2025 High Holiday Sermons

High Holiday Sermons 2025 5786
1ST DAY ROSH HASHANA 5786 – 2025
THE WORD “ZIONISM” PART 1
A mother mouse was walking with her two baby mice when suddenly she heard a cat creeping closer. The babies, extremely frightened, moved closer to their mother. The mother mouse took a deep breath and let out a large bark like a dog. The cat went running. The mother then turned to her babies. “See, I told you it is useful to learn a foreign language.”
There are people who speak English as if it is a foreign language. They change the meaning of words. I think of the conversation between Alice, of Wonderland fame, and Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass. Humpty Dumpty told Alice, “When I use a word it means what I choose it to mean – no more, no less.” And so people use words today and change their meaning. Let me give you an example. What does the word “genocide” mean? We Jews should be able to give an answer. We were the victims of the worst genocide in history, a genocide that killed six million of us. Genocide is the attempt to murder an entire people or ethnic group.
Not today. The word “genocide” has taken on a new meaning. The man who will probably be the next mayor of New York has publicly used the word “genocide” to describe what Israel is doing to the Palestinians in Gaza. When asked to change his language, Zohran Mamdani answered, “I believe the term genocide is the most accurate description of what is going on.” What is going on in Gaza is tragic, it is a war, a war starting by Hamas, but it is not genocide. Israel is not trying to kill off all Palestinians in Gaza. If they were, they would not be airdropping food into Gaza. It is not genocide unless we totally redefine the word, like Humpty Dumpty, making it mean whatever we want it to mean.
Today and tomorrow, I want to look at another word, whose meaning has totally changed today. The word I want to look at is “Zionism.” What does the word mean, where does it come from, and what does it mean today? The word “Zionism” in my mind is something positive. I grew up proud to be a Zionist. Today it has come to be derogatory, an insult. The meaning of the word is simple. Zionism is the belief in the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state in the Holy Land, the traditional homeland of the Jewish people. Zionism in my mind is something beautiful. Today, among many, not just non-Jews but Jews, Zionism has become something derogatory and negative.
Let me give a few examples. First example. There is a clothing company called Lingua Franca, where wealthy women, particularly of a more leftist perspective, can order specialty clothing. They sell beautiful, expensive cashmere sweaters, and you can have a message printed on your sweater. For example, you can print “I didn’t vote for him” or “Abortion is Healthcare,” or whatever you want, as long as it has a leftist perspective. A woman ordered a sweater for almost $450 and wanted the company to print the message “Proud Zionist.” The company rejected her message and sent her back the money. The company claimed that the message was too political, and they did not want their company to carry a message about a complex war in the Middle East. They claimed that to print the message “Proud Zionist” on one of their sweaters was to take sides in the Israel – Gaza war. The woman even communicated with the president of the company, who refused to back down. If you want a cashmere sweater with the words “Proud Zionist” printed on it, you need to look elsewhere.
Second example. UCLA, the University of California Los Angeles, is a major college campus in my home city. My brother went there, and I often visited the campus. After October 7, 2023, pro-Palestinian students set up encampments and blocked off large areas of the campus to Jewish students. A Jew could walk through these encampments, but only if they declared that they were anti-Zionist. Many Jews, and certainly all Israeli students, were intimated by these encampments. Part of a major university became off-limits to anyone who identified as a Zionist. And the university did nothing. Eventually a group of students brought a lawsuit against the university. In the end, UCLA settled the lawsuit and paid $6.5 million to Jewish students.
Third example. At one point when I first thought about being a rabbi, I considered going to the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia. I loved Mordecai Kaplan’s book Judaism as a Civilization, and I had fond memories of going with a friend to a large Reconstructionist synagogue, Kehillat Israel, in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. In the end, I decided the movement was too radical for me. This year Kehillat Israel formally disassociated itself from the Reconstructionist Movement. So did a number of other Reconstructionist synagogues including one in Broward Country. Why? The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College ordained a number of new rabbis who are proudly anti-Zionist. These new rabbis believe Israel has no right to exist as a Jewish state. I wonder if they will find synagogues to hire them. There are also newly ordained rabbis in the Conservative and Reform Movements who are proudly anti-Zionist. But believe it or not, there are synagogues around the country where you will not find an Israeli flag or hear a prayer for Israel, synagogues that proclaim themselves to be anti-Zionist. Anti-Zionism is growing, including among many Jews.
I am a proud Zionist who spent two years studying in Israel. I believe in the right of the Jewish people to have a sovereign Jewish state in the Holy Land. Does that mean I agree with everything the current government of Israel does? My oldest friend, who has lived in Israel over forty years, with three children and nine grandchildren in Israel, is a strong opponent of Bibi Netanyahu’s polices. He has demonstrated against the government. But he is a strong Zionist whose children have served in the military. You can strongly believe in the right of Israel to exist while disagreeing with the government, just as you can strongly love the United States and disagree with government policies. Zionism means you believe in the right of the Jewish people to have their own state.
