In the spirit of Purim, a story:
Once upon a time a powerful Emperor of the Rising Sun advertised for a new Chief Samurai. After a year, only three applied for the job: a Japanese, a Chinese and a Jewish Samurai.
"Demonstrate your skills!" commanded the Emperor.
The Japanese samurai stepped forward, opened a tiny box and released a fly. He drew his samurai sword and *Swish!* the fly fell to the floor, neatly divided in two!
"What a feat!" said the Emperor. "Number Two Samurai, show me what you do."
The Chinese samurai smiled confidently, stepped forward and opened a tiny box, releasing a fly. He drew his samurai sword and * Swish! * Swish! * The fly fell to the floor neatly quartered.
"That is skill!" nodded the Emperor. "How are you going to top that, Number three Samurai?"
The Jewish samurai, Obi-wan Cohen, stepped forward, opened a tiny box releasing one fly, drew his samurai sword and *Swoooooosh! * flourished his sword so mightily that a gust of wind blew through the room.
But the fly was still buzzing around!
In disappointment, the Emperor said, "What kind of skill is that? The fly isn't even dead."
"Dead?!" replied the Jewish Samurai. "Dead is easy. Circumcision... THAT takes skill!"
***
We trade in symbols. It is through outward appearances - how we dress, where we shop, where we go to synagogue, whether or not we are still buzzing around - that we are most readily judged. Symbols are shortcuts - they are the means by which we most readily understand and focus life. They help us see what we cannot easily see.
Q: What is the most well-known symbol of Jewish life?
A: The Magen David, the star / shield of David.
Q: What should it be?
A: The Ner Tamid / Eternal Light.
Once upon a time a powerful Emperor of the Rising Sun advertised for a new Chief Samurai. After a year, only three applied for the job: a Japanese, a Chinese and a Jewish Samurai.
"Demonstrate your skills!" commanded the Emperor.
The Japanese samurai stepped forward, opened a tiny box and released a fly. He drew his samurai sword and *Swish!* the fly fell to the floor, neatly divided in two!
"What a feat!" said the Emperor. "Number Two Samurai, show me what you do."
The Chinese samurai smiled confidently, stepped forward and opened a tiny box, releasing a fly. He drew his samurai sword and * Swish! * Swish! * The fly fell to the floor neatly quartered.
"That is skill!" nodded the Emperor. "How are you going to top that, Number three Samurai?"
The Jewish samurai, Obi-wan Cohen, stepped forward, opened a tiny box releasing one fly, drew his samurai sword and *Swoooooosh! * flourished his sword so mightily that a gust of wind blew through the room.
But the fly was still buzzing around!
In disappointment, the Emperor said, "What kind of skill is that? The fly isn't even dead."
"Dead?!" replied the Jewish Samurai. "Dead is easy. Circumcision... THAT takes skill!"
***
We trade in symbols. It is through outward appearances - how we dress, where we shop, where we go to synagogue, whether or not we are still buzzing around - that we are most readily judged. Symbols are shortcuts - they are the means by which we most readily understand and focus life. They help us see what we cannot easily see.
Q: What is the most well-known symbol of Jewish life?
A: The Magen David, the star / shield of David.
Q: What should it be?
A: The Ner Tamid / Eternal Light.
Why?
Well, for one thing, scholars tell us that the Magen David has only been in wide use by the Jews for about 1000 years or so. That’s really not so far back, in Jewish time. But the Ner Tamid, the constantly-burning lamp that is described in Parashat Tetzaveh as part of the accoutrements of the mishkan (tabernacle), is as ancient as the Israelite nation. (Of course, we cannot really put a date on that, but let’s say that it’s at least 2500 years old, and perhaps quite a bit older.)
Another reason is that while the Magen David symbolizes protection by God (perhaps deriving from Psalm 18, wherein God is described as a magen, a shield), the Ner Tamid represents the light that the Jews cast into the world, illuminating the dark places and bringing knowledge and righteousness to everybody. It declares that as Jews, we should be “Or LaGoyim,” a light unto the nations (reading with Isaiah 60:3):
Well, for one thing, scholars tell us that the Magen David has only been in wide use by the Jews for about 1000 years or so. That’s really not so far back, in Jewish time. But the Ner Tamid, the constantly-burning lamp that is described in Parashat Tetzaveh as part of the accoutrements of the mishkan (tabernacle), is as ancient as the Israelite nation. (Of course, we cannot really put a date on that, but let’s say that it’s at least 2500 years old, and perhaps quite a bit older.)
