“Exodus,” “Masada” and My Soul Erev Rosh HaShanah Day One

"Exodus," "Masada" and My Soul Erev Rosh HaShanah Day One Rabbi Gary S. Creditor September 28th, 2011   For nearly the past two weeks, except for sports, I have tried to ignore the media. Standing between the pain of the memories of 9/11 evoked by the tenth anniversary of that terror, and the events at the United Nations, my soul has been sorely distressed. Tonight I share a few thoughts which I first expressed last Friday night. I do not provide any answers to your questions and mine. I wish I could. I have searched for adequate words to explain this.   The two most influential books in my youth were "Exodus" by Leon Uris and the extended poem "Masada" by the Israeli poet Yitzchak Lamdan. They shaped my embrace of Zionism as part of my reading of Jewish history. In simplicity: It is us against them. This juxtaposition in extreme hostility, in extreme antagonism was understood to serve two functions: (1) it justified our existence and (2) fortified us to defend ourselves, even at all costs. This attitude is alive and well. I don't think that we corner the market on this approach. Being a child of the Cold War I well remember crouching under desks as part of air raid drills, the movies, the comic books and even advertisements for commercial products that proclaimed that it was: It is us against them. Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia and countless times throughout history this is the way the world was portrayed: It is us against them. It is the Book of Joshua in the Bible. In a world in which I can use Google World and walk down nearly any street on the planet Earth, when stock markets rise and fall because of events far away, when Israel stands in danger of isolation, when the United States risks increased isolation and economic impact because it supports Israel at the U.N., I reflect and wonder with great consternation about our world, our posture and the books that I read.   I thought that Leon Uris was a semi-historian and that "Exodus" was this side of the Bible. Its thesis was very simple: the world didn't care what happened to the Jews, not before the Holocaust and not after; that the Holocaust proved our powerlessness and the return of the Jews to Palestine was the renaissance of our re-empowerment; that there were Ohavai Yisrael, lovers of Jews amongst the non-Jews who would help us, though they were few in number; that it was right and proper for Jews to skirt and even abrogate laws in order to save other Jews, particularly the Jews of Palestine; and, while we might not do everything right, they would always do everything wrong. We were the good guys. They were the bad guys. And this was the OK corral. There was no alternative. And we had to win.   There was no middle ground. There was no balance. There is no shading. There is no compromise. Since they wouldn't extend that to us, We wouldn't and couldn't extend that to them. It is us against them. That is our story.   I read Yitzchak Lamdan's "Masada" in the Hebrew original long before I ever saw the mountain. In fact, I was prepared to see the mountain through the eyes of his poem. Masada was the last outpost to fight against the Romans in the first great revolt that ended in 70 C.E. and included the destruction of the Second Temple and a significant dispersion of the Jews from the land of Israel. It ended any semblance of Jewish autonomy. Masada is a stark mountain created by eons of water rushing around it towards the Dead Sea, literally carving it out of the surrounding area. The sides are exceedingly steep. Even in winter it can be very warm. The summertime is excruciatingly hot. For all the eye can see North, West and South, it is barren, and to the East is the Dead Sea. When Masada fell, it was over. For Lamdan, Israel is Masada. There is no retreat, no place to go. The sea into which we would be pushed is the Dead Sea, literally. Therefore we swear: "M'tzada shaynit lo ti-pol" – "Masada Again Will Not Fall." For this reason, for decades new inductees were taken to Masada to be sworn into the Israeli Defense Forces. This was not to be service in some far off place. The army is to protect the Homeland. They are defending Masada once again, and it shall not fall, for if it does, - forget about us, the Jews of the Diaspora - they, their parents, their families and friends are doomed, forever. This is as stark as the landscape that surrounds them.   In this story there is no place for the story of Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai who pleaded not to revolt and to seek a better way to deal with the Romans, even under duress. There is no contemplation of the ultimate consequences from this course of action. The lines are starkly drawn. There is no compromise. It is us against them. Victory or death! This is our story.   Perhaps this psychological posture once served us well. Perhaps it fueled generations of Jews to be faithful to Judaism, to remain part of the Jewish people, to be martyrs for the cause. Perhaps it inspired Jews to return to a wasteland called Palestine and suffer every deprivation as they and their children built it into the country you see from the plane as it lands at Ben Gurion airport. Perhaps it motivated the soldiers of the IDF to climb the Golan not once but twice, in 1967 and 1973 to stop Syrian advances down the slopes bent on destroying the entire North of Israel. Perhaps it motivated the soldiers of the IDF to offer up their lives on the Bar Lev line to slow down the Egyptian advance over the canal on Yom Kippur 1973 so that eventually they could mobilize and save Israel. Perhaps this has allowed the Israelis to clean up the body parts after countless terrorist attacks, and live.   Having lived in Israel for cumulatively over three years of my life, with a daughter who calls it 'home,' having absorbed "Exodus" into my bloodstream and stood on Masada, I understand this perfectly. From that mountain top, after learning what the world has done to us in the vulnerability of our powerlessness for 2,000 years, with Ruby having been in Jerusalem when the sirens went off on Yom Kippur 1973, after standing on the Golan, and driving that road to Eilat, I get it. I feel it.   And yet in these weeks of turmoil and anxiety, as the so-called Arab Spring truly leads into the Arab Winter, as Assad murders thousands of Syrians and the world is silent, as treaties with Turkey, Egypt and Jordan are either de facto or de jure abrogated, as the only friend on the UN Security Council is the U.S., weakened, isolated, alone, I wonder if this posture," It is us against them" still serves us, or instead, harms us.   It will be very difficult for me to say the words "The State of Palestine." But at some time you and I will need to do it. There are millions of Palestinians living cheek to jowl with Israelis, and they are not leaving. Why write the script with the same thesis? Why not force the hand of destiny? Leon Uris was not a historian. My second Bible is riddled with inaccuracies and distortions and omissions. IDF soldiers are no longer inducted on Masada. And few read the poem by that name.   For Israel's sake, for our sake, for the destiny of the Jewish people whose largest group of Jews now live in the State of Israel, for our daughter, I hope they find a different way.   I ask for nothing from God in this New Year, nothing, but for sachel, sanity, and peace.

