from the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

From the desk of …                    

 Rabbi Barry Schwartz

    

STAYING IN TOUCH

I am a busy person, but I want to stay in touch with what is happening in my congregation and in the Jewish world. Just give me the most useful links, and I’ll mark them as favorites.

You asked… so here they are:

1. This Week at Adas Emuno—the rabbi’s weekly email; read before deleting!

2. AdasEmuno.org—our congregation’s website, with a calendar of events.

3. AdasEmunoblogspot.com—sermons, photos, blogs all well kept by our president.

4. JewishStandard.TimesofIsrael.com—digital digest of our local Jewish newspaper.

5. JewishWeek.TimesofIsrael.com—digital digest of NY Jewish news and events.

6. TabletMag.com—daily roundup of trending Jewish issues and culture.

7. MosaicMagazine.com—daily collection of deeper Jewish culture issues.

Of course, you may also want to delve more actively into social media, such as our Facebook page… but checking in with these seven sites will at least give you the right to call yourself Jewishly informed and connected!

 

From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

A Message From Our President

Dr. Lance Strate

Jewish Leadership

Whatever your political views and party affiliations may be, I think we can all agree that there is something significant about Bernie Sanders becoming the first Jewish-American to win a presidential primary. And it serves as a reminder that there is something special about Jewish leadership.

I hasten to add that there is nothing extraordinary about the fact of Jewish leadership. Not in a tradition that includes Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, followed by the likes of Joshua, Deborah, and Gideon. Our models of leadership include prophets and priests, and the kings of Israel and Judah, not to mention Judah Maccabee and Queen Esther. For most of the history of the Diaspora, rabbis served as leaders of their communities. And for the better part of seven decades, the State of Israel has given us uniquely Jewish presidents and prime ministers.

Jewish congregations, synagogues, and temples have also required members of local Jewish communities to step up and take on leadership positions, as trustees and officers. I'd like to call upon you now, taking a page from John F. Kennedy, to ask not what Adas Emuno can do for you, but to ask what you can do for Adas Emuno.

We have room on our Board of Trustees for a few more members, and there is always room for more on our committees. Virginia Gitter is the head of this year's Nominating Committee, so please contact her, or me, or any member of our board, or our clergy, if you are willing and able to serve.

Leadership is not some magical power you can only be born with, not some mystical skill acquired through arcane means. It's simply a matter of service, being willing to serve on behalf of others, to lend a helping hand. Won't you consider lending yours in the service of your community, and your fellow congregants?

Last year, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks published a book entitled, Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible, and here are his 7 principles of Jewish leadership:

1. Leadership begins with taking responsibility.
2. No one can lead alone.
3. Leadership is about the future.
4. Leaders learn.
5. Leadership means believing in the people you lead.
6. Leadership involves a sense of timing and pace.
7. Leadership is stressful and emotionally demanding.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Are you willing to take responsibility for our congregation? Not sole responsibility, we all work together, but are you willing to join with others in taking on that responsibility? Are you willing to work together for the sake of the future of our congregation? Are you willing to join together in what is a continual learning process, as we meet the changing needs of our community, county, and country? Giving of your time and effort is not without its rewards, which includes personal growth—it is indisputably a learning experience for everyone involved.

Do you believe in our congregation, in our families, our children, our membership? Is this the right time? And if not now, when?

And let's be clear about it. It's not always easy. To give to others means also to give up something. And yes, leadership can be stressful, demanding and draining, but as Teddy Roosevelt put it, "Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty." But I also hasten to add that, for the most part, things run pretty smoothly here at Adas Emuno, so there is not very much stress. And there is a great deal of satisfaction.

Jewish leadership is part of our heritage, something we share and can all take part in, as a duty, an obligation, a mitzvah. And you don't have to campaign to be President of the United States, after all. You just have to be willing to join together and lend a hand.

Yiddish Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side

The previous post on our congregational blog, America's Zayde, featured my op-ed from the February 12th issue of the Jewish Standard, where it appeared under the title of Zayde for President. And in the post, I made reference to another Sanders, Edward Sanders, no relation to Bernie, and not to be confused with the English movie star. The Ed Sanders I'm talking about is described on Wikipedia as, "an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author, publisher and longtime member of the band The Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and Hippie generations. Sanders is considered to have been active and 'present at the counterculture's creation'."

Originally from Kansas City, Sanders took up residence in Greenwich Village towards the end of the fifties, and among his many other activities, opened the Peace Eye Bookstore on the lower east side in the early sixties, an important center for the local counterculture. He also is the founder of the investigative poetry movement in the seventies. I pick out these points from his biography, which in truth are overshadowed by many other achievements, because they are relevant to the point at hand.been active and 'present at the counterculture's creation'."

The point being one of his poems in particular, "The Yiddish Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side," which I quoted a few lines from in my op-ed. The poem tells the story of an important chapter in the history of the United States, New York City, American politics, and the Jewish-American experience. The focus is on the first two decades of the 20th century, and the rise and fall of a democratic socialist movement spearheaded by the Jewish immigrants living on the lower east side.

The poem concludes with the failure of that movement, but its influence was felt, in part through the participants that were still alive in the postwar period, in the protest and counterculture movements of the sixties, especially as one of the main centers of the movement, as it was called back then, was in Greenwich Village and New York's lower east side. Perhaps these things run in cycles, so we're seeing a revival of that sensibility from the turn of the 20th century and mid-20th century today in the teens of our new century.

