"Creating Shabbat: An Accounting of the Collective Jewish Soul."

Yom Kippur 5768
Rabbi Micah Streiffer

These Days of Awe are a celebration of the traditional anniversary of the world's creation. But according to the midrash, God wasn't so sure about creating the world. There were debates between the angels; there was a series of trials and errors - worlds that didn't make the cut. But ultimately, God did choose to make the world. And after six days of difficult work, just as the sun was about to set and bring on the first Shabbat, the Torah says that God "looked over everything that had been made, and saw that it was very good." In that decisive moment of transition, God paused to examine what had been accomplished.

There are moments in history that call for us to step back and take stock. In the Jewish world, one of the most important seminal moments came on May 14, 1948. On that Friday afternoon, the Jewish leaders in the Middle East gathered in Tel Aviv. With the sun setting, Shabbat approaching, and the armies of five neighboring countries advancing on them, they proclaimed the establishment of a new state to be known as Israel.

In that instant, the Jewish world changed. Six decades later, the majority of the people in this room cannot remember a world without a Jewish state. We have lived for sixty years with the knowledge that there is a sovereign Jewish entity on the other side of the world; sixty years of the Palestinian crisis being a Jewish issue; sixty years of Hebrew as the language not only of the prayerbook but of poetry and newspapers and slang. Sixty years of being able to board an airplane and arrive in Tel Aviv 12 hours later. Sixty years of "Next Year in Jerusalem" as an invitation rather than a dream.

The Jewish state has so defined the Jewishness of this generation that this occasion of Israel's 60th birthday is as much about us as it is about anything else. It is a milestone in the life of our people, and as such a chance for the entire Jewish world to take stock.

In 1947, when the Israeli cabinet voted on the Partition Plan, Knesset Member Yitzhak Tabenkin requested a day to consult with some people before voting. When he returned, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion asked him, "From whom did you seek counsel?"
"From two people," answered Tabenkin. "From my grandfather who died ten years ago, and from my grandson who is not yet born."

As Jews, everything we do is done with one eye to the past and the other to the future. We cannot make decisions for today without considering tomorrow, and we cannot understand tomorrow without looking to yesterday. Just as God looked over the work of the six days, so too - at the end of six decades - we can look upon the work that the Jewish world has undertaken. Our tradition calls upon us at this time of year to take a heshbon nefesh - an accounting of the soul. Perhaps it is appropriate to take an accounting of the collective Jewish soul: to confront ourselves honestly, to address the successes and failures of the last sixty years.

Traditionally, Jewish life is built on three pillars: Am Yisrael, the people of Israel; Torat Yisrael, the Torah or religion of the people of Israel; and Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel. It is said that no Jewish life is complete without at least some connection to our people, our traditions, and our homeland. Let us, then, examine the state of each of these three pillars at this juncture, this 60th year of a Jewish world with a Jewish state.

Torat Yisrael - the Religion of Israel

The first thing that can be said of Jewish life in the past 6 decades is that it has been an overwhelming success. Out of the despair of the 1930s and 40s, the Jewish people have managed not only to survive, but to flourish.

In the religious realm, we have created pluralism unseen in the Jewish world since the last Temple stood nearly 2000 years ago. The Mishnah says, "Elu v'elu divrei elohim chayyim - there are many legitimate Jewish paths to God," and we have taken those words very seriously.

A classmate of mine in rabbinical school used to joke that as Jews in the 21st century, we don't need denominations, since the labels "Reform," "Conservative," and "Orthodox" can't fully describe each of our practices and beliefs. Instead, what we need are personalized checklists that we pin to our shirts. They would go something like this:
- Name.
- Jewish name: Circle one - Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino.
- If Hebrew, please specify Ashkenazic or Sephardic pronunciation
- Do you keep kosher: yes or no? If yes, please specify traditional kosher, eco-kosher, Biblical kosher, kosher style, or some other version of kosher that you have made up.
- Do you believe the Torah was (circle one): written by God; written by human beings; divinely inspired but written by human hands; or written by Cantor Andrew Bernard.
- When praying, do you choose to wear, (circle all applicable) - a small kippah, a large kippah, a half-sized tallit, a small scarf tallit, a very large tallit that keeps slipping off of your shoulders, none of the above.