[June 17th & 18th, 2011] Anthony Weiner & Sexting

Anthony Weiner and Sexting

June 17^th & 18^th, 2011

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

 

[This past Shabbat through Q&A I taught about Jewish values that reflect on the disgraceful situation surrounding the recently resigned Congressman and the subject that is of tremendous importance. It is not only about teenagers. The misuse of electronic media spans all ages. I offer these Jewish teachings in the fight for what is decent and right. I cannot reconstruct the delivery of the remarks. These are just the points that I shared.]

 

Erev Shabbat [Friday evening]

 

1. Moses' greatest value/characteristic is humility – Hebrew – Anavah. We see it in the episode where his brother Aaron and sister Miriam attack him (Numbers 12:3) and he will not defend himself by attacking them.

 

2. When God first revealed Himself to Moses He did it at the Burning Bush, which is a very low plant. (Exodus) This is expanded in the Midrash Bereshit Rabbah 2:5 to stress the humility of God when revealing Himself and the proper physical posture as a spiritual model.

 

3. When God created mankind He said: "Let us…" which the Rabbis take to mean that God consulted the angels before creating us. (Genesis 1:26). Again, this illustrates God's humility.

 

4. The parallel Jewish value/characteristic to humility is modesty. It is sometimes translated in the Hebrew with the same Hebrew word –Anavah, but usually the Hebrew word is tzni'ut.  It comes from the meaning "hidden." It only occurs twice in the entire Bible, once referring to wisdom and intelligence and the other "walking modestly with God." (Proverbs 11: 1-2 and Micah 6:8)

 

5. Tzni'ut is connected to holiness. When Moses first encountered God's holiness at the Burning Bush, he covered himself. (Exodus 3:6). Clearly Judaism enunciates an attitude that our holiness derives from God's holiness, as we are made in His image, and in reaction to His holiness we act with modesty and humility in all ways, our behavior, speech and dress.

 

In preparing these remarks I founding the following quotation:

"Hiddenness and privacy are the reaction to holiness."

 

6. In looking at the window in our Main Sanctuary from the prophet Ezekiel, we see that the angels had six wings. When they encountered God's glorious holiness they proclaimed: "Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh…Holy, Holy, Holy…." Accordingly, they used two wings with which to fly, and two wings to cover their legs, and two wings to cover their faces.

 

Clearly, where holiness exists, modesty and hiddenness exist.