Whether that's the case or not, the poem provides a quick and easy way to understand the milieu that Bernie Sanders come from, both the politics of his parents' generation and the political movement that he took part in as a young man.

The poem also communicates in a clear and stylish manner what democratic socialism is, and was, about. Not communism, socialist dictatorships, or totalitarianism. It was about human rights, many of them rights we take for granted today, rights denied to working people at the beginning of the century. I would suggest that it is vital to avoid having knee-jerk reactions to particular words, and instead try to understand what people really mean by them, and that includes socialism. From that perspective, I find it personally heartening to see how that term has been rescued and resuscitated in Bernie's election campaign. In the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who many believed to have been a socialist), "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," and that is especially true when it comes to words.

So, now, I am pleased to give you two options for accessing "The Yiddish Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side" right here and now. You can read the poem on the online Woodstock Journal that Sanders maintains, here's the link: The Yiddish Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side.

<Or you can listen to a semi-musical recording of Sanders reading the poem, accompanied by an electronic instrument of his own invention, the Bardic Pulse Lyre. The recording was originally put out on vinyl, but there is a nice YouTube version with the printed words as the visuals, so you can enjoy the best of both words worlds.





I would suggest that this poem is quite helpful in understanding where Sanders the candidate is coming from, and perhaps also why his campaign is not reducible to simply winning or losing caucuses and elections.Whatever your own political views may be, I think it is important to understand this chapter in American and Jewish history, and to understand the background that the first major Jewish candidate for President of the United States comes from.

Of course, the views I've expressed here are my own, and not the views of Congregation Adas Emuno.

America's Zayde

Adas Emuno President Lance Strate's most recent op-ed for the Jewish Standard came out on February 12th, under the title of Zayde for President, with the subtitle of, "Grumpy, cool, fun grandpa speaks to millennials," and here it is for your reading pleasure:

When Larry David hosted Saturday Night Live on February 6, Bernie Sanders made a surprise appearance during a skit about a sinking ship — an apt metaphor, some might say, for the state of the union.

With David playing the part of a rich man arguing that his wealth earned him a spot in the lifeboat along with the women and children, Sanders was given the opportunity to deliver a few lines about the one percent “getting preferential treatment,” and the “need to unite and work together.” A brief exchange regarding democratic socialism followed, leading David to ask, “Who are you?” Sanders replied, “I am Bernie Sanderswitzky — but we’re gonna change it when we get to America, so it doesn’t sound quite so Jewish.” “Yeah, that’ll trick ’em,” David shot back sarcastically.

And certainly there is no disguising the fact that Sanders is Jewish, although this was one of the rare moments in media coverage of his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination that any mention has been made of his ethnic and religious identity. And that arguably is odd, given how much emphasis was placed on the fact that Barack Obama became the first African-American president, and on Hillary Clinton potentially becoming the first woman to be president.

Maybe it seems that by contrast with African-Americans and women, Sanders becoming the first Jewish president would be less of a monumental breakthrough for the nation. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that some Americans believe that we already have a non-Christian president—that Obama is a secret Muslim. Or maybe it’s a matter of longstanding Jewish reticence, as reflected in the name change mentioned in the skit. Sanders is a traditional Anglo-Saxon name; interestingly enough, it originated in the same impulse that was prevalent among the Jews of antiquity, to name their children after Alexander the Great.

Of course, Sanders’ self-identification as a “democratic socialist” often is referenced by the news media, as it was on the Saturday Night Live skit, but would that make him the first socialist president of the United States if he is elected? Not according to Republican rhetoric, given that most Democrats have been accused of promoting socialist policies. More significantly, not according to Sanders himself, who positions himself in the tradition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and policies, as extended by John F. Kennedy and, significantly, by Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Great Society initiatives. Those presidents avoided the label of socialist, however, given American opposition, from the Russian Revolution on, to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, even during the brief period we fought together to defeat Nazi Germany.

To get a sense of the brief moment in our history when socialism first represented a serious political movement, we might turn to another Sanders, Edward Sanders. Perhaps best known as one of the founders of the 1960s rock band The Fugs, Ed Sanders also has distinguished himself as an activist, author, and award-winning poet. And his extended poem, called Yiddish-Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side, stands as a tribute to the likes of Meyer London, Morris Hillquit, Scott Nearing, Eugene Debs, and Emma Goldman:

To make a New World
inside the New World
at Century’s turn
the Yiddish speaking socialists
of the Lower East Side.

As the poem explains, they had, “a passion for Justice that never fades away,” although they failed in their efforts to translate their ideals into a successful political revolution. Ed Sanders, who is just two years older than Bernie, was an icon and leader of the counterculture of the ’60s and early ’70s. Although he was not Jewish, he took inspiration from the social justice activism of these early 20th century pioneers.

Movements like these seem to run in cycles, so it may well be that the socialism that arose at the turn of the 20th century and returned in the form of the counterculture over half a century ago is due to make a comeback now. Without a doubt, the counterculture movement also was a youth movement, and not surprisingly, Bernie Sanders has enjoyed widespread support among the youngest of our eligible voters, the generation referred to as Millennials. Indeed, this has been a frequently invoked theme in news coverage of the campaign, with the pundits often seeming at a loss as to why twenty-somethings would support a 74-year-old candidate.

