Introductory Remarks

Judaism is a lifelong road and embedded in that road are many jewels. One jewel is marked "Sabbath" and one is marked "Feeding the Poor"; one jewel is marked "Honor Your Parents" and one is marked "Kindness to Animals"; one is marked "Study of Torah" and one is marked "Love Your Neighbor." The ancient rabbis said that, if you look, you can find 100 jewels every day you walk the road, 100 reasons to say a blessing and to do a good deed. Some of the jewels on the Jewish road are light and easy to pick up. Some are embedded too deep to lift at first, but trying to lift them can make you stronger. God does not expect us to lift every jewel. As we walk Judaism road, our task is to carry away as many jewels as we can, for each jewel is an opportunity to use our life well. Rosh HaShanah is a bright jewel on Judaism road and -- look around -- all of us here tonight have already picked it up. Picking it up, getting here and being together tonight, that was the heavy lifting. Redeeming it, saying the prayers that mark our moment together with this jewel, that is the blessing. And let us say: Amen.

Judaism and Reform

Erev Rosh HaShanah 5770
September 18, 2009
Rabbi Seymour Rossel

    You are going into Starbucks for a coffee break when a white pick-up truck pulls up in the parking lot. On the bed of the truck is a wooden shack and a sign that says "Chabad Lubavitch Sukka Mobile." The guys on the truck look like no Texans you expect in a pick-up. They are wearing white shirts, black suits, and black hats; long beards, and fringes that hang down at the sides of their slacks. These are Jews like you, but not quite like you. They look like they would be more comfortable in Brooklyn, in B'nei B'rak, or in Jerusalem rather than in Houston. Yet there are several Chabad houses here in Houston. The head of Chabad, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the seventh rebbe of the Chabad dynasty, died in 1994, but some of his followers await his return as the Messiah, while others revere and carry on his teachings. Chabad is not just a religious movement, it is an industry, an amalgamated cooperative, a spiritual corporation.

     When you encounter Chasidic Jews, you are entitled to wonder, in what ways are they related to you? Do they represent some purer form of Judaism than you do? Is their way of life closer to God than yours? Are they somehow carrying on a tradition that is more Jewish than yours?

     Of course, much of the difference you sense comes from outward appearances. Chasidim choose to dress in clothing that was stylish in Central Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, similar to clothing worn by Polish gentry and Shia Muslims, probably adopted from the Turks, who possibly adapted it from the Persians. Chasidic Rebbes dictated the color as black, thinking that Jews would stand out too much and be easy targets for anti-Semites if they wore colorful clothing. Their clothing has become more modern in recent times, but the conscious decision to appear different keeps Chasidim from abandoning the old style. I knew the Rebbe of the largest Chasidic dynasty in Boston. He was also a professor at Harvard University. During the week, he wore suits and ties to fit in with the Harvard crowd and on the weekends he put on the Chasidic caftan and streimel [the typical fur hat] to lead his flock.

     Now, Judaism teaches us Al tistakeil ba-kankan, eileh b'mah she-yesh bo, "Do not focus on the container, rather pay attention to what is in it." So we should not judge Chasidim by the way they dress, but by the content of their way of life. The Chabad web site proclaims that the great insight of the Lubavitcher Rebbe was his teaching to all Jews that "You are Divinely gifted with enormous strength and energy" and it is your task in the world to "Actualize it!"

     The same statement would sound comfortable coming from the Reform movement. In fact, the same message could come from the Dalai Lama, Scientology, 24-Hour Fitness, dozens of gurus, hundreds of business lecturers, career counselors, and politicians. Of course, everyone who teaches "You are divinely gifted and you must actualize your gift" begins from a different platform, from a unique world-view. The Chabad Rebbe's ideal is expressed in the word Chabad, which stands for three Hebrew words: Chochmah, Binah, and Da'at (Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge). Chabad Chasidism stresses the intellect and putting mind over emotion.

     Again, there is nothing in this which separates Chasidism from Reform Judaism. We, too, seek to actualize ourselves through Wisdom -- by studying together -- through Understanding -- by caring for one another and sharing our collective insights -- and through Knowledge -- by passing on our Judaism in religious schools and Jewish studies. In addition, Reform Judaism also stresses the ethics of the prophets: social justice and equality for all -- men and women alike, rich and poor alike -- no matter what our social preferences or our sexual preferences or our station in life. It goes without saying that this kind of equality is not stressed in Chasidism.

     Above all, Chasidim are separated from mainstream Judaism by their cult of leadership. The Chasidic Rebbe is not a rabbi in our sense, not just a teacher of Judaism. To Chasidim, their Rebbe is a "living chosen one." Chasidim view their Rebbe as a gatekeeper who stands between God and the individual Jew. They believe that Jews should imitate their Rebbe in all his ways.

     When Chasidism first arose, there was a different gatekeeper. The Jews of Eastern Europe expected their rabbis to be experts in Jewish law. Jewish law was so complex that the average Jew could hardly be expected to understand it and rabbis could hardly explain it to one another, let alone agree on it. Rabbis were basically experts in interpreting the legal system found, not in the Torah and not in the Talmud, but in the details of derivative law codes like the Mishneh Torah written by Moses Maimonides and, especially, the Shulchan Aruch written by Joseph Karo.