Where did this idea of Zionism, a right of the Jewish people to have their own state, come from? Jews have always been drawn to the land of Israel. The book of Psalms says, “If I forget you O Jerusalem, let my right hand lose its cunning. May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not put Jerusalem about my greatest joy” (Psalms 137:5-6). The great medieval poet Judah HaLevi wrote, Libi beMizrach v’Anochi b’Sof Maarav. “My heart is in the East while my body is in the far West.”
Jews have always turned to the Holy Land for our prayers, but the political idea of a Jewish state did not develop until the nineteenth century. A new idea, nationalism, was flourishing in Europe. For the first time in history, the idea of a Russian state, a German state, a British state, or a French state was developing. Much of this had to do with the growth of the printing press and the identification of people with a community beyond their own towns and villages. But Jews had always been part of their own insular communities.
Could Jews be part of these developing states in Europe? Could Jews be accepted as citizens in a nationalistic French state? Believe it or not, this was what Napoleon wanted for France. In 1806 Napoleon called together what is called The Grand Sanhedrin, a group of notable Jews, and asked them a series of twelve questions to see if Jews could be good citizens of France. Among the questions, “Do Jews born in France consider it to be their native country? Are they committed to obey the laws of France?” Napoleon was prepared to make Jews full citizens. The French Jews of the Grand Sanhedrin said yes, they wanted to be good citizens of France.
The acceptance of the Jews in France did not last long. In 1894, a French military Captain Alfred Dreyfus, was falsely accused of passing military secrets to France’s enemies. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served five years. But new evidence came out that Dreyfus was innocent and he was eventually exonerated. But it did not matter, the antisemitism in France was too strong. Crowds demonstrated against the Jews. False charges were once again brought against Dreyfus. This entire affair was witnessed by a Jewish but totally non-religious journalist and playwright named Theodore Herzl. Herzl wrote his book The Jewish State. If the French and the Russians and the Germans can have a state of their own, the Jews should also have a state of their own. A Jewish state was the only answer to antisemitism. Herzl organized the first Zionist Congress in Basel Switzerland in 1897. He predicted that in fifty years there would be a Jewish state. And exactly fifty years later the United Nations voted to establish a Jewish state.
Not every Jew was in favor of such a Jewish political state. Among many Orthodox Jews, a sovereign Jewish state must wait until the coming of the Messiah. Satmar Hasidim and a small group called the Naturei Karta still reject the very idea of a Jewish state. Among many liberal Jews, a Jewish state was foreign to their deepest beliefs. Based on the teachings of Jewish philosophers like Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig, Judaism was about being a light onto the nations and spreading ethical monotheism to the world. You can only be a light onto the nations if you live scattered through the diaspora, not if you are concentrated in your own state. The early Reform Movement in the United States totally rejected Zionism. They wrote in the Pittsburgh Platform of 1885, “We consider ourselves no longer a nation but a religious community and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine … nor the restoration of any laws concerning a Jewish state.”
Perhaps in the beginning many Orthodox Jews and many Reform Jews opposed the idea of a sovereign Jewish state. But by a great miracle of God, Israel was founded in 1948. There is a Jewish state. Most Orthodox and most Reform Jews have come around and become strong supporters of Zionism. In fact, the majority of Jews who make aliya, move to Israel, are Orthodox Jews. And every rabbinic student in the Reform and the Conservative Movement must spend a year studying in Israel. The state of Israel is a fait accompli, and to be a Zionist is to support the existence of the state of Israel.
But today the meaning of words are changing. As Humpty Dumpty said, words mean whatever we want them to mean. The word “Zionist” has taken on a new meaning. According to the opinion of many, to be a Zionist is to support a colonialist, racist, apartheid, state that is practicing genocide against the poor Palestinians. Today the word Zionist has become derogatory among many. And so there are Jews who are proud anti-Zionists, Jews who believe Israel should cease to exist as a Jewish state. They believe the world would be a better place if Israel, the Jewish state, were to disappear.
At the Emmy’s, Hannah Einbinder received an award as best supporting actress for the TV show Hacks. (I have never seen the show.) The thirty-year old actress used her moment of glory, her Emmy acceptance speech, to shout out “Free Palestine.” She also signed a pledge not to work with the Israeli government or any institutions who are implicated in the genocide of the Palestinian people. Hannah Einbinder is Jewish and proudly said that her Jewish identity has nothing to do with the state of Israel. She is part of the young generation of Jews who hate Israel.
What do these anti-Zionist Jews really believe? Let me look at one who is quite influential, often appearing on television talk shows. American journalist Peter Beinart is the author of The Crisis of Zionism and Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza. Beinart is a religious Jew who keeps kosher and sends his children to an Orthodox day school. He believes that rather than a state of Israel, there should be one single democratic state where Jews and Palestinians live together in peace. Israel should disappear and a new state, Israel-Palestine should replace it. In my mind, his views are at best idealistic and at worst, naïve. If Israel were to disappear as a Jewish state, we would see true genocide. Seven million Jews who live in Israel would either be forced to leave or be killed.