 

7. We rarely open the Aaron HaKodesh, the Holy Ark, out of a sense of modesty and respect to the Torahs, God's words to us. Modesty and respect is shown and seen by being covered and not revealed.

 

8. Traditionally, when the reading the Torah, between aliyot when the Torah is not being read, it is covered by a cloth called the 'ben gavra' which means 'between each person'. The Torah is covered out of a sense of respect and modesty. We use the ben gavra when the Torah is not being read for a prolonged time.

 

Another quote I found:

"We are to imitate God in His Holiness and Hiddenness – leading us to humility and modesty.

 

[After mentioning the title for these remarks I never mentioned his name or the subject again. I stressed the cardinal Jewish values of modesty, humility, privacy, being covered, as how we connect to our holiness and to God. While these values might be counter-culture, they are our authentic and core values of Judaism. We must enunciate them to our children and grandchildren. They are vital for all of us.]

 

Yom Shabbat [Saturday morning]

 

We learn from the laws of Shabbat that there are two main realms – domains, with one of them being subdivided into three parts.

 

There is the private domain, namely our home. Within its precincts we may carry items that are Shabbat-permissible. The private domain is distinctly marked by either being the house, or the perimeter of our property.

 

There is the public domain, which is all the space outside our private domain. The public domain is subdivided into the general public space that is frequented by the public, a road, a square that is totally open. There is also the karmelit which is public space that is unfrequented. It is governed by all the rules of public domain. Lastly, there is free space which is a small part of the public domain and airspace above it.

 

On Shabbat, for reasons not to go into here, one does not take things from the private domain into the public domain. There is a clear separation between these two realms that is not to be violated. While the laws of Shabbat reflect the idea of 'doing business,' embedded in them is a value that particularly addresses the usage of electronic media.

 

In the private domain, behind closed doors there can be things appropriate for that realm, that domain, which are not appropriate for the public domain. Not all things are appropriate every. There is a difference. There are boundaries. There are things that should remain private and personal and there are other things that may be disseminated in the public domain. Through the laws of Shabbat we see how our Jewish values separate these two spaces. This Jewish value system has something to teach everyone, young and old. It is not just about carrying things from our homes on Shabbat. There are different reshuyot, spaces, and what is private should remain private. What is personal should remain personal.

 

These two teachings should be understood as two pieces of one whole teaching on the subject of the use of electronic media. Today, Monday, June 20, 2011, I listened to a discussion on the radio whether or not youngsters should have access to social media. While it might be impossible to disconnect them, we must connect them to a value system that puts forth a cogent, coherent rationale for specific behavior. I share this with you.

 

Shalom uv'racha,

 

Rabbi Creditor

 

 

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

Temple Beth-El

3330 Grove Avenue

Richmond, VA 23221

Phone 804-355-3564

Fax 804-257-7152

www.bethelrichmond.org

 

Sermon from June 24, 2011 "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

The flag: To fly or not to fly, that is the question!

June 24, 2011

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

 

Perhaps the most evocative symbol of any group is the flag. When I fly into Israel and see the Magen David on the white background with the blue stripes, my heart flutters. The three thousand five hundred year Jewish journey is captured in that flag. And when I fly back into the United States and see 'Old Glory,' in a millisecond my mind embraces Washington crossing the Delaware, Fort McHenry, D-Day, Iwo Jima, Korea, Viet Nam and more. When I see the Stars and Stripes paraded in at the Diamond, my eyes tear. The flags summon up memory, emotion, and devotion. Flags lead us in parades. Flags lead us in battle. Flags capture the expanse of history. Flying at the Pentagon, in the Pennsylvania field, at ground zero, the flag spoke and said: "We will survive. We will triumph." And we have. To honor those who serve our country, their casket is draped in our flag. The President of the United States and the whole country escorts them to their final resting place. There is no higher honor.

 

While we don't know the designs, earlier in the Book of BaMidbar the Torah indicates that the tribes aligned themselves behind their flags, a different one for each tribe, in the encampment and when they marched through the wilderness. I wonder what they looked like. We learn that flags give us our orientation and direction. They pointing to the path ahead. Flags enable our organization that leads to implementing our vision of ourselves and our purpose on earth.

 

While Israel is a political entity, the flag of the State of Israel summons up the full gamut of religious emotions. So, too, does the flag of the United States summon a response from the deep well-springs of our emotion.

