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Thoughts to Nosh OnSeptember 2005From the Desk of Rabbi SharffOn the last Sunday of July, a group of us gathered together to watch James Journey to Jerusalem for our monthly Sunday night at the Jewish Movies event. The movie was written and directed by first time Israeli fictional filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz. In the movie, the main character James came to Israel expecting to have a miraculous pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Instead because of a bureaucratic snafu, James ends up working for a shady businessman, and finds himself living a life similar to many immigrant workers who currently reside in Israel. The film works on many levels in part because it challenges the assumptions many of us hold about Israel. It works in part because it makes us think about how an idealized land can never live up the realities and demands of a modernizing society. It works in part also because the characters in the movie are so real, and not caricatures. We too know about the difficulties of reconciling the visions of an idealized society with the realities of modern day living. And here is where our tradition can be a great means of support and inspiration. Our ancient prophets would speak about Jerusalem in ways to bring tears to the eyes of one who was listening. Yet in the same breath they also had the ability to condemn all the wrongs they saw before them. So too it should be with us as well. There are many times our lives in America or life in Israel does not live up to our expectations. So the question that is before us is: do we change our expectations to fit the reality of the situation? Or do we work harder to try to change the situation to fit our expectations? Our tradition tells us we should do the latter rather than the former. If the world is not as we would like it to be, it is incumbent upon all of us to work to make it more how we would envision it. This way we all can aspire to live in an ideal society and not have to reconcile our dreams with reality. Rabbi Ben Sharff |
