Two more of my students are b’nai mitzvot this weekend. They go to a Reform synagogue. Their rabbi is beyond progressive; he’s one of the 400 rabbis who signed the letter about Glenn Beck (or whoever the letter was about; it all melts into one giant blahblahblah of white noise after a while).
Tonight, his sermon had little to do with the Torah portion of the week. Scratch that, nothing to do with it. It was about the Peter King hearings on Jihadis among us. And I was told tonight that I am a bad Jew. Because I am one of the Jews who will stand by and do nothing about these hearings and am, in fact, one who supports these hearings.
Before his sermon, I was thinking, y’know, my regular synagogue is quite a haul away, maybe I’ll split the days and go here on Fridays and to my place on Saturdays. Less driving, save money on gas, plus time—it’s a win-win. Because I do like most of the service. But after the sermon, I realized the only way I could go regularly on Fridays is to leave the room during the rabbi’s sermon. Eventually, that will get noticed. Eventually, the rabbi will ask me why I do that. And being me, I would tell him the truth: That I hate politics from the pulpit, and I disagree with nearly everything he says, and then we’d get into a heated argument, I’m sure, and, well… I’ll just not bother.
My rabbi is liberal. We disagree about lots of things. But he leaves his political views out of the sermon, and I have never, ever wanted to leave the room while he’s talking. Looks like I’ll just spend the extra time and gas and go to the place that I enjoy.
While I can argue with you about driving to the synagogue, at least you are going to one where the Rabbi is “Jewish”. It sounds like this other guy is actually a “religious liberal” who calls himself “Jewish”. The problem with people like him is that they define whatever religion they pretend to be as whatever matches their political views.
In the Torah portion this week, we see that someone has to “confess” his sin when bringing a “sin offering”. However, the word in the original Hebrew is “Hisvada” which is in the reflexive. The reason is that a person does not need to “confess” to G0d, because He already knows what we are doing. A person should not have to tell another person what sin he has committed. Indeed, there is a principle that a person is “forbidden to tell people what he has done wrong unless it is to ask forgiveness from a person that he has wronged. That is why sin offerings are brought in the same place and in the same manner as voluntary offerings. Only the kohen who brings the offering needs to know who has brought it and what kind of offering it is. While a person may need to consult with a kohen as to whether his sin requires an offering, that is the only person who needs to know. A person needs to admit to himself what he is doing and how it is wrong. Only then would he be able to receive “atonement”.
The thing is, I like the service. I like the songs. I like the rabbi in every other way. He’s great with kids and congregants. But his sermons are awful. I hate being lectured, and I REALLY hate being insulted and told what a horrible Jew I am because I don’t think like the rabbi thinks. Last time I checked, the Torah didn’t give dispensation to individual rabbis to tell me that my behavior is immoral because I don’t agree with him politically.
Tell the rabbi what you think. Tell him that he is actually violating the first of the ten commandments by elevating politics to the equivalent of an idol. It is the same mistake that the Jews made in the desert with the Golden Calf. Of course, that may force you out, but it is harming your connection with G0d. Perhaps he needs to hear that his sermons are harming his congregation and that he needs to actually be a rabbi and not a political hack.
As the story ends “perhaps the horse will learn how to sing”.
It’s not my synagogue, Sabba Hillel. It’s a Reform synagogue that my former students now attend. I only go there for their b’nai mitzvot, or when they invite me for other reasons. And I’m pretty sure that horse will never sing. Remember, he’s one of the 400 rabbis who signed the Glenn Beck letter. He’s not going to change.
I suppose that I am being an optimist in saying that everyone has the opportunity to learn and change for the better. Just because someone like that is so far behind and has so much farther to go does not mean that he will not , someday, be hit with something that will teach him the lesson. The fact that you are sometimes there is enough to give you a connection. Perhaps he should be told why you only come to help your former students celebrate and that he is chasing people away from Judaism. After all, I see in the next post that you have realized why you still blog. This is a similar reason. If you do not affect him, perhaps someday whatever happens will save someone down the road. As Rabbi Akiva realized, even the hardest rock can be hollowed out drop by drop.
I agree with Sabba Hillel about nominal Judaism in soem shuls. I’d run a mile from a liberal lecture – but I can put up with a drasha where the speaker simply tells us his/her views or interpretation of the sedra. I may not agree with them, but I can sit through it because it’s a different point of view that’s good to hear occasionally.
But here, it seems, the Rabbi strays over that line. How about writing / talking to him to say that you’d love to be a regular at the temple, and like hearing his opinions, but won’t be lectured to – and that’s what is keeping you away. He should realise that Reform congregations (through their umbrella bodies – URJ, WUPJ etc) wholeheartedly support pluralism within Judaism and Israel, but what he’s doing is suppressing it in his own congregation.
Also, how about asking him to invite guest / lay drashot – maybe different perspectives / opinions might help lighten the atmosphere?
Just a thought. (Oy – we are indeed a stiffnecked people.)