The expectation that young people automatically should favor the youngest candidate perhaps has its roots in the fact that baby boomers venerated John F. Kennedy, who was the youngest person ever elected president, but this overlooks the fact that no one from that generation was old enough to vote in the 1960 election. As much as JFK’s appearance of youth and vigor seemed to resonate with the ascendancy of the boomers, we have no way of knowing how that generation would have regarded him had his career and life not been cut short by an assassin’s bullet. We do know that his successor, LBJ, was vilified for his escalation of the Vietnam War, and that happened despite his progressive domestic initiatives.

In the same sense that political movements may be cyclical in nature, so too are filial relationships. That’s why we often speak of traits and qualities skipping a generation. Millennial support for Sanders therefore should come as no surprise, as he easily fits into the role of America’s grandpa, or more accurately, America’s zayde. Often he comes across as a grumpy grandpa, as Amber Phillips of the Washington Post suggested last July. But Emma Roller of the New York Times labeled him “your cool socialist grandpa” in December, and just a few weeks ago, People profiled him as a “fun grandpa,” according to his own grandchildren.

Jeb Bush, who had been struggling to gain the slightest bit of traction, recently had his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, venture out into the New Hampshire snow to help him in his primary campaign. The news media has made frequent reference to her enormous popularity, referring to her as “America’s grandmother.” And there is no question that she fits the image, and did so even back when her husband was president. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has included the fact that she recently became a grandmother as part of her campaign rhetoric, but she has not been able to come across as particularly grandmotherly, drawing criticism this past December for comparing herself to an abuela (Latina grandmother).

Grumpy, cool, and fun are not mutually exclusive traits, and there is something about the image of older Jewish men that plays well in contemporary American culture, and especially on television. It is indeed a mixture of idealism and humor, impatience with injustice, and infinite patience with the young. Whether this is a wining formula for the Democratic primaries remains to be seen, but the source of his appeal to Millennials, as a socialist zayde, should not be a mystery.

from the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

From the desk of …                    

 Rabbi Barry Schwartz

    

THE JEW AND THE PEW

You may recall that at the High Holy Days I shared with you concerns about the future of the American Jewish community. In one sermon (letter-to-my-children) in particular, I quoted quite a few statistics. The numbers were more than a decade old, but the best I had. Well now we have much more recent and comprehensive findings. You may have heard that in October the highly respected Pew Research Center issued a major new survey of our community. The results are eye-opening indeed. To say they are disturbing is an understatement; they confirm my worst fears and apprehensions.

Here, to my mind, are the key findings:

• The percentage of US adults who say they are Jewish has declined in half since the 1950’s (meaning we are now less than 2% of the population and getting smaller). 

• Even among those who call themselves Jews, a fifth say that have no religious connection at all (which rises to a third among those under 30). 

• Intermarriage now stands at an all-time high of 58% for the Jewish community as a whole, and an astounding 71% for non-orthodox Jews. 

• More than two-thirds of those families will not raise their children with Jewish education. 

• Two-thirds of Jews do not belong to a synagogue (and those who do have, by and large, very low participation rates.) 

Is there any good news to be found in the survey? I would have to honestly say for us non-orthodox Jews that constitute 90% of our community, the answer is… no. Let’s be brave enough to admit that this portrait is devastating. We are in free fall. I know that you can argue that Jewish history is not about the numbers, but when we are a small community to begin with, and our numbers and involvement are plummeting, we do need to worry about whether our vital core will remain large enough to sustain us. As I pointed out at the Holidays, many a great Jewish community has disappeared before in history (although never from the self-inflicted wound of assimilation).

So now you are asking: is there anything we can do about it? I’m still waiting for our community leaders to cease their denials and evasions, to stop spinning their replies to make it look not-so-bad for their particular denominations, and to eschew their head-in-the sands approach for truly creative and radical action. I’m still waiting for that inspiring wisdom. In the meantime I have some thoughts of my own, and I will share them in subsequent columns.

In the meantime, I’d like to hear your reactions to the above. Am I too negative? Am I too judgmental? Am I missing something? After all, is there a more important conversation than the future of our children and our community?

Eulogy for Noah Pozner

At our Shabbat services, we joined together with individuals and groups across the nation and throughout the world in mourning the victims of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, and praying for their families. And in a previous post, A Response to Tragedy, we joined with Jews across the nation in calling for comprehensive reforms to end gun violence and ensure mental health care to all who need it. There is so much more that could and should be said about this terrible event, and yet so very difficult to put it into words.

However difficult it may be for us to speak to this subject, how much more so for the parents of the children lost to this act of senseless violence? And yet, we find tragedy confronted courageously with words of extraordinary eloquence. Such is the case for the eulogy delivered by the mother of Noah Pozner, which our own Rabbi Schwartz has made reference to on more than one occasion. According to the Associated Press, reporters were not allowed into the Jewish funeral service, but the family made a transcript available for distribution of the eulogies delivered by Noah Pozner's mother, Veronique, and his uncle, and they both can be read online at a variety of sites, including ABC News. And we feel it is important for many reasons to share Veronique Pozner's eulogy here on our congregational blog:

The sky is crying, and the flags are at half-mast. It is a sad, sad day. But it is also your day, Noah, my little man. I will miss your forceful and purposeful little steps stomping through our house. I will miss your perpetual smile, the twinkle in your dark blue eyes, framed by eyelashes that would be the envy of any lady in this room.

Most of all, I will miss your visions of your future. You wanted to be a doctor, a soldier, a taco factory manager. It was your favorite food, and no doubt you wanted to ensure that the world kept producing tacos.

