Monday, August 24, 2009

The one thing I ask is to be welcomed in to the house of God all the days of my life (Achat Shaalti)

Tonight, at the end of services, this was the prayer. And I had, for me, an unusual moment. Yes, this is what I am asking for. I am asking to merit being a guest in God's house every day of my life. And what I mean to say is, that every day I merit this.

I am at Kallah, Hebrew Union College NYC's opening retreat weekend. I returned from 3 months of travel last night. I was welcomed in to my apartment by a sea of cockroaches and wonderful friends who took me in late at night and have helped me through a challenging re-entry to my home. I sat through the evening services with more interest than usual, but certainly not engagement in the prayer.

But tonight was different. Tonight, I was in my own community again. I so often feel estranged from these people, this place, but tonight, this was my home. Tonight, I looked around the room and was conscious of many different people and their many different lives. I felt the connection I have to most of them. I care about their cares, I worry about their worries, I celebrate their celebrations. The prayer felt different. I heard the songs of maariv as warm and comfortable, comforting. I this was not something happening around me, like it usually feels, something I am witnessing, something I am sitting through. But more like something I was a part of even if I am apart from the actions. I am still connected to the happening, part of the experience, a member of this community.

Then Rollin, one of the cantors for the evening's prayers, began singing this song. Achat Sh'alty m'et Adonai, otanu evakesh....One question of you, Dear God, of you I do request....Shibty m'beit Adoai kal yamei chayyai. Place me in God's house all the days of my life. Yes, I was singing and praying. Yes, I want to earn that honor, merit having a place in God's house. If there is such a place, if there is such a thing, I want to be living a life which earns that.

The conversation after services left me feeling unsettled. We discussed the future of Judaism. Rabbi Larry Hoffman and Dr. Steven Cohen panel-discussed where we are going. And I felt two things were missing. If the future of Judaism for the Reform movement is involving ourselves with Jews on the margins, then I worry that Rabbinic school is not preparing us to be rabbis there. And secondly, I felt we were talking a great deal about how to perpetuate Judaism. But not enough about WHY to perpetuate Judaism. If Judaism is dying and involement is waning, so be it!

No, I do not feel that way. I do feel as human beings we all have a mission. Judaism offers an approach to that mission. To me, we need to perpetuate Judaism as long as there are injustices in the world. If there is a wrong, then it is my duty because I am a Jew (and I am not saying only Jews have this duty, I am simply saying, I only know it because of my Jewish experience) to respond. That was missing tonight. Keep Judaism going so we can what? Have more programs to keep Judaism going? That feels silly to me. I think we need to keep Judaism going to keep fighting to merit a place in God's house all the days of our lives. I do not think of God in these terms, really, it is an idea, an ideal to live up to. I think Judaism is about being people who are ethical, moral, caring, compassionate and involved. That is the mission, this is the enterprise. The continuity will happen if that is happening. The relationship with God will happen, if that is happening.

I believe this to be true. Other wise, what am I doing here?

Friday, August 14, 2009

Parasha Re'eh and Health Care

Here I am, the second to last Shabbat in Minnesota. I preached tonight and spoke about health care. It was a different sermon for me (pasted below) in that I did not shy away which some times I do. I had a moment, like when I gave my senior sermon, when I sat down, I knew something-something had happened. As I came to the end of the sermon, I felt like I was saying something that maybe mattered. That I was using my voice and my position for something bigger than me. I felt very small and almost cried. When the ark opened for Alenu, I looked at the gorgeous Torahs in the Temple Mount Zion ark and I asked them and the ideas contained within, "Did I make you proud tonight? Did I share your message well?" I wonder often where being Jewish and social change really meet and tonight I felt like I was there in the intersection. It was powerful and humbling...

Here is the sermon I gave to the Mount Zion members. Mount Zion is working on a health care campaign for getting child care for all. I was asked to speak on health care so I did. They are currently part of a "40 days to health care" initiative and I was billed as part of that. There were about 70 people at services tonight. Many I have met during the last six weeks.

"The health care debate is toxic, revealing a lot about us as a nation. And it feels embarrassing — like the whole world can see our underpants..."


You might have heard Brian Unger, satirist, and National Public Radio correspondent say these words this week.[i] In a witty and insightful report, Unger went on to point out many of the ways in which the Health Care Debate looms so large for us as a nation.


"First, most of us can't describe accurately the details of the health care reform now under debate. That makes us look stupid or too busy to care. Second, most of us can't describe accurately the health care or insurance we currently have, so that makes us look kind of stupid, too, or lazy. Some of us don't care about people who don't have health insurance, so that makes us seem unsympathetic or super lucky...A lot of us are a combination of these things: too busy, lazy, a bit stupid perhaps, lucky, unsympathetic, in-denial, really rich, hypocritical, selfish ... and patriotic. We're having an identity crisis when it comes to caring about the nation's health, which makes me think what we really need is psychotherapy. But, sadly, that's not covered under most health plans, if you have one at all."

I recently sat down to coffee with Mount Zion Temple President, Jean King. She taught me a little something about some of her professional work regarding creating social justice and tikkun olam. She explained a model for how to approach change. Imagine, if you will, a graph. The x axis measures what we are knowledgeable about when making social change. The y axis measures the agreement to the approach amongst involved parties for a chosen plan. When we know what to do and we all agree on the approach are most successful. Issues like Health care are in chaos land. We neither really know what will work to change the system nor do the involved parties agree on how to attack the situation


Health Care Reform is crazy and it is making us crazy too. It seems no one, not the policy makers, not the doctors, the patients, the money people, friends, neighbors and even the gal who sells you coffee in the morning can agree about any aspect of our national albatross.
Perhaps there is another way to approach the question. What do we all agree on? Perhaps we can all agree that the system we have now is not working for pretty much anyone and begin our work from there.


