RH 2 '07

RH 2b - ‘07
FOR MANY REASONS, THESE ARE EXCITING TIMES FOR CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM, NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS THAT JUST LAST WEEK PROF. ARNOLD EISEN WAS INAUGURATED CHANCELLOR OF THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, OUR FLAGSHIP INSTITUTION. EISEN WAS SOMEWHAT OF AN UNUSUAL CHOICE TO HEAD AN INSTITUTION WHOSE NAME INCLUDES THE WORD “SEMINARY,” IN THAT HE IS NOT A RABBI. BUT DURING HIS YEAR AS “CHANCELLOR-DESIGNATE,” AS HE TRAVELLED ACROSS THE COUNTRY MEETING LAYPEOPLE AND RABBIS, HE WAS VERY WELL RECEIVED. I HAVE KNOWN “ARNIE” FOR MANY YEARS AS A BRILLIANT AND CHARISMATIC ACADEMIC COLLEAGUE, AND I AM ELATED THAT HE WAS CHOSEN AS THE SEMNARY’S NEW CHANCELLOR.
ARNIE HAS WASTED NO TIME IN BEGINNING TO ARTICULATE AND IMPLIMENT HIS VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR MOVEMENT. EVEN BEFORE HE WAS INAUGURATED, EISEN PRESENTED WHAT HE CALLS “THE M ITZVAH INITIATIVE” AND CHALLENGED MEMBERS OF THE RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY TO ENTER INTO DIALOGUES WITH OUR CONGREGANTS ON THE MEAN OF THE TERM, MITZVAH. THIS MORNING WE SHALL BEGIN THAT DIALOGUE.
EISEN HAS STUDIED AND WRITTEN WIDELY ON THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMUNITY AND FEELS STRONGLY THAT WHAT SETS US APART AS CONSERVATIVE JEWS IS OUR COMMITMENT TO AND BELIEF IN THE IDEA OF “MITZVAH.” IN ORTHODOXY, IT IS HALACHA, DIVINELY-GIVEN LAW; IN REFORM, IT IS PERSONAL AUTONOMY, OR “THE SOVEREIGN SELF,” A PHRASE WHICH EISEN COINED IN HIS BOOK, ‘THE JEW WITHIN,’ AND ABOUT WHICH I SPOKE AT LENGTH A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO. (I’M SURE YOU ALL REMEMBER THAT SERMON VERY WELL – AS MY OPENING ANCEDOTE YESTERDAY DEMONSTRATED!)
JUST IN CASE YOU DON’T, THE TERM “SOVEREIGN SELF” MEANS THAT NO ONE – NOT EVEN GOD – CAN COMMAND YOU IN YOUR PERSONAL JEWISH OBSERVANCE. ‘SOVEREIGN SELF”; MEANS THAT ‘I WILL OBSERVE WHAT I WANT WHEN I WANT.’ AND WHILE IT IS THE HALL
MARK OF REFORM, IT ACCURATELY DESCRIBES MANY IN OUR MOVEMENT AS WELL.

BUT CHANCELLOR EISEN SUGGESTS THAT AS CONSERVATIVE JEWS WE SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON THE CONCEPT OF MITZVAH.
FOR CONSERVATIVE JEWS, MITZVAH IS A WAY OF SEEING OUR ACTIONS AS A MEANS OF BINDING OURSELVES TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND TO THE WORLD-AT-LARGE. SO, TODAY, AT THE NEW CHANCELLOR’S SUGGESTION, WE OPEN A DIALOGUE WHICH, AS I SHALL MENTION TOWARD THE END OF MY REMARKS, WILL CONTINUE IS THE DAYS, WEEKS AND MONTHS AHEAD. SO, LET’S BEGIN!
AS MOST OF YOU KNOW, THE WORD “MITZVAH,” LITERALLY MEANS “COMMANDMENT,” OR “OBLIGATION,” AS IN THE 613 MITZVOT, THE DIVINE COMMANDMENTS, THAT TRADITION MAINTAINS WERE GIVEN TO MOSES ON MT SINAI. BUT, TRUTH BE TOLD, VERY FEW LIBERAL JEWS OBSERVE THE MITZVOT BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTAND THEM AS DIVINE COMMANDMENTS. LET’S TAKE A VERY TIMELY EXAMPLE; YOU ARE HERE TODAY TO HEAR THE SOUND OF THE SHOFAR. THAT IS ONE OF THE 613 MITZVOT. BUT I SUSPECT THAT IF I WERE TO ASK YOU WHY YOU CAME AND YOU WERE HONEST, YOU WOULDN’T SAY “BECAUSE GOD COMMANDED ME TO HEAR THE SHOFAR.” YOU MIGHT SAY “BECAUSE IT’S A TIME-HONORED JEWISH TRADITION” OR “BECAUSE I DID THAT WITH MY PARENTS AND I WANT MY CHILDREN TO DO THE SAME.” OR “BECAUSE I KNOW THAT JEWISH COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD ARE DONG THE SAME THING TODAY.” OR “BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT ROSH HASHANAH IS ALL ABOUT.” THE HEARING OF THE SHOFAR MAY TRULY MOVE YOU, BUT RARELY BECAUSE YOU THINK ANYONE HAS COMMANDED YOU TO HEAR IT.

