Amazing Sukkot!

Matthew McDermott's Flickr

Earlier this week, there was an incredible display of artist-designed sukkot (plural of "sukkah") in Union Square in New York City.  The exhibition/competition was organized by Reboot, a very cutting-edge organization dedicated to revitalizing Jewish cultural life and ritual.

My favorite part of "Sukkah City" is that the entries had to conform to the construction requirements for a sukkah established in Jewish law.  This is something the ancient rabbis talked about a lot.  The contest describes some of the more offbeat requirements here.

FOR DISCUSSION:  Browse the Sukkah City entries.  Leave a comment on this post, saying which one is your favorite and why.

I will start us off.  I am very attracted to the simplicity and geometry of this sukkah. I admit, it does not look the most comfortable for sleeping.

Chag sameach!

Chag Sameach — Happy Sukkot

Jerusalem Municipal Sukkah, 2008 (RahelSharon's Flickr)

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes on my wedding.  Now that I am settled back at Temple and we have made it through the High Holidays, I look forward to returning to my regular blogging schedule.

Tonight we begin the festival of Sukkot.  Coming only five days after Yom Kippur, I think there is definitely a sense every year that Sukkot sneaks up on us.  We are exhausted, not ready to observe another major holiday.  But this is really a shame, because as one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals and as a holiday full of meaning and symbolic ritual, Sukkot is one of most significant days (a week, actually) on the Jewish calendar.

During this week of Sukkot, I want to share with you a number of texts and thoughts, so that even if you don't have the opportunity to shake a lulav, eat, and sleep in a sukkah each day, we can experience the course of the festival as a community.  (I see this as one of the great potential benefits of online discussions for congregational life.)

The text I've chosen for today is from Franz Rosenzweig.  Rosenzweig (1886-1929) was a German-Jewish philosopher; he was also a master teacher, the founder of a tremendously influential institution for Jewish adult education in Weimar Germany.  He wrote:

The Feast of Booths [Sukkot] is the feast of both wanderings and rest.  In memory of those long wanderings of the past which finally led to rest, the members of the family do not have their merry meal in the familiar rooms of the house but under a roof which is quickly constructed, a makeshift roof with heaven shining through the gaps.  This serves to remind the people that no matter how solid the house of today may seem, no matter how temptingly it beckons to rest and unimperiled living, it is but a tent which permits only a pause in the long wanderings through the wilderness of centuries.  For rest, the rest of which the builder of the first Temple spoke, does not come until all these wanderings are at an end, and his words are read at this feast: "Blessed be He that has given rest unto His people."

Rosenzweig captures the sense in which Sukkot, like all Jewish holidays, concerns both the past and the future.  Dwelling in the sukkah, we reenact the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness.  But we also acknowledge that we too are wanderers—that our lives, our relationships, even our community...are fragile.  The "rest" Rosenzweig speaks of—quoting King Solomon's dedication of the Jerusalem Temple in I Kings 8:56—is the ultimate achievement of peace and tranquility we still seek as a "Messianic Era."  Sukkot is an opportunity to connect to that greater sense of history and meaning.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY — For those of you who would like to begin Sukkot with some in-person study, there will be a Sukkot Adult Study Session at Temple TONIGHT (Wed., 9/22) at 7:00 p.m. in the Library.  We have some great texts to discuss, and we will visit the sukkah for lulav-shaking and blessings.  Please join us!

For discussion:  Do you build a sukkah at your home?  Tell us about it!  (Click on the "comments" link below this post.)

On Sunday the Rabbi Got Married...

In case you haven't noticed, the flow of blog articles has slowed down in the last week or two. It seems that our blogging rabbi has had some other things on his mind...like getting married. In fact, the nuptials for Rabbi Fabricant and Alexandra (Ali) Harwin occurred on September 5, 2010 in NYC. The official public announcement appeared in the New York Times at: Wedding Announcement

On behalf of the entire congregation and all the WHC blog readers, we wish Ali and Noah a hearty and heartfelt Mazel Tov.

Poem for Rosh Hashanah

Flickr user rbarenblat

As part of my preparation for the High Holy Days, there are certain texts I read and study every year at this time.  One is The Last Trial, Shalom Spiegel's classic essay on the midrash on the Binding of Isaac.  Another is Days of Awe, the inspirational anthology edited by S.Y. Agnon, the only Hebrew writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

One shorter piece I return to every year is the following poem by Enid Shomer, a contemporary American Jewish poet.  The title refers to "Tishri" (usually spelled "Tishrei"), the first month in the Hebrew calendar.  The "first of Tishri" is the Hebrew date of Rosh Hashanah.

Freestyle, on the First of Tishri

The metaphor here is the pool, regular
and deep as the tradition itself. First I float,
still and buoyant in what I don’t
accept. Then I shatter the surface, a scholar
dissecting text not to destroy but to enrich,
a farmer plowing and disking the earth
before planting. On land, I forget breath’s
noisy ball bearings, the flutter kick’s
fringes blazing like tangible will. I imagine
that faith is nothing but a grudging promise
of repetition, like these laps, until this
continual splash in the mind begins—
not with grievance or prayer
but as gasp, a momentary bargain struck with the air.

