Rabbi Zev Wolf of Zbarazh, Complicity, Representation, and Justice

Martin Buber's wonderful book Tales of the Hasidim may have slipped out of fashion but it deserves to be widely read and become popular once again. It matters much less to me that the stories may be incomplete or more the product of Buber's expansive mind than taken in full measure from the Hasidim or the Hasidic communities. Reading Buber's stories today we want to interrupt with good and necessary questions about Hasidic prejudices, racism, and misogyny. But we also have to let many of the stories speak gently for themselves and take what is best in them into our hearts. The strength of many of these stories is their ability to touch the heart, open its doors, and move in. 

There is one story from Buber's collection that recently came to mind. The story concerns Rabbi Zev Wolf of Zbarazh, his wife (whose name we are not given), and a young servant (also nameless) employed in their home. Rabbi Wolf's wife had a quarrel with her servant over a broken dish. She wanted the servant to pay for the dish, the servant refused, and the argument became rather heated. The rebbetzin decided to take the problem to the court of arbitration of the Torah. She quickly dressed in order to meet with the rav of the town, the rabbi who could competently decide between her and the servant. Rabbi Wolf saw his wife preparing to go to the court and also dressed in his sabbath clothes. 

The rebbetzin protested that it was not fitting for him to go to court and that she knew what to say and how to make her best case without him present. Rabbi Wolf responded, "You know it very well, but the poor orphan, your servant, in whose behalf I am coming, does not know it, and who except me is there to defend her cause?"

This story came to mind because I discovered that a local institution that I take part in uses a law firm that helps evict people, defends corporate clients against charges of sexual harassment, and opposes unions even as that institution tries to help the houseless population and is good on civil rights issues. On the advice of this law firm the institution has moved to contracting with people to provide certain services and will no longer have these individuals on the institution's payroll. A local leader in that institution grew up in a hard-pressed union family and knows something of the dynamics of class struggle.

If you read this blog regularly you will know that my values run very much against what this law firm supports. I'm struggling with how complicit the institution that I take part in is with this firm's terrible work and how complicit I am in all of this. Am I contributing to an institution that works, directly or indirectly, against my own values? If I am, how do I respond?

We can take these issues one by one and argue over them. Maybe there are somewhere terrible tenants who refuse to pay rent and wreck their apartments, maybe someone somewhere has filed sexual harassment charges out of malice, and I know that some people would rather be contractors than direct hires. Unions sometimes drop the ball, and not all union staff and leadership are fully competent all of the time. The exceptions should not make the rules, but those are other matters to take up elsewhere. My guiding point here is that people of faith should consider Rabbi Wolf's example. Defend everyone, even the guilty, against those in positions of power, take dramatic action when necessary, and contradict or shame those in positions of power for the sake of the weak ones and the oppressed. Take the long view and go to the roots of the problems at hand with liberation and salvation in mind.

Rabbi Sari Laufer: Sharing the Miracle of Jewish Joy

Rabbi Sari Laufer has an especially strong teaching on Hanukkah and Jewish joy at ReformJudaism.org. The following paragraphs from that teaching essay stand out for me:

The rabbis understand the obligation of lighting the hanukkiyah to be twofold. We are enjoined to bring light into our lives, to celebrate the miracle that happened in these days, at that time. We light the candles for all reasons that we may have learned as children - because the Maccabees defeated the Greeks, because the oil lasted for eight days, because we need light in the darkest seasons. But even more than our own celebration, we are meant to publicize the miracle - to tell the world our story, our survival, and our strength. Placed in the window, the hanukkiyah is more than a candelabra. It is a statement of identity, a reminder to ourselves and to the world that we are still here, still strong, and still celebrating.

To light the lights of Hanukkah is, whether we think of it that way or not, an act and a statement of faith and of hope. To light the lights of Hanukkah is to tell the world that we refuse to sit in the darkness. It is to share the miracle - not of the Maccabees or the oil - but of Jewish life and, more importantly, Jewish joy in 2022.