     The founders of Chasidism, the Baal Shem Tov and his immediate followers, were ardent reformers. They knew that the rabbis of their time were speaking to God and speaking to one another. But the Baal Shem Tov asked, "Who is speaking to the Jewish people?" The Chasidic leaders spoke directly to the people, often using stories and parables. In effect, the Chasidism you see today is actually the Reform Judaism of the past, in the same way that you are the Reform Judaism of the present.

     Of course, the early Chasidic reformers were a great threat to the Jewish establishment of their time. There was no organized orthodoxy back then, but traditional rabbis fiercely opposed the new Chasidism. They claimed that Judaism could never survive without Jews following the letter of the law. The Shulchan Aruch was such a complete guide to Jewish life that it even explained which shoe lace had to be tied first in the morning. How would Judaism survive if a Jew did not know which shoe lace to tie first?

     But the founders of Chasidism looked beyond the details of law codes. Judaism would survive, they taught, if Jews would turn their hearts to God, if Jews would love one another, if Jews would turn away from doing evil and do good. One Chasidic reformer asked the question, "Which is the most important commandment?" And his answer did not involve any long legal debate. His answer was, "The most important commandment is the commandment that you are doing right this very moment."

     One of the early reformers said to his child, "I will give you a gold coin if you will tell me where God is." And his child answered, "My dear father, I will give you two gold coins if you will tell where God is not."

     Chasidism did not bring more laws to the people. It brought them the human side of life and taught them that God loves each human being for being human and loves each Jew because Judaism is a great experiment in how to be human with kindness and with care for one another. That was the message of Chasidism in its beginning.

     So what might surprise you most is that the Baal Shem Tov would hardly recognize modern Chasidism as the way of life he taught. One time, his students found the Baal Shem Tov in the forest weeping and trembling. They asked him what was wrong and he told them he had just had a vision. He saw that, in the time to come, his followers would forget his teachings. They would turn back to the Shulchan Aruch and embrace the law again as a way of keeping Judaism alive. And that caused him to weep and tremble because all he had taught would be undone.

     And it came to pass just as he suspected. Modern Chasidism has found its way back to the Shulchan Aruch and the details of Jewish law. It has purposely chosen to separate itself from the mainstream of the Jewish people through its reliance on charismatic leaders, through its dress, and through its closed communities.

     In a way, the real inheritors of the Baal Shem Tov, those who best typify his teachings and his way of life are modern Reform Jews. This is because the real guideline to "authentic" Judaism has always been where the Jewish people are. The only real definition of being Jewish is "What Judaism do the majority of living Jews choose to follow?"

     Reform Judaism does not ask which shoe lace a Jew should tie first in the morning. Reform Judaism does not set laws to limit what a Jew should do and set beliefs to limit how a Jew should behave. Reform Judaism sees Judaism as evolving. It respects tradition, but it welcomes change.

     In Germany, around the time of the first World War, a philosopher named Franz Rosenzweig began to seek his Jewish roots. Like many German Jews, he was highly educated and yet had been brought up with little instruction in religion. So he and his friends organized to study Torah together and discover their way back to God. An orthodox Jew once challenged Rosenzweig, asking him, "If you really want to be Jewish, why don't you put on tefillin every morning?" Rosenzweig's answer was, "I haven't come to that yet."

     In this story, I see the spirit of Reform Judaism. As we live our lives as Jews, we find opportunities which help us to be better Jews. Some opportunities are traditions from the past, but many are responses to the present. Historically, Jews were forced to live separate and apart from non-Jews -- that does not mean that "separate and apart" are the best ways for Jews to live. Today, we are challenged by living so intimately with non-Jews that almost every Jewish family includes non-Jewish members. Should we see this as something to oppose? Should we withdraw to ghettos or shtetls or form communities for Jews only? Or should we welcome this as an opportunity to write some new Torah, to find new ways of being better neighbors, better families, and better Jews? As Reform Jews, we welcome this opportunity.

     Being a Reform Jew today means responding to the challenges of our times as opportunities for Judaism to shine. Reform Judaism is every bit as authentic as Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, or Chasidic Judaism and, at this moment, the vast majority of Jews who affiliate with synagogues choose to affiliate with Reform Judaism. My friend and teacher, Dr. Ellis Rivkin, observed that only the name "Reform Judaism" is confusing. He suggested that we should really call our movement "Quintessential Judaism," because it stands at the cutting edge of modern Jewish life.

     The Chasidim we see today are the reformers of the past just as our movement is the reform of the present. But lest we be overtaken by pride, we have to admit that Reform Judaism may not necessarily be quintessential in the future. This is not a fact for all time -- just the truth for today.

     This we know: the way to preserve Judaism for the future is not to return to some supposed Judaism of yesteryear, but to forge ahead, staying aware of traditions that speak to us today and changing in ways that help us. Every generation must live its own Judaism. Moses handed the Torah to Joshua and Joshua handed it to the elders and the elders handed it to the prophets and the prophets handed it to the members of the great assembly -- and every generation made the Torah its own. So, too, it was handed to the makers of the Talmud and the makers of the law codes and to the Baal Shem Tov and his Chasidim and now it has been handed to you.

     So you can smile at the Chasidic guys on the Sukka Mobile and go about getting your coffee, secure in the knowledge that they are very much like you -- you might even think of them as right-wing Reform Jews. You are at the cutting edge of what Judaism is becoming. You are securing the future in all you do at Congregation Jewish Community North and all you do by being part of the Reform movement. This is all it is given us to know and understand: The only Judaism that ever leads to Jewish survival is the Judaism you live by today. And let us say: Amen.