The progression Shomer describes is familiar to us. Jewish tradition is vast and unfamiliar, and it seems as if we “float” on the surface, unable to truly enter. But eventually we can “dive in.” Through study, prayer, and communal participation, we start to swim; our kicking and splashing is our struggle with tradition, and we make our own unique “waves” in Jewish life.

The true impact of Shomer’s sonnet, though, comes with the closing couplet. Judaism is not “grievance or prayer,” the formal—sometimes impersonal—religious language. Judaism is like the swimmer’s gasp for breath—desperate, intimate, life-giving. Though repeated countless times, it is not routine, but dramatic and purposeful.

As we approach the month of Tishrei, we have many opportunities to refine our strokes, to plumb new depths, to gasp for breath, and even to breathe deeply. We have many holidays and services and plenty of time to reflect in between. Let us do this hard work and build better Jewish lives for ourselves, our families, and our community.

For Discussion:  Are there any books, poems, etc. you return to read again and again?  Share by leaving a comment!

Note: This post is based on a bulletin article I wrote while I was the rabbinic intern at the Rockdale Temple in Cincinnati.  If any of my friends there are reading this, I hope they don't mind.

Rabbi Lustig on NPR

Flickr user coreycam

In case you missed it, Rabbi Lustig was on the The Diane Rehm Show on Monday morning with his partners in the Abrahamic Roundtable, Professor Akbar Ahmed and Bishop John Chane.  They discussed the controversy over the planned Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan—widely described as the "Ground Zero Mosque."  They also spoke more generally about the attitude toward Islam in the United States.

You can listen to the whole show here.  The program begins with Rabbi Lustig, Bishop Chane, and Professor Ahmed.  After a political discussion, they return at the 27:30 mark.

In his remarks Rabbi Lustig mentions several prominent leaders of Reform Judaism who have expressed support for the mosque/community center project.  See this editorial in the Washington Post by Rabbi David Ellenson, president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and Rabbi Robert Levine, senior rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan.  Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judiasm, and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center here in Washinton, released a joint statement. Rabbi Lustig also responds to a question about the ADL, which has taken a stand against the project.

For Discussion:  What are your thoughts about this controversy?  What are your reactions to the radio program or the articles?  What do you think are the most important factors we should consider when addressing this issue?

(Reminder:  To post a comment, click the "comments" link below this post.  Let's make this a [respectful] discussion!)

Jewels of Elul

Martin LaBar's Flickr

This week we began the Hebrew month of Elul, the last month of the Hebrew calendar.  Because it leads up to the High Holidays, Elul is a time for reflection, self-examination, and study.  During Elul, it is traditional to blow the shofar every weekday at the end of the morning service, to call us to repentance. (During my year in Jerusalem, I learned this custom the hard way, being awakened—literally, if not spiritually—at 6:00 a.m. every morning by the shofar from the shul nextdoor.)

Jewels of Elul is a project designed to keep us mindful of this time of spiritual preparation.  Every day they post a short teaching or reflection.  You can even sign up to have them e-mailed to you.  Some are by rabbis, but many are not.  Past contributors include President Obama, Desmond Tutu, Eli Wiesel, Deepak Chopra, and lots more. (Today's is by Lady Gaga.)

Elul is also an excellent time to come to Shabbat services, visit cemeteries, or read a good Jewish book.  Any of these things will add depth and meaning to our observance of the High Holidays.

For Discussion:  Do you have anything you do this time each year to prepare for the High Holidays?  I will start us off.  I always make an appointment for my annual physical during Elul.

First Gay Marriage

by Stefano Bolognini

This past Saturday night I officiated at my first gay wedding.  Since same-sex marriage has only been legally available in the District since March, I am guessing this was among the first (if not the first) legally-recognized same-sex marriage conducted under the auspices of Washington Hebrew Congregation. 

With same-sex marriage such a hot topic in the news, I have been asked frequently about Reform Judaism's position.  Answer:  The major institutions of Reform Judaism have long been in favor of full civil rights for gay men and lesbians, including the right to civil marriage.  In the mid-1990's, both the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis passed resolutions supporting the cause of same-sex civil marriage.  (Available here and here.)  The Religious Action Center lobbies on behalf of LGBT rights, including marriage.

The question of whether Reform Judaism supports Jewish marriage (kiddushin) between two men or two women is much trickier.  The official position of the Central Conference of American Rabbis is that "the relationship of a Jewish, same gender couple is worthy of affirmation through appropriate Jewish ritual."  But should that ritual be called "marriage?"  Here, Reform rabbis still disagree.  The CCAR's Responsa Committee (for answering Jewish legal questions) voted 7-2 against granting same-sex relationships the status of marriage.  (The committee's opinions are advisory, not binding.)  Currently, the CCAR affirms each rabbi's individual choice whether and how to officiate at rituals for same-sex couples.  This is similar to the position on officiation at interfaith weddings, which is also left to the decision of individual rabbis.

Personally, I am among the rabbis who believe that kiddushin—the rite of Jewish marriage—is the appropriate ritual for sanctifying and celebrating the relationships of same-sex couples.  I officiate at those ceremonies with the same awe and joy I feel any time I am priveleged to join a couple beneath the chuppah.  And I am grateful to be part of a congregation that respects my choice in what is still, for many, such a fraught and controversial question.

For now, I am just thrilled to be the rabbi of one more happy, married couple.  Mazal tov, Howard and Don!  L'chayim!