These are great problems to have. Our internalization of the value of religious pluralism has created unparalleled creativity - a renaissance of Jewish religious life. Our synagogues are overflowing; our liturgical music is fresh and exciting; we are tudying more Torah; we are seeking out ways to make our religious practice more meaningful - by creating multiple worship experiences, by immersing ourselves in text and tradition, by broadening our horizons through such programs as Temple Beth El's new Torah Yoga class. We have become a generation of seekers.

And it is not only in the area of spirituality that we have been successful. In the past decades, religious Jews have often taken the lead on issues of social justice. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., while holding a Torah scroll, is emblematic of this. And in this area, Reform Judaism, with our commitment to the prophetic message of justice and compassion, has stood at the vanguard.

But we have not been perfect. In our worthy pursuit of spirituality and social justice, we have sometimes forsaken the commitment to learning that is so integral to Jewish life.

In medieval times, when a child was ready to begin his Jewish education, he would be marched to the schoolroom with great pomp. There, his teacher would teach him the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, smearing each letter with honey so that that the first experience with Jewish learning would be sweet.

In the coming decades, we will need to capture that sweetness for a larger portion of the Jewish community, to recommit ourselves to Jewish literacy and lifelong learning. By picking up a few Jewish books a year, by reading the daily "10 Minutes of Torah" emails from the Reform movement, by bringing Shabbat into our homes, we can keep Judaism relevant in our lives and meaningful to our families.

Am Yisrael - The People of Israel

The changes in Judaism have been great in the last 6 decades, but the developments in the Jewish people have been even more momentous. Through physical and spiritual reunification, we have rediscovered the meaning of K'lal Yisrael -the unity and common destiny of all Jews.

Between 1949 and 1950, in response to deteriorating conditions in Yemen, the Israeli government took it upon itself to airlift all 47,000 members of the ancient Yemenite Jewish community to safety. In 1991 Israel secretly transported 14,000 Ethiopian Jews during a tiny 36 hour window, bringing home yet another segment of Am Yisrael.

In the last 60 years, Israel has become a mosaic of our people. The influx of immigrants from the Arab world, from Europe, Russia, Ethiopia, and India, has brought new diversity. In America, the thousands of people who have chosen to become Jewish have done the same. Gone is the myth that all Jews may be categorized as Ashkenazic or Sephardic. In its place stands a Jewish people more interconnected, stronger, and more diverse than ever before.

This presents new challenges and new opportunities for us. In a time when so many of us are searching for ways to enhance our religious lives, perhaps some of the answers can be found within areas of our own tradition that we have not yet explored. Did you know, for example, that the Spanish Jews developed meditation traditions centuries ago? Did you know that at a Morrocan Passover seder, charoset is made of apricots and dates? Did you know that it is traditional for Persian Jewish women to paint beautiful, intricate designs on their hands before getting married? The traditions of our own people are richer and more varied than we ever imagined.

So, Mr. Goldstein from Brooklyn was visiting China, when he stumbled onto an old synagogue. Since there was a service going on, he put on a tallit and sat down to pray. He noticed, though, that people seemed confused by his presence.
After the service, an elderly Chinese man came up to Mr. Goldstein to welcome him. "We are so happy to have you here," said the man. "But tell me, how to you know the words of the Jewish prayers?"
"Well," answered Goldstein, "I too grew up with these prayers. I chanted them at my Bar Mitzvah, and I recite them every week."
The old Chinese man peered at Goldstein for a moment. Then with a shrug of his shoulders, he replied, "Funny, you don't look Jewish."

One of our great tasks as American Jews in the coming decades will be to develop a global sense of what connects us, a sense of Jewish peoplehood that transcends borders and vernaculars and ethnicities. We can do this by learning about the traditions of other Jewish populations, by reading news about them as though it may have something to do with us, by seeking out Jewish communities and historical sites wherever we travel. Judaism will only be enriched by reaching out to embrace the diversity of our own people.

