Israel’s Story and our story: Entering a year with vision and purpose: Rosh Hashanah Day 2 2019/5780
When Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, saw that the Jewish people were threatened by tragedy, he would go to one particular place in the forest where he lit a fire, recited one particular prayer, and asked for one miracle to save the Jews from the threat.
Because of the Holy Fire and faithfulness of the prayer, the miracle was accomplished, averting the tragedy.
Later, when the Baal Shem Tov’s disciple, the Maggid of Mezrich, had to intervene with heaven for the same reason, he went to the same place in the forest where he told the Master of the Universe that while he did not know how to light the fire, he could still recite the prayer, and again, the miracle was accomplished.
Later still, Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov, in turn a disciple of the Maggid of Mezrich, went into the forest to save his people. “I do not know how to light the fire,” he pleaded with God, “and I do not know the prayer, but I can find the place and this must be sufficient.” Once again, the miracle was accomplished.
And finally, when it was the turn of Rabbi Israel of Rizhyn, the great grandson of the Maggid of Mezrich, who, to avert the threat, he sat in his armchair, holding his head in his hands, and said to God: “I am unable to light the fire, I do not know the prayer, and I cannot even find the place in the forest. All I can do is to tell the story. That must be enough.
Sometimes it has to be. And sometimes, we tell the story, learn from it, add our voice to it, and then, we look internally, and make it our own in order to craft something new, that has hints of what has come before it.
This morning, I want to begin with a few stories. Stories that will bring you into our sense of being a part of the Jewish people.
Today, I want to focus on who we are.
The first, is a story from 40 years ago since 40 is a unifying number in Judaism. 40 years ago, we saved our people. Again.
The netflix movie that came out this summer, Red Sea Diving Resort, was inspired by remarkable true life rescue missions, The Red Sea Diving Resort is the incredible story of a group of Israeli agents and brave Ethiopians who starting 40 years ago and continuing for several years, used a deserted holiday retreat in Sudan as a front to smuggle thousands of Jews from Ethiopia to Israel. The undercover team carrying out this mission is led by the charismatic Ari Kidron and courageous local Kabede Bimro. In a sense, this was a response to a timely and urgent need as there was an internal coup brewing. It was like the Jewish people-hood version of Argo. While the movie won’t win any Oscars, the message itself was incredible.
Our people are our people are our people. And we should never leave them behind. We do what we can, we do what we must, and we do what we can’t even yet imagine, to make sure that our people not only survive but thrive.
Why do I share this?
Because in today’s world, it is so easy to live each day-in and out-without pausing to think about who we are.We can just go along in life and let life happen to us.
In his newest book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Israeli author, Yuval Noah Harari writes:
“What is our task? Fighting against a world that wants us to live on autopilot.
But he argues-”Humans think in stories rather than in facts, numbers, or equations, and the simpler the story, the better.”
But he also suggests that, we are, in many ways, controlled by algorithms. We buy what amazon suggests. We connect with friends and colleagues on social media according to who pops up…so without realizing, we might be letting others manipulate us.
So how do we maintain control over our story?
It is about determining who we are. It is about finding purpose. It is about not standing on the sidelines hoping that something else happens to us, but it is we who need to make things happen.
As we come together for these High Holidays-to recite liturgy that makes us think (PAUSE) about our individual lives, our lives as Jews, and our role in the world, we must use some of this time to understand what it means to be a part of something larger than ourselves, and how the stories of our people inspire us to be better individuals. For as Rabbi Donniel Hartman taught-”What makes a Jew a Jew is the synthesis of belonging and becoming.
An amalgamation of peoplehood and principle.”
This is in many ways, what the Maggid of Mezrich was saying…
So who are the people and what are the principles that we must emulate in 5780 as we enter into this new year?
Today, let us use the State of Israel, as our model, for sharing our stories and our finding our voices for the year ahead-here is why:
Rabbi Alan Silverstein once wrote:“ Zionism affirms the remarkable power of the human spirit.
Zionism’s “1st commandment” is the Herzl motto: “if you will it, it is no dream.”
The Jewish State embodies being “A Start-Up Nation” with a “Can Do” spirit. The Zionism dream has prevailed against all odds. With pride, former Knesset Member Michael Oren observed that “Zionism revived the [ancient] Hebrew language, which is now spoken by more widely than Danish and Finnish and will soon surpass Swedish. Zionist organizations have planted hundreds of forests, enabling the land of Israel uniquely to enter into the 21st century with more trees than it had at the end of the 19th.” Zionism effectively has absorbed immigrants from more than 100 countries as the Jewish destination for inspiration and/or for refuge. Zionism means that Jews have re-entered the stage of history, reclaiming the right to determine our own destiny.
This past spring, we can think about the power of Israel launching a rocket into space. They named it Bereshit which means beginning. As Rabbi Geoff Mittleman (of an organization called Sinai and Synapses) shared, “There were probably many reasons SpaceIL named its probe Bereshit. I like to think that one reason could have been that, regardless of how its mission ended-and it wasn’t a successful mission, it was going to be a beginning, not an end. Space exploration is hard. Space exploration is risky. Most of all, space exploration deals in things not working the way you expect them to. But it certainly wasn’t a “failure” — it was the next step of Israel’s journey to the moon.
SpaceIL gave us a cosmic perspective. We can find awe and inspiration from both the work of these scientists and engineers.
