Dear Friends,
Every New Years, just after the clock turns 12:00am, everyone sings the old Scottish poem “Auld Lang Syne.” Written in by Robert Burns in 1788, the poem begins with a rhetorical question if we should remember what could be translated as “the good old days.” While most are likely too intoxicated to sing let alone remember the rest of the song, but it continues with reminiscing of past experiences, not coincidentally involving alcohol.
While Judaism is certainly a religion which incorporates its past, it appears to discourage mere nostalgia. Kohelet 7:10 states, “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions” and even in our darkest hour after the destruction of Jerusalem, the prophet Yirmiyahu does not long for the past but prays to “renew our days as of old” (Eicha 5:21) – thinking towards the future.
The difference between reminiscing and remembering is obvious; in the former we live in the past while in the latter we learn from it to live in the present and future. May we take the lessons we’ve learned in 2010 and use them for our journey in 2011!
Rabbi Josh Yuter
Dear Friends,
Earlier this week the Simon Weisenthal Center published a list of what it called “Anti-Semitism Goes Mainstream: 2010 Top Ten Anti-Semitic Slurs.” Not surprisingly, coming in at #1 was Helen Thomas for her comments that “Jews should get the hell out of Palestine. They should go home to Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else” – comments which ultimately led to her “retirement” and tarnishing her reputation as a journalist.
Most of the other selections were either associated with the Holocaust in some way or variations on the classic canards that The Jews control the money and the media. Breaking this familiar pattern were the comments coming in at number nine made by Christina Patterson in the British paper The Independent. In an article titled “The Limits of Multi-Culturalism“, Patterson complains “when I first moved to Stamford Hill, I didn’t realise [sic] that goyim were about as welcome in Hasidic Jewish shops as Martin Luther King at a Klu Klux Klan convention.” Examples of the intolerance she endured included having changed given to her reluctantly “as if [her hand] had been dipped in anthrax” and that he did not say “please” and “thank-you” and that a child who had been taking up two seats on a bus “lept up as if an infection from the ebola virus was imminent” when the female author attempted to sit down next to him. Patterson then lists comparative offenses by Muslims, ultimately bemoaning freedom of religion:
But we, alas, are living in a country whose government believes that schools should be “free” – free to abandon the national curriculum, free to adopt any damned framework they fancy – and that parents should be free, with no state intervention at all, to teach their children whatever sexist, racist, dangerous, violent and yes, ill-mannered, nonsense that they like.
If anything, Patterson is not anti-Semitic per se, but anti any religion which does not conform to her ideology, specifically those which could be classified as fundamentalist.
Still, Patterson’s experience should serve to the Jewish community at large a reminder to be concerned to some extent with how we interact with our non-Jewish neighbors. While Judaism does expect halakhic commitment to trump Emily Post, part of living among non-Jewish neighbors in safety and security means playing by certain rules so as not to create a hillul hashem – a desecration of God’s name. For while we will never rid the world of anti-Semitism, we should not provide the validation or excuse for it.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Josh Yuter
We will be screening episodes from the first season of the hit Israeli TV show, Srugim.
Enjoy a delicious glatt kosher Chinese food buffet with meat and vegetarian options.
Please register by Tuesday evening, December 21st at on our Shop / Donate page.
Dear Friends,
On Channukah we celebrate the miracle of the Menorah and military victory with the lighting of our own Channukiah and special prayers of Hallel. The Maccabees successfully defeated the Greeks and reclaimed control over our sacred temple, and all is right with the world, no? Hardly.
The sages report that far from the Great Religious Society, life under the Hasmonaim was fraught with institutional corruption and fractious sectarianism. In the end, the second Temple was eventually destroyed and the sages report that anyone who claimed to be a descendent of the Hasmoneans is actually a slave.
Faster than you can hang a “Mission Accomplished” banner, the harsh reality set in that winning a battle and maintaining that victory are two entirely different tasks. It’s easier to fight when faced with a clear enemy and specific goals, and we’re motivated with the adrenaline rush of impending doom. Similarly, it is much easier to feel spiritually connected during the eight nights of candles, but the true measure of our religious commitment is what happens when the music ends and the lights go out?
As a people we have a long history of surviving adversity, but a much more checkered past of sustaining our victory. The former only requires a relatively brief moment of sustained focus, whereas the latter requires true endurance of spirit. I do not believe it is coincidence that Channukah is the last holiday enacted by the Sages for its message is eternal. We know how to celebrate the big victories, but we still must earn the right to celebrate the small ones.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Josh Yuter
The popular Channukah game of draydel can be viewed as a distinctly Jewish game of chance. But what does Jewish law have to say about more contemporary forms of gambling such as the games we may find in Las Vegas or Atlantic City or simple betting on events? In our third Beit Midrash session of the year, we will explore the laws and attitudes with which Judaism addresses gambling in all its forms.
Classes are open to men and women of all backgrounds.
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