PUT IN GENERAL TERMS: FUNCTIONALLY, THERE MAY BE NO MITZVOT, BUT THERE IS “MITZVAH,” THE IDEA OF BEING OBLIGATED.
NOT TOO LONG AGO, CHANCELLOR EISEN EXPLORED SUCH ISSUES WITH A GROUP OF LAYPEOPLE; HE ASKED THEM WHAT PART, IF ANY, OF THE TRADITION THEY FELT OBLIGATED TO. HERE AE A FEW OF THEIR ANSWERS: AN AVID FISHERMAN SAID, “I FEEL OBLIGATED NOT TO EAT THOSE CRUDDY THINGS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN.” ANOTHER PERSON SAID: “I FEEL OBLIGATED TO THE STATE OF ISRAEL BECAUSE OF THE HISTORY OF OUR PEOPLE AND TH NECESSITY OF HAVING A SAFELY VALVE.” AND A THIRD SAID: “I FFEL OBLIGATED THAT BECAUSE OF THE PERSECUTION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE, I WILL NOT TOLERATE HEARING DEROGATORY WORDS ABOUT OTHER RACES OR ETHNIC GROUPS.”
YESTERDAY, OUR PRESIDENT MARTY ZELMAN, REMINDED US OF HOW MUCH WE AT CBE HAVE GOING FOR US: A WELL-RUN, WELCOMING INSTITUTION, PARTICIPATORY WORSHIP SERVICES, OUTSTANDING PRE AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS, A WIDE RANGE OF PROGRAMMING, OUTSTANDING YOUTH GROUPS AND MORE. BUT I SUGGEST TO YOU THAT THE ‘STAYING POWER’ OF ALL THAT DEPENDS ON WHAT WE FEEL OBLIGATED TO DO. I HOPE I HAVE WHETTED YOUR APPETITE THIS MORNING. NEXT WEEK, DURING OUR STUDY SESSION ON YOM KIPPUR WE SHALL CONTINUE THIS DIALOGUE/ DISCUSSION ABOUT ‘MITZVAH’. I HOPE THAT PARTICIPANTS WILL CANDIDLY TELL US WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IN JUDASM OBLIGATES YOU.

A FURTHER FOLLOW-UP TO TODAY’S COMMENTS – LONG BEOFRE CHANCELLOR EISEN ANNOUNCED HIS “MITZVAH INITIATIVE” WE ANNOUNCE THAT OUR WED MORNING AND THURSDAY NIGHT CLASSES THIS YEAR WOULD BE DISCUSSING THE RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOK, “JEWS AND JUDAISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY: HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY, THE PRESENCE OF GOD, AND THE FUTURE OF THE COVENANT.” CLEARLY, OUR CLASS DISCUSSIONS WILL ADDRESS THE CONCEPT OF ‘MITZVAH’ AS WELL AS MANY OTHER RELATED ISSUES, NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS THE EXTREMELY TANTALIZING ONE WHICH I HAVE INTENTIONALLY AVOIDED THIS MORNING, NAMELY – WHO COMMANDS, WHO OBLIGATES. GOD? THE JEWISH COMMUNITY? PAST SACREDNESS? FUTURE DESTINY? WHO OR WHAT?

TAKEN TOGETHER, MY COMMENTS THIS MORNING, FOLLOWED BY OUR YOM KIPPUR AFTERNOON DISCUSSION, IN TURN FOLLOWED BY OUR COURSE, CONSTITUTE OUR RESPONSE TO CHANCELLOR EISEN’S CHALLENGE TO MAKE ‘MITZVAH’ THE DEFINING ASPECT OF CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM. I HOPE YOU’LL “FEEL OBLIGATED” TO PLAY AN ACTIVE ROLL IN THIS EXCITING NEW ENTERPRISE.