The Shofars Calls for Voting

Rabbi Isaac Serotta

Lakeside Congregation

Rosh Hashana Morning 5779

My son, Yehuda, accompanied me on a Lakeside Congregation trip to Israel. We had one specific goal on our trip, and that was to find a shofar for him to blow. We had a free afternoon our last day in Jerusalem so we wound our way into the Old City on its stone streets to a shop we had scoped out in the Jewish quarter. They sell nothing but shofarot.  No trinkets or souvenirs, no other ritual items, Shofars R Us. We set out to find the perfect shofar. Shofars are like magic wands in the Harry Potter Books, you don’t so much pick one out, as one picks you. There is only one way to find the right Shofar. We played every horn in the store, making a joyful noise in the city of Jerusalem.

The shopkeeper didn’t mind. Maybe he was a little deaf. Maybe he was used to it. Shofar blasts rattling off the stone walls were a good advertisement for him. Shoppers came in and started asking me about Shofarot, for display and for use. Finally, with tired lips, Yehuda chose a shofar whose notes were sharp and clear. We carried this 3 foot long shofar wrapped in bubble wrap all the way home, and Yehuda played it in this sanctuary for a couple of years and then it went with him to Iowa and Minnesota and now Colorado.

Hearing the shofar is one of our most beloved traditions. It is the reason that many people come. There is the joy of watching our children hear it. There is excitement and anticipation when we see our shofar blowers, Adam Whiteman and Douglas Smith holding it and preparing to sound the notes.

The Bible mentions the shofar 47 times, and it has different purposes. The shofar might announce a processional, be used as a signal, as a call to war, to induce fear, to end plagues. In the Torah, it says, “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall rest for a holy day, a day of remembering loud blasts, zichron teruah.” That’s really all the Torah has to say about Rosh Hashanah.

Maimonides wrote about the meaning and purpose of the Shofar’s blasts a thousand years ago, saying, “Awake you sleepers from your sleep and ponder your deeds, remember your Creator and return to God in repentance.” Maimonides hears the shofar like an alarm clock.  Even though many people may fall asleep in temple, he doesn’t mean it literally.

He goes on to say, “Do not be like those who miss the truth while following other pursuits.  Look at your soul and consider your deeds; turn away from wrong paths, and make a new start.” Rabbi Sidney Greenberg, a colleague of mine, says, “these are surely days when religion should be a disturber of the peace, a goad to conscience, and a blazing sense of restlessness to right the world’s wrongs.” So today, we hear the shofar as a wake up call, a reminder of our rights and responsibilities as Jews and as Americans.  Elections approach and we cannot be asleep. The Reform movement in our nation and in Illinois is getting together and getting organized. RAC (Religious Action Center) Illinois organizes Reform Jews across Chicagoland and the whole state to stand up and be counted on issues of meaning to our community. Our board voted unanimously to be a Brit Olam Congregation, a nationwide effort of which RAC Illinois is a part, to join hundreds of Reform communities around the country and remind those who come to worship to really hear the words of the prayers and the sound of the shofar and recognize that we have a sacred obligation. We have an obligation to vote.

Rabbi Yitzhak (Berachot 55a) in Talmudic times said, “A leader is not to be appointed unless the community is first consulted.” Today, our vote is how we get consulted. If we don’t vote, and don’t encourage others to do so, if we suppress any vote, then the community does not get its full say in who will lead us.

As a people we have rarely lived in a nation as aligned with our own religious teachings. In 1843 President John Tyler lauded the free expression of religion in our nation, “The conscience is left free from all restraint and each is permitted to worship his Maker after his own judgment….The Mohammedan…to worship according to the Koran; and the East Indian might erect a shrine to Brahma if it so pleased him….The Hebrew, persecuted and downtrodden in other regions takes up his abode among us with none to make him afraid…and the Aegis of the Government is over him to defend and protect him. Such is the great experiment which we have tried, and such are the happy fruits which have resulted from it; our system of government would be imperfect without it.”

Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish supreme court justice, said in 1915 “Not since the destruction of the Temple have the Jews in spirit and in ideals been so fully in harmony with the noblest aspirations of the country in which they lived.” He, of course, spoke before the birth of the modern state of Israel, but his point is still relevant. The Jews have never had a home like America. We have been welcome here because of the separation of church and state that President Tyler admired. Beyond that, our traditions teach us the same values that are the noblest aspirations of America.

It has never been our place to sit idly and just let history unfold. From the time Abraham disrupted the status quo and left his ancestral home to begin the journey of the Jewish people we have been wandering Arameans. We have been victors and victims, but we have never stood on the sidelines of world events.

In this nation we cannot be complacent. Anti-Semitism is not dead and gone. Though Jews are loved and welcomed by the majority of our nation, there is still a dark underbelly of Jew hatred. And it is not going away quietly. Anti-Semitic screeds have appeared on synagogue lawns in recent days, swastikas still appear in bathroom graffiti and on synagogue doors.  Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories still have adherents and some of them aspire to positions of power, and others, including in the highest halls of power look the other way to garner their votes.

But we are not voting for ourselves alone. Our tradition teaches that we not only lift our own burden we help our neighbors, even our adversaries in lifting their burdens too. Our rabbis taught in the Talmud (Baba Batra 8a): “If you live in a city for 30 days you must contribute to the food pantry, for three months, contribute to the charity box. For six months you must give to the clothing fund. After nine months, [healing the sick] and burying the dead. After a year, you must contribute to the strength of the city.”

Though the laws of the Bible were written long before the invention of democracy, it seems clear that it should be a Jewish imperative to vote. In 1885, the Reform Movement in America wrote its first platform, and at the last minute they added a brief section crafted by Rabbi Emil Hirsch of Chicago, “we deem it our duty to participate in the great task of modern times, to solve, on the basis of justice and righteousness, the problems presented by the contrasts and evils of the present organization of society.”

This is not a political statement. It comes from the deepest wisdom of the prophets from generations of old. As proud Jews and proud Americans we cannot stand idly by while our neighbors bleed. We cannot be silent when hundreds are murdered in the streets of our city. We cannot be silent when those who are sworn to protect all our citizens are sometimes the source of violence. We cannot stand aside as families seeking help, home and asylum are separated and no one can seem to reunite them. We can’t be silent when science is denied, when the earth is literally shaking from the fractures of unfettered energy mining, where the air and water gets poisoned by relaxing regulations, where children’s brains and bodies are damaged by cover ups of contaminated water.

We cannot stand silent as Anti-Semitism rises. But we know that hatred of Jews is just one part of a larger hatred; a part of racism and Islamophobia, and homophobia. It is easy to think that things are better than they were a year ago, because so few white supremacists came to Washington DC a month ago when so many showed up in Charlottesville last year, but that is not true. Every indicator of hate crimes is up. These haters don’t need to show up for protests because their agenda is becoming part of the mainstream. They are not going back to hiding under rocks, they are saying out loud what they used to say in private and they are saying it with few repercussions.

Those who call our attention to these things are not prophets of doom, but prophets of hope. They hope that we will wake up and do what it takes to make our broken world whole again. Standing up for justice is not political. The prophets of old were not standing for a political party, they stood up for justice for rich and poor alike. They stood up to say that every human being is precious. All of us are a part of God, each one b’tzelem Elohim, made in the image of God. Similarly, our American constitution is not just for Democrats or Republicans, and not just for American citizens. It proclaims a message to the world, that every person has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

On this day of sounding the shofar let the sound wake us up to what we can do to create a more just world.

First let us vote. How is it that after every election we hear what a dismal turnout of eligible voters there has been? I would like to think that it is not true among Jews, not in our congregation, but I fear that we may not be so different from everyone else. If you are not registered, register. If you cannot get to the polls because of work or travel or other difficulties, request an absentee ballot and fill it in. If you employ people make sure that they have the flexibility to vote or help them get the absentee ballots they need.