Please read the entire teaching essay here.

Introducing Torah study through Haiku

Rebecca Tullman has a brilliant post up at ReformJudaism.org about Torah study with Haiku. That piece leads to other posts that taker readers deeper still. She begins with the following:

Parashat B'reishit Haiku

in the beginning
Oneness breathed us into life
we are unity

Parashat Noach Haiku

at Babel we learn
build up your community
not silly towers

Parashat Lech-Lecha Haiku

covenant begins
binding us to the Divine
move towards holiness

Parashat Vayeira Haiku

all we need is here
if we assist each other
to open our eyes

Please don't pass on this opportunity to learn in a new way. Rabbi Emily Langowitz contributed to the basics of Torah study with a very useful and concise tour of the Torah as well.  

Faith and Belief---A meditation by Rabbi Stacy Rigler on Genesis 41:1−44:17 and a Chanukah greeting from Rabbi Lindsey Danziger

I enjoy reading and posting Rabbi Rigler's reflections that I find at ReformJudaism.org and I hope that readers of this blog enjoy them as well. In a recent blog post Rabbi Rigler takes on what "religious" means and takes us to talking about "stories of faith, leadership, miracles, and self-advocacy all around us" starting with Genesis 41:1−44:17.

Rabbi Rigler says in part

When I shared with friends that I wanted to be a rabbi, they all had the same reaction: "I didn't know you were that religious." I wondered, what does "religious" look like? They knew I spent time at my synagogue and went away for weekends with my youth group. Most of the time, religion was not discussed. When it was, my beliefs focused on social welfare and public policy than doctrine or ritual.

Descriptions of religion often focus on belief, miracles, and observance. I have always wondered more about the connection between religion and self-confidence or inner faith. This week's Torah portion, Mikeitz, relies on the faith of multiple characters and reminds us of the importance of our inner voice.

Once again, we find Joseph, believing in his abilities, his own leadership, and the power of his dreams. In Mikeitz, he interprets Pharaoh's dreams and implements a 14-year food sustainability plan for Egypt and the surrounding region. The story is told without questions, concerns, or doubt. Joseph's father, Jacob, sends his 10 brothers to Egypt to get food. When Joseph is reunited with his brothers, he devises a plan to learn if they have grown or changed. The brothers, too, believe in this new leader and rely on him to save them, even though they do not recognize their own brother. Every piece of this story reminds us of the power and courage that leadership requires. Every character demonstrates the faith needed to believe in oneself and others to be a leader.

Please read the rest here.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Lindsey Danziger sent out the following e-mail

Chag sameach and wishing you a Happy Chanukah! As we approach the darkest time of the year, our festival of light comes to remind us to have faith and to persevere.

Chanukah is a story of miracles: of one night’s supply of oil lasting for eight days; of a grassroots uprising persevering over a powerful and oppressive military force. It is a story of God’s awesome grace. But Chanukah is also a tale of what can be accomplished when we are brave enough to put ourselves out there and try to achieve the unachievable. When we work alongside God to bring light and justice to the world, that is when miracles are possible.

To those who are celebrating Chanukah, and to those who are not, may you find the audacity to bring light into the dark winter months and maybe even to bring some miracles into your lives and your communities.

Rabbi Lindsey Danziger (she/her)
Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism

A friend of mine makes a statement. Please hear what is being said.

The Importance of Restorative Justice---Rabbi Stacy Rigler

The short commentaries and reflections by Rabbi Stacy Rigler that appear at ReformJudais.org should be of interest to nearly everyone who thinks about modern and current social crises in light of theology and finding solutions to those crises. Her recent teaching on Genesis 37:1−40:23 grounds the present in the past and shows needed continuity. Rabbi Rigler writes;

When acts of injustice and harm occur, whether modern or ancient, an emphasis on listening and understanding can help aid healing and repair. By using a restorative justice approach, we can understand the hurt caused and help the offender work to take responsibility. We give the power to the victim/survivor to determine what reassurance would be helpful, what repair might look like, and we ask the community to help restore the social order.