 

It should be no surprise that when the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond flew the Rainbow flag below the American flag that it evoked strong vocal support and opposition. It was a major piece in the Commentary section of the Times-Dispatch: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/jun/12/tdcomm01-the-feds-flag-let-it-fly-ar-1100630/  and http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/jun/12/tdcomm01-the-feds-flag-dont-fly-it-ar-1100618/

These articles leave me in a conundrum to accurately understand the Federal Reserve Bank whether it is a truly independent business or an official branch of the government. I have tried to better understand this from the Federal Reserve website, to no avail. They don't clearly address the issue. Yet I deduce that there is some amount of autonomy at each of the twelve Reserve Banks in the system.

 

If that is the case, I am proud of our bank.

I want to offer a few thoughts from Judaism.

 

1. Despite all other preachers from all faiths, I have no idea what God wants when it comes to specific questions. For those who believe in direct verbal revelation, then God has spoken through the words of Torah, the quotations and citations of the prophets. The Rabbis declared that for Jewish purposes, that ended with Malachi the last of the prophets. After that we have to figure it out for ourselves by examining those texts. I cannot accept someone citing a scriptural verse and telling me that God wants this or that. What does God want us to do to that part of society to whom we respectfully identify as LBGTQ? Does God want us to stone them or hug them? To kill them or respect them? Did God ever imagine those initials, and in English to boot?!

 

2. The sacred texts did not anticipate some, even many of our modern dilemmas. We have new realities and the Rabbis handled our texts with care to evince and deduce answers and responses to unanticipated questions. How do you define "commitment?" What is a "household?" If you can't give birth, for whatever reason, how do you define "your children?" These are core terms in the religious vocabulary, but no faith community ever considered the high rate of divorce, the low rate of marriage, and that existential, financial, political and philosophical realties would have certain human beings living together under one roof.

 

    Judaism has sacred values – sacred because they reflect a conception of the Divine that we consider ultimate – about human beings. These include, but are not limited to fidelity, honor, trust, love, confidence.

 

    We intersect and interface these values with our current realities to respond those self-identified as LBGTQ about respect and acceptance within our community. I don't know how many of whomever ever existed in the past. I don't have any idea if closets were full or bare. Today, no one should have to live there. No body needs to deny who they are.

 

    We as Jews understand that very well. We had to change our names, alter our noses, empty our souls and forsake our identity in order to secure our physical existence in America. Sometimes I think that we gave up too much.

 

3. The Rainbow flag flying from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond speaks about us as a society at large. It enunciates the vision that God has made us all different. We are different in beliefs, in height and weight, in language, in color, in accent, in gender and in sexuality. If any of us are "God's children," then we are all people "God's children." If any of us are made "in God's image," Then we are all made "in God's image." The flag says: we are God given because of our differences. Our differences are not the result of random selection, the quirks of an evolving planet. They are the result of a creative God, who made us such majestic creatures.

 

The end of our anthem is appropriate in this condition too. May the Rainbow flag at the Federal Reserve Bank fly "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." For I am of perfect faith, that in our freedom, in our bravery and in our love, God blesses America.

 

Shabbat Shalom

 

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

Temple Beth-El

3330 Grove Avenue

Richmond, VA 23221

Phone 804-355-3564

Fax 804-257-7152

www.bethelrichmond.org

 

"10 years later" by Yonina Creditor

"10 years later" 

by Yonina Creditor

Would you believe me if I told you that I was envious of Job - how there are similarities  between my life and his.

Job loved God and shunned evil and through a bet between God and the Adversary, Job is tested through loss. 

His children die tragically and all his possessions are destroyed or taken. 

His friends and wife are no comfort to him. 

Eventually Job cries out to God for answer and he is given one. He is told that he does not need to understand why things happen in the world. 

God restores Job's wealth and children and lives to be 140. 

We have both lost in traumatic fashion. He lost his children, and I lost fellow EMTs and firefighters in New York City who were like family. 

We both know that we did nothing wrong and regardless of how many times we tell ourselves this, it does not lesson the burden of summering and feeling the guilt of having survived. 

I do not envy Job with friends who did not support him. I at least had support from fellow unit members and family. But both of us still sit with all this pain that we can not seem to set aside. 

And despite all of this, I envy Job. 

I am envious because though he had experienced total loss, God returned everything to him.

