Nitzavim 2019: Rabbi Ain Sermon

Harry Schwartz comes to his rabbi and says, ‘Rabbi. I have a favor to ask. I want to you to make me a Kohen.” And, the Rabbi says to Harry, “Harry, you know I love you. But, I cannot make you a Kohen.”

And, Harry says, “Please rabbi, if you can find it in your heart to make me a Kohen, I will donate $10,000 to the synagogue’s annual campaign.” The Rabbi smiled and said, “Harry. Don’t ask me this. You know that I can’t help you.”

Three weeks later, Harry came back to the rabbi, and he said, “Rabbi, I really want to be a Kohen. And, if you make me a Kohen, I will contribute $50 million to the synagogue’s endowment campaign. And, the rabbi says, “Let me check the sources in the Talmud, Harry, and I’ll get back to you.”

Two months later, the rabbi calls Harry on the phone and he says, “Harry, I think I’ve found a way.” So, Harry comes down to the synagogue. He goes through a special ceremony before the Ark. They sign the papers. Harry writes the check.  And, the rabbi says to Harry, “Mazal tov, Harry, from this day forward, you are a Kohen.’

And, Harry says, “Rabbi I can’t thank you enough. You can’t imagine what this means to me. You see, my father was also a Kohen and so was my grandfather.”

This is funny, because the point is, that Harry, based on biology was in fact, already a kohen. Just as traditionally, Judaism is passed from mother to child, so too, Jewish status-kohen, levi, or israelite, is passed from Father to child.

So simon, you aren’t a Kohen, though your mom is, but you are a Levi…Regardless, you are Jewish through and through….and today, we celebrate you and we celebrate what it means to be a part of the Jewish people.

Now we know, that there are actually multiple ways of becoming Jewish-I already discussed how one becomes Jewish through birth, and a person can also go through a conversion process, something that I often, and proudly oversee. 

But regardless of how one becomes Jewish, there are essential questions that are raised, that in fact, follow up on the themes of last week. Last week, I spoke about what it meant to be chosen. Today, I want to talk about what it means when we actually see ourselves as a part of that covenant. 

Who is the covenant between? What are the expectations of that covenant on both sides? What is the relationship between covenant, community, and peoplehood?

I’d like to explore this by thinking about some of our essential texts.

In just a few weeks we will read from parashat Lech Lecha-in the beginning of Genesis 12:1-3

1 Now the LORD said unto Abram: ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee. 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing. 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’

What does this mean? 

First, that being Jewish and being part of the Jewish people, is about having a sense of faith. It isn’t only that, but faith is certainly a component. The fact that Abram, who became Abraham,w was willing to get up and go, not sure where he was going, was an example of tremendous faith.

Further, we see the importance of the land. I know Simon, that different members of your family have traveled in Israel-I had the pleasure of going with your paternal grandparents. On trips to Israel, which I hope you will take one day as well, you can begin to understand that the land, state, and people of Israel can and should be a part of your heritage as a Jew.

The next part of what it means to be a part of the covenant is the reminder by God, to Abraham, that yes, there will in fact be more generations, and it will be connected via a covenant, a mutual promise. 

Genesis 17:1-11

1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him: ‘I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou wholehearted. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.’ …7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’ … 10 This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. 

I recognize that talking about a bris at a bar mitzvah might feel a bit awkward, but we can’t help but step into the power of what it means to be connected back thousands of years to Jewish boys who have been able to, through the decision and commitment of their parents, to do this. 

In reflecting on these famous stories, Rabbi Louis Jacobs, author of A Jewish Theology, wrote, 

The Genesis narratives were woven and told originally in the form of saga. These traditional stories were eventually put together to form the more or less continuous narrative….into the sacred history in which God makes His covenant with the patriarchs and their descendents…The Genesis narrative as a whole is about the covenant, about God and Israel, about God finding Israel and Israel finding God and bringing Him to mankind. 