Please read the entire teaching here.

Six Great Sephardic Recipes, Some Music, And Some Study

Hanukkah is coming and ReformJudaism.org has six great Sephardic recipes and stories to go with them. There are also links there to other recipes and cooking tutorials.

From ReformJudaism.org

I would like to earnestly recommend to non-Jewish friends that they consider using a Sephardic commentary when studying The Torah/Pentateuch. The Commentary on the Torah by Rabbi Ovadiah ben Jacob Sforno, a 16th-century Italian rabbi and physician, has been most helpful to me and is a popular text. I'm not recommending this only because its a valuable resource for study, but also because we need to work on eliminating anti-Semitism and misunderstanding and many Christians fall into anti-Semitism when dealing with what we wrongly call "The Old Testament." Let's start trying to get the message and context right.

And there is this:

Ocho Kandalikas (feat. Yasmin Levy)

Enlightenment

According to 16th-century Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria, the idea of "enlightenment" was not some individual personal goal to escape mortal limitations and gain knowledge, but a group process by humans to assist the Divine in bringing creation into alignment with the original plan—i.e. "on earth as it is in heaven."
~quote and art by Martha Jablonski Jones

Taken from Braided Way Magazine. We highly recommend Braided Way for its writing, spirituality, and beauty. 

ReformJudaism.org, Amy-Jill Levine, Gender Identity, And Voting

I have posted from ReformJudaism.org occasionally without comment from readers. I believe that their Torah study and commentary are important contributions to how we understand monotheism and ethics and creation itself, but I also understand that many Christians reject this or are firm in their beliefs that Christianity supersedes and replaces Judaism or that Christians have been "grafted" onto Judaism and monotheism and that they (Christians) are freed from Jewish law and practices. In my mind, Christian Zionism is one of the great errors of the day, but I have to admit that it is a powerful cultural and political force. All of this and busy schedules and the demands of daily life means that decisive numbers of Christians are not going to engage with Judaism. And ReformJudaism.org is not put together with Christians in mind.

I have recommended in the past that Christians engage with Amy-Jill Levine and her interesting work. She attends and Orthodox synagogue and is not, so far as I know, part of the Reform movement. It's not that I agree with her on everything, but that her methodology and scholarship are closer to what we need than closed minds and dead traditions. It would be helpful if more Christians read her work or watched her videos and discussed her lessons. She's smarter than the average bear and she lives in Tennessee, which are good recommendations, though she isn't all that into talking about the Tennessee Volunteers football program. Someone must have said a good prayer for the Volunteers when they took down Alabama recently, but it must not have been Amy-Jill Levine. Amplify Media has many of her books and is within the comfort zones of many Christians, so readers can start there.

The following essay by Jacob Kraus-Preminger appeared at ReformJudaism.org before the elections. I'm lifting it without permission and only giving part of the article with a link for you to follow up with. This is a good example of how faith works and how faith and works inform one another. Please read 'til the end because there is mention of other important articles and link as well added on.

I still remember when I was 13 years old and decided that I wanted to learn to play guitar. It did not come easily to me: I have always struggled with coordination and am left-handed; most guitars are made for right-handed people. Practicing guitar was the first thing that I truly committed myself to. What kept me going was not a desire to be the next great guitarist, but a love I had discovered in synagogue and at summer camp for singing as a community. When I was finally able to lead communities in song myself, I was grateful both for my newfound skills and for what I had learned from the experience of acquiring those skills: namely, how deep commitment and ongoing practice could enable me to do something I did not think was possible.

I am mindful that democracy also takes commitment and practice. Democracy takes practice because it still is not accessible to all. The democracy we live in today was established by people who restricted political power to white, Christian men. Over the centuries, people and movements have pushed these boundaries and pursued a democracy that better reflects all who call this country home. Nevertheless, voter suppression laws still intentionally keep Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) from voting, as well as poor people, people with disabilities, and young people.