Eretz Yisrael - The Land of Israel

What can we say of the Land of Israel at this moment in history? To begin, the development of the Land, the establishment of the State, is one of the great successes not only of modern times but in all of Jewish history. In these six decades, our brothers and sisters have fulfilled the 2000-year old dream "to be a free people in our land." The State of Israel has revived the Hebrew language and brought home millions of our people.
And what's more, Israel is a thriving democracy with arts and music, respected universities, and a technology sector that is the envy of much of the world. The Jewish state has the most museums, scientific papers, and university degrees per capita of any country, and was the birthplace of (among other things) desert irrigation, anti-virus software, non-invasive tumor removal surgery, cherry tomatoes, and - for better or for worse - cellphones. 1

We can, and we should, celebrate the achievements of the Jewish state. But if we are taking an honest look at ourselves, then we must also admit that Israel is far from perfect. To begin, Israel has not yet succeeded in making peace with its neighbors and solving the plight of the Palestinians. Without placing blame, for surely there is plenty to go around, we know that this will be a central test of the coming decades. It will require that both sides let go of our preconceptions and open up to the validity of one another's narratives.

Furthermore, Israel is not perfect because the Jewish state has yet to settle the issue of its own Jewish nature. Its society is divided deeply between Orthodox and secular Jews. Reform and Conservative Judaism are not recognized. Our rabbis are not considered real rabbis; our synagogues lack recognition and funding; our conversions and marriages are often regarded as invalid. Most Israeli Jews, even the most secular, believe that only Orthodoxy is real Judaism.

We are partly to blame for this reality. If there is little acceptance of Reform Judaism in Israel, it is because there is such a small Reform presence. Despite the fact that we are the largest religious Jewish movement in the world, only a tiny fraction of Israeli Jews know who we are.

In the last 2 months, I have had the pleasure twice of meeting with small groups of Israeli young people at Temple Beth El. For most it was their first time in a Reform synagogue, and they were taken aback by our egalitarianism and our inclusiveness. Two weeks ago, after showing around a group and teaching them about Reform Judaism, I said, "We believe that most Israelis are actually Reform Jews; they just don't know it yet." Much to my surprise, they agreed.

We are beginning to change the reality of Israel's Jewish identity crisis. We have sent thousands of young people on life-changing summer trips. This summer, the Reform movement sponsored a group of college students who chose to make aliyah together - to move to Israel as active, practicing, Reform Jews. But we have yet not put enough of ourselves and our kind of Judaism into the Jewish state. More of us need to visit Israel (and there will be a congregational opportunity next summer); More of us need to support the synagogues and agencies of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism; more of us need to spend extended periods of time in the Jewish state. More of us, I daresay, need to consider the possibility making Israel our home.
The Jewish state is hungry for a brand of Judaism that values our tradition but is honest about our modern beliefs.. We have a historical opportunity. We have seen, in the past decades, what Israel can do for our young people in shaping and strengthening Jewish identity. Let us look also to the other side of the coin - to our responsibility to shape the Jewish state and the Jewish future.

"Vayar elohim et kol asher asah. God looked upon the work of the first six days and saw that it was very good." We too, can say that the work of the past six decades has been very good. And just as God used the seventh day to create Shabbat - a time of fulfillment, peace, and wholeness - so must we now work to create such a Shabbat in this seventh decade.

We create Shabbat by taking charge of our Jewish selves, by seeking out the sweetness in our tradition and nourishing our families and our communities by it.
We create Shabbat by embracing our connection to the Jewish people in every land, by struggling to maintain a sense of k'lal Yisrael - shared destiny - even in the face of our differences.
We create Shabbat by pouring ourselves - our beliefs, our values, our Judaism, into the state of Israel, so that it might truly represent all that is best about the Jewish people.

Sixty years ago we entered a new era - one of creativity and diversity. Let us take advantage of this unique moment in history. Let us continue to work for the Jewish future, while drawing strength and inspiration from the Jewish past.

Ken Yehi Ratzon. May this be God's will.