I have lost friends who are irreplaceable.

I have lost a part of myself. 

I am not the person I was before 9/11.

That person is gone and never coming back. 

I envy Job most of all because after all his suffering, he got an answer. 

It does not matter to me whether the answer was enough - he got one.

I am still waiting. 

I want to know that their deaths had meaning, that they served a greater purpose.

I envy a man who was made whole again. 

Because after 10 years, I know that I am not. 

I wonder if he looks at his grandchildren and sees the echos of the children he lost. 

A look, a laugh, a gesture. 

Does he see ghosts like I do, walking around the streets of Manhattan?

Do his ghosts disturb his sleep like mine?

Does he feel like he has lived his life remembering and honoring his dead children?

Does he carry the burden like me, that I should live my life because others died in my place?

Does he look back and realize he's changed and misses who he once was?

Does he laugh less like me?

Does he commemorate the day with others or does the overwhelming pain choke him into silence?

Does he feel guilty that it has become easier to mark the day and feels like that alone is doing his children a disservice?

Did he ever explain to the new children about where their names came from?

We both have one day that we mark to remember publicly with private moments throughout the year. 

As time passes, it feels different and uncomfortably comforting.

We set this time aside to remember, to not forget the sacrifices of those we have lost. 

We rely on the strength of those around us to carry us when we have not the strength to commemorate alone. 

We give ourselves permission to share our grief today with you. 

We allow ourselves to feel the pain this day, rather than hide behind the armor of numbness with which we walk around all year.

We remember them today and always. 

Through us, their brave spirits carry on. 

Through this moment of sharing, they live on through you now too.

Yonina Creditor

NYS EMT 1999 - 2009 

JTS Rabbinical School 2012

Abraham’s Eternal Covenant

Abraham's Eternal Covenant

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

 

Judaism is a Scripture-based faith that has continued to evolve during its 3,500 year journey. Among its earliest commandments is that of male ritual circumcision. The Hebrew term is brit milah, meaning, circumcision for the sake of the covenant. This procedure transcends its physicality.

 

From Abraham the patriarch to this very day, it is the sign of the everlasting covenant between God and the Jewish people. While the Torah [the first five books of the Bible] is silent about its rationale, I deduce that its location in the area of procreation indicates the actual, physical transmission of the covenant from generation to generation as it is being created, from the first Jew to the newest member of our religious community. It is our fundamental religious observance from our very beginning.

 

Elsewhere, the Torah records the prohibition of willful mutilation of the body. This is usually understood as a rejection of idolatrous practices. Fortunately it still permitted jewelry! Today I am often asked whether tattoos are a violation of this commandment. Brit milah is certainly not. In Judaism, performed on the eighth day, by a specifically trained and ordained person, with its attendant liturgy, it completes the birth process and indicates membership in a covenantal community. For Judaism it is irrelevant if there are any beneficial effects of medical circumcision. We only fulfill brit milah because the Torah records God's specific ordination of this commandment.

 

I vividly remember the brit milahs of our son, our nephew and our grandson. Of course there was concern for the medical procedure, but I had complete confidence in the mohel, the person who is ritually and medically trained and dedicated for this purpose. As I held all three babies, and looked into their faces I tried to imagine their future, even as my mind traversed our history and I said in my heart to Abraham the Patriarch: "We, too, follow in your footsteps."

 

Throughout history, those who sought to destroy the Jewish people always forbid brit milah, usually upon penalty of death. They thought that if they could eradicate the sign of the covenant, they could eliminate the covenantal people. They failed.

 

That is the issue that reverberates these days in San Francisco with the attempt through legislation to ban all circumcision. It is a thinly veiled attack upon Judaism and the Jewish people. Anyone who objects to this ritual has the democratic right not to do so. Yet as parents with a religious persuasion, we make decisions on behalf of our children. One of those is the perpetuation of the faith. This is how we do it. This attack is not new, just its method. It violates core American principles.

 

Which faith community will be the next to be held in disfavor and attacked? Which faith-based ritual will not pass muster? Will it be the immersion of baptism? The incense of the cathedral? The removal of shoes in the mosque? The head-coverings that bespeak several different religious values? The self-accepted religious law of a given community? Who is next? What is next? The greatness of America is the freedom to practice our different and distinct faiths without interference. The magnificence of America is revealed in the multi-textual religious communities all "present and accounted for."  In our different ways we all seek the path to the One God who demands us to live moral, ethical and meaningful lives. For Judaism, brit milah enters the child into the covenant with God. I hope that the legislature and people of California understand the glory of America and thoroughly reject this attack upon American values and upon the Jewish people.

