Rabbi Joshua Waxman: March 2008 Archives

Well, loyal readers, all good things must come to an end and we’ve been informed that this particular experiment in blogging as a forum for creating wide-ranging discussion on topics of interest to contemporary Jews has run its course. Maybe it’s that blogging doesn’t lend itself so well to the longer and more thoughtful reflections we tried to put out, or that multi-person blogs do better when they involve ruthless smackdowns rather than nuanced responses. Whatever the case, I’ve certainly enjoyed the opportunity to enter into discussion with such thoughtful colleagues and, especially, to read your responses-–both those that were positive and those that were, perhaps, less so.

What I saw is that there is great interest in the topics we discussed, in using our Jewish lenses to look at contemporary life and issues to engage core questions of values and meaning. I saw passionate responses from readers that suggest, as is the case with me, that these questions aren’t merely of academic or intellectual interest but are issues that really matter, and the way we in which discuss them matters as well.

As a post-baby boomer, it is interesting to me to see how much of today’s conversation about racial relations is still rooted in the 1960s experience and rhetoric of the civil rights struggle, and the disenchantment that followed. Many in the black and Jewish communities look to this period either with hope as a sign of what it is possible to achieve, or with disenchantment as proof of the other group’s faithlessness. The fact that so much of our dialogue--and so many of our organizations--are still rooted in this 40-year-old narrative makes it extremely hard to move forward: there’s just too much past to reconcile.

Obama cannot, as he was finally forced to acknowledge, transcend race. But as a child of the 1970s and 1980s, Obama can at least begin to reframe our conversations about race by bringing them out of that closed framework and into today. Personally, I thought his speech was very powerful and important, not least of all because he finally named some of the realities on the ground today rather than rehearsing old grievances. Yes, we need to recognize history, but we also need to move past it so we can clearly see and address the deep fissures and challenges our country is facing around race right now, rather than replaying the battles and resentments of yesterday.

It is a truism that the power of the Internet is to allow for the proliferation and dissemination of information without passing through central sources (newspapers, radio, TV) that would screen or block them. The advantages are obvious: repressive governments can be pressured by bloggers, writers and artists who are given a forum for bringing their work directly to viewers, and so forth. The danger, of course, of not having barriers to putting out information is that a lot of junk gets out there that a responsible central source (an editor, a journalist) might filter out or at least provide some perspective on. (“All the news that’s fit to print” is still an operative category: I may want untrammeled access to information, but I also want discerning people who are held to high standards of integrity to offer their honest opinions on which information is worth paying attention to).

I share with the Beliefnet community a message I sent to my congregation last night:

The escalating violence in Israel has not escaped anybody’s notice over the past week, beginning with the killing of a Sderot resident by a Hamas-launched rocket, and continuing with responses and counter-responses that have caused great suffering and loss of life on all sides. Earlier today, a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem opened fire in a famous yeshivah in Jerusalem, murdering eight and wounding nine more. As human beings, our heart breaks for the loss of innocent life on both sides of the conflict. As Jews, our heart breaks for the Land of Israel and the violence that threatens to overwhelm it. We mourn with the victims and add our prayers that peace will soon come to the land of Israel and all who live there.

May God spread out a shelter of peace over us, over all Israel, over all who dwell on earth, and over Jerusalem.

We took up the question of the Conservative Movement’s Hecksher Tzedek a few months back and I am glad Rabbi Grossman brought it up again. At the time I was taken aback by the negative comments that some had posted opposing Hecksher Tzedek as an attempt to foist non-Jewish (ie, contemporary liberal American) values onto Jewish practice, as though Jewish practice were some timeless and monolithic institution that didn’t respond to changing values and mores. One of the reasons Judaism is as rich, varied, and resonant as it is, is that Jews were constantly adapting to changing circumstances and surrounding culture, and their practices adapted with them. It’s a point I’ve made many times before on this blog: Judaism is created by the Jewish people and evolves through time, rather than remaining static and fixed. Protesting that caring about the treatment of animals–or workers, or the environment–is somehow not a "Jewish" position is preposterous, especially because it doesn’t involve contravening any existing laws. I don’t see how one can possibly oppose the idea of this hecksher unless they have a vested interest in the current monopoly over kosher certification or believe that any innovation is wrong on its face.