Destruction and Rebirth

November 9, 2001
Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

 

The Tanachk, the Bible, there are fifteen prophets who have separate books: the three major prophets of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the twelve Minor Prophets. We are surrounded by our prophets in the exquisite stained glass of this synagogue. Almost all of them lived during difficult times in our history. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel lived during and after the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 586 B.C.E. Even when they prophesized about the forthcoming destructions, when they chastised the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Samaria and Judea, they always held out hope for rebuilding, reconstruction and a glorious destiny for the Jewish people. The Rabbis reinforced that in the method of organizing haftorahs. Each one ends on a positive note for Am Yisrael. Even when remembering and commemorating tragedies in Jewish history, the Rabbis focused our faith on God, Torah and the joyousness of Judaism.We might cry from the depths but we would sing again from the mountaintops.

Throughout our long history there have been unfortunately many occasions of sorrow. Through all of them, the Rabbinically shaped view has enabled us to survive and flourish. We did not ever give in to despair. In the broad sweep of time:

The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. and the bitter end of the Bar Kochba rebellion were followed by the Talmudic era.

The Moslem conquest led to the golden age of Spanish Jewry.

The Crusades was followed by the great academies of Europe.

Tonight I carry this theme of destruction and rebirth forward to our own time. Sixty-threeyears ago this very night and tomorrow, on November 9 th and 10 th, 1938, was unleashed upon German and Austrian Jewry a night and day of terror in which synagogues, Jewish institutions and Jewish businesses were destroyed in a rampage of destruction which came to be called Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass. This reign of terror followed closely after the Evian Conference, which was held in July-August of that summer. That meeting sealed the doom of European Jewry. The countries of the world said that they would not take in any more Jewish refugees. The doors of the world were sealed shut. Hitler tested this on Kristallnacht. The world kept the doors shut. He now knew that he could do whatever he wanted to European Jewry. Their destruction was just a heartbeat away.

The Holocaust was the nadir of our history. Not only did it murder six million of our people, but it also destroyed the hearthstone of our people, the great learning centers, yeshivot and cultural bases of European Jewry.

Once again the prophetic promise was put to the test: would we rise again?

Once more the model of our past history was tested: would we rebound from our tragedy?

The answer has been resoundingly: YES!

I point but to two examples, one of them very personal: Medinat Yisrael, The State of Israel, and our son, Menachem.

From the DP camps of Europe, from the Moslem countries where they had lived as restricted second-class citizens, from Siberia and China to where they had fled, Jews streamed, first illegally and then legally, into then Palestine under the British Mandate, and then into the State, after May 8 th, 1948. In creating the State they resurrected, a word that I specifically use, the Third Commonwealth of the Jewish people. The national rebirth on our native soil, the regeneration of the Hebrew language, the ability to defend ourselves, the flourishing of Hebrew arts and letters is proof:

The prophetic promise and the historical model have been sustained again!!

We have risen from the intended grave to flourish!

God has redeemed the promise He made to Abraham, renewed to Isaac, Jacob and Moses.

Core to our existence, our raison de'etre for existing, has been to be the messengers of God and Torah to the world. The question after the Holocaust was:

Could we regenerate our centers of learning?

Could we recreate the cadre of religious teachers and Rabbis?

I come to tell you that, here too, the answer is: a resounding: YES!

The Jewish Theological Seminary is the premier center of Jewish study, not only of our Conservative Movement, but also for the world. The students who are ordained and earn their academic degrees at JTS are desired for the leadership at every synagogue, institutions of higher learning secular, religious and Israeli, and other communal institutions throughout the Jewish world.

I'm not sure how it was announced or understood, but last Shabbat Ruby and I and the family were at the Jewish Theological Seminary as Menachem delivered his senior sermon before the Chancellor of the Seminary, Dr. Ismar Schorsh, and faculty members, in the Women's League Synagogue. I remember delivering mine, with Menachem only five months old nearly 26 years ago. It was a most magnificent moment in our lives, beyond kvelling. I will admit that part of my motivation of choosing the Rabbinate as a career was, in a small part, modestly and humbly, to participate in the prophetic dream to rebuild the Jewish people. While I never said it to my children, I always hoped, silently in my heart, that they, in whatever way, would add to that dream, add their own selves to renew and rekindle our glory. Watching Menachem on this pulpit over these past years and especially last Shabbat, has given me a greater feeling than words can ever relate. Yonina and Tzeira have already made their marks and contributions to Am Yisrael also. I also looked at his classmates, men and women who have already devoted their lives in a common dream of service to the Jewish people. They are a most remarkable, beautiful, talented and passionate group. Everyone needs to know and appreciate the role of the Jewish Theological Seminary in our national religious revival. Menachem and his class will be ordained next May in the Seminary's courtyard and will add themselves to the ranks of teachers and Rabbis of Am Yisrael.

Menachem cannot be the only Rabbi, Cantor, or educator ordained at JTS who comes from Temple Beth-El of Richmond, Virginia. At this very moment we needs tens, hundreds more of our young men and women as Rabbis, Cantors and Educators of the Conservative Movement and for world Jewry. The challenge before you and every Jewish community is to tell your children:

Being a Rabbi, Cantor, educator is a GREAT career for a Jewish boy and girl!

To talk positively about service to the Jewish people!

To participate in the dream of the rejuvenation of Am Yisrael.

To have the voice of the prophets and rabbis beat in your heart!

I urge you to encourage your talented and capable children to dream the. Open the doors for their consideration of service to God and the Jewish people as a noble and grand career.

We need our youth! I challenge anybody and everybody to be able to proudly step up here with me and say:

My daughter the Rabbi.

My son the Cantor.

My child the Educator, With pride, honor, and delight!

That elation, that thrill, that nachas will last for all eternity.