Another reason is that while the Magen David symbolizes protection by God (perhaps deriving from Psalm 18, wherein God is described as a magen, a shield), the Ner Tamid represents the light that the Jews cast into the world, illuminating the dark places and bringing knowledge and righteousness to everybody. It declares that as Jews, we should be “Or LaGoyim,” a light unto the nations (reading with Isaiah 60:3):
וְהָֽלְכ֥וּ גוֹיִ֖ם לְאוֹרֵ֑ךְ וּמְלָכִ֖ים לְנֹ֥גַהּ זַרְחֵֽךְ׃
Vehalekhu goyim le’orekh, umlakhim lenogah zarhekh.
Nations shall walk at your light, and kings at the brightness of your rising.
But the Ner Tamid also suggests that we should be
“Or LaYehudim,” a light unto ourselves, the Jews, to remind us to be the
best people that we can be; to focus our energies not only on spreading the
light of our Torah, but also the enlightenment that comes from uniting the best
of ancient teachings, contemporary wisdom, and good judgment for the benefit of
society at large. It is in the context of these last three points that I feel
the need to discuss recent events in Great Neck.
You may be familiar with the brouhaha surrounding
a free “lunch and learn” program offered by a synagogue close to Great Neck
North High School. For the benefit of those who have not heard, let me recap:
Students at Great Neck North are allowed off-campus during their 40-minute lunch period, and many leave to purchase food in nearby restaurants. It has recently come to light that a synagogue that is conveniently located on Middle Neck Road, Torah Ohr Congregation, has been offering a free kosher lunch to students to encourage them to come in and listen to lectures by the congregation’s rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Kohan.
The school district has asked Rabbi Kohan to require that children attending have a written permission slip from their parents, and to desist until that matter is resolved. Rabbi Kohan has not agreed to do so. The principal of GNN, Bernard Kaplan, sent a letter to all school parents about this at the end of January, and Torah Ohr took their case to Agudath Israel, the umbrella organization for the Haredi community, and to the ADL, and as a result Principal Kaplan was persuaded to apologize for his letter, which he did in a subsequent letter. (It should be noted that the principle of separation of church and state prevents a school district from targeting any religious institution for praise or criticism. Because of the open-campus policy, it seems that Torah Ohr is operating within the law.)
A number of newspaper articles about the lunch & learn debate have appeared in the last two weeks, citing frustrated school administrators and irate parents on both sides of the issue.
What Rabbi Kohan is doing is apparently legal. However, I do not think it that it meets the “benefit of society at-large” standard that I mentioned earlier. They have been asked by the school district to at least require parental permission to participate, something which I think that they would want, so that parents can feel more comfortable knowing what their students are doing during lunch.
I have heard that, in a related case, Principal Kaplan recently asked a US Army recruiter to cease approaching students on lunch break at Dunkin’ Donuts, and the recruiter complied. My guess is that Rabbi Kohan sees himself as bringing Or LaYehudim, light to the Jews, by teaching his version of the Torah at all costs, bravely standing up to more civic-minded critics, that is, progressive Jews like us.
Let’s face it. There is a part of me, as a Conservative rabbi, that is envious of Rabbi Kohan’s lunch & learn program. I wish that 40 teenagers were coming to Temple Israel for lunch, with their parents’ blessing, and that they were learning the Torah with me and Rabbi Stecker, using all the modern, rational tools that we do. I wish that those kids, a portion of whom I know to be members of Temple Israel, who celebrated benei mitzvah on this bimah, who were my students, I wish they were enrolled at the Youth House, participating in all of the wonderful, open, inspiring programming that we offer.
But here is the difficulty that I cannot get past. It’s the symbols - the indicators of that which we cannot see. First, we know from news accounts that boys and girls are separated during these lunch & learn events: girls are invited on Tuesdays, and boys on Thursday and Friday. This also implies to me that they think that girls are only entitled to half as much Torah as boys are. This is deeply troubling, suggesting that these learning sessions violate everything for which we at Temple Israel stand.