I am a Zionist, who believes in the right of the Jewish people to have their own state. I do believe that the attempt today to make the term “Zionism” derogatory and negative is a form of antisemitism. Do I care about Palestinians? Of course, they are human beings created in the image of God. But when Palestinians seek to destroy the only Jewish state, then I believe Israel has a right to defend itself.
Rosh Hashana is a time of return, including a return to a proud Jewish identity. And that identity must include the centrality of the state of Israel to our identity. We must reclaim the term “Zionism” as a proud part of our Jewish heritage. I have much more to say about how we do this. But to hear more, you must come back tomorrow. May God give strength to the state of Israel and may she continue to flourish, and let us say
Amen.
2ND DAY ROSH HASHANA 5786 – 2025
THE WORD “ZIONISM” PART 2
A young Jewish woman told her parents in Brooklyn that she was leaving home to work on a reservation in North Dakota with indigenous peoples. The parents were upset. “You are going to work on an Indian Reservation!” She replied, “Mom, dad, they are not called Indians anymore. They are Native-Americans. And yes, I believe I can make their lives better.” “But how will you be Jewish on this reservation. Are there even Jews in North Dakota?” “Have you not always said Judaism means Tikkun Olam. Make the world better. That is what I am doing.”
Months later the young woman called her parents. “Mom, dad, I met a young man from the tribe. He will be chief one day. He loves me and I love him. We are going to be married.” Her parents screamed. The young woman’s fiancé said, “Let me take the phone. Maybe I can convince them that I am a good match.” The young man took the phone, talked for a moment to her parents, listened, and finally hung up saying, “I think I won them over.” “How so?” “They even took on an Indian name. They said they were Sitting Shiva.”
I want to return to the issue of Zionism that I spoke about yesterday. When did the effort of Jews to have their own state become a derogatory word? When did Jews become scared to declare themselves Zionists? But before returning to Zionism, let me speak about native Americans. There is something new today that you have probably seen before television shows or meetings. Many colleges require professors to begin their classes with what is called a “land acknowledgement.” Before beginning a television show, meeting, or college class, we must acknowledge the indigenous people who were originally on this land.
Here is an example. Julianne Hough said at the beginning of the Academy Awards this year., “We gather for the celebration of the Oscars on the ancestral land of the Tongva, Tataviam, and Chumash peoples, the traditional caretakers of this water and land. We honor and pay our respects to indigenous communities here and around the world.” Personally, I find these acknowledgements a bit silly and have to agree with the wonderful comedian Bill Maher, “Either give the land back or shut up.” But I understand why these statements are becoming popular.
Let me show you how it would work for our synagogue. “Welcome to our High Holiday services. Before we begin, I want to acknowledge that our synagogue sits on lands that originally belonged to the Tequesta people. We respect that fact that the Tequesta have been displaced and we will work with them to maintain their human rights.” What if I began every service with that? The Tequesta people were the indigenous residents of Boca. You are going to hear more and more of this kind of statement.
What does this have to do with Zionism? Land acknowledgement statements recognize that indigenous peoples lost their land due to colonialism. Let’s face it; here in America we took the land from the original inhabitants. And Israel has been accused constantly of being a colonialist state. According to common usage, European Jews came from Russia and Poland and stole the land from the indigenous Palestinians who have lived there for generations. This is what people believe. Except it is not true. First, there were Arabs in the land but nobody who identified as a Palestinian. Palestinian identity developed much later. And many Arabs moved into the land when Jews began to move there because of economic opportunities.
But more important, far more Israelis came to the land not from Poland and Russia but from Yemen and Morocco, Egypt and Iraq. They were Jews who were kicked out of their homes and had their property seized. Often, they came to Israel with nothing. They came to Israel because they had nowhere else to go. And Israel took them in. The majority of Israelis are not Ashkenazi from Europe but Sephardi and Mizrachi from countries of the Mideast. Some are black Jews from Ethiopia. It was not Palestinians who were kicked off their land, but Jews from throughout the Arab world.
Perhaps every event in Israel ought to have its own land acknowledgement. “This event is taking place on land conquered by Joshua from the Canaanites over three thousand years ago and settled by the Israelites. These Israelites lived in this land until they were kicked out by the Romans. But they are the indigenous people of the land.” Of course, you can argue that Joshua conquered the land from the Canaanites. The Canaanites were the original indigenous people of the land. These were the same Canaanites that practiced child sacrifice and other horrendous practices. That is why Rashi comments at the beginning of the Torah, “For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan, Israel may reply to them, All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased. When He willed He gave it to them, and when He willed He took it from them and gave it to us.”
The truth is that virtually every nation on earth began with colonization, some people taking the land that belonged to some other people. Even the indigenous peoples of the United States were not peace loving. Various Indian tribes conquered land from other Indian tribes. Who came first? Who should the land go back to? No one is saying that we should give our synagogue building back to the Tequesta people. Nonetheless, Canada has passed a law saying that native tribes have first claims on indigenous lands. I would not buy a vacation home in Canada right now, knowing that a tribe can claim ownership of your home. They were there first. Today there are numerous cases today tied up in litigation in Canadian courts.
