Verses in the Dark

via Wikimedia Commons

As I write, the sky outside Temple has just gone black, and we’re hearing our first thunderclaps. Hopefully, this storm will not cause as much damage as last weekend’s—we had no electricity for about two days. What to do? No television, no light for reading—well, there’s always looking up Bible verses on my Blackberry. It went something like this:

     Lo, the storm of the LORD goes forth in fury,
     A whirling storm,
     It shall whirl down upon the heads of the wicked.  
     (Jeremiah 23:19)

Well, I wouldn’t call us wicked, exactly. But I can see why our ancestors would think that. This wind is pretty terrifying.

     Look to the covenant! For the dark places of the land are
     full of the haunts of lawlessness.(Psalms 74:20)

Hey, you! When a traffic light is out, you’re supposed to treat it like a four-way stop. Lawlessness, indeed.

     Darkness is not dark for You;
     night is as light as day;
     darkness and light are the same. (Psalms 139:12)

This verse is about God’s omniscience—even our “dark” secrets are not hidden from God. But at the moment, I am pretty fixated on the literal meaning: It’s nighttime, and I could use some light.

     Who among you reveres the LORD
     And heeds the voice of His servant? —
     Though he walk in darkness
     And have no light,
     Let him trust in the name of the LORD
     And rely upon his God. (Isaiah 50:10)

It’s times like this we realize how much we rely on the utility companies. “Trust in the name of the LORD” is often not our strong suit. But it’s pretty good advice. Note: The “servant” mentioned here is identified in the Christian tradition as Jesus, but Jewish interpreters offer many possibilities (Isaiah himself, King Cyrus of Persia, the Messiah, the People of Israel as a whole, and others).

     You, O LORD, are my lamp;
     The LORD lights up my darkness. (II Samuel 22:29)

Finally, the power is back on! Thank God!

     The people that walked in darkness
     Have seen a brilliant light;
     On those who dwelt in a land of gloom
     Light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:1)

Now we just have to clean out the refrigerator.

We pray that everyone stays safe and cool during this storm and beyond. And if you find yourself stuck with just a phone for entertainment, My Jewish Learning has a great mobile site.

Can We Get Better Pictures?

A few people have asked me why the blog images so far are heavy on old paintings and photos of 19th century Jewish leaders.  The short answer:  I am trying to follow the law.

It would be incredibly easy to search Google Images and find the perfect illustration for any given blog post.  From what I've seen, that's what most non-professional bloggers (even rabbi bloggers) do.  But that approach is neither legal nor ethical.  A large portion of the images on the Internet are protected by copyright. 

So what images am I allowed to use?  I try to find images in the public domain or available via a Creative Commons license.  There are lots of websites devoted to collecting images that can be used legally for free.  Hopefully, I'll get better and better at using these resources, and the WHC blog will always have fun, interesting, and legally-used images to go along with our posts.

In paying attention to copyright, we are also following an important Jewish ethical principle:

Whoever says something in the name of the person who said it [first] brings redemption to the world.   (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chullin 104b)

Giving attribution is also listed in Pirkei Avot (6:6, found here as "Mishna F") as one of the 48 virtues necessary for an individual to "acquire" the Torah.  Based on this statement and others, intellectual property has become a major concern of Jewish ethics.  Some go so far as to say that unfairly appropriating the words/thoughts/creativity of another person violates the Eighth Commandment, "Thou shalt not steal."

So, I apologize if the blog images aren't always the most exciting ones possible.  We are just trying to do our part to bring redemption to the world. 

Tisha B'Av

Today is Tisha b'Av (The Ninth of Av), a day of fasting and mourning on the traditional Jewish calendar.  Tisha b'Av commemorates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E., as well as many other national disasters in Jewish history.

In addition to fasting, traditional rituals for Tisha b'Av include refraining from wearing leather, washing, or wearing perfume.  Torah study is also prohibited, since that is a joyful activity.

On Tisha b'Av, the biblical book of Lamentations (Eichah) is chanted.  This devasting set of poems is traditionally ascribed to the Prophet Jeremiah, who took refuge in a cave in the Jerusalem hills to lament the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. (see picture).  Lamentations is chanted with its own mournful melody, not used for any other book of the Bible. (Except for parts of Esther and one haftarah, but that's another story.)

As I wrote in an earlier post, Reform Jews have a difficult time with the observance of Tisha b'Av, since our ideology demands the deemphasis of the Jerusalem Temple. 

One interesting idea for reclaiming this observance is promoted by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, a leader in the Jewish renewal and environmental movements.  Rabbi Waskow proposes that Jews observe Tisha b'Av as a day of mourning for the earth, with particular regard to the environmental disaster in the Gulf.  He has even created a ceremony with several moving modern lamentations.

I may not agree entirely with his politics, but I am deeply impressed by his creativity.  Reading Waskow's work, Tisha b'Av felt more relevant to me than it has in years.

Image: Rembrandt, Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem (1630)

Welcome, New Readers!

If you are seeing this, you probably read about the blog in the WHC eNewsletter.  Welcome!  For a few weeks now, I have been practicing my blog writing, and a brave group of congregants have started posting comments.  I hope now that we have "gone live" to the whole congregation, this blog will really become a place for online discussion and community.

While you're here, maybe you'll want to catch up by reading my previous posts (below).  If anything interests you, please leave a comment by using the "comments" link at the bottom of each post.

Or, you can comment on this post.  I'll give you a topic:  What topics would you like me to write about in future blog posts?  I am open to all suggestions!

Thanks for stopping by.  Come back often!