Second, that this congregation has flouted the requests of the school district is also of great concern. This symbol suggests that Torah Ohr cares little for American society and values, and for the very principle of the separation of church and state that enables them to continue to function. And that makes me even more concerned about what indeed Rabbi Kohan may be teaching them, if not in words than at least by example.
Students at Great Neck North are allowed off-campus during their 40-minute lunch period, and many leave to purchase food in nearby restaurants. It has recently come to light that a synagogue that is conveniently located on Middle Neck Road, Torah Ohr Congregation, has been offering a free kosher lunch to students to encourage them to come in and listen to lectures by the congregation’s rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Kohan.
The school district has asked Rabbi Kohan to require that children attending have a written permission slip from their parents, and to desist until that matter is resolved. Rabbi Kohan has not agreed to do so. The principal of GNN, Bernard Kaplan, sent a letter to all school parents about this at the end of January, and Torah Ohr took their case to Agudath Israel, the umbrella organization for the Haredi community, and to the ADL, and as a result Principal Kaplan was persuaded to apologize for his letter, which he did in a subsequent letter. (It should be noted that the principle of separation of church and state prevents a school district from targeting any religious institution for praise or criticism. Because of the open-campus policy, it seems that Torah Ohr is operating within the law.)
A number of newspaper articles about the lunch & learn debate have appeared in the last two weeks, citing frustrated school administrators and irate parents on both sides of the issue.
What Rabbi Kohan is doing is apparently legal. However, I do not think it that it meets the “benefit of society at-large” standard that I mentioned earlier. They have been asked by the school district to at least require parental permission to participate, something which I think that they would want, so that parents can feel more comfortable knowing what their students are doing during lunch.
I have heard that, in a related case, Principal Kaplan recently asked a US Army recruiter to cease approaching students on lunch break at Dunkin’ Donuts, and the recruiter complied. My guess is that Rabbi Kohan sees himself as bringing Or LaYehudim, light to the Jews, by teaching his version of the Torah at all costs, bravely standing up to more civic-minded critics, that is, progressive Jews like us.
Let’s face it. There is a part of me, as a Conservative rabbi, that is envious of Rabbi Kohan’s lunch & learn program. I wish that 40 teenagers were coming to Temple Israel for lunch, with their parents’ blessing, and that they were learning the Torah with me and Rabbi Stecker, using all the modern, rational tools that we do. I wish that those kids, a portion of whom I know to be members of Temple Israel, who celebrated benei mitzvah on this bimah, who were my students, I wish they were enrolled at the Youth House, participating in all of the wonderful, open, inspiring programming that we offer.
But here is the difficulty that I cannot get past. It’s the symbols - the indicators of that which we cannot see. First, we know from news accounts that boys and girls are separated during these lunch & learn events: girls are invited on Tuesdays, and boys on Thursday and Friday. This also implies to me that they think that girls are only entitled to half as much Torah as boys are. This is deeply troubling, suggesting that these learning sessions violate everything for which we at Temple Israel stand.
Second, that this congregation has flouted the requests of the school district is also of great concern. This symbol suggests that Torah Ohr cares little for American society and values, and for the very principle of the separation of church and state that enables them to continue to function. And that makes me even more concerned about what indeed Rabbi Kohan may be teaching them, if not in words than at least by example.
What are these kids learning
during their “free” lunches? Are they teaching them that the way that their parents
practice Judaism is insufficient? That their homes are not kosher enough? That
the only way to be a “good” Jew is to reject the observance patterns of your
family? Perhaps this is why Rabbi Kohan does not want parental consent; perhaps he would rather encourage these kids to violate the fundamental mitzvah of kibbud av ve'em, honoring your mother and father.
I hear stories all the time of families right here in Great Neck that are being torn apart because of right-wing rabbis who are sowing these very divisive ideas. I do not know if this particular rabbi is of that ilk, but failing to comply with the school district’s simple requests sends the clear message that their teachings are more important than what your parents or teachers tell you.
But the third symbol, and perhaps the most valent, is the open question of responsibility. These are children, minors who are living in their parents’ homes. When they leave campus during lunchtime, who is responsible? Who is in loco parentis? If the school district is indeed responsible for these children during lunchtime (as I suspect it is), then they are neglecting enforcement of the principle of church-state separation by providing unsupervised time in which Rabbi Kohan may cajole them with free lunch and indoctrination; Torah Ohr is as much at fault by stepping into a responsibility void that should be left unmolested by religious organizations.