You were a little boy whose life force had all the gravitational pull of a celestial body. You were light and love, mischief and pranks. You adored your family with every fiber of your 6-year-old being. We are all of us elevated in our humanity by having known you. A little maverick, who didn't always want to do his schoolwork or clean up his toys, when practicing his ninja moves or Super Mario on the Wii seemed far more important.

Noah, you will not pass through this way again. I can only believe that you were planted on Earth to bloom in heaven. Take flight, my boy. Soar. You now have the wings you always wanted. Go to that peaceful valley that we will all one day come to know. I will join you someday. Not today. I still have lots of mommy love to give to Danielle, Michael, Sophia and Arielle.

Until then, your melody will linger in our hearts forever. Momma loves you, little man.

Truly heart-rending words.  And we can only join together in saying Kaddish for the victims, and praying for healing for their families.

Blowing Our Own Horn

Here is a last look back at the year 5772, the photograph having been taken the day before Erev Rosh Hashanah, and appearing in the issue of Leonia Life on the Friday following the Jewish New Year.

And in the spirit of blowing our own horn, several congregants commented at the break fast, following the final shofar blast that signaled the end of Yom Kippur yesterday evening, that this was the best High Holy Days services ever (or at least in recent memory) at Congregation Adas Emuno! In case there was any doubt before, I think we all learned that our little Bergen County based temple is the cool shul.  Now, let's make 5773 the best year ever (or at least in recent memory) for Adas Emuno!

Rabbi Schwartz's Sermon for Rosh Hashanah Evening 5773

THE BOOK OF LIFE

ROSH HASHANAH 5773

RABBI BARRY L. SCHWARTZ

Every morning I arise at dawn, hop on my bicycle, and ride down to Overpeck Park. As I hit Fort Lee Road, I pass the giant utility poles that are home to the parrots of Leonia. They squawk their greeting, and I tip my helmut hello. On my right I pass the Leonia section of Overpeck. The 6:00 AM walkers are already doing their loops, just as the sky is alighting.

I cross over to the larger Ridgefield section of Overpeck, and begin my own triple loop, each about 2.5 miles long. As I round the first bend, the tip of the Manhattan skyline comes into view. It never fails to surprise me. I pass the ball fields and there on the horizon is the Empire State Building, and further down, the new World Trade Center.

The sun is just coming up, and often it shines on the side of those skyscrapers, casting them in striking hues. Turning again, I ride along the river, the dawn sky reflected in a palate of pinks and oranges over the water as the sun rises.

The water is placid, the sky is brilliant; the birds wing their way over the water.  Sometimes a sculler glides along, causing barely a ripple. All is well with the world…  except it isn’t.

The Leonia section of Overpeck Park, as many of you know, contains a memorial to those lost in 9-11. The Ridgefield section of Overpeck Park once revelaled a glimpse of the twin towers that are no more. Every morning that I take my idealic bike ride the subtle but persistent reminder of our national tragedy is there. The reminder that our beautiful world is also a troubled world is there.

This week we are celebrating the Jewish New Year. That’s why we’re here. But this past week also marked the 11th anniversary of 9-11. The commemeration this year was so much more muted than last year, for the tenth anniversary. That is understandable.

But for me the anniversary of 9-11 is not muted—for two reasons:

My visit the week before last to ground zero, 

and my worry over a nuclear Iran.

Permit me to explain why each affects me deeply, and the lessons they impart, as we gather in prayer and reflection at this new year.

A meeting connected to my work at the Jewish Publication Society brought me to a building next door to ground zero. I had not visited ground zero before, so I arrived early to visit the site. It was a weekday morning, but already hundreds of people were lined up. I heard languages from around the world. As you make your way to the entrance you see photographs of people gathering in the wake of 9-11, and holding vigils on every continent.

Ground zero is not a quiet place these days. It is a booming construction site. But once you enter the Memorial Park, the surrounding noise seems to fade away. You come to the edge of the memorial pools, water cascading along the sides. First I am struck by the enormity of their size. These pools represent the exact footprints of the twin towers. They are huge, and 30 feet deep. The void that absence creates is so palpable.

Then you come to the edge and you begin to see the names of the deceased. You begin walking around the edge of the square. Row after row of names. I begin to read one, then tens, then scores. There are hundreds of names; hundreds of hundreds. There are too many names to possibly read.

But seeing each individual name you begin to realize the enormity of the loss. Every name a precious soul. Every name a whole universe. Every name beloved by someone who grieves to this day.

The water streams on; as life goes on. But the falling water is also, I think, our tears. They never run dry.

Away from the pool are a grove of newly planted trees. In the words of design jury chair Vartan Gregorian: “The voids left by the destruction are the primary symbols of our loss. While these voids remain empty and inconsolable, the surrounding plaza’s design has evolved to include teeming groves of trees, traditional affirmations of life and rebirth. The result is a memorial that expresses both the incalculable loss of life and its regeneration.”

In the front center of the grove stands one tree taller than the rest. It looks healthy and vibrant, but support cables are by its side and there are scars on the trunk. This is the Survivor Tree: the calloway pear tree found as the only living thing at ground zero. Rescuers, looking in vain for signs of human life, found none. But then they found this scorched eight foot stump, and thought it too was dead, until they saw the roots were still intact. Carefully they removed the charred tree and brought it to the Parks Department Plant Nursery in the Bronx. For nine years the tree was nursed back to life, almost succumbing a second time during a particularly bad storm. Two seasons ago it was brought back to ground zero. Last year President Obama laid a wreath at its base. The Survivor Tree is now 30 feet tall. This year it blossomed, on the first day of spring, astounding New Yorkers.

I have a picture of the survivor tree that I took on my cell phone. I will pass it around. Behind it is the new World Trade Tower. The new tower is some 93 stories tall, and due to be completed in 2013. From the ashes, life. The irrepressible life force of a tree. The irrepressible life spirit of a nation.

We Jews can relate to that. We know what it is to face tragedy, and to overcome tragedy by affirming life in its wake.

As Jonathan Saks, the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, writes in his book To Heal a Fractured World:

What was it about Judaism that led Jews, in circumstances that should rationally have led to despair, not merely to survive, but to respond with a new burst of creativity? For that, historically, is what happened. The division of the kingdom after Solomon led to the flowering of prophecy. The destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile reinvigorated the study of Torah. Responding to the destruction of the Second Temple , the sages created the vast rabbinic literature: Mishnah, Midrash and the two Talmuds. The encounter with… Christianity gave impetus to Jewish bible commentary; with Islam, to Jewish philosophy. The crusades led to new forms of north European Jewish pietism. The Spanish expulsion evoked the mysticism of Safed. The Holocaust, in human terms the worst tragedy of all, led to the single greatest affirmation of the collective Jewish will to survive: the birth of the State of Israel.

Our common scripture and our common history cherish life; venerates life. Amidst the cleared away rubble ground zero is coming to life again. The museum that will tell the story is not open yet, but if you want to glimpse some of that story, if you want to sense the inexhaustible life affirming potential of everyday people, then stop in at St. Paul’s Church just a block away. The story of their ministry in the wake of 9-11 is inspirational. People of all faiths joined hands, night and day, to comfort the afflicted and assist the rescuers. Three months after 9-11, the church helped sponsor the lighting of a Hannukah Menorah at ground zero. Light against the dark.

Which brings me to my second reason for speaking on the eve of this new year. Our beautiful world is still a deeply troubled world. Thomas Friedman wrote that our greatest failure prior to 9-11 was a failure of imagination. Our failure to imagine how committed to evil some people can be. Our failure to imagine how such people will employ any means to justify their ends. Our failure to imagine that there are religious fanatics who cherish not life, but death.

Today I am haunted by my perception that we are still failing that test of imagination. We just don’t want to believe that there are people who hate us. The Islamic republic of Iran has said, repeatedly, that America is the Great Satan and Israel the Little Satan. Its president, the head of state, has said, repeatedly, that he wants to wipe Israel off the map. Its top cleric has said, repeatedly, that Israel is a cancer to be eradicated.

We don’t want to believe it because we are not hateful, spiteful people. We don’t want to believe it because our religious traditions abhor the very notion of suicide bombers and the slaughter of innocents. We don’t want to believe it because we forget history very quickly.

Well, even as the Jews rise from the ashes time and again, we are haunted by history. We are told to remember, remember, never to forget.

So we remember that, in the lifetime of many of us here today, people of good will did not, could not believe what a man named Hitler could do.

What an emperor named hirohito could do... What a supreme leader named Stalin could do… What a chairman named Mao could do… What a regime called the Khmer Rouge could do… What a tribe called the Hutsis could do… What a clan called the Janjaweed of Darfur could do… What a mullah named Omar and a shiek named Bin Laden could do…

How much history do we need to forget in order to delude ourselves once again?

And as noted columnist Charles Krauthammer, a man I respect but rarely agree with, argues, relying on a theory of deterrence like that of the mutually assured destruction doctrine of the Cold War era is dangereously misguided. He gives three reasons:

1. The Soviet quarrel with America was ideological. Iran’s quarrel with Israel is existential. The Soviets never proclaimed a desire to annihilate the American people. For Iran, the very existence of a Jewish state on Muslim land is a crime. an abomination. 

2. America is a nation of 300 million, Israel 8 million. America is a continental nation; Israel, a speck on the map. As former Iranian president Rafsanjani has famously said: “Application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world.” 

3. Irans’s clerical regime rules in the name of a fundamentalism for whom the hereafter offers the ultimate rewards. The classic formulation comes from Tehran’s fellow Jiahdist Al-Qaeda: “You love life and we love death.” Try deterrring that.

We just can’t wrap our heads around that . “You love life; we love death.” We don’t want to believe it because it runs counter to everything we have been taught. To our deepest values. To our most cherished principles.

I know this is grim stuff, but with the window of opportunity rapidly closing, can we begin the new year by avoiding the most dangerous situation in the world? Never mind the existential threat to Israel?

We pray that our leaders, here and in Israel, will be determined, wise and courageous as they wrestle with the weighty decisions that must be made, and will be made.

Allow me to close on an optimistic note. Al-Qaeda and Teheran are right about one thing. We do love life.

Look at the words we read in our prayerbook this evening: “Zochreinu l’hayim: remember us unto life, Sovereign who delights in life, and inscribe us in the Book of Life, for Your sake, o God of life.”

We love life, as that pear tree that would not die loves life. As the victims loved life. As the rescuers loved life. As the rebuilders love life. As our Jewish heritage loves life. As our nation loves life.

Life will find a way. It always does.

We will write ourselves into the Book of Life, because that is who we are.

 “There shall come a time,” Isaiah said, “when none shall hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain. When they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. When every man shall dwell under his vine and fig tree, and none shall make them afraid.”

On this Rosh Hashanah we say, as we do each and every time we raise a glass: L’Hayim! To life!

Marvin Hamlisch

Situated in Bergen County, just over the George Washington Bridge, and only a few miles away from New York City's Broadway theater district, Congregation Adas Emuno joins with so many others all around the world in saying rest in peace to Jewish-American composer and songwriter Marvin Hamlisch, 1944-2012.

Here is a photo montage tribute featuring his best known composition, "The Way We Were," sung by none other than Barbra Streisand:

The Los Angeles Times reported that Streisand was devastated upon hearing the news.  Here's an excerpt from the article:

Streisand is dedicating her latest CD, "Release Me," to Hamlisch. The CD is set for a September release and will feature a photo of the two that was shot New Year’s Eve 1993.

Streisand said that she and Hamlisch were like two peas in a pod from the moment they met nearly 50 years ago. 

“When I was with Marvin it felt like I was home,” she said. “We just hit it off and we became friends. We were so alike -- a passion for work and music.”

He was a man who loved food, laughter and the New York Yankees, she recalled. On their concert tours, she said, “Marvin had this little gizmo that he showed me that gave him the most recent baseball scores.”

Hamlisch also eased Streisand's nerves about returning to the concert stage in 1993 after 27 years. “I had sung for fundraisers,” she said. “When I decided to go back, it had to be with Marvin. Marvin got me through all of that fear.”

Streisand, the producer-writer-director, hired Hamlisch to score her 1996 film, “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” And he performed at her wedding to actor James Brolin in her Malibu home in 1998.

“The wedding was put together in 2 1/2 weeks,” she said. “He was rehearsing at a nearby school and we were talking on the phone because I was doing preparations for the wedding.”

She last saw Hamlisch in November at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Gala.
“I hadn’t seen him in a while,” she said. “I was worried about him because he didn’t look well. He seemed very tired. I sat him down next to me.”

Streisand, who opens a concert tour in October at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, is planning a tribute to Hamlisch for the concert. 

“He was the kindest, most thoughtful, generous human being,” she said.

And like any good friend, she said, “he never forgot my birthday.”

To get a sense of the man himself, take a look at this rare footage of Marvin Hamlisch doing schtick and singing with Cantor Simon Spiro, including a new version of Irving Berlin's "Anything You Can Do":

And here are some notes about the video from the write-up on YouTube:

0:13 -- Tote Board: Actually an enormous video screen so that the people in the back and balcony seating can see better.
0:32 -- Holiday: This concert took place in the month of September, so the holiday Marvin is referring to is Rosh Hashana.
0:41 -- Purim: Usually a less-than-huge holiday, Purim at Toronto's Beth Tzedec Congregation is famously celebrated with its city-wide full-scale major musical productions each year
3:16 -- Martin: Earlier in the concert, Simon & Martin did a very funny bit in which Simon kept getting Marvin's name wrong
5:26 -- Adon Olam: While Marvin is known for composing many hits, Simon's most noted composition is "Adon Olam", which was a #1 hit in Israel and is performed today at synagogues throughout the world.
6:33 -- Sedaka: Neil Sedaka had done a Beth Tzedec concert with Simon shortly before Marvin's.
6:41 -- That's where we met: Simon & Marvin first met when they performed together in London's "Live At Her Majesty's" in the 1990s.
6:52 -- You weren't: These insults that they exchange are not real insults. They were written by lyricist Aliza Spiro as part of the song patter
7:31 -- Page turn: That's just so that Marvin can follow the chart. He is improvising on piano while Simon improvises vocally
7:52 -- Sixty jingles: In his native England, Simon actually wrote and/or sang for well over 100 commercial jingles
9:06 -- Marvin's hand: Marvin not only agreed to perform this song but threw himself into it wholeheartedly. By the end, you can see that he is Mr. Song-and-Dance. What a wonderful man. He will be missed!!

Funeral and visitation information are available on his official website, http://www.marvinhamlisch.com, along with his a wealth of information on his life and works. Truly, the lights on Broadway have grown a little dimmer with his passing.

Reform Judaism's Gold Medal Gymnast Aly Raisman

Olympian Aly Raisman's Rabbi Says Her Gold Medals Inspire Jewish Community reads the headline of an article written by Jaclyn Reiss for the Boston Globe on August 8, the day after Aly won two Olympic Medals, one Gold and one Bronze, for her spectacular showing in women's gymnastics.

The article begins with the Raisman's Rabbi, Keith Stern:

The rabbi of the Newton synagogue where Aly Raisman attends said he and the Jewish community have been proudly looking on over the last few weeks as she has made her way to Olympic glory. 

The Raismans joined Temple Beth Avodah, a reform synagogue, in Newton about 15 years ago, and put Aly through Hebrew school starting when she was in pre-school all the way up until her Bat Mitzvah at age 13, said Rabbi Keith Stern, who has been at the temple for 16 years.

 "I would say her family is a very proud Jewishly-connected family, in terms of their sense of who and what they are," Stern said in an interview Wednesday. "It reflects on what they do in the world and on their basic values."

Stern said that he has known Raisman since she was a little girl, and praised her caring personality. 

"Truly, from pre-school on, she has always been a sweet, confident, very focused person, who always comes through and who cared about other people," Stern said. "She has a natural inclination to make sure people are okay and to make sure they're happy." 

He also said that Raisman's personality traits shone as she served as captain and led the American gymnastics team to gold.

Before continuing on with the article, the exceptional personality traits that Rabbi Stern refers to can be seen quite well in the following short video on Aly Raisman's Olympic Workout produced by Yahoo Sports posted last month:

And now, to return to the article, Reiss continues with another quote from Raisman's Rabbi:

"Watching her during Olympics, she is the perfect captain because she has this ability to look at the group and make sure everybody is okay, and does it in a way that’s so natural for her," Stern said. "I think it significantly reflects the idea that being a Jew is worrying not just about your own immediate family, but also the people you’re with - their welfare, their needs. That’s a significant reflection of a Jewish upbringing." 

Stern said he liked Raisman's choice of "Hava Nagila," a popular Hebrew folk song associated with celebrations, as the background music of her floor routine.

And here is some amateur footage of her doing her individual all-around routine to Hava Nagila on July 29th:





She tied for 3rd place, but lost the Bronze Medal on the tie-breaker, coming in fourth on that event, although she did receive a Gold Medal as part of the USA's fab five winning the Women's Gymnastics Team event (where she also did a floor routine to Hava Nagila).  But on August 7th, she won the Bronze Medal in the balance beam final, and then went on to win a Gold Medal in the floor final, once again to the tune of Hava Nagila! NBC isn't allowing us to embed the video, but you can watch her amazing performance on their Olympic coverage site.

Back at the article, Reiss returns once again to Rabbi Stern:

He said the version Raisman used "rocked the way she needed it to rock," and speculated that Raisman might have used it to pay tribute to the 40th anniversary of the 1972 terrorist attack on 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. 

"In a way, it indicates Aly’s Jewish life is so integrated into her entire soul, that I don’t think she was looking to make a statement as a Jew," he said. "I think it was so natural to her that it's more like, why wouldn’t she use the Hora? It shows again her confidence and tradition in a really fundamental way." 

Stern said he thinks Jewish Americans feel connected to Raisman, and have been cheering her on at the Olympics. Rabbi Jay Perlman of the Temple Beth Shalom in Needham hit a similar theme in a recent blog post, mentioning the song she chose and her connection to the community. 

"Aly, not surprisingly, was exceptionally gracious following (as she was graceful during) yesterday’s individuals competition. She celebrated her teammates. And she expressed appreciation for all that she had accomplished and for those who have supported her,'' Perlman wrote. "We are so happy to see Aly shine as a role model of dedication, hard work, and team work. And I know that we all look forward to – soon – welcoming her and her family home to Needham.''

In his blog post, Rabbi Needham also said that "a number of people have commented that they found it refreshing that Aly chose 'Hava Nagila' for her floor routine….. that Aly so proudly shared her Jewish identity with the world."

 Aly's choice of Hava Nagila was was especially poignant in light of the International Olympic Committee's refusal to observe a minute of silence in memory of the Munich 11, the eleven Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists, with the aid of German neo-Nazis, forty years ago at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany (see our previous post, One Minute of Silence for the Munich 11).  In a New York Post article by Leonard Greene dated August 8 and entitled Jewish Gal Shows Up IOC with a Gold Salute to Munich 11, he opens with a quote and a reference to IOC President Jacques Roggue:

“I can only imagine how painful it must be for the families and close personal friends of the victims.”

But by refusing to hit the pause button for a measly 60 seconds, Roggue and other organizers have committed a sin nearly as grave as denying there was ever a Holocaust.

Were it not for young Aly and her wedding dance/bat mitzvah accompaniment, the Munich dead may have never gotten their due.

“I am Jewish, that’s why I wanted that floor music,’’ Raisman said.

“I wanted something the crowd could clap to, especially being here in London.

“It makes it even much more if the audience is going through everything with you. That was really cool and fun to hear the audience clapping.’’

The significance of Raisman's musical statement was driven home by Meredith Bennett-Smith in a piece written for the Huffington Post, also date August 8th, under the title of Aly Raisman, Olympic Gymnast, Honors 'Munich 11' And Her Jewish Heritage After Winning Gold:

Aly Raisman was not alive when the Black September Palestinian militant group infiltrated the Olympic Village at the 1972 Munich Games, but on Tuesday, the 18-year-old gymnast said she would have supported a moment of silence in their honor.

 In light of the 40th anniversary of the tragedy -- which resulted in the death of 11 athletes and coaches -- relatives and supporters of the Munich victims had redoubled their efforts to have a moment of silence observed during the opening ceremonies in London. 

But in a decision that drew widespread criticism, International Olympic Committee President Jaques Roggue refused to allow any such remembrance, announcing in May that the "IOC has officially paid tribute to the memory of the athletes on several occasions," and would not be doing so in London, according to USA Today.

However, after Raisman mounted the podium to accept her individual gold medal in the women's floor exercises Tuesday, she showed maturity and poise as she addressed the Munich controversy head on.

Bennett-Smith goes on to reference Green's New York Post article:

“If there had been a moment’s silence,” Raisman said, “I would have supported it and respected it," the New York Post notes.

For many, the gymnast's routine, which was performed to the traditional Hebrew folk tune, “Hava Nagila,” added an extra layer of poignancy.

“Having that floor music wasn’t intentional,” Raisman told reporters. “But the fact it was on the 40th anniversary is special, and winning the gold today means a lot to me.”

The Jewish community has rallied around the young star, much as it has other athletes who have found their own ways to honor their fallen peers.