I would love to see our congregation be a 100% voting congregation. My kids are registered where they now live, Colorado, Washington State, Pennsylvania. Their votes are very powerful, make sure your kids know how important it is to vote. In an essentially two party system sometimes we have to vote for the least worst option, but even then that vote makes a difference. There is a difference between least worst and worst. And if we vote in primaries maybe we can get to a place when we have candidates that are good and better instead of worst and least worst.

And besides your own vote, volunteer and help get other people registered and out to vote.  You can go the non-partisan route, joining League of Women Voters for example. They do not endorse candidates but they do have a goal of getting every eligible voter registered and voting. Or you can join the campaign of the candidate of your choice and help get out their voters. We are a better nation when a larger percentage of people votes. 

And third make it possible for people to vote. In America we have a right to vote. Political power has been used to gerrymander districts, to purge voting rolls, and shorten pre-voting hours for partisan ends. We should always be pushing for more voter inclusion not less.

It is important to make our vote count and to make sure we make good decisions about our votes. I have said before, a candidate who doesn’t believe in science should never receive a vote. It is not my only screen, but it is my first. You can debate about what policies we should put in place to heal the planet, but denial of science is not a policy, it is suicide. I have spoken about the environment many times over the years, but if you need a reminder: Climate change is real. It is serious and urgent and it is caused by human activity. And most importantly, we can fix it.

The shofar is calling us. The alarm sounds and we may not like it. Not many people love their alarm clock, but we cannot hit the snooze button. The brokenness will not heal itself, we need to set the bones so the fractures may knit. We need to heed the prophets. In two weeks when we celebrate Sukkot, the festival of booths, we need to make it the festival of voting booths.

We need to be passionate and insistent advocates for tolerance and enduring kindness between diverse people. To pursue justice is to create a society that protects and enlivens everyone. Let us be relentless, tireless builders of that society in our nation and the world in the year 5779.

It is a mitzvah to hear the shofar. It is a time of waking up, and it is a time to be one as a community.  Let us hear the call to act together to make our world better. We cannot wait for the election that comes after this one. Today begins ten days of heshbon ha-nefesh, an accounting of our spirits. Now is the time to stand up, be counted and make a difference.

Ken y’hee ratzon.

“If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”

Rabbi Serotta on Immigration Policy. 

There is an old bumper sticker, it has probably been around since the Viet Nam War: “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” I can’t tell you how many people have told me that they can’t even watch the news, on any channel, as they hear the horrifying screams of children being separated from their parents. We should feel outrage at what our government is doing in our names. Our immigration system is broken. We all know that, but with the policy of this administration it is now shattered.

It is the new policy of this administration that any migrant family entering the U.S. without official documentation will be prosecuted for this misdemeanor. The parents get incarcerated and that leaves children to be warehoused since they are not allowed to accompany their parents to prison. Parents plead guilty to the misdemeanor in the hopes of getting their children back. Their sentence is usually the few days they served waiting for trial. Getting through the bureaucracy can take more time and the children are left in custody.  Sometimes the parents are deported before getting the children and those kids are left behind in HHS “shelters” for an indeterminate amount of time. Children who have done nothing wrong are serving sentences as if they are criminals. It is an outrage.

There is a second apparently unwritten policy that even when the family presents themselves for official documentation, seeking asylum, the government is still separating children from their parents. Neither parents nor children have done anything wrong, but they must wait for an asylum hearing, not in jail, but in immigration detention which is not so different. This is a government choice, because you do not have to lock up people who have credible asylum claims. They could be beginning a productive life but the administration locks them and their children in separate facilities instead.

Imagine it was us and our families. If we come over the border without papers we lose our children.  If we come over the border asking for asylum, we still lose our children. The best answer is to not get caught which is the exact opposite of what immigration policies are meant to convey. While immigration laws need comprehensive reform, these policies are unique to this administration and they could be ended with a simple call from the president. 