 

Rabbi Creditor can be reached at Rabbi.Creditor@bethelrichmond.org

 

Some Day the Rabbi Will Retire

Some Day the Rabbi Will Retire

From the Heart

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

 

In the mid 1960's the author Harry Kemelman began writing a series of eleven books about a fictitious Rabbi Small, clearly a Conservative Rabbi, in a town in New England. Seven of the books were connected to the days of the week. One title he did not use was: "Some Day the Rabbi Will Retire." If he is still alive and interested, I can now write the book for him.

 

While it is probably true for most professions, when I thought to become a Rabbi and when I began my student pulpit two years before I was officially ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary I had no idea what it meant to be a Rabbi. Since I was in fourth grade I grew up in synagogue and watched "my Rabbi." I saw a little of what he did on the bemah, his teaching in religious school, and standing in the church pulpit for interfaith Thanksgiving services.  Now looking back from this vantage point, I had such little knowledge of being a Rabbi and yet, that much inspired me to follow in his footsteps. Only upon daily living this path does one really know. I am glad that long ago I chose to be a Rabbi..

 

Thirty-seven years ago this summer Ruby and I returned from a year of study in Israel the small town of Maywood, New Jersey and I began serving as a student Rabbi. I did everything a Rabbi did while I completed my last two years in Rabbinical School at the Seminary. There was a lot of "on the job training." There and then I knew that I had made the right choice. I have never swerved from that belief. I have always kept the faith.

 

Being a Rabbi is a privilege. The title spans two thousand years of history. It was held by scholars and saints, visionaries and dreamers, authors and preachers. That I have two shingles on my wall, Hebrew and English, that proclaims that I follow in their path, is humbling.

 

Being a Rabbi is an honor. The title permits me to represent Jewish tradition, our faith, to those far and near, young and old, Jewish and not, publicly and privately, in synagogue and in the public square. When I am called by that title I represent all my colleagues of all the ages; I represent the God of Israel, our wisdom of the ages. It is personally uplifting to have this opportunity.

 

Being a Rabbi is being entrusted to advise, counsel, and comfort a community of Jews along the path of life. I have learned that as much as anyone sees publicly what the Rabbi does, there is a myriad more of the unknown that has been the largest part of my life. I am thankful to be trusted by the six communities that I have shepherded.

 

By the time of my retirement I will have worn this title for nearly forty years, the span of time that it took the Israelites to traverse the distance from Egypt to Israel. It is the length of Moses' ministry. I am in awe of this path. I have been and am still blessed in many countless ways.

 

What does a Rabbi do when he retires? Study, pray, teach, have a little more time to look at the stars and at the flowers, play with grandchildren, see games at the Diamond and root on VCU. Walk hand in hand with Ruby, as we always have, and keep the friendships that have been the substance of my life.

 

Yet we have quite some time ahead to learn, pray, celebrate, and enjoy. I have privately said one Shehecheyanu. We have some time and then we will say the next one together.

 

Have a wonderful, refreshing and blessed summer. And give thanks to God. This is from my heart to yours.

  

 

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

Temple Beth-El

3330 Grove Avenue

Richmond, VA 23221

Phone 804-355-3564

Fax 804-257-7152

www.bethelrichmond.org

Anthony Weiner & Sexting

Anthony Weiner and Sexting

June 17^th & 18^th, 2011

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

 

[This past Shabbat through Q&A I taught about Jewish values that reflect on the disgraceful situation surrounding the recently resigned Congressman and the subject that is of tremendous importance. It is not only about teenagers. The misuse of electronic media spans all ages. I offer these Jewish teachings in the fight for what is decent and right. I cannot reconstruct the delivery of the remarks. These are just the points that I shared.]

 

Erev Shabbat [Friday evening]

 

1. Moses' greatest value/characteristic is humility – Hebrew – Anavah. We see it in the episode where his brother Aaron and sister Miriam attack him (Numbers 12:3) and he will not defend himself by attacking them.