Democracy takes practice because it is messy. It requires that people who will not always agree come together and make collective decisions.

Democracy takes practice because it is at risk. People who gain power by spreading division and fear are challenging the very foundations of free and fair elections.

Go here to read the rest.

Now, the Union for Reform Judaism is doing some great work of affirming and embracing children of all genders and helping families and communities support their transgender youth. This isn't something to turn away from or refuse to engage with, and it should help many Christians to know that Jews are doing this in ways that are Scripturally and ethically sound. No one is rewriting God's Holy Word to suit current fashion, please Nancy Pelosi, keep Biden in the White House, and destroy America. Really. There are great videos here and here to check in with.

Reading Amy-Jill Levine's "The Difficult Words of Jesus"

The Difficult Words of Jesus--A Beginner's Guide to His Most Perplexing Teachings
Amy-Jill Levine
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2021
157 pp., $17.99 (paper); $17.99 (ebook)

Abingdon Press has an excellent introduction to this book and to Professor Amy-Jill Levine that can be accessed here. I purchased the book and did not buy the DVD and Leader Guide that goes with this. I believe that this is a book that might be better read in a group than individually, as I did. The book goes fast.

Amy-Jill Levine knows what she's talking about. If you look her up you will find that she is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, and Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. We learn from her biography that she is a renowned scholar and teacher, and that she has written five books on Christian theology and coedited the Jewish Annotated New Testament. We also learn that she taught New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and was the first Jew to do so. She attends an Orthodox synagogue. Given the span of her work and interests, it might be better to say that the five books she has written deal with Jewish and Christian or monotheistic theologies. And who am I to argue with her?

I got a little anxious when I read that she self-describes as a "Yankee Jewish feminist" who taught New Testament "in a Christian divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt." It's a great thing to be a Jewish feminist with an understanding of the New Testament, but "Yankee" and "the buckle of the Bible Belt" do bother me.

Amplify Media is running a study and learning session on Professor Levine's Signs and Wonders: A Beginner's Guide to the Miracles of Jesus and has resources available to help with individual and group study. You can access that here.

The Difficult Words of Jesus has an introduction, six chapters, and an afterword. It's short on footnotes. The introduction lays out the approach that the author intended to take, but I believe that the chapters depart a bit from that. The afterword also struck me as a departure. Amy-Jill Levine keeps the conversation going throughout the book, and real conversations wander. I can imagine having dinner with her and a few others and there never being an uncomfortable silence. And for all of her considerable academic qualifications, this is an easy-to-read book.

It helps greatly that the author comes to the texts that she is examining with several translations of the Bible close by and the courage to ask some hard questions and suggest alternate readings and understandings. It also helps that she is familiar with divergent Christian traditions and reasoning and that she usually refrains from judging. She examines Mark 10:21, Luke 14:26-27, Mark 10:44, Matthew 10:5b-6, Matthew 25:30, and John 8:44a.

Levine's examination of Matthew 25:30 fell easy to me because I tend towards universalism, or the idea that there is no eternal hell or damnation. The look at Mark 10:44 ("Whoever wishes to be first among you must be a slave to all.") helped give me a different understanding of the text than she intended, and I struggled to understand what the problem is that she is addressing. The fault there is mine, not the author's. The sixth chapter of the book takes up John 8:44a ("You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father's desires.") and ends inconclusively after Levine makes a strong case for Christians taking on the responsibility of dealing with anti-Semitism in our churches and faith communities. The brief afterword is a kind of backstop or safe space that encourages further study, but it falls short on making concrete suggestions on how to proceed. Perhaps it is not Levine's place or purpose to tell others how to manage their homes, but we would benefit from a gentle push.