Our tradition reminds us over and over to care for the stranger. The Torah teaches that we must not remain indifferent. How many times have we heard, that evil thrives when good people remain silent? This problem is not too big for us. Jewish organizations are joining with Islamic, Protestant and Catholic groups from all over the political spectrum to end these policies.

Our own Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism suggests six things we can do to help:

1. Provide tangible support to detainees and separated families by gathering and sending toiletries and toys to the border. Send care packages to: Michael Blum Social Action Chair, Temple Emanuel, 4300 Chai Street (North C Street) McAllen, Texas 78504.
2. Join a Families Belong Together mobilization in Washington, DC or hundreds of other cities around the U.S. on June 30, 2018.  I will be in Washington that afternoon.
3. Bring a congregational delegation to McAllen, TX home to the United States' largest immigration detention center. To do so, reach out to Rabbi Claudio Kogan of the URJ's Temple Emanuel in McAllen, who is eager for visitors to see this border community first hand. Friends of mine, including Rabbi David Stern and Rabbi Nancy Kasten from Dallas will be there tomorrow.  Anyone want to take a trip?
4. Send a letter demanding that President Trump, Secretary of Homeland Security Nielsen, and Attorney General Sessions end family separation now.  Send a letter to our own congressional representatives to continue to push back on these policies.
5. Organize or join a rally outside your local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
6. Register for the North American Immigrant Justice Campaign's Deportation Defense Training on July 10, 2018. For more information about how to join this campaign, please visit RAC.org/naijc and download the RAC's Immigrant Justice Resource Guide.

I hope this outrage will end soon, but it is important to understand, that even if we succeed, this is just a skirmish in a larger conflict. Don’t let this administration move the goalposts. We cannot say dayenu, and be satisfied that ending these policies is enough. It is not enough until we raise our brothers and sisters and free them from the chains of oppression. Ending an outrage is a start, but real reform is the goal.

Commemoration of the 50th Yahrzeit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On the commemoration of the 50th yahrzeit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we marked our Founders’ Day at Lakeside Congregation.  It has been my custom to share sermons of historical importance at that “throwback” service, and I was lucky enough to find the sermon of Rabbi James Wax delivered on April 5, 1968, the night after Dr. King’s assassination.

Ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in the 1941, James A.Wax served as the rabbi of Temple Israel in Memphis, TN, in the 1960s. Rabbi Wax supported racial justice, and during this period was a member of the Memphis Committee on Community Relations which worked towards integration. Here is his sermon which I found online in the Jewish Women’s Archives:

I shall speak only briefly tonight because of the time, but I do not feel that we can have a worship service as moral and responsible people without taking cognizance of what has transpired in these last days.

I am reminded of the speech delivered by President Roosevelt when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The President said in addressing the Congress, that December 7, 1941 would live in infamy.  I think I can be rightly said tonight, that April 4, 1968 will be a day that will live in infamy.

Speaking this morning to the mayor of our city, I said to him that I spoke with mixed emotions, of sadness and anger, of deep and righteous resentment, and the view which I expressed is the view of the clergy of the city of Memphis. I know there are people in our city tonight who are not sad at what happened last night. I know there are some people in our city who might even be glad. I remember a few weeks ago at the Rotary Club when the television newscaster made his five minute report announcing that Dr. Martin Luther King was coming to Memphis there were those who sneered, and some who mocked the announcement. But I wonder who those people are, contrasted with Martin Luther King. Who is this man, Martin Luther King that the President of the United States should proclaim a national day of prayer? Whose death is mourned in the capitals of the world? Whose death is deeply regretted by responsible people, decent people, wherever they may live? Who is this man whose name was sneered and mocked by some of our so-called civic leaders? I shall answer very simply and briefly, Martin Luther King was a prophet, a prophet like Amos and Isaiah and Jeremiah, a man who walked in the footsteps of Moses, (and if I were speaking in a Christian congregation, walked in the footsteps of Jesus). What did Martin Luther King do? Martin Luther King helped to bring freedom to the oppressed people yet in this free nation. He fought to break the chains that have oppressed people. He sought to give men dignity, he sought to make this a better world in which to live.  O how the cynics sneered when they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. They said, “What did he do to deserve it?” How little can people be! Here was a man in the tradition, the greatest tradition of Judaism and Christianity, bringing freedom to people, and we white hypocrites that speak about freedom for all people know full well that not many miles from here Negroes could not vote. In this very city, called a place of good abode, because their skin was black, they had to sit in the back of a streetcar. They were not even given the dignity of their names.

