Welcoming Interfaith Families, Maintaining Tradition – Eqev 5781

Throughout the ages, interfaith has always been a matter of discussion and for sure did not make matters of life easier.

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Preceding

Intermarriage and Protecting the state of the Jewish and/or Jeshuaist family

The Modern Rabbi

I recently completed my fourteenth year as a rabbi, since I was ordained at the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary in New York in 2007. As many of you know, I have been affiliated with the Conservative movement for my entire life.

The Jewish Theological Seminary of America

But you may not know that in 1994, when I was finishing my Master’s degree in chemical engineering at Texas A&M University, I applied to the rabbinical school at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College, at the urging of the Reform rabbi at the Texas A&M Hillel. When HUC rejected me, Rabbi Tarlow was incensed, and he called the chair of the admissions committee to find out why. He was told that the committee felt that I had difficulty seeing multiple sides to an issue.

Now, it may be that what they saw about me during the interview was engineering clarity: trying…

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In Every Generation: The Return of Anti-Semitism – Pesah Day 1, 5779

These days of the Passover festival are ideal to show to the world how we all together should go for a peaceful world where everybody, whatever their faith can live together and are prepared to reach out a helping hand when needed.

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To remember

burning of Notre Dame de Paris =  fitting metaphor for current moment, when religious engagement is on the decline in the West, + order of the Old World continues to slip away.

living in a time in which many Jewish people feel kinship with Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, + Buddhist neighbors > our partners in faith

Religious differences historically yielded enmity + outright hatred between people of different faiths

blood libel accusations > Jews in medieval Europe falsely accused of killing Christian children to use their blood for making matzah, often emerged around this time of year.

open the door “for Elijah” during seder = attempt to show non-Jewish neighbors > are not doing anything nefarious.

open door = metaphor for seeking opportunities to collaborate with our neighbors for the common good.

meeting in New York convened by the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, at the office of the American Jewish Committee in New York to share information about anti-Semitism

special guest, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, diplomat from the Maldives, United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion > last big project documenting human rights abuses in Iran + preparing report on worldwide anti-Semitism to be delivered to the United Nations General Assembly next fall.

Mark Potok, formerly of the Southern Poverty Law Center and a well-known authority on hate groups,

Ira Forman, Oren Segal, Mark Molinari, Steven Bayme, Brian Levin, Jeff Finkelstein+ Seth Adelson seated around the table.

U.S.A.

• has seen annual increases in hate crimes vastly over-represented
• Hate crimes against Jews are vastly over-represented; 13% of all hate crimes = anti-Semitic.
• White supremacists focus fighting the “white genocide,” “engineered by Jews” + the web to foment horrible ideas about Jews.
• Anti-Semitism = evident on the left and the right of political spectrum

The Modern Rabbi

It was indeed tragic to watch Notre Dame de Paris on fire last week, to ache for the loss of a building so deeply connected to the history of Paris and Europe, to lament the destruction of antiquities and works of art. But the burning of Notre Dame is, I am sorry to report, a fitting metaphor for our current moment, when religious engagement is on the decline in the West, and the order of the Old World continues to slip away.

Gargoyles of Notre Dame

It is notable to me that we are living in a time in which many Jewish people feel kinship with our Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist neighbors, our partners in faith; consider the interfaith cooperation that has happened here in Pittsburgh in the wake of the 18th of Heshvan (the Hebrew date of Oct. 27th, 2018) – the local Muslim community fundraising…

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Call to arms of the seder – remembering that you were a slave

We have to show ourselves and others that we understand the value of nuance and that we personally have come forth from Egyptian subjugation, freed by the Elohim from Egypt’s clutches

A night different from all other nights and days to remember

Bondage may come to an end, but requires action from each individual. We may count on it that the Elohim shall redeem the oppressed advancing His agenda of oneness.

Let’s Think About Redemption Differently

Looking at ge’ulah or redemption, as an echo of yetzi’at Mitzraim. The Book of books speaking about redemption from the past but also speaking about a redemption, which can come in different forms and quantities, in the future.