What would our Rabbis from long ago think of how our society works today?

Last week I completed learning Tractate Avodah Zarah (for this time around, for those of us who understand how study of Gemara works). What just absolutely encouraged and fascinated me and caught my eye repeatedly is how the text and the teachers who are represented in it know that Jews will live amongst people who are not Jews and will have business dealings with them and daily contact. They will see each other on their days of holy and meaningful observance, they will be in the market with them and there will be ongoing interactions. There are many rules and dictates that are to govern those interactions, considering differences in worship, schedule of the week, nature of business conducted, matters of eating together, and so on. In other words, we do not learn that people who are different than us are horrible or harmful or otherwise supposed to be avoided or maligned. Rather, we interact with those around us with respect and regard, honoring our own standards and acknowledging that they have their own modes of practice and behavior as well.

What a critical and valuable lesson for us to take into serious consideration today. Sunday, I had the honor of seeing the work of a wonderful group of people with whom I have been involved come to fruition as we conducted an Interfaith program which is part of a year-long project of learning how to speak with someone different than yourself as well as, and more importantly, how to listen to and validate that person. We acknowledge, as did the Rabbis referenced in the discussions above, that we do live in an integrated community where we are all juggling the maintaining of our core identity with the acceptance and validation of others, in the hope that we will receive the same, and more importantly, because this is what the foundational principles upon which our texts are based teach us to do.

This is to me the most appropriate approach we are to take, especially for those of us who hold ourselves accountable to The One Who Created Us to inhabit and protect and guard this world, its resources and the many people who are part of our human family collective. Yet, we continue to be bombarded by the reporting and impact of incidents that do not honor this foundational truth of our existence and purpose for being here – to honor God and the many different peoples and resources God created. Coming together to learn about one another, share stories and interact in appropriate ways throughout our lives is constructive. It is healing. It allows us to accomplish many wonderful things. It is the way that I and many others think that God intended for this world and the lives lived in it.

I know many people who have stopped watching the news or reading newspapers. Why? Because, too much is subjectively sifted, histrionics have taken over, and we have forgotten how or just don’t want to listen any more. Too many would rather just shout out those who disagree with them, living in the myth of their own determined and exclusive truth, and in so doing close themselves off from the many wonderful people who are all around us, from whom we can learn and with whom we can have serious meaningful interactions or just take a walk and enjoy each other’s company. WE ARE TIRED!

I get up every morning and I see the URGENT messages that invade my inbox about the tragedy from the perspective of the left or the emergency and dangerous situation from the right. What I find dangerous and tragic is the complete break between those in our society who cannot come together for civil conversations. That is the name of the project in which Sunday’s program was a part – Civil Conversations. It is not a new phenomenon – I have participated in many iterations of this intentional bringing together of people who are not all the same for dialogue, to share some good cookies and to laugh a bit, cry a bit and hug each other in friendship and a feeling of belonging with each other through the years. What is sad to me is that for too many, WE HAVE FORGOTTEN again how to do this in too many corridors in our world.

The people who came together Sunday either know how to connect with another human being, whether you agree or disagree, in kindness and in empathic concern; or they were willing to learn some skill sets to widen their own worlds. The question we always ask is how to we get everyone who really needs to be at the table to come there and join us? Here is a surprise – they probably will not come. BUT, if those of us at the table can take our skill sets and practice kind words, careful listening and validation of the other in our daily lives, in our business dealings, while walking around our neighborhood and in every aspect of our lives, we will all be spreading random acts of kindness (remember that phrase?!) and words of caring to others.

Then we will not be forgetting the lessons of our past, but remembering that the reality of living together with others was accommodated and that there are even standards of how we do so meaningfully and intentionally…. And then perhaps we can focus more on the human beings we are supposed to be instead of shouting out and losing our connection to each other, while our identities and practices remain intact. I think the Rabbis of the Talmud would approve.

Another Tragedy and Business as Usual Unfortunately

Remember the Tom Lehrer song, National Brotherhood Week…. And then the song from Peter, Paul and Mary … when will we ever learn?

And here we are again. Too many tragedies…. Just to name a few, Charlottesville. Florida, Pittsburgh. New Zealand. This is not a matter of hate thoughts turning into hate speech and spiraling into deadly hate-fueled terrible actions being an infrequent occurrence, but rather a daily headline in our news throughout the world. WE ARE ALL CHARLIE to quote the outtake from the Paris terror in the beginning of 2016.

A chilling observation by a moderate and neutral news source (as much as possible in our reality): “Since the election of President Donald Trump, news outlets and social media accounts have swelled with reports of swastikas at schools, racist taunts, and other hate-fueled attacks and acts of intimidation. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has aggregated media reports and gathered submissions from its website, catalogued 1064 incidents.” That was just less than two years after January 20, 2017.

Let’s be clear. This did not begin with the election of this or any other specific official. In fact, if anything, the election of the person presently sitting as President of the United States and in many other such seats throughout the world can be credited to the hate and prejudice and lack of empathy for anyone different than self that is rampant in this country and our world. This is what is amplified and validated in his daily speech, unbecoming for any human being and horrifying for a national leader. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and too many others reinforce this, because this is what they see and there is implicit permission to speak uncensored as one wishes, regardless of the impact. Everyone hates the …. (fill in the blank as you wish) according to Tom Lehrer. While it was a social action and public conscience statement when first presented to the world, now it is clearly exposed as the all-too-sad fact of our existence as human beings. Here is what scares me. Add them all up – those who hate anyone not them. Pull them from the right and from the left and you will note that the center is being closed out. My husband often reminds me that he feels most people are good people who want the right thing. I am really sincerely wondering how this is playing out in this time of extreme and harmful positions that add to the rhetoric and to the hate crