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Kol Nidre
Eve Rabbi Samuel M.Cohon, Temple Emanu-El, Tucson, AZ
There was a comedian many years ago on Saturday Night Live
named Father Guido Sarducci. He used to have a routine called "The
Three-Minute University,” in which he promised that in three minutes he
could teach you everything that you would remember five years after
you finished college. It was very simple, and he could save you a lot of
money in tuition. So what would you remember of your courses five years down the
road? For Economics, it was
“supply and demand”. Spanish
was “Como esta usted?
Muy bien, y tu?” And
Theology was “Where is God? Everywhere!”
Sometimes I think that Yom Kippur evening sermons are just
like that routine. We rabbis
slave over them and worry if they are up to the proper standard.
And then, not five years but five months—or five days—later, what
remains? I have always wondered just how important these sermons really
are. We have the odd perception
that the words we speak from this pulpit can make a difference in people’s
lives, that they are memorable or important.
We have some concept that our sermons are the most significant thing
that happens in here. But is it
so? Or are we really just
fooling ourselves? And so, following the great scholar Father Guido Sarducci, I
decided to test that thesis this year. Here’s the test: what did I talk about last year?
That is, does anyone remember what I spoke about last Yom
Kippur? Aha. Well, it’s
nice to know that I had such a big impact.
Yom Kippur is a time to review the past year… and maybe more
than a year. We each do it
individually, and as a community we try to do it collectively. So, for
better or worse, I decided to review what the topics of my last few Kol
Nidrei Eve sermons were, and see what their impact has been. For example, last year at Kol Nidrei I actually spoke about
immigration: our own status as immigrants in history, our Jewish sensitivity
to immigration issues. I
highlighted the ongoing tragedy of those who die in the Sonoran Desert near
us here in Tucson, trying to cross into America and become part of our
society. And I urged each of you
to make a difference by working to change a broken immigration system, and
by helping to provide humanitarian aid to those immigrants endangered in our
harsh climate. Of course all the energy to reform immigration policy on a
national level this past year ultimately came to—bupkis, nothing. And
then, just last week, I saw a headline on Yahoo’s national news about
Tucson that noted that this is the worst year ever for immigrant deaths in
the desert here. Hmmph… It was the right topic, and it was and remains an important
Jewish issue, but I’m just not sure how much impact that sermon had.
Similarly, four years ago on this bimah I asked the president
of the United States to withdraw our troops from Iraq.
Nothing good comes from occupation, I said.
We will be there a long time, and we will ultimately fail in our goal
of creating a democratic Arab world. Leave
now, while you can, before a successful war becomes a failed occupation. That sermon was the most controversial I have ever delivered,
way back in 2003. I said, “We
should withdraw from Iraq—the sooner the better.
This is an occupation we cannot win, because no one really wins an
occupation.” Well that sermon really changed American policy, didn’t it?
We were out of Iraq by Sukkot that year, weren’t we?
Apparently the president does not take advice from
congregational rabbis in Arizona. You
see, it doesn’t really matter if you are right when you preach a sermon,
even if it is four years before the rest of the country catches up—it only
matters if you have an impact. Now, speaking of impact, I do know that the one thing I spoke
about last Yom Kippur that people actually remembered had to do with
building my Sukkah, and getting clobbered in the head with a 2X4 while doing
so. In fact, after Yom Kippur
morning services the very next day Steve Tofel gave me this special
yarmulkah [hard hat] to protect me the next time I build my sukkah, which
will be this coming week. Thank
you, Steve. And that’s really all anybody remembered from the sermons
last year. Maybe that’s all
anybody ever remembers from Yom Kippur sermons—the shtick. Recently, there was a news story that caught my eye.
Astronomers have recently discovered an enormous hole in the
universe, a kind of cosmic blank spot with no stars, no comets, no galaxies,
no black holes, not even the mysterious dark matter.
This absence is 1000 times larger than any void previously
identified. A whole lot of
nothing. But I know what’s in there.
That’s where old Yom Kippur sermons go to die.
No matter how important we think they are at the time, their ultimate
destination is somewhere out there in a hole in the universe. However, upon further review, one Yom Kippur sermon that I
delivered in the past nine years did seem to have a bit of impact—not so
much directly, but over time. One
of my first years here at Temple Emanu-El I gave what I was told was the
first Zionist sermon ever preached from this pulpit.
I don’t really know that to be true—Rabbi Albert T. Bilgray, alav hashalom, the long-time rabbi of Temple Emanu-El from the 1947
until the 1970’s, and the emeritus rabbi until his passing in 1998, grew
up in Israel and remembered seeing General Allenby capture Jerusalem from
the Turks in World War I, so we can assume a certain support for Israel
there. I would love to hear more
about his Zionism if anyone would share that with me this year. But the community perception at the time was that a pro-Israel
sermon from the bimah of Temple Emanu-El on Yom Kippur was a new thing.
And I can report with some pride that, while I expect nobody really
remembers what I said, the effect of having the largest Reform congregation
in Tucson now firmly established as pro-Israel has been significant, and
has, perhaps, made a long-term difference.
Which leads to me tonight’s topic—finally, you say—the
importance of liberal Judaism in Israel. Today our own congregation has an effective Voice of Israel
Committee, under Joanne Naef’s fine direction, and we now have a sister
congregation in the Tel Aviv area, an affiliation with the Israel Center
here that has led to the annual Mimuna Festival among many other events, and
strong support for and events to assist in the Israel Emergency Fund during
difficult periods like the Intifada. This
year, in honor of Israel’s 60th anniversary, we will have an
Israel-oriented event nearly every month as we celebrate the flourishing of
the only Jewish country in the world. We can be proud, in particular, that our support for ARZA, our
Reform Jewish organization that makes possible the remarkable growth and
development of Reform congregations and institutions in Israel, has grown
dramatically in recent years. While
for technical reasons you now need to actively tell our office that you wish
to be an ARZA member, I urge you to do so.
Reform Jews were essentially disenfranchised religiously in Israel
for many years, and it has been ARZA’s extraordinary work that has
contributed dramatically to the growth of a liberal, pluralistic, Reform
voice in Israeli society—which is extraordinarily important.
While in many ways we are similar, in one way the difference
between American and Israeli Jews is dramatic.
Israeli society is made up of about 18% Orthodox Jews, and perhaps
80%--a large majority—of people who classify themselves as hilonim, secular Jews. Here
in America, some 60% of Jews say that they are Reform; in Israel, that
number historically has been as low as 1 or 2%, even though the lifestyle of
most Israelis is pretty close to what we would classify as reasonably active
Reform Jews. While there have
been a few Reform congregations for many years, it is only in the last 15
years that Reform Judaism has become a viable option for many Israelis.
I can tell you that attitudes are changing dramatically now.
For the first time this year, nearly half of all Israelis said they
would attend a Reform High Holy Day service—that doesn’t mean they
actually will attend, of course, but they would be willing to.
That’s a significant change. In fact, Reform Judaism has grown so much in Israel these days
that criticism is coming not just for the usual quarter, the Orthodox
rabbinate, but also from deeply secular Jews.
There was a great article this week in Ha’aretz, the most
intellectual daily newspaper in Israel, that highlights the
resentment—even hatred—that totally secular Israelis sometimes feel
towards their newly spiritual brothers and sisters who are attending, and
joining, Reform temples. If we
are getting resentful editorials in Ha’aretz we really must be making a
difference… We are on the map, now, and that reflects a clear change in
philosophy and attitude. There
are more Reform congregations now than ever, and they are larger and
healthier. While Orthodox
religious institutions are funded by the government in Israel, that’s not
true for Reform synagogues and rabbis and seminaries.
It’s up to us to help make Reform Judaism thrive there.
You can do that by choosing to join ARZA, and by volunteering for our
ARZA committee, which Dr. Ken Adler of our board is chairing.
Again, contact our office and tell them that you wish to become a
member of ARZA, or go to their website, on page 6 of your Yom Kippur
leaflet, and sign up there. But even beyond ARZA, the most important difference in our
congregation’s connection with Israel has to do with the increased
connection demonstrated by actually picking up and going to Eretz Yisrael.
As many of you know, we had a marvelous Temple Emanu-El Pilgrimage
trip to Israel last summer, with 38 people touring and learning and praying
and playing throughout Israel. There
were many first-timers onboard, and many who had been before, but not on an
experience like this. This was
the second Israel Pilgrimage we have taken in a little over two years, and
it was a wonderful experience. There
was even a wedding on the trip… Unique on this journey was our involvement with the growing
movement for Progressive Judaism in Israel, our own Reform movement’s
congregations and leaders. When
we celebrated Shabbat at our sister congregation in Hod HaSharon, Kehillat
Yonatan, and heard the great Israeli singer Shuli Natan sing Jerusalem
of Gold—for the 40th anniversary of the reunification of the
city—it was truly magical. And
when we experienced other Reform congregations in prayer, and heard from the
leadership of the movement, it was inspirational. I hope that even more of you will come to Israel with us next
time—say, in 20 months or so—on our third Pilgrimage Trip to Israel.