Along the way through the book there are a few surprises. Levine makes a passing comment that Jewish law is, or was, easy to follow without going into detail. In another place she says that John Chrysostom (347-407), the archbishop of Constantinople whose theology and insights still inform Orthodox Christianity, complained that Christians in Antioch were attending synagogue worship in his day. This yells for explanation. That explanation may begin with her point that Jewish-Gentile theological relations in Jerusalem prior to and during Christ's lifetime were not as bad as many Christians believe. There are places where she says that something in the Christian Bible is not true or accurate but does not explain why or how what is being said got there or what the context for the phrase is. She's great with translations and suggesting logical alternate translations that give the reader a new, and usually better, understanding of the text. Her reminder to Christians that Abraham was not a Jew is made almost in passing, but there is much in the book to help Christians remember that monotheism extends beyond Judaism and Christianity.

Christians who understand that the 66 books of the Hebrew and Christian Testaments were given by divine inspiration and inerrantly reveal the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, and who believe that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith (loosely quoting from the Articles of Faith of the Church of the Nazarene and understanding that this is a commonly held Christian view), will struggle with this. Levine sometimes anticipates arguments against what she is saying and counters those views. If Levine is correct and the text is wrong, then the text is not inerrantly revealing the will of God. Then what?

The easy answer that requires hard struggle---the one that I think Levine is suggesting---is that people of faith make doubt and dialogue with God part of their living faith. Levine is good when she talks about love and faith as being involuntary. "As I understand it," she says, "faith is something to which one is called---a vocation---and not the conclusion of a logical argument." She even makes a case for a kind of predestination, a conservative position for someone who is on the liberal side of the spectrum, before she backs out of the gray area she has created. And she is open to more than the 66 books referenced above.

Here I want to suggest that predestination might be a theological fact, but who is predestined to salvation may only be known to God. If I am somehow correct in this, I then have to question my own universalism. What happens to everyone else? Levine doesn't take up this question in the way that I am formulating it, but she lets this flow into the more common (and perhaps more interesting) question of free will. She wants to interrogate everything.

Levine makes a common contrast between a morally and ethically driven Judaism that encourages inquiry and that is not motivated by guilt and fear and a Christianity that claims to hold answers and final authority and often does inspire guilt and fear. She does not say this, but it seems inescapable that any religion claiming such authority will always be in battle mode and will experience fracturing and factionalism over time. One of the leading concerns in the book is how Scripture is used (or misused) to hurt and oppress others. Levine knows that Christians will be defensive on these points and is firm but understanding as she makes her case that this happens and why it happens.

I think that Levine also understands that many Christians want something like the Judaism that she is describing. There are at least two problems here that I see. One is that there are lines of Jewish thought and practices that are not so open to questioning and that also carry the weight of assumed final authority. The commentary that I use in understanding Genesis comes from Rashi, the great Jewish scholar, and it is not "Gentile-friendly." Zionism, not to be equated with Judaism but claiming Judaism as its own nonetheless, oppresses Palestinians on the basis of particular readings of ancient texts. Another problem is that we don't yet have a way forward in creating a liberating monotheism. It isn't Levine's job to suggest a way forward, but if we don't find liberation in the sacred texts and a level of agreement on their meaning then there is the danger of people either losing their faith (or their attachment to the texts) or giving up and settling for fundamentalisms.

Readers beware. Every door that is opened in The Difficult Words of Jesus seems to lead to a wall. How can predestination square with universalism? How can faith be a calling to some but still accessible to all? Where is the line between understanding the difficult words of Jesus and finding the basis for them in the Hebrew Bible and believing that all that is in the Hebrew Bible anticipates the Christian Bible? How do Christians search for themselves in the Hebrew Bible and avoid cultural-religious appropriation and feeling defeated? The truth that Levine hits hard on is that it is up to us to do the work and that we can live in faith communities without accepting all of their explanations and practices. 

No book of this length can take up every difficult passage in the Christian Bible. Levine does a great job of giving readers a method to approach what we find difficult, but I'm not sure that many Christian scholars are available to us and are doing the work that Levine is doing and making it readily available to us. We need people with her knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic and her familiarity with both the Hebrew and Christian texts and her ability to put complex ideas and arguments into common language. We need to get past trying to solve problems and learn how to live and work with contradictions.

That said, I wish that Levine had dealt with atonement theology and the forecast or prophesy of the destruction of Jerusalem that appears in the Christian Bible. Did Jesus have to die on the cross? How should we understand the destruction of Jerusalem? What have both done to Christian-Jewish relations? I am disappointed that Levine did not engage with the theologians who have worked with liberation theology in Latin America and Africa, and in particular with those who connected the Hebrew and Christian bibles in their work. Levine is open to alternate readings that are on the road to liberation, but she doesn't spend much time discussing these. I do wish that she had referred to Islamic texts and perhaps stayed away from some of her humor. I get that she's not an authority on the Islamic texts, but she could have quoted from scholars who are. And I do understand that many people need her humor as they work through the difficult passages that she is wrestling with.  

I worry that the Christians who will most benefit from Levine's work won't read it because she is a questioning Jewish feminist and scholar. I'll close with an ask---if you have ever found passages in the Christian Bible difficult, please give this book a read.

Here is a taste:

        

"Roe v. Wade v. God"---A thoughtful clip from National Public Radio

The "Today Explained" National Public Radio show did a thoughtful piece on how Judaism and Islam view abortion and what some Jews and Muslims are doing in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling. This is a scripturally-based and tradition-based discussion that you can listen to in less than 25 minutes. Do you think that you know what these traditions have to say about abortion and how they arrived at those points? Listen in---you may be surprised.

The link is here.    

Mistakes Christians make about the Jewish Jesus • Amy-Jill Levine

I heard a reverend talk about Amy-Jill Levine this morning. She's new to me. This is about a four minute introduction to her thinking and to what Christians get wrong about Jesus. I'm impressed and I'm going to read some of her work.

"Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief...

 

Rabbi Emily Langowtiz: Letting our Land Rest: Shmitah and the Release of Expectations

Rabbi Emily Langowtiz has a wonderful reflection on Leviticus 25:1-26:2 posted on the ReformJudaism.org website. Her work is based on and inspired by the following verse:

Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the Eternal. Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield. But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest (Shabbat Shabbaton), a sabbath of the Eternal; you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard…it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. (Lev. 25:2-5)

This is one of the great social justice and earth justice readings, but we seldom think about how to live it and apply it.

Intended or not, there is also a post by Rabbi Ben Spratt on "Joining God as Resident Strangers in the World" that I think should be read with Rabbi Langwitz's post in order to get context and a broader view of what land means, or can mean.

Women, Solidarity, Faith, And Feminist Theologies

 

Rosemary Radford Ruether

Jewish and Christian Feminist Ritual Innovation

Are Islam and Feminism Mutually Exclusive | Get Real | Refinery29

Seeing the Other in Ourselves: Cultivating Empathy Beyond Difference---D'VAR TORAH BY: RABBI EMILY LANGOWITZ

This is a much-needed word of Torah (d'var Torah) from Rabbi Emily Langowitz that appeared on the ReformJudaism.org. I know that many people will resist reading this or pass this by as much out fear as ignorance, thinking that this doesn't belong here, but I hope that you will this and wrestle with it. I think that this goes with the "Truth in Transition" post here with Carlton D. Pearson, but not because they take similar views or approaches but because each will challenge you to think critically. We need this. Rabbi Langowitz is a blessing to us.

D'VAR TORAH BY: RABBI EMILY LANGOWITZ


At some point in its history, the Reform Movement made the ideological choice to change the Torah reading for the afternoon service on Yom Kippur. Jewish tradition assigned the 18th chapter of Leviticus, which details laws around sexual prohibition, among other ways that the Israelites should distinguish themselves from surrounding cultures. This chapter contains a verse that has been claimed, in some religious contexts, as a weapon of hate. "You shall not lie with a man as you lie with a woman; it is an abomination." (Lev. 18:23) Our movement maintains that a Torah reading which contains such a verse should not be read aloud to the community on the most sacred day of the year.