Image by Thewmatt

Great Comments

Responding to my post about the 200th anniversary of Reform Judaism, Mark D. writes:

A very interesting subject and article, and I hope it will provoke a lively discussion. As I am sure many of you have experienced, many Conservative and Orthodox friends will inevitably comment that playing an organ in the synagogue is -- in their eyes -- comepletely foreign and essentially something that "belongs in church." To me (and, I assume, to our congregation generally), the organ and the overall musical part of our worship service seem both fundamental and indispensible. Yet the suggestion of a "bell tower" atop the synagogue (even if playing Jewish melodies) seems beyond radical and makes me completely uncomfortable (albeit not for any sound reason that I can articulate). I suppose that this is just a natural reaction to change. Perhaps if we could develop a clever Midrash about why synagogues have bell towers, that might ease the way for their adoption.

Mark correctly observes that depending on one's background, the exact same custom can feel indisensably Jewish or uncomfortably non-Jewish. 

I would add that even within Reform Judaism, the perception of certain customs has changed drastically over time.  The Union Prayer Book referred to the rabbi as "minister" (until the 1922 edition).  For generations, rabbis at Washington Hebrew were referred to as "reverend." (Rabbi Gerstenfeld may have been the last.)  Both designations have fallen into disfavor as not very Jewish.  WHC congregants are used to seeing their rabbis and cantors wear robes, but I doubt they would be as comfortable with the clerical collars and hats favored by some liberal rabbis in the 19th century.

Many many factors affect whether a "borrowed" custom feels authentically Jewish to us today.  But from Confirmation to Sunday school to bridesmaids and groomsmen, Reform Judaism has done some excellent borrowing these past 200 years.

Image: Isaac Bernays (1792-1849), Chief Rabbi in Hamburg

Anat Hoffman Arrested at Western Wall

Every Rosh Chodesh (first day of a Hebrew month), a group called the "Women of the Wall" (WOW) gathers to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.  You can read a brief history of this groundbreaking group here.  Although they remain limited to the "women's section" of the Wall, these women have been victims of harassment and violence for daring to do things like sing psalms and read from a Torah scroll in public.

Yesterday, Anat Hoffman, a longtime leader in WOW and Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), was arrested during WOW's monthly prayer service and questioned for several hours by the police.  Her arrest was captured on video:

Sad, infuriating...unsurprising.  As you can see, Anat was arrested for carrying a Torah (while being a woman).  The struggle of women to be allowed to pray openly at one of the holiest sites of the Jewish world is intimately connected to the struggle of Liberal and Reform Jews to achieve equal rights in the State of Israel.  Events like this stress the bond between American Jews and Israel and threaten the Jewish future.

We are reminded once again why our support of IRAC and the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism is so important.

Happy Birthday, Reform Judaism (Part I)

On July 17, 2010, many will celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Reform Judaism.  Why not all?  Well, it's difficult to pinpoint an exact day on which our movement started.  But on July 17, 1810, something appeared that had never existed before in the Jewish world.

In the small town of Seesen (about 150 miles west of Berlin), a man named Israel Jacobson (see picture) dedicated an agricultural school.  In this new school, Jewish and Christian boys studied side by side, a testament to Jacobson's belief that Judaism and Christianity were essentially similar—based on similar values and morals, separated only by different forms and rituals.

Even more strikingly, the school included a chapel for a new kind of Jewish worship.  The bimah was moved from the center of the room to the front.  There was an organ.  Prayers, songs, and even sermons were delivered in the vernacular (German).  The changes in the prayer service that have always been the most visible trademark of Reform Judaism had begun. 

I want to write more about this anniversary next week, but I'm posting now because of an editorial I read in The Forward yesterday.  Pretty much everything I know about the history of Reform Judaism I learned from Michael Meyer, the world's leading expert on the subject and a distinguished professor at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. (He also taught Rabbi Shankman and Rabbi Lustig.)  He wrote this editorial, which reflects on Jacobson's reforms and on the evolution and meaning of Reform Judaism.

Please read the editorial and then COMMENT here on the blog.  What did you think?  Was there anything you had questions about?  Let's have a discussion.

P.S. —  Jacobson's temple in Seesen included a bell tower.  Considered very Christian, that custom was not adopted even by the most radical Reform congregations that followed.  Do you think Washington Hebrew should have a bell tower?  (We could play Jewish songs.)

Great Comments

Thanks to everyone who has commented on the blog so far!  I look forward to even more people participating, and we'll really get some discussions going.

Note: To read comments or to leave a comment, click the link under any post that says "1 comments," "2 comments," etc. 

Normally, I will respond to comments in the comments section.  But occasionally, I want to highlight particularly interesting comments in a separate post (like this one).

Responding to my post about the oil spill and Jewish ethics, Linda C. wrote:

If the ethical teachings are relevant and still resonate with issues of our time, which it appears from your passage that they do, they can form the basis for discussion and thought. If they do not serve as a framework, we are disregarding the traditions upon which our present day observance is founded. We ultimately may disagree with the teachings (as have Rabbis and teachers throughout time), but they offer a starting point for discussion.

Linda addresses the difficult issue of what role traditional Jewish texts—particularly Rabbinic legal texts, whose authority we question—should have in our Jewish lives.  She describes them as a "framework" and as a "basis" and "starting point" for discussion.  I agree with her completely.  I might even go one step further—as Reform Jews, we have an obligation to examine our tradition, to seek out texts that "resonate with issues of our time."  That's one of the reasons lifelong learning is so important.  We will never master all of Jewish text or thought, but constant engagement and Jewish growth are values (and obligations) in and of themselves.

And of course, ongoing learning is one of the primary purposes of this new blog...