Rosh Hashanah Sermon -2nd day

RH 2 ‘06
FROM TIME TO TIME IN THE PAST, I HAVE BASED A HIGH HOLIDAY SERMON ON A BOOK I FELT HAD AN APPROPRIATE MEASSAGE I WANTED TO SHARE WITH YOU. OFTEN, THE VOLUMES WERE BY MY OLD FRIEND, RABBI HAROLD KUSHNER, AN AUTHOR WHO’S APPROACH TO LIFE AND ITS PROBLEMS I FIND EXTREMELY HELPFUL. QUITE COINCIDENTALLY, OUR HAZZAN, RABBI BARAT ELLMAN, OFFICIATED WITH RABBI KUSHNER ON LAST YEAR’S HIGH HOLIDAYS. WELL, RABBI ELMAN, I HOPE YOU AREN’T TOO DISAPPOINTED, BUT I’M NO HAROLD KUSHNER!! BUT FOR SOME TIME HE AND I HAVE HAD “AN ARRANGEMENT” – HE WRITES A NEW BOOK AND GETS THE ROYALTIES AND I GET A HIGH HOLIDAY SERMON! UNTIL NOW, THAT IS! FOR, WHILE HAROLD KUSHNER HAS JUST COME OUT WITH A NEW BOOK BASED ON THE LIFE OF MOSES AND TITLED, “OVERCOMING LIFE’S DISAPPOINTMENTS” (most appropriate for the hhd!); AND WHILE I’VE READ IT AND ENJOYED IT, AND WHILE IT’S ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER LIST, I’M GOING TO PASS ON IT THIS YEAR IN FAVOR OF ANOTHER VOLUME, ONE ALSO WRITTEN BY A RABBINIC COLLEAGUE, WHO, WHILE NOT AS WELL KNOWN AS HAROLD KUSHNER, IS QUITE PROMINENT. HIS NAME IS ROBERT LEVINE AND HE SERVES TEMPLE RODEPH SHALOM, A LARGE REFORM CONGREGATION ON MANHATTAN’S UPPER WEST SIDE (Rabbi Ellman probably knows him, too!).

LEVINE’S BOOK IS A SUMMARY OF THE HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL LITERATURE RELEVANT TO THE CONCEPT OF THE MESSIAH. BUT BEFORE YOU ALL TUNE OUT, LET ME QUICKLY ASSURE YOU THAT I SHALL ONLY DEAL BRIEFLY WITH THE CONTENTS, AND THAT I AM REALLY MORE INTERESTED IN THE BOOK’S TITLE THAN ITS CONTENTS. WE’VE DISUSSED THE IMPORTANCE OF TITLES IN PRIOR YEARS, WHEN I’VE POINTED OUT HOW MUCH CARE GOES INTO HAROLD KUSHNER’S CHOICE OF TITLES, SUCH AS “WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE” OR “WHEN ALL YOU’VE EVER WANTED IS NOT ENOUGH,” OR “HOW GOOD DO WE HAVE TO BE?”, OR, FOR THAT MATTER, “OVERCOMING LIFE’S DISAPPOINTMENTS.”