WOW. We each have an opportunity to be in relationship with god, as expressed through covenant. And not only each as individuals, but as a community as well.

We see the clearest expression of this when the Israelites left Egypt together. From slavery to freedom they went-carrying generations of history on their back as they trekked towards the promised land. 

So what happened-now that they almost arrived.

A few things:

God started to re-articulate the demands.

First, we hear from Moses: 

Deuteronomy 10:12-14

12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul; 13 to keep for thy good the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes, which I command thee this day. 

Ok, this should be pretty easy in our day and age. Well, maybe not so easy to love and serve god, but to be a good person-yes. Simon-I know you do this. I have seen moments over the years of how you are an incredible friend. A thoughtful friend. A friend that people can count on. 

But being Jewish isn’t only about being a good person, or following the rules, or believing in God. There is something more that that.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote I Asked for Wonder: 

Judaism is not only the adherence to particular doctrines and observances, but primarily living in the spiritual order of the Jewish people, the living in the Jews of the past and with the Jews of the present—It is not a doctrine, an idea, a faith, but the covenant between God and the people. Our share in holiness we acquire by living in the Jewish community. 

This is what is incredible And it is what brings the ideas, and our parasha together. 

Simon, as you know, we are almost at the end of the yearly cycle of Torah reading. We know that because tomorrow night begins Rosh hashanah and in just a few weeks we will celebrate Simchat Torah, and begin the reading anew. And we do it in community.

And today we read:

9 You stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God — your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, 10 your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer — 11 to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; 12 to the end that He may establish you this day as His people and be your God, as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 13 I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, 14 but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here this day.

YES. This is what it is about. Living in community-understanding that a covenant was made thousands of years ago and we are a part of that chain, and it is a chain that we shouldn’t break. Not just out of guilt or out of fear. But we realized that living in Jewish community is something that can give us meaning and sustenance. 

Rabbi Danny Nevins, the dean of the rabbinical school at JTS wrote this week, The Talmud instructs teachers to ask candidates for conversion why they want to join the Jewish people (BT Yevamot 47a). Don’t you know of our historic struggles? Only when the convert acknowledges the suffering of Israel and states that they are not “worthy” to share in it, are they accepted “immediately” and then taught “some” commandments. The Talmud’s examples of which commandments should be taught to the proselyte are surprising—we teach them about leaving the corners of the field, dropped and forgotten fruits, and tithes for the poor. Not Shabbat, nor kashrut, nor prayer, but tzedakah is the essential commandment for those joining the Jewish people, just as it was for Ruth (see Ruth chapter 2). According to this Talmudic presentation, the key to conversion is neither theology nor ritual, but social solidarity with the Jewish poor. Of course, as Maimonides hastens to add, we do teach them the principles of faith and the essential practices of Judaism, but first comes community (Mishneh Torah, Laws of forbidden relations, 14:1-2).

Nevins continued….Pre-modern Jews often lived in tight-knit communities, frequently forced to dwell in close proximity. For Jews in America and other western democracies, we are typically more spread apart and may struggle to join together. Building Jewish community is labor-intensive, expensive, and sometimes exasperating. But spiritual community is the essence of Jewish identity. 

Simon-you know what a Jewish community is. You grew up in this one. From KNS to JRS to minyan to shabbat services, and even Yom HaShoah commemorations where you would walk your great grandmother, Luba, across this bima, to light the memorial candle-you understand what it means to be a part of a community.

In just over 24 hours many of us will be back in this sacred space. We will reaffirm our place in the Jewish community and we will sit before God and think about the role of covenant. 

Our sense of what being Jewish means could be different for each person, but what i do believe binds us is the feeling of solidarity. Not uniformity of belief but solidarity of being a part of this sacred people. A task that is worthy of hard work and commitment, and one that I know all of us, in this new year ahead, can live up to.

Shabbat shalom and shana tova.