This is not a case of “proselytizing” (an unfortunate word choice in Principal Kaplan’s first letter), since the students in question are already Jewish (I have been told that they do not allow non-Jews to attend). And it is a trap to see this as a case of Jew vs. Jew – progressive Jews pitted against Orthodox Jews. Rather, this is a case of a religious organization taking advantage of a loophole in the responsibility gap promoted by the open campus policy. The same concerns would be raised if a Christian group were targeting Christian students, or a Muslim group, and so on.
Ladies and gentlemen, we stand for a Judaism that is open, non-judgmental, and firmly based in tradition. Temple Israel is a place where all are welcome and nobody will be told that their religious practice is wrong or insufficient. Furthermore, we are committed to Judaism, to modernity, and to American ideals. We are indebted to the separation of church and state, obligated to uphold it, and committed to respectful interaction with other institutions, religious, secular, and governmental.
No teenager should be discouraged from Jewish learning. But as a parent with a child in the Great Neck school system, I would certainly not want my child learning at a place that would lure her in without my consent. And I would wager a fair bet that if Rabbi Kohan had a child in public high school, he would be more than a little incensed if the Conservative synagogue across the street were doing the very thing that he is doing.
Tonight, when we read Megillat Esther, we will say the following (Esther 8:16), which you might also recognize from the havdalah liturgy:
I hear stories all the time of families right here in Great Neck that are being torn apart because of right-wing rabbis who are sowing these very divisive ideas. I do not know if this particular rabbi is of that ilk, but failing to comply with the school district’s simple requests sends the clear message that their teachings are more important than what your parents or teachers tell you.
But the third symbol, and perhaps the most valent, is the open question of responsibility. These are children, minors who are living in their parents’ homes. When they leave campus during lunchtime, who is responsible? Who is in loco parentis? If the school district is indeed responsible for these children during lunchtime (as I suspect it is), then they are neglecting enforcement of the principle of church-state separation by providing unsupervised time in which Rabbi Kohan may cajole them with free lunch and indoctrination; Torah Ohr is as much at fault by stepping into a responsibility void that should be left unmolested by religious organizations.
This is not a case of “proselytizing” (an unfortunate word choice in Principal Kaplan’s first letter), since the students in question are already Jewish (I have been told that they do not allow non-Jews to attend). And it is a trap to see this as a case of Jew vs. Jew – progressive Jews pitted against Orthodox Jews. Rather, this is a case of a religious organization taking advantage of a loophole in the responsibility gap promoted by the open campus policy. The same concerns would be raised if a Christian group were targeting Christian students, or a Muslim group, and so on.
Ladies and gentlemen, we stand for a Judaism that is open, non-judgmental, and firmly based in tradition. Temple Israel is a place where all are welcome and nobody will be told that their religious practice is wrong or insufficient. Furthermore, we are committed to Judaism, to modernity, and to American ideals. We are indebted to the separation of church and state, obligated to uphold it, and committed to respectful interaction with other institutions, religious, secular, and governmental.
No teenager should be discouraged from Jewish learning. But as a parent with a child in the Great Neck school system, I would certainly not want my child learning at a place that would lure her in without my consent. And I would wager a fair bet that if Rabbi Kohan had a child in public high school, he would be more than a little incensed if the Conservative synagogue across the street were doing the very thing that he is doing.
Tonight, when we read Megillat Esther, we will say the following (Esther 8:16), which you might also recognize from the havdalah liturgy:
לַיְּהוּדִים, הָיְתָה אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה, וְשָׂשֹׂן, וִיקָר.
Layyehudim hayta orah vesimhah vesasson viyqar.
For the Jews, there was light, happiness, joy, and honor.
The enlightenment that was afforded to us in
our victory over the forces of darkness in the tale of Esther reminds us that
we must remain vigilant. Our Ner Tamid continues to remind us of our
need to cast light inside and outside the Jewish world as we support, as our Prayer for the Country puts it, “the ideals and free institutions that are the pride and glory of our country.”
Shabbat shalom.
Shabbat shalom.
~
Rabbi Seth Adelson
(Originally delivered at Temple Israel of Great Neck, Shabbat morning, 2/23/2013.)