Every country in the world is built on land that someone stole from someone else. Nonetheless, there is only one country on earth where the world demands that the current occupants give the land back. Only Israel is called “colonizers.” Only Israelis are told, “Give up your country, move back to Poland, and give the land back to the native Palestinians.” Never mind that Jews were there first, long before the Palestinians. Zionism is the belief that Jews deserve to have their own nation in their ancestral land. So if you are an anti-Zionist, you believe that Jews should move out and give the land back.
Maybe Israel should give the land back to its original owners. Maybe the Jews should pull out and give the land back to the Arabs. But wait, the Arabs conquered it from the Crusaders, who themselves conquered it from the Arabs. But those Arabs conquered it from the Romans, who conquered it from the Greeks. But those Greeks conquered it from the Persians who conquered it from the Babylonians. But if we keep going back, the Babylonians conquered it from the Jews. If we are to go back to original, indigenous people of the land, we are going back to the Jews. It has been our land since Biblical times.
Besides, if we give the land back, where are the Jews to go? Yassir Arafat wanted to push the Jews into the sea. He once cracked, “I hope they can swim.” Golda Meir famously said that we Israelis have a secret weapon in our fight with the Arabs. When asked what the secret weapon was, she answered, “We have nowhere else to go.” Jews are not going anywhere, and Israel is not going anywhere. Anti-Zionists who claim Israel has no right to exist believe seven million Jews should just disappear. But they will not disappear. Israel is here to stay.
But what about the Palestinians, the Arabs who live in the Jewish state. According to the common view, does Israel not practice apartheid? Here is another one of those words that has been given a new meaning today. Apartheid is an Afrikaans word that applied to South Africa, where there were different laws for whites and for blacks. For example, in apartheid South Africa, whites could vote and blacks could not. This was true in spite of the fact that blacks were the majority and whites the minority.
How does that apply at all to modern Israel? In Israel, there is no apartheid. Arabs have full rights. They vote, they serve in the Knesset, they serve on the Supreme Court, they go to universities, they become doctors and lawyers and all other professions, and participate equally in Israeli life. In fact, almost every Israeli Arab, if asked whether they would rather live in Israel or a Palestinian state run by Hamas, say they would want to stay in Israel. Arabs, like Jews, love freedom. In fact, there is only one state in the Mideast that recognizes gay marriages – Israel.
So what are we Jews, in Boca Raton, on formerly Tequesta territory, supposed to do? As Jews, we need to be proudly pro-Israel. If we have the means and the energy, we should visit Israel. We should buy Israel bonds and donate to Israel. And in our synagogue, we should make love of Israel part of our religious commitment. If we still had a daily minyan, on Yom Atzmaut Israel Independence Day we would chant the Hallel, special psalms in praise of God. We should continue the rituals we do now, displaying the flag of Israel, saying a prayer for the state of Israel, praying for Israeli soldiers and hostages, and singing Hatikva, the Israel National Anthem, when we gather for special meetings and programs. Ahavat Yisrael, love of Israel, is part of what makes us Jews.
Today is Rosh Hashana, the day on which according to Jewish tradition, God created the world. According to Jewish thought, God divided the world among the many nations of the world. Different people were given different lands. Of course, then began a period of people conquering lands from other people, people moving to other lands, conquest and colonization. It is the way of the world. But through it all the Jews have always had a tie to one piece of land. God told Abraham, “Raise your eyes and look out from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west, for I give all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever” (Genesis 13:14-15).
Anti-Zionists say that we have no right to the land, or at least no right no establish a sovereign state on the land. Israel has no right to exist as a Jewish state. Ernest Gold (no relation to me) wrote the music for the 1960 movie Exodus based on the Leon Uris novel. He won an Academy Award for his music. When I was young, that novel and movie inspired me to love Israel. The singer Pat Boone wrote and recorded the lyrics to Gold’s music, “This land is mine. God gave this land to me.” He recorded it in 1961, and it stayed on the Billboard Chart for six weeks, six years before the Six Day War. Israel was already in our hearts and souls back then. Interestingly, Pat Boone was a Christian. Too often Christians have shown more love of Israel than Jews.
May we as Jews never question our right to the land, or the gift that is the state of Israel. May Israel continue to flourish and may she finally live in peace with her enemies. And let us say
Amen.
KOL NIDRE 2025 – 5786
JEWISH BUDDHIST
A woman from Century Village, Boca Raton, flies all the way to Katmandu, Nepal. She then treks for three days high into the Himalayas. There she finally arrives at a Buddhist monastery on a fog shrouded mountain. She walks in, approaches the monks, and asks to see the Guru. “You cannot see the Guru right now. He is meditating.” “I’ll wait,” replies the woman. “It might be a long wait.” Three days go by, and the monks finally say, “Ok, the Guru will see you now.” She approaches the Guru; he is dressed in a white robe, sitting in a lotus position. She then says, “Sheldon, come home.”