The next paragraph makes reference to a survivor of Auschwitz, Max Goldschmidt, who moved to France after the war, and married Fabien Gilot's grandmother:

Fabien Gilot, a French swimmer, made headlines with his own moving tattoo tribute. The Hebrew lettering on his arm: אני כלום בלעדיהם, meaning, "I am nothing without them," was a tribute to a Jewish grandfather figure, Gilot said.

The article continues, citing the Israeli newspaper Haaretz:

The Italian delegation also made its own moving gesture of solidarity earlier in the games, holding a minute of silence with a number of Israeli representatives inside the Olympic Village, Haaretz reports.

The Haaretz article, filed July 30th with the title, In Solidarity with Israel, Italy Holds Munich Olympics Memorial, relates the following:

The Italian delegation to the 2012 London Olympiad made an emotional gesture at the Olympic village on Sunday by holding a minute of silence together with a number of Israeli representatives for the 11 victims of the 1972 Munich massacre. 

Over 30 members of the Italian delegation - headed by Sports Minister Piero Gnudi, Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Petrucci and International Olympic Committee member Franco Carraro - held the ceremony near the Israelis' quarters. 

Israel was represented by Zvi Varshaviak, chairman of the Olympic Committee of Israel; Efraim Zinger, head of the Olympic delegation; shooter Sergey Richter on behalf of the athletes; and Guy Strik on behalf of the coaches. 

Varshaviak said the gesture was beautiful and moving. "It's a brave sign of solidarity and friendship between the Olympic family of Italy and that of Israel, which has continued for many years," he said. 

Zinger thanked the Italians and explained to them that his committee is doing everything to memorialize the 11 Munich victims as Israelis. However, he said, it is important to remember that they were also Olympic athletes, coaches and judges who were murdered during athe Olympics. 

"Therefore they are children of the Olympic movement and in our opinion it is the moral obligation of the International Olympic Committee to find a suitable way to perpetuate their memory," Zinger added.

To Italy, we send our most heartfelt grazie tanto, grazie mille!

And back at the Huffington Post, Bennett-Smith ends her article by noting

Before the start of the games, a petition with more than 107,00 signatures, including that of Barack Obama, was presented to Roggue in London, asking that he reverse his decision and allow the moment of silence to be observed. 

Roggue, however was unmoved.

Now, returning to Raisman, did you happen to see the front page of Wednesday's New York Post? If not, have a look:

And let's return to Leonard Greene's New York Post report:

Raisman’s eyes opened as wide as the gold medal she would win when the judges announced her score of 15.600 points after her mistake-free routine.

Her top finish was the first by an American woman in the Olympic floor exercise, and the win gave Raisman her second gold medal. Raisman admitted the 40th anniversary of the Munich Games made her “hora” gold even more special.

“That was the best floor performance I’ve ever done, and to do it for the Olympics is like a dream,’’ Raisman said. 

Raisman did not go to the Games with the star power of her teammate Gabrielle Douglas or the résumé of world champion Jordyn Wieber.

But those who know her best said she works as hard as anyone, and, more importantly, her heart is in the right place.

‘’I’m so happy for Aly,” Douglas, the first African-American to win the all-around title, said after the floor competition. “She deserves to be up on that podium.’’

Greene went on to quote Rabbi Stern as well:

She is a focused person,” said Rabbi Keith Stern, spiritual leader of Temple Beth Avodah in Newton Centre, Mass., where the Raisman family are members.

“She’s very proud and upfront about being Jewish. Neither she nor her family explicitly sought to send a message. But it shows how very integrated her Jewish heritage is in everything that she does.”

Stern said he remembers picking up young Aly from preschool, and never imagined she’d be some sort of megastar.

He described the US team captain as a big sister-type who is a mother hen to all her younger siblings.

“I can’t wait to have her at the temple to talk about her experience,” he said.

“I know her sister’s bat mitzvah is coming up, so maybe I’ll catch up with her then.”

Stern said that he, too, was stunned by the IOC’s refusal to hold a moment of silence.

“I’m happy to hear any other explanation,” Stern said. “But short of some racist grudge somebody is holding, I can’t figure out why it would be a terrible thing to do.”

Stern said he watched the routine and was blown away. Even so, he said he is more proud of Raisman’s gold mettle than he is of the new jewelry around her neck.

“I have to say, the statement just warmed me to the very depths of my being,” Stern said.

He compared it to the iconic black-power, raised-fist protest made by track stars John Carlos and Tommie Smith on the medal stand at the 1968 Mexico City Games.

“They’re not going to forget that,” the rabbi said. “I certainly won’t.”

Finally, getting back to the Boston Globe, let's hear from Rabbi Stern one more time:

Stern, in an interview Wednesday, added: "I think we’re all puffing out our chests as far as we can go - we’re all so proud of her," he said. "Jewish people often do this - if something happens to another Jewish person, it becomes personal, and now every Jewish family feels related to Aly in some sort of unique way, and feels pride in her success."

"The idea of a highly-trained, highly-successful athlete really reflects a kind of pride of who and what we are as Jews living in the world today, particularly as American citizens," Stern said.

And when Raisman finally steps off the plane from London next week?

"I’ll be in line to greet her with Wheaties and Sports Illustrated," Stern laughed. "We’ll be waiting at the temple whenever the Raismans are ready to join us."

And there she is, showing us her Gold Medal, Alexandra Rose Raisman, one of America's, and Reform Judaism's, finest atheletes!  Mazel tov, Aly, mazel tov!