The irony is that another principle of our movement reintroduces this chapter, on its own, into our regular Torah reading cycle. Because the Reform Movement holds that festival holidays should be celebrated, as in Israel, for only one day, we alter our calendar so as to not move too far out of sync with the reading cycles of other North American communities. Every three years or so, then, we need to make space for an extra week of Torah reading. Acharei Mot gets split from one week into two, and the second week, this week, is the very portion we do not read on Yom Kippur: Leviticus, Chapter 18. Perhaps by encountering this piece of Torah during the weekly cycle, we have more of a chance to read it with a critical eye.

I am a rabbi. And I am queer. And I thank God every day that our movement stands by its principles: not only to remove harmful text from sacred days, but to strive to break down the barriers for full participation by LGBTQ+ folks in its communities. It's because of such principles that I never questioned whether my spiritual standing could be harmed in the pursuit of love and self-discovery. But I'm also proud to be a part of this movement because of the tools it has given me to encounter text on my own terms too, as one of my teachers often said, "wrestle it for a blessing." I can be grateful not to have to hear this portion read aloud in community on Yom Kippur, and I can also be ready for it, every few years, when it arrives in our weekly Torah cycle.

Read the rest here.

At The Well---Creating "spaces of belonging to learn about our bodies and to connect with transformative Jewish rituals."

We want to hold up anything that helps communicate modern wellness rooted in Jewish traditions for women that is rooted in Jewish wisdom.

At The Well works with forming circles of women through community, wholeness, courage, inclusivity, and joy.

Please check them out if you're a Jewish woman. Their welcoming statement reads as follows:

At The Well is here to support your journey to wholeness throughout every stage of your life. We are spreading the word about Jewish rituals that can help you connect more deeply — to yourself, to your body, and to community.

We have a special love for Rosh Chodesh, the start of each new Jewish month. This holiday is celebrated by coming together around each new moon, giving women space to connect, learn, and be heard. These monthly gatherings, which we call Well Circles, are a powerful path to wholeness.

Among people who have been part of a Well Circle, the overwhelming majority say that it:

increases their psychological, spiritual, and emotional well-being

offers a Jewish space where they feel they belong

empowers them to create Jewish rituals

provides support during important times and transitions

We’ve taught many women how to start and lead their own monthly gatherings, and we’d love to teach you too.

'

Prayers to Saint George

I missed the Feast Day of St. George on April 23, but there are other Feast Days for St. George on Nov. 3, 10, and 26 according to this website. See the prayers below---and please feel good about praying to St. George often. He is an ecumenical saint revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews in some places.

I substitute "those who suffer from wears, terrorism, natural and environmental disasters, abuse, addictions, unemployment, imprisonment, hard and dangerous labor, injustice, exploitation and forced migration" for "Orthodox Christians" in these prayers

 

Holy, glorious and praiseworthy St. George!

We who are gathered in thy church (or: on thy feast) and venerate thy holy icon,

beseech thee, as a known intercessor for our longings:

pray with us to God, Whose loving kindness we implore, mercifully to hear us entreating His goodness,

and not to abandon our requests which are needful unto salvation and life;

that He might grant victories over adversaries;

and furthermore we pray thee abjectly, thou holy Trophy-Bearer,

to strengthen the Orthodox Christians in their battles, by the grace given thee;

crush the power of insurgent foes,

that they may be disgraced and brought to shame, and their presumption shattered;

may they know that we have Divine help, and thy mighty defense made known unto all in sorrow and trouble.

Entreat the Lord God and Maker of all creation to deliver us from eternal torment,

that we may always glorify the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.

Amen.

Prayer II

O holy Great-Martyr and Wonder-worker George!

Visit us with thy swift help, and entreat God Who loveth mankind,

that He not condemn us sinners according to our iniquities,

but rather do with us according to His great mercy.

