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Some examples: Emma Goldman, who grew up in a shtetl in Russia,
had little interest in spirituality, Jewish learning or Jewish peoplehood,
but she took Jewish ethics seriously, and worked relentlessly for
women’s equality and the rights of factory workers. Emma Goldman
was a serious Jew. The Jewish mystics in the ancient city of Safat
in the 16th century, who welcomed the Shabbat as a bride, were immersed
in spirituality and learning but had relatively little interest
in Jewish ethics or peoplehood. They were serious Jews. My mom had
little interest in spirituality, ethics or learning but felt the
strongest connection with Jews everywhere. She would have died for
Israel. My mom was a serious Jew. On the subject of peoplehood,
I was touched by a recent note from a couple in our congregation
lamenting that, given all our special events of late, they were
missing our normal Friday night services, an opportunity for them
to spend time with, to be connected with, their Jewish community.
By taking seriously our peoplehood, these members are serious Jews.
The real adventures of Judaism, I believe, take place, when, after
entering this “Jewish gold mine” through one circle,
we find ourselves, in the best spirit of exploration, moving into
other circles. This particular Friday night, some members spoke
at the service about a lifetime of moving from one circle to the
next. I also spoke about young Jacob Bradford who came to serious
Judaism through the learning and ethics circles, but soon found
himself drawn also to the spirituality circle. (Jacob will be reading
Torah at our Tu B’Shevat service in February.) While Jewish
spirituality, learning and peoplehood are unquestionably distinctive,
some might question whether there’s anything particularly
distinctive about Jewish ethics. Don’t all religions advocate
ethical behavior? This is clearly the most elusive of the four.
And yet, when I read about Emma Goldman, there is something which
connects her with the Jewish union organizers of the early 20th
century, with the Jews who surrounded Martin Luther King and Nelson
Mandela, with the early kibbutzniks from Russia filled with idealism
and refusing to sit back and let Arab laborers do the work. Maybe
it was something in a common language that they spoke. Maybe it
had something to do with the master story of our people, a story,
after all, about liberation from oppression and the forty-year march
to a promised land.
If we think about this a bit, my guess is that most of us will be
able to identify ourselves as pretty serious Jews. Of course we
can’t sit back on our laurels. As Van Lanckton reminded us
on Rosh Hashanah, we need to make the choice to be a serious Jew
over and over again. We all have to be Jews by choice. That leaves
us, I think, with just two more dangling question marks. The first
is Jewish food. “Where does that go?” Sharon Myers asked,
with a twinkle in her eye. We decided together that maybe that little
area in the very center of the diagram where all four circles overlap
might be a place to put Jewish food – and maybe also the Jewish
arts - which are energy sources for action in each of the circles.
And finally, what about the wrestlers, those of us who resist, who
aren’t quite sure, who are skeptical? As I write this, the
week’s Torah portion speaks of Jacob’s name change to
Israel, which means “to contend or fight or wrestle with the
divine.” We are not a people of rote. We are not a people
who accept blindly. We are, almost by definition, a people continually
in struggle – no sooner do find a synthesis than that synthesis
becomes a thesis awaiting an antithesis. It’s who we are.
It’s what we’re about. The wrestlers, the “Israels”
among us have a home in all four of the circles.
During these times in which many of us crave a center, let’s
give some thought to this Jewish gold mine we’ve come to or
inherited. Let’s seek to find our place in it, trace our journey
through it, and explore new and different ways we might mine it
in the future. And, finally, let’s celebrate it. It’s
worthy of great celebration indeed!
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