. To those who have helped lead our community, we thank you. And to everyone else, to all those who contribute to our community to make it the loving, extended family that it is today, we appreciate you. To all in our community, we pray for Divine blessings of health and happiness, and let us say, Amen.