In a way, that story is deeply sad. So many Jews have found greater spiritual meaning in ancient Eastern faiths like Buddhism than in their own religion. We even have a name for such people – Buddh–Jews. I have known many in my lifetime. I remember one of my members in my previous synagogue saying to me, “Rabbi, I have decided to become a Buddhist. After all, there is no real difference between Judaism and Buddhism.” Is there a difference between Judaism and Buddhism? I will get to that question in a moment. I think of the many books by Jews that explore the similarity between Judaism and Buddhism, for example, Roger Kamenetz’s The Jew in the Lotus and Sylvia Boorstein’s That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Buddhist. Boorstein has become a major teacher of Jewish Buddhism.
This year I attended the High Holiday sermon seminar put together by the Palm Beach Board of Rabbis. I have been the presenter at such seminars in the past. But this year our Scholar in Residence was the president of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Rabbi Josh Feigelson. He flew in from Chicago to teach us. Rabbi Feigelson explained how the Institute was founded in 1999 in reaction to the large number of Jews who were being lost to Judaism. It was in reaction to the Pew Population Study that showed a huge percentage of Jews abandoning Judaism for other spiritual paths.
For example, the Institute has hundreds of people who come together on Zoom every day to practice meditation with a Jewish flavor. Perhaps their mantra is “shalom” instead of “om.” Rabbi Feigelson said that there are numerous sources in the Hasidic tradition with deep spiritual meaning that would be attractive to Jews who are searching. Let me share one insight that Rabbi Feigelson taught us. Over and over on Yom Kippur, we sing the thirteen attributes of God, Adonai Adonai El Rahum v’Hanun….”Our Lord, our Lord, a God of compassion and grace…” Why do we say Adonai which means “the Lord” twice? According to one Hasidic source, God is in everything including in each of us. We each have bit of Adonai within us. That is the first Adonai we say. But Adonai is also out there, beyond each of us, Creator of everything. That is the second Adonai. The Adonai within each of us calls out to join the Adonai out there. Our personal spiritual self wants to join with the greater spiritual reality. It is a beautiful spiritual teaching. Think about it that way and this central Yom Kippur prayer takes on a new meaning.
But let me return to the question, can one be a Jew and Buddhist? There are certainly similarities. Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, taught that we should each live lives of compassion. And in Jewish tradition, the Jewish people are called Rahamim B’nai Rachamim, “The Compassionate Children of Compassion People.” Compassion is certainly at the heart of both Buddhism and Judaism. It is also at the heart of many other spiritual traditions. We should all love our fellow human beings. But that does not mean the two traditions are the same. In fact, in a very fundamental way they are quite different. That difference is at the heart of what I want to speak about tonight.
In my previous synagogue, we were directly next door to a Buddhist Temple. We used their parking lot on the High Holidays, and they used our parking lot on Buddha’s birthday. I became quite friendly with the leaders of this Buddhist Temple including the Monk who was from Asia and spoke little English. One Sunday morning we decided to have a joint event. We went to their building for a meal. Since they are vegetarian, there was no problem with the food. One of their members spoke about Buddhism. Then I spoke. I will admit that my speech was a bit provocative – “The Difference Between Judaism and Buddhism.”
At the heart of Buddhism is the idea of letting go. To Buddhism, life is suffering, known as dukkha. We suffer because we cling to the things of this world. Yet everything in this world is temporary and will eventually pass away. Even our souls are temporary and will eventually pass away. The world itself will one day pass away. We must train ourselves to let go, to avoid clinging to the things of this world. The more we can let go, the more we can avoid suffering and reach the higher Buddhist eightfold path. The more we can let go, the more we can live a life of contentment and compassion.
Not so Judaism. Of all the great faiths of humanity, none is more this-worldly than Judaism. Judaism wants us to embrace the things of this world. After all, at the heart of Judaism is tikkun olam, transform this world. We cannot transform this world unless we embrace this world. Rather than teaching us to let go, Judaism teaches us to hold on. This world is a beautiful, holy place. God saw this world and said it is tov meod, “very good.” We do not seek to let go of this world but to live fully within it. So in a very deep sense, Judaism and Buddhism are absolute opposites. Buddhism teaches to let go; Judaism teaches to hold on.
But what is beautiful about Judaism is also what is difficult about Judaism. Everything in this world is temporary. Everything will pass on. We, and everyone we love, will eventually pass on. Scientists say the earth and sun themselves will eventually pass on. How do we fully embrace something that is temporary? One of the greatest rabbis in America, Rabbi Milton Steinberg, addressed this issue in what is perhaps his most famous High Holiday sermon. The title of Rabbi Steinberg’s sermon was “To Hold with Open Arms.” “To Hold with Open Arms.”