There is nothing like experiencing the greatest place to be Jewish in
the world. Now, most of you know that Israel is a great place to visit.
But I’m not sure you understand why it is so important today for us
to be Zionists, and in particular for us to support liberal Judaism, Reform
Judaism, in Israel. There are two principal reasons.
The first is a demographic one, having to do with Jewish populations
and Jewish history. Currently
there are between 5 and 6 million Jews in America, and about 6½ million
Jews in Israel. Including all
the other Jews in countries around the world that means that we have about
the same number of Jews in Israel as there are in the Diaspora.
But the trends are towards increased Jewish population in Israel, and
decreased Jewish population in the Diaspora—everywhere else.
While our own Tucson Jewish population continues to grow, that’s
not really the case either nationally or internationally—except in Israel. Our people’s future is in Israel.
And if we wish our own liberal Jewish ideas, our egalitarian
qualities, our openness to contemporary ideas and education, and our
commitment to Reform Judaism to flourish, or even to continue for very long,
we need to supplement and support Reform Judaism in the most Jewish place on
earth. We need to visit Israel,
and to help Reform congregations and rabbis and institutions to grow and
develop further. This is American Jewry’s golden age.
But if our own grandchildren are going to be Jews, and particularly
Reform Jews, they will likely be doing it in Israel. The
second reason you should support Reform Judaism in Israel is much more
subtle, and cuts to the heart of a debate going on in intellectual circles
here and all around the Western world. And
it has to do with the fundamental question of the legitimacy of the State of
Israel. There
is a huge disconnect between what most Jews believe about Israel and the
information conveyed about Israel in the popular media and, perhaps even
more importantly, in the influential realms of academia.
We tend to see Israel as an embattled democracy, a small country and
the only one that we Jews truly can call our own.
We have been nourished on the understanding that Israel is the only
place in the world we Jews can find refuge when anti-semitism and
persecution arise, a place where modernity and antiquity coexist everywhere,
in which miraculous military victories have been allied to amazing
accomplishments in science, technology, agriculture, and medicine.
But
that’s not the message being given or received in most quarters today.
In fact, Israel’s very legitimacy is questioned regularly on
college campuses right here in the States—and even a mile from here at the
University of Arizona—while Israeli academics are under threat of boycott
in places like Great Britain. How
can this have happened? Is it
just anti-semitism come back to life? It’s
an ironic and troubling situation, and it doesn’t really help in the
debate to note that Israel is actually the only country in the world created
by the United Nations, the entire community of other countries, and that
should legitimate it permanently. As
Gadi Taub put it in a recent, very penetrating article on several new
anti-Zionist books—most written by Jews, by the way—the anti-Zionism of
today’s western world reflects a basic anti-nationalism, and a fundamental
distrust of all nations and national identity.
Anti-Zionists see all of Israel’s history through the lens of the
occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, which is, of course, a
distortion—but what is remarkable is that they use Israel as a way to
attack all contemporary nationalism in the name of liberal values.
It
is a misguided effort, and intellectually bankrupt.
But there is a twist. The
irony is that Israelis and Israel’s leadership both right and left have
now finally turned against the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank
precisely because Israel is a liberal democracy.
Wishing always to keep Israel both democratic and Jewish, and knowing
that a state with an Arab majority of population would be neither Jewish nor
democratic, the consensus in Israel first turned against remaining in
Gaza—which, as we know, is now a Palestinian Hamas-run mess—and, by and
large, fervently wishes there was someone reasonable to give the vast
majority of the West Bank to. In
other words, because Israel is a democracy and wishes to remain liberal, it
also will work to stay Jewish. That
means allowing a Palestinian state to finally come into existence, however
disastrously flawed it proves to be. But
that also means choosing to reflect both Jewish values and liberal,
democratic values. And
you can help—by assisting directly in the development of liberal Judaism,
Reform Judaism, in the Jewish state. So
join ARZA, and go to Israel—with us, next year, or with someone else.
And be part of the early stages of a great Jewish movement in the
land of Israel that is at the heart of Judaism for the next millennium of
our great history. Join in this
great, historical effort. And
whether or not you remember what I spoke about this Yom Kippur Eve, do
remember that your Reform Judaism belongs, one or another, in Israel. G’mar Chatimah Tovah—may you be sealed in the book of life for a good year of blessing,
health, and connection to Erets
Yisrael. |