Despise not our prayer, but seek for us from Christ our God, a life quiet and pleasing unto Him,

wellbeing of soul and body, fruits of the earth in all their abundance,

and that we might not turn to evil the good things bestowed upon us by the all-generous God,

but rather make use of them unto the glory of His holy name,

and the glory of thy mighty intercession;

may He grant the Orthodox Christians to overcome their enemies,

and strengthen His community with enduring peace and bliss.

And especially may He guard us round about with the ranks of His holy Angels,

so as to deliver us, after our departure from this life,

from the snares of the evil one and his fearful torments in the air,

presenting us without condemnation before the throne of the Lord of glory.

Hear us, O passion-bearer of Christ, George;

and without ceasing, entreat the Master and God of all, One in Three Persons,

that by His grace and love for mankind we may find mercy to stand with Angels and Archangels at the

right hand of the Righteous Judge,

and ever to glorify Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.

Amen.

God loves you for trying...

Two of the drawbacks that I see in mainstream Christianity are the idea that human beings don't deserve God's grace and that we are saved by faith only. Some folks will go further and say that good works come out of faith, but most of them will still hold to the view that we don't deserve God's grace---it may be a free gift from God, but we still don't deserve that.

That doesn't seem logical to me, but it also doesn't seem fully consistent with some scripture. We read in 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 that

11. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

12. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

13. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Being the more important of the three, then, I have to learn how to love and how to work with that. And I think that it's pretty clear that working for justice is love in action if it's done in the right ways and for the right reasons. Maybe it's not that works are somehow better than faith, but that the two exist in tension with one another and help each other go forward and that love is the context and the transmission belt for that. 

I'm no Biblical scholar, though, and folks smarter than me have been debating this for centuries. Whatever the right answer is, I'm going to keep trying to believe and to do the right things, I'm going to fail or fall short, and I'm going to keep trying. Where I am now is not where I will be one year from now. And, like Bishop Barber says, I'm going to keep trying to be someone who God will use.

I recently heard Bishop Barber call on people to repent for not not giving God all of their effort in prayer and at church. I think that he's talking about reconciliation, purification and repentance, and resolving to work hard for social justice alongside of others.   

Anyway, I think that Islam has a good approach to this, or to half of the conundrum anyway. Read the article Allah Loves You Just For Trying  by Omar Suleiman at About Islam and think about how that could apply to you and to Christianity if you're struggling with this. Something similar is said in St. John Chrysostom's Paschal Sermon, a wonderfully moving sermon that most Protestants and Catholics never experience and that Orthodox Christians only hear once a year.

I argue that all of the Abrahamic faiths pray to the same God and that each of the Abrahamic faiths have valuable insights that help all of us. In the Allah Loves You Just For Trying article we find the following encouraging words:

Now, there is something important to understand here: Allah loves you for trying; Allah loves you for being engaged in the state of purification; and Allah loves you for repenting…

But where is it that we actually fall short here? Some of us will repent sincerely for a sin and then insist that we will not return to the sin, yet still return to it. That does not disqualify you from the love of Allah nor does it open up all the previous times that you committed that sin, or nullify the repentance from those previous sins.

The type of insistence and returning to that could cause you to fall out of the love of Allah, out of this journey of attaining the love of Allah is when you insist upon those sins and disregard the sight of Allah and disregard the pursuit of Allah in returning to those sins.

So, that’s the difference between falling short again, getting weak again after you sincerely repent and not being sincere in your repentance in the first place.

Hence, not being sincere in your pursuit of purification in the first place as well. So, we ask Allah to allow us to always be engaged in the effort of purification to allow us to reach better states; and to always allow us to be in His state of love even as we fall short at times just for being in the state of repentance and for being in the state of the effort of purification.

"I felt my legs were praying."

Taken from ReformJudaism.org:

Upon marching with Dr. King in Selma, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel famously said: “I felt my legs were praying.” How might each of us today apply a spiritual approach to our social justice activism? In what ways does our pursuit of justice change us internally and connect us to something bigger than ourselves? What personal spiritual practices might we engage in to help us feel more connected in our pursuit of justice?