Steinberg wrote the sermon after nearly dying from a heart attack. He walked out of the hospital on a beautiful, sunny day and saw how precious life is. Then he saw people walking along heedless to the beauty around them. How can they ignore what is precious in life? He wrote the words, “And only with God can we ease the intolerable tension of our existence. For only when He is given, can we hold life at once infinitely precious and yet as a thing lightly to be surrendered. Only because of Him is it possible for us to clasp the world, but with relaxed hands; to embrace it, but with open arms.” He continued the sermon about the things of this world, “they are always on loan, due to be recalled.” Sadly, we lost Rabbi Steinberg in 1950 at the age of 46.
Rabbi Steinberg taught us to hold the things of this world, but with open arms. It is interesting that in our session at the Board of Rabbis sermon seminar, a similar issue came up. Rabbi Feigelson taught a very old teaching of how to hold onto the things of this world. Imagine holding a bird in our hands. Hold too tightly and we will squish the bird and kill it. Hold too loosely and the bird will leave us and fly away. We must caress the bird, not too tightly and not too loosely. So too, we must embrace this world, not too tightly and not too loosely.
I spoke about embracing the things of this world, even if we hold it with open arms. If Buddhism is about letting go, Judaism is about holding on. I think our Buddhist neighbors respected my talk, even if they disagreed with me. Our Jewish members certainly appreciated it. So many other religions such as Christianity and Islam speak of some other world as the place where the action is. They speak about getting to heaven. I have seen many churches with a sign in front, “Sermon topic. Will you get to heaven?” I have never seen such a sign in a synagogue. Judaism is not about life in some future world but life in this world.
This reminds me of one of my favorite stories. There was a wealthy man who was very generous with his wealth. He was constantly giving tzedakah to everyone in need. As the man grew older, he had talks with the rabbi. The rabbi said, “You are so generous. I know you will get into heaven. Let’s make a deal. When you get to the next world, I would like you to try to communicate with me. Tell me what heaven is like.” Shortly afterwards the man died. One day the rabbi heard a voice inside his head. It was the generous man, speaking to him from the next world. The rabbi asked, “Tell me, are you in heaven?” “Yes, I am in heaven.” The rabbi continued, “Tell me, do you like it there.” “Actually, I do not like it.” The rabbi is surprised. “Why not?” “Here I am bored, nobody needs tzedakah.”
In Judaism we embrace this world because this world is where the action is. We cannot do mitzvot in heaven. As the Psalmist teaches, lo hametim yehallelu Ya. “The dead cannot praise God.” In Judaism, it is traditional to be buried with our tallis. But we always cut one of the fringes, making the tallis unkosher. Why? Because in the next world we cannot do mitzvot. This world is the place of mitzvot. We need to embrace this world.
This brings me to Yom Kippur. In a sense, on Yom Kippur we leave this physical world, or perhaps better, transcend this physical world. We give up the comforts of this world. We become like angels. We do not work, we do not eat, we do not drink, we do not wash, we do not have sex, we do not anoint ourselves with oil or perfume, we do not wear comfortable leather shoes. We wear white, similar to the way we dress the dead in shrouds as they leave this world. It is a taste of what it would be like if we were no longer here. But here is the key point. Yom Kippur does not last forever. As much as it is a mitzvah to fast on Yom Kippur, so it is a mitzvah to break the fast after Yom Kippur.
Let me share a true story. It happened when I was a younger rabbi in Pittsburgh. The local schools were opened on the High Holidays although Jewish students were given an excused absence. Several of my students were in the high school band. I began to receive complaints. The band leader was arranging a mandatory practice immediately after sundown as Yom Kippur ended. The students wanted to go to their family breakfasts, not mandatory band practice.
I called the band leader. He gave me a hard time. “I know you Jews keep your holiday from sundown to sundown. The holiday will be over when the band practice begins. I expect all band members to be there.” I tried to argue with him, but he would not listen. Next, I called the School Superintendent and put in a complaint. Soon I received word; the band practice was cancelled. Sometimes you have to go to the top. But just as it is important to leave this world on Yom Kippur, it is important to reenter the world when Yom Kippur ends.
Buddhism and many Eastern religions speak of letting go of this world. Suffering is caused by clinging to things and people of this world. Everything is transitory, and to live a healthy life, we need to learn to let go. Western religions also speak about escaping from this world. Christianity and Islam are deeply concerned with whether we will get to heaven. Only Judaism, of all the great faiths of the world, focuses on living in this world. We must embrace this world. We must seek to transform this world. Of course, as Rabbi Milton Steinberg brilliantly taught, we need to “hold with open arms.” We need to hold lightly to the things of this world knowing that they will pass away.
To be a Buddh-Jew is very popular today. I understand. The two religions share much. But Judaism would never teach the value of letting go. This world is too precious. May we learn to cling to the things of this world, even if it means clinging with open arms. May God help us with this effort, and let us say
Amen.
YIZKOR 5786 – 2025
THE SCAPEGOAT
The rabbi was turning on all the memorial lights in the sanctuary before Yom Kippur. There was one much larger light. A little boy from the Hebrew School came up to the rabbi and asked about the larger light. The rabbi answered, “That is to remember people who died in the service.” “Oh,” said the boy, “Can I ask you another question? Did they die in the Friday night service or Saturday morning service?”