This week's Torah reading, Re’ah, might offer some wisdom and insight in to a possible approach to take. Deuteronomy[ii] says, "You shall not act at all as we now act here, every man as he pleases, because you have not yet come to the allotted haven that Adonai, your God is giving you." Torah tells us, getting what we want is good, it is the ideal. But if you want to make that happen, then you cannot just do as you please. Torah continues[iii]. “If, however, there is a needy person among you, one of your kinsmen in any of your settlements in the land that Adonai your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman.[iv] Open your hand generously, and extend to him any credit he needs to take care of his wants[v]. For someone else to have what they need they need to get it from you. We all want Health Care Reform. I might even be so bold to say, we all want health for everyone. And to get that, we may have to give up some of what we want for the sake of others to have what they need.

Let’s pause here for a moment to sit with this idea. I do not think most people like thinking about giving anything up. As Unger points out, "To many, health care reform is scary, like someone's building a halfway house for criminals right at their doorstep. It's a N.I.M.B.Y. ("Not In My Backyard") issue evolved into a N.O.M.B.O. ("Not On My Back, Obama") issue." Not only is change scary, and easier said than done, we do not especially want someone else telling us we have to be paying for it. I know for me, I like my time, my freedom, and my stuff to do with as I please. The idea of giving any of those things up is hard.


But when I think about it, I suppose I have to choose between the well-being of others and my comforts because, as Torah points out, I probably cannot truly have one without giving up some of the other. That choice, that incredibly difficult and painful choice, is for each of us to make in our own way, in varying degrees.


So what do we do? What do we sacrifice for the greater good? For some of us this might mean that we give of our money to pay higher taxes to cover health care fees for those who cannot afford them. However, quoting Unger again, “Most of us don't understand that we're already paying for people who don't have health care.” The current system forces the uninsured to utilize costly emergency rooms upon becoming truly, truly sick when an insurance-covered doctors visit would have prevented them from ending up so ill in the first place. If we give up some money the under and un-insured could gain a real health care plan, some respect, fewer missed work days, and all around healthier lives.


Not such a terrible sacrifice.


For some of sacrificing might mean that we give up our time and for example, organize to push for policy change. This might seem overwhelming. We may not know what exactly is going on. We may not know where to begin. One could perhaps, see Adele Brown after services and get more involved in the Mount Zion Child Health Care Campaign or, read the sheet in the back of the room with information from David Axelrod at the White House about the policy on the table right now. It seems that by sacrificing some time, we get to work on something potentially nation-changing and life-saving. We get to build beautiful relationships with other people right here in our own community. We get to be those people who did something who make it better. We no longer have to feel so ignorant about what to do and how to do it. We get to DO instead of sitting still feeling overwhelmed. We find our own power and we fight for something we believe in.



And wouldn't that feel pretty fabulous. Maybe this sacrifice is not so bad either.


Giving up some of our personal freedoms may be the hardest sacrifice for some of us to consider making. Freedom, I believe, means choice and often means comfort and convenience. What are some of the choices we make that we might consider sacrificing? I look once again to Brian Unger for inspiration."[In Kash for Klunkers] our government is offering us $4,500 to buy a new car. Can it also offer humans incentives — say, a tax break — to join a gym? ...buy produce from local farmers? Reward [public] schools that teach kids how to eat right and exercise? You know, kind of like that class we used to offer kids called "gym."." Unger has some great ideas but they all mean sacrifice of freedom, sacrifice of choice, convenience and comfort. Joining a gym means giving up the choice, comfort and convenience to sit on our duff all the time. Not to mention, working out is hard! Buying local means giving up the choice, comfort and convenience of buying from Walmart, Super Target, Cub, and even Whole Foods. Rewarding schools for having gym class means giving up the choice, comfort and convenience of thinking that gym is a joke and the only way to succeed is by excelling at math. These sacrifices may be harder to make, but the rewards may be even higher. By setting an example for others, by treating ourselves better, we may find we are not only wishing for but leading and benefiting from a movement for better health for all.


Right now we have already made a huge sacrifice. We have given up quality health care, we have sacrificed National Health.. Maybe it is time to give up something else.


Someone said to me this week that fixing health care may be beyond us. But I disagree.

I think fixing health care or any of our world's ills is on the backs of each of us. We are talking about systems which are not working right. Those systems are not out there in the ether, we are those systems. When we pay our share of the exorbitant price of health insurance, we are part of the health care system. When we vote in the elections of the officials making the policies, we are part of the health care system. When we do yoga, bike, play ultimate frisbee, stay home when we do not feel well, get a good night's sleep, wear sunscreen, avoid junk-food, we are part of the health care system. When we nod and say yes, our American health care does not work and it needs to be better, when we tsk-tsk upon hearing about higher taxes to pay for it, we are part of the health care system. Fixing the health care system is not beyond us. It is us.


System change, as Jane’s model points out, is difficult and complicated. If we think that the system and its functions are beyond us, then we have given up.


All good sermons, Jewish tradition holds, end with a nechemta, a happy ending. And the happy ending here is up to you. We are all part of this broken system. We believe it is not working. It is on each of us to sacrifice something-be it time to organize and push for social change, money to pay for the cost of making health care different and hopefully better, or even some of our freedoms by becoming healthier people eating better, exercising more, and sitting still less.

What will the nechemta to Health Care be? It is up to each one of you. Shabbat Shalom.



[i] air date: August 10, 2009 on National Public Radio

[ii] Deuteronomy 12:8-9

[iii] Deuteronomy 15:7

[iv] modified JPS translation

[v] ORT translation found on www.hebcal.com