How true is this…the work of today, coming out of Israel-that represent the past, present, and I believe the future as well, should be a part of the stories we share on these holidays and as inspiration for each of us as we are trying to determine what story will be written about us this year.
This past year many of us traveled together to Israel and it was clear to me that just from the places we visited, the tenacity of the Jewish people was a model for what we need to aspire to in this new year, as we wonder, how do we make sense of our place in the world?
Here are some of the inspirational places we went to and the people we met:
When we got to Tel Aviv we went to two very different places. First, we spent time at the Olympic Experience-a small site, just outside the busy metropolis, where we encountered an exhibit that pays tribute to Israeli athletes-past and present, who have presented themselves as champions, regardless of how many medals were won. (Go Israel baseball by the way who just qualified for Tokyo!) The ability for the Israelis, to compete on the world stage, less than a century after they were founded was nothing short of miraculous. But of course, we shouldn’t be surprised…
The next day we went to the Ayalon institute-often known as the bullet factory-it was a kibbutz that was fully functioning during the War of Independence, and right under the nose of the British soldiers, the Israeli youth were creating bullets in the basement of a laundry factory, in order to win the much needed war of independence. The ability to anticipate what was needed-to stay a few steps ahead-is of course a story we must share and a lesson that we must integrate. We are not going to be handed our sovereignty on a silver platter and we need to look out for those youth to see that they survive and thrive.
It was why our visit up north, to a youth village, Yemin Orde, was so powerful. Yemin Orde Youth Village, located on 77 acres atop Mount Carmel in northern Israel, is a home, a school and a safe haven to 430 at-risk and immigrant youth from around the world. As Europe slowly recovered from the ravages of World War II and survivors emerged from the horrors of Nazi concentration camps, a newly-founded State of Israel stood as a beacon of hope to these homeless souls. Most noteworthy, Yemin Orde Youth Village provided a safe haven and home for these Holocaust orphans and immigrant children during the great immigration wave to Israel of the fifties. It was just incredible…Basically you had kids housing kids 70 years ago…with the constant message being, “you are the future of the Israeli society” Like in the story brought to life again in the film Red Sea Diving Resort of the Ethipian Jews from 40 years ago, the motto is that no one, NO ONE, gets left behind. As a community, we must always remember to lift one another up.
A 4th transformative experience was our encounter with a woman named Sheva Chaya, a glassblower in S’fat. Originally from the States, Sheva Chaya became baalat teshuva and moved to Israel. She found her passion in glassblowing but it is clear that her work is a metaphor for life. As she reminded us, we are like clay in the hands of a potter, we are glass-fragile, breakable, but also formable. And just as Israel which emerged from brokenness bends towards wholeness, we too need to see how we can become whole, as we begin to see ourselves in these incredible stories. But what was amazing about sheva chaya was not just what she did with her hands, but what she did with her breath and the fire. Using different parts of her body she was able to create something magnificent (SHOW KIDDUSH CUP). I will never forget when Zack, during the presentation, turned to me, and said, “mom, “she did all that with one tube of glass.” Therefore we learned that if something starts with a clear vision and then hard work, it can evolve and something greater will be made.
The stories of the people and places we encountered in Israel, the learning of the dead sea diving resort story, and the exploration of Bereshit, can give us the push we need, to think about our own lives in this year ahead-
In Jerusalem, on the grounds of Har Herzl, sits the Herzl museum, a tribute to a king with no crown trying to lead his people. How did the people respond to his vision-his understanding of what needed to be done? Some with excitement…some with pessimism.
But we know what his vision brought us. Herzl Died at 44. He never saw the State of Israel. But in 1949, 70 years ago, his bones were brought to Jerusalem because we always bring Jews home. We always strive for more. We always aim for greatness.
And we are doing it, surrounded by each another.
When Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel for the 1st time arrived at the liberated Kotel in June 1967, he reflected, “I did not enter the city on my own; Rather, it was streams of endless craving, clinging, dreaming, owing night and day, midnights, years, decades, centuries, millennia, streams of tears, pledging, waiting – from all over the world, from all corners of the earth – carried us of this generation to the Wall… “
This past year we have grown, experienced loss, celebrated, mourned, created. We have seen and heard stories and we have been adding to our own. We have appreciated our failures, we have loved our adventures, and we have taken pride in how our people have stood together.
For the past several years, at our community Yom HaShoah commemoration, we listen to the words written by Jewish songwriter, Josh Nelson-L’dor Vador/ These words, which will conclude our sermon today, I hope this will move you to see yourself in our story, to set up a vision for how to be even better, and for you to be proud of who we all are.
L’dor Vador
Words and Music © 2007 Josh Nelson Music (BMI)
We are gifts and we are blessings, we are history in song
We are hope and we are healing, we are learning to be strong
We are words and we are stories, we are pictures of the past
We are carriers of wisdom, not the first and not the last
CHORUS:
L’dor vador nagid godlecha
(From generation to generation, we will tell of Your greatness)
L’dor vador… we protect this chain
From generation to generation
L’dor vador, these lips will praise Your name
Looking back on the journey that we carry in our heart
From the shadow of the mountain to the waters that would part
We are blessed and we are holy, we are children of Your way
And the words that bring us meaning, we will have the strength to say:
CHORUS:
L’dor vador nagid godlecha
(From generation to generation, we will tell of Your greatness)
L’dor vador… we protect this chain
From generation to generation
L’dor vador, these lips will praise Your name