Fortunately, it is very rare that people die in a worship service. But that is not true for goats. There is a powerful moment in the traditional Yom Kippur liturgy that we will reenact shortly during our Musaf service. In the ancient Temple, the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies, the holiest place in the world on the holiest day of the year. He would make three confessions, using the real Name of God, the only time the real Name was pronounced. That is why everybody would respond, Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto L’Olam V’ed. “Blessed be the great Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.” When we reenact this ritual in Musaf, the cantor bows all the way to the ground. He confesses the sins first of him and his family, then of his fellow priests, and finally the third time, of the sins of the people Israel.
For the third confession two goats were chosen by lot. One would be offered as a festival sacrifice. What is important is what happened to the second goat. The sins of the entire people were symbolically placed on the head of this goat. This is where we get the English word “Scapegoat.” The goat was led off into the wilderness, to a place called Azazel, an untranslatable word that could mean “hell.” If an Israeli gets mad at you, they may say “Go to Azazel.” Now you know what it means. The scapegoat, carrying away the sins of the people, was pushed into a ravine. The goat had carried away the sins of the people. It is called vicarious atonement. The High Priest would then prepare a celebration after Yom Kippur, for Israel had been cleansed of its sins.
To truly understand this ritual, I want to turn to the work of the French sociologist Rene Girard. His theory is called mimetics, a word that means imitation. In every society people have desires, and those desires are often caused by what other people desire. We imitate each other. If my neighbor takes a river cruise to Europe, I desire a river cruise to Europe. If my neighbor buys a new Lexus, I desire a new Lexus. But to quote the Rolling Stones, “You can’t always get what you want.” According to Girard, in every society there is tension and jealousy. How does a society overcome this tension?
Girard gives a profound answer. To overcome the tension, every culture creates a scapegoat. There is a group who takes the blame for all the problems, all the unfulfilled desires. The scapegoat is to blame. Within any nation there is the in-group and the out-group. The first goat offering represents the in-group – our people. The goat sent into the wilderness represents the out-group – the scapegoat. Girard taught that every nation needs an out-group, a group to blame, a scapegoat. A scapegoat plays a vital role in every society. It brings a nation together by pointing to someone who is the bad guy. And throughout most of history to our very day, we know who the scapegoat has been. It is the Jews. The great satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer, who sadly passed away this year, wrote one of his great lines in his song National Brotherhood Week, which came out in 1965: “The Protestants hate the Catholics, and the Catholics hate the Protestants, and the Hindus hate the Moslems, and everybody hates the Jews.”
There is a long history of making Jews the scapegoats, of blaming the Jews. Did you know that following the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, a series of blogs and podcasts appeared on the right-wing media blaming Israel. According to this craziness, the Mossad had Kirk killed because he was questioning some of Israel’s policy in Gaza. To quote one blog regarding Kirk and Israel, “He was their friend. He basically dedicated his life to them. And they murdered him in front of his family. Israel just shot themselves.” That is the world we are living in. It there is a hurricane coming to Florida, blame the Jews. If there is a forest fire in California, blame the Jews. To quote the late Soviet writer Vassily Grossman, “Tell me what you accuse the Jews of and I’ll tell you what you’re guilty of.”
Jews have always been the worlds’ scapegoat. This is not surprising; the book of Isaiah already predicts this. It speaks of a suffering servant who will be tortured for the sins of the world. Let me quote Isaiah at length:
He was despised, shunned by others, But he was wounded because of our sins, Crushed because of our iniquities. He bore the chastisement that made us whole,
And by his bruises we were healed. A man of suffering, familiar with disease. As one who hid his face from us, He was despised, we held him of no account. Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God; But he was wounded because of our sins, crushed because of our iniquities. He bore the chastisement that made us whole, And by his bruises we were healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5).
Our Christian friends consider the suffering servant to be Jesus. But these words were written centuries before Jesus lived. From the context, it is clear that Israel, the Jewish people, are the suffering servant, suffering for the sins of the world. We are the scapegoat of the world; we are the scapegoat sent out into the wilderness.
According to Girard, every nation has a scapegoat. It has always been the Jews. But in our day and age, the Jews are not the only scapegoat. Others are blamed for our suffering. We live in a nation deeply divided between the right and the left, between conservatives and progressives. They not only disagree, they demonize each other. And each side has chosen scapegoats to blame for their suffering. Let’s look at each side.
The right has many scapegoats – socialists, radicals, antifa, the legacy news, black lives matter, D.E.I., the list goes on. But perhaps the most obvious scapegoat of the right is immigrants, particularly illegal immigrants. That is why we have I.C.E. going after anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant, throwing them into makeshift prisons such as Alligator Alcatraz, and often shipping them out of the country. That is why Haitian immigrants in Springfield OH were accused of eating dogs and cats. It is false and painful.
I believe that this country has an immigration problem and opening the borders was a mistake. But how do we deal with illegal immigrants while recognizing their humanity and human rights? Even illegal immigrants are persons, created in the image of God. Illegal immigrants do not deserve to be the scapegoats.