Martin Luther King was one of the greatest men of this century because he personified the greatest teachings in Judaism and Christianity, and he did it without violence. He sought to appeal to the heart and the conscience of men.

When I memorialized or tried to memorialize the late President John F. Kennedy, standing in this place, I said, “You judge a man not merely by the friends he has, but by his enemies.” Who are the enemies of Martin Luther King? Segregationists! And a segregationist is a bigot. A segregationist violates the laws of the Torah. A segregationist desecrates Judaism. These are the people who dislike Martin Luther King. These are the people that sneered when his name was mentioned at the Rotary Club. Ah, yes Martin Luther King’s skin was black, but his heart was whiter than those who would deny dignity to men because their skin was black. Yes, I speak harshly. I speak Judaism! I speak the Torah! And it is time for us to take it seriously.

Many of us have worked for a month and six weeks from early morning until late at night, from conference to conference, courier boys carrying one message to another. I just spoke with two outstanding men, national figures, and one of them said to me, “Rabbi, I remember when you said several weeks ago we were going to have trouble in Memphis.” And I wasn’t the only one. We have begged, we have cried. And I mean it literally. “Let us solve these problems and avoid death and destruction and desecration.” And tonight I hear of a plan that some people in this city are willing to make certain arrangements that take the form of charity. The black man doesn’t want any charity.  The black man wants to live with honor and dignity and respect.

Yes, Martin Luther King was a champion of social justice and a prophet of peace and that is why he is mourned by people throughout the world. He is dead. His body is now in Atlanta. But I will say this because I believe it is so, that what he stood for has not died. The decent people of this city are filled with a righteous indignation and eve if some of us die in the process, justice will be done. Martin Luther King did not die in vain.

This city shall witness a new spirit and the memory of this great prophet of our time shall be honored. There will be the bigots and the segregationists and so-called respectable but unrighteous people who will resist. But in the schema of history God’s will does prevail. Yes, I speak with anger, I speak with a broken heart. I’m not sad that it happened in Memphis. Some people said, “Isn’t it too bad it happened here?” No my friends, I love this city but this doesn’t disturb me as such. I am disturbed by the conditions of racial injustice that prevail here. I am concerned about the bigotry and prejudice in our community. This disturbs me.

Martin Luther King was one of the world’s greatest men in this time. He was detested and forsaken and spat upon in his lifetime, but his memory lives on tonight. That memory is an inspiration; that memory is an encouragement; that memory has given those of us who were weak a new resolve and a new determination that God’s will will be done. He had a young life of less than 40 years. We are deeply grateful. We are grateful for his heroism, his devotion, his commitment and we say in faith the words of Job, Adonai natan, Adonai lakach, y’hi shem Adonai m’vorach--The Lord hath given. The Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen.

A remarkable document! A few word choices might be different today, but the prescience to recognize that we would still remember Dr. King and what he stood for half a century later is powerful. I wish I could have heard Rabbi Wax and his heartbreak and anger, but it frankly pours off the page.

I did have the chance as a boy to hear the Coretta Scott King. Dr. King was scheduled to be the speaker at my brother’s college graduation in May of 1968. His widow spoke in his place, a month after his death. I remember hearing  her that day, hearing fear and brokenness, but also power and determination in her voice. I am sure that everyone who heard her that day left with an indelible emotion in their hearts. A sense that until the work is done, we should keep an eye on the prize, and work for a time of true equality. We have come a long way, but we are not yet there.  Let us take this moment of memory and turn it to resolve to accomplish the task for the sake of our ancestors who fought and died for freedom, and so our children might know peace.