 

2. When God first revealed Himself to Moses He did it at the Burning Bush, which is a very low plant. (Exodus) This is expanded in the Midrash Bereshit Rabbah 2:5 to stress the humility of God when revealing Himself and the proper physical posture as a spiritual model.

 

3. When God created mankind He said: "Let us…" which the Rabbis take to mean that God consulted the angels before creating us. (Genesis 1:26). Again, this illustrates God's humility.

 

4. The parallel Jewish value/characteristic to humility is modesty. It is sometimes translated in the Hebrew with the same Hebrew word –Anavah, but usually the Hebrew word is tzni'ut.  It comes from the meaning "hidden." It only occurs twice in the entire Bible, once referring to wisdom and intelligence and the other "walking modestly with God." (Proverbs 11: 1-2 and Micah 6:8)

 

5. Tzni'ut is connected to holiness. When Moses first encountered God's holiness at the Burning Bush, he covered himself. (Exodus 3:6). Clearly Judaism enunciates an attitude that our holiness derives from God's holiness, as we are made in His image, and in reaction to His holiness we act with modesty and humility in all ways, our behavior, speech and dress.

 

In preparing these remarks I founding the following quotation:

"Hiddenness and privacy are the reaction to holiness."

 

6. In looking at the window in our Main Sanctuary from the prophet Ezekiel, we see that the angels had six wings. When they encountered God's glorious holiness they proclaimed: "Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh…Holy, Holy, Holy…." Accordingly, they used two wings with which to fly, and two wings to cover their legs, and two wings to cover their faces.

 

Clearly, where holiness exists, modesty and hiddenness exist.

 

7. We rarely open the Aaron HaKodesh, the Holy Ark, out of a sense of modesty and respect to the Torahs, God's words to us. Modesty and respect is shown and seen by being covered and not revealed.

 

8. Traditionally, when the reading the Torah, between aliyot when the Torah is not being read, it is covered by a cloth called the 'ben gavra' which means 'between each person'. The Torah is covered out of a sense of respect and modesty. We use the ben gavra when the Torah is not being read for a prolonged time.

 

Another quote I found:

"We are to imitate God in His Holiness and Hiddenness – leading us to humility and modesty.

 

[After mentioning the title for these remarks I never mentioned his name or the subject again. I stressed the cardinal Jewish values of modesty, humility, privacy, being covered, as how we connect to our holiness and to God. While these values might be counter-culture, they are our authentic and core values of Judaism. We must enunciate them to our children and grandchildren. They are vital for all of us.]

 

Yom Shabbat [Saturday morning]

 

We learn from the laws of Shabbat that there are two main realms – domains, with one of them being subdivided into three parts.

 

There is the private domain, namely our home. Within its precincts we may carry items that are Shabbat-permissible. The private domain is distinctly marked by either being the house, or the perimeter of our property.

 

There is the public domain, which is all the space outside our private domain. The public domain is subdivided into the general public space that is frequented by the public, a road, a square that is totally open. There is also the karmelit which is public space that is unfrequented. It is governed by all the rules of public domain. Lastly, there is free space which is a small part of the public domain and airspace above it.

 

On Shabbat, for reasons not to go into here, one does not take things from the private domain into the public domain. There is a clear separation between these two realms that is not to be violated. While the laws of Shabbat reflect the idea of 'doing business,' embedded in them is a value that particularly addresses the usage of electronic media.

 

In the private domain, behind closed doors there can be things appropriate for that realm, that domain, which are not appropriate for the public domain. Not all things are appropriate every. There is a difference. There are boundaries. There are things that should remain private and personal and there are other things that may be disseminated in the public domain. Through the laws of Shabbat we see how our Jewish values separate these two spaces. This Jewish value system has something to teach everyone, young and old. It is not just about carrying things from our homes on Shabbat. There are different reshuyot, spaces, and what is private should remain private. What is personal should remain personal.

 

These two teachings should be understood as two pieces of one whole teaching on the subject of the use of electronic media. Today, Monday, June 20, 2011, I listened to a discussion on the radio whether or not youngsters should have access to social media. While it might be impossible to disconnect them, we must connect them to a value system that puts forth a cogent, coherent rationale for specific behavior. I share this with you.

 

Shalom uv'racha,

 

Rabbi Creditor

 

 

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

Temple Beth-El

3330 Grove Avenue

Richmond, VA 23221

Phone 804-355-3564

Fax 804-257-7152

www.bethelrichmond.org