The left also has many scapegoats – MAGA, police, Fox news, the wealthy, autocrats. But perhaps the worst example of left-wing scapegoats is their approach to corporate business leaders. There is a website where you can buy a tee shirt or other clothing that says, “Free Luigi.” It is a big business. The sale of these shirts has exploded on the internet. Luigi Mangione is a young man who murdered in cold blood Brian Thompson. Thompson, fifty-years old and the father of two sons, was the CEO of United Health Care. Those who buy “Free Luigi” tee shirts claim that Thompson deserved it, that the head of an insurance company is not a human being deserving of sympathy. He deserved to be killed. One professor wrote, “I will mourn the death of one man after I finish mourning the deaths of the nearly 700,000 other people who have died in the past 10 years alone because of private health insurance.” Corporate executives do not deserve to be scapegoats.
To the right, illegal immigrants are the scapegoats for all our problems. To the left, corporate executives of insurance companies are the scapegoats for all our problems. To much of the world, Jews are the scapegoats for all our problems. What do they have in common? A scapegoat is not a person worthy of respect. A scapegoat becomes a symbol. We create scapegoats when we remove someone’s personhood.
So, what is the answer to our need to create scapegoats. Girard believed religion is the answer. He was a religious Christian. To him there can only be one scapegoat who he believed to be Jesus. With all due respect to Girard, as I rabbi I take a different approach. But I agree with Girard that religion is the answer to scapegoating. The answer lies in one of the most important laws in the Torah.
The Torah teaches us, “Love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Our religion teaches that we must see the humanity of the stranger. We cannot take a group of people, label them “the Other,” and make them the scapegoat. We must see them and see their humanity. We must learn to talk to one another. Perhaps the greatest teacher of this idea was the French Jewish existential philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas. Although born in Lithuania, Levinas eventually settled in France. There he became a major writer on both Judaism and philosophy in general.
Levinas wrote that any philosopher must begin with a first philosophy, ethics. How do we treat other people? He wrote that we encounter the Other, we do not know nor understand them. Nonetheless, confronting the Other places obligations on us. We must seek to understand the Other and care for the Other. We must learn to love the stranger, not because the stranger is like us but precisely because the stranger is different from us. We must never scapegoat the Other.
It is time for people on the right to talk face to face with people on the left and people on the left to talk face to face with people on the right. It is time to see each other as people and not as scapegoats. . It is time to stop demonizing the other side. That is the message of the Torah. We must look forward to a world without scapegoats, a world where we no longer demonize the other.
We are about to begin our Yizkor prayers, where we remember those in our families who are no longer with us. Most of us have wonderful memories of loved ones who have passed on. But not all families are perfect. Some have painful memories of family members, particularly if they made us the family scapegoat. In preparing for this sermon, I did a google search of “family scapegoat.” Thousands of articles and webpages came up of people who felt they were scapegoated by their family. I even came across a librarian in Australia reading a children’s book called “Scapegoat.” I listened to the readding. It is about a family of goats, and a young goat constantly picked on by everyone else in his family. The poor scapegoat gets the blame. Finally, a teacher makes the young goat feel he is worthy of respect. Scapegoating is real, whether by a nation, a political movement, or a family. There is always someone, usually someone innocent, who must bear the sins of everyone else.
Perhaps it is worthwhile to share a classic Jewish story from Eastern Europe. It is about a rich man who was a scapegoat. He was called Yossele the Holy Miser. He really existed; you can visit his grave in Krakow. He was a very wealthy man who lived in a big, beautiful home, but people hated him because he never gave money to any Jewish causes. When he was asked to give to the synagogue, yeshiva, or charity fund, he turned down the request. Everyone called him the Miser. When he finally died, the townspeople were so angry to him that they did not bury him for three days. Finally, they buried him at the edge of the Jewish cemetery with the words, “Here Lies Yossele the Miser.”
That is when strange things started to happen. One poor person came to the rabbi and said that every week someone would secretly leave me money for food for the Sabbath, but this week there is no money. Another poor person said, when my first daughter was married, someone secretly left me money for a wedding dress. Now my second daughter is getting married and there is no money for a dress. A third poor person came by and said, my wife is sick, and someone would secretly leave me money for medical treatment. Now there is no money.
The rabbi realized that Yosele had been giving money regularly in secret to the poor people of the town. He went to the cemetary and had them change the stone. “Here lies Yossele the Holy Miser.” The scapegoat became a hero.
On Yom Kippur they used to place the sins of the people on a goat who would carry away the sins. Rene Girard taught that the goat symbolized the need of every culture to create a scapegoat. The Torah teaches that we should move beyond the need for scapegoats. We should love the stranger for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. On this Yom Kippur, let us finally cease putting our sins on the heads of others. In our political life, may the right and the left learn to talk to one another. And may we finally learn the great lesson of the Torah, that all human beings are created in the image of God. And let us say
Amen.