THE TITLE OF ROBERT LEVINE’S WORK IS SO GOOD THAT I KNEW I WANTED TO SPEAK ABOUT THIS VOLUME BEFORE I EVEN OPENED IT – BUT I WON’T TELL YOU WHAT THAT TITLE IS – AT LEAST NOT YET!
WE JEWS HAVE CHERISHED MESSIANIC CONVICTIONS THROUGHOUT OUR HISTORY. INDEED, THE WORSE THINGS WERE, THE MORE WE LOOKED FORWARD TO THE ARRIVAL OF A MESSIANIC PERSONALITY WHO WOULD PUT AN END TO THE HORRORS THAT PLAGUED OUR PLIGHT HERE ON EARTH. EVEN AMIDST THE PLENTY AND PROSPERITY OF LIFE HERE IN AMERICA, MESSIANIC CONVICTIONS HAVE RETAINED THEIR GRIP UPON OUR CONSCIOUSNESS. INDEED, SINCE ''9-1 1,'' THE NUMBER OF BOTH JEWS AND CHRISTIANS WHO ARE SURE THAT THE MESSIANIC AGE IS AT HAND HAS INCREASED SHARPLY. THE TOLL THAT TERRORISM HAS TAKEN, IN THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND AROUND THE WORLD, HAS CONVINCED OTHERS THAT THE APOCALYPSE THAT WILL PRECEDE THE ARRIVAL OF THE MESSIAH HAS ALREADY BEGUN. INDEED, A STUDY REPORTED IN TIME MAGAZINE FOUND THAT SEVENTEEN PERCENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE SURE THAT THE MESSIAH WILL COME DURING THEIR LIFETIME.
WHILE LEVINE RECOGNIZES THE PERVASIVENESS OF THE TRADITIONAL JEWISH VIEW OF THE MESSIAH, HE DECLARES THAT THROUGHOUT OUR HISTORY, NOT EVEN A "SINGLE DEFINITIVE INHERITOR" OF THE MESSIANIC MANTLE HAS EMERGED. WHAT'S MORE, HE ARGUES THAT THE TORAH DOES NOT CONFER MESSIANIC DUTIES UPON ONE PERSON TO THE EXCLUSION OF EVERYONE ELSE. THE RESULT OF THIS UNCERTAINTY IS THAT FALSE MESSIAHS HAVE ARISEN FROM TIME TO TIME WHO HAVE WROUGHT HAVOC AND DESTRUCTION UPON THE BODY AND SOUL OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY.
LEVINE REVIEWS THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS THAT BEFELL THE JEWISH PEOPLE THROUGHOUT OUR HISTORY IN OUR EFFORTS TO SEEK OUT THE MESSIAH. THUS, AS WISE AND ERUDITE A MAN AS RABBI AKIBA MISTOOK BAR KOKHBA FOR THE MESSIAH IN THE SECOND CENTURY, C.E. THE RESULTS OF THE BAR KOKHBA REVOLT WERE CATASTROPHIC. DURING THE THREE- AND-A- HALF YEARS OF THE UPRISING, 600,000 JEWS LOST THEIR LIVES AND JERUSALEM WAS DEMOLISHED. AS HORRIBLE AS THE BAR KOKHBA FIASCO WAS, THE MESSIANIC MISADVENTURES OF SABBATAI TZVI IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND JACOB FRANK DURING THE EIGHTEENTH RANK LIKEWISE AMONG THE MOST WRETCHED CHAPTERS OF JEWISH HISTORY.
AS A RESULT OF THE HORRENDOUS DISASTERS THAT FALSE MESSIAHS HAVE BROUGHT UPON THE JEWISH PEOPLE, OUR SAGES URGED CAUTION IN APPROACHING THIS SUBJECT. TO BE SURE, TRADITIONAL JUDAISM CONTINUED TO PROPOUND THE BELIEF THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD COME, AND REGARDED THIS IDEA AS INDISPENSABLE TO KEEPING ALIVE
HOPES FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE IN THE SOULS OF A PERSECUTED PEOPLE. NEVERTHELESS, GOD WOULD DETERMINE THE DATE AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE MESSIAH'S ARRIVAL. IN THE MEANTIME, WE ARE EXHORTED TO CONCENTRATE ON PRACTICAL MATTERS. HENCE, WE ARE TAUGHT IN THE AVOT DeR. NATAN THAT ''IF YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF PLANTING A TREE AND WORD COMES THAT THE MESSIAH HAS ARRIVED, FINISH PLANTING THE TREE, THEN GO SEEK THE MESSIAH.'' LEVINE ALSO QUOTES THE STORY OF A WOMAN WHO BECAME HYSTERICAL WHEN SHE HEARD THAT THE MESSIAH WAS ON HIS WAY. SHE COMMISERATED WITH HER HUSBAND THAT THEY HAD SPENT MANY YEARS WORKING HARD TO GET THE
HOUSE OF THEIR DREAMS AND TO FIX IT UP THE WAY THEY WANTED AND SHE NOW FEARED THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD TAKE IT ALL AWAY. HER HUSBAND REASSURED HER: ''DON'T WORRY. WE SURVIVED PHARAOH; WE SURVIVED HAMAN. AND WITH GOD'S HELP, WE'LL SURVIVE THE MESSIAH, TOO!''
AMONG SOME MODERN JEWS, AND RABBI LEVINE IS CLEARLY IN THEIR RANKS, BELIEF IN A PERSONAL MESSIAH WAS REPLACED BY YEARNING FOR A MESSIANIC ERA IN WHICH EACH HUMAN BEING WOULD CONTRIBUTE TO THE EMERGENCE OF A JUST AND PEACEFUL WORLD.

THE WORST PROBLEM REGARDING THE TRADITIONAL BELIEF IN A MESSIAH, AS LEVINE SEES IT, IS THAT IT GETS US OFF THE HOOK WHEN IT COMES TO CURING THE ILLS OF THE WORLD. WHY SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT HOW BAD THINGS ARE IF THE MESSIAH WILL STRAIGHTEN THEM OUT WHEN HE OR SHE GETS HERE? IN SHORT, MESSIANISM CAN BE A ''COP-OUT'' IF WE REGARD OURSELVES AS EXEMPT FROM THE TASK OF IMPROVING OUR SOCIETY. SIMPLY OPENING THE DOOR FOR ELIJAH AT THE PASSOVER SEDER DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE SUM TOTAL OF WHAT IS EXPECTED OF US BY WAY OF RESPONSE TO THE ILLS OF THE UNIVERSE.
IN PRAGMATIC TERMS, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER YOU HOLD THE TRADITIONAL JEWISH VIEW OF A PERSONAL MESSIAH OR YOU ADOPT A MODERNIST POSITION. WE STILL EACH HAVE THE JOB OF STRUGGLING TO CREATE A BETTER SOCIETY AS WE AWAIT THE MESSIAH'S ARRIVAL. OUR FAITH TEACHES US THAT EACH AND EVERY PERSON MUST PARTICIPATE IN THE TASK OF TIKKUN, OF REPAIRING AND PERFECTING THE UNIVERSE. WE ARE ALSO INSTRUCTED THAT GOD DELIBERATELY CREATED AN UNFINISHED WORLD IN ORDER TO GIVE US THE OPPORTUNITY OF PARTICIPATING WITH THE ALMIGHTY AS “SHUTAFIM - PARTNERS,” IN IMPROVING IT.
AND NOW, FINALLY, WE ARE READY TO HEAR THE UTTERLY BRILLIANT TITLE OF ROBERT LEVINE’S BOOK. IT IS: “THERE IS NO MESSIAH – AND YOU’RE IT”!
AND, FOLKS, THAT ABSOLUTELY SAYS IT ALL! LISTEN TO IT ONE LAST TIME: “THERE IS NO MESSIAH – AND YOU’RE IT”!