Embracing Diversity

Rabbi Isaac Serotta

In the Torah we read that Israel left Egypt with a “mixed multitude.” It is one of many examples in the Torah to teach us that God loves diversity. Despite the idea that we are a band of brothers, all descendants of one of the 12 sons of Jacob that become 12 tribes, this phrase “mixed multitude” reminds us that we were already an ethnically and racially diverse people. We were already a mix of different customs and stories. 

There are stories, going all the way back to creation when God makes all of the creatures of the earth, which are meant to teach us that God loves diversity.  Our tradition even teaches that the first human was one and then divided into two, a text that suggests diversity even within a single species. When we get to the Tower of Babel, and the creation of a diversity of languages, we are meant to understand that God wants us to be of many cultures, languages and faiths. It is also true that God wants us to transcend those barriers, respect others and come to love our diversity and overcome our differences.

This story comes around every year but it has particular resonance right now. On an international level, as our country debates the fate of dreamers and legal immigration, the respect for difference and the love of diversity is very important. Our national motto, e pluribus unum, out of many, one—teaches us that our founders knew that strength does not come from being all alike. Strength comes from embracing all equally.

That is why when our president denigrates people who come from other countries, when he misrepresents both the vetting process that goes into the immigration lottery and family immigration, I feel the need to speak up on behalf of the “mixed multitude.” While the president focuses on Africa and Haiti today, it is worthwhile to remember that Jewish immigrants were also considered unworthy in the not so distant past.

In 1924 the Congressional Committee on Immigration received a report calling Jews “filthy,” and of “low physical and mental standards.” They were “un-American.” As a result, Congress cut immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe. In 1921 over 100,000 Jews came to America; after the bill passed in 1924 that number became 10,000. Because of these laws, when Hitler came to power, Jews were forbidden entry into the United States. Our action as a nation made us complicit in the genocide in Europe.

Our ancestors came to this country to make a better life for themselves and their families. How often have we told the stories of our own relatives who made it here, saved up money, and sponsored as many members of their families as they could? Who knows how many were saved by the industrious and righteous actions of those immigrants?

Now there are other nations in distress, and other immigrants who would come here to build a better life. We should not shun them in favor of more blondes from Denmark or fashion models from Slovenia. Instead we should see the difficult conditions in Haiti, the Middle East, and parts of Africa as a reason to let people in rather than keep them out. 

Our ancestors were considered low and yet we see what these immigrants did for our country. Every study of immigrants shows what we know in our hearts about our own families. Immigrants work hard, as the musical Hamilton reminds us, “We get the job done.” A mixed multitude was good for our ancestors leaving Egypt and it is good for us in America today.

On a more personal level, God’s love for diversity, is a part of Lakeside’s tradition in the past, present and future. We have embraced many people in our congregation from diverse backgrounds. People of many faiths are welcome in our community. We embrace gender diversity. We embrace Jews of all hues, from all streams of our tradition.

We have cooperated with most of the synagogues around us on educational, spiritual, social, and justice programs. In the Jewish community we also believe in e pluribus unum, although our tradition words it a bit differently, Kol Yisrael arevim zeh l’zeh—All of the children of Israel are responsible for one another.

As an opportunity comes along to unite two congregations, we are like those people leaving ancient Egypt. We don’t all know each other. Not yet. But we know that we are responsible for one another. We are a mixed multitude. In a sense we are tribes that recognize a common goal and believe that together we can do greater things than we can on our own.

When that mixed multitude reaches the sea, the way forward becomes clear. The midrash tells us that the sea didn’t just split, revealing a clear path. It was not until the Israelites stepped into the water, took a leap into the unknown that the road stood revealed. We are taking that step, like immigrants leaving home, like slaves testing the limits of freedom. Each step we take begins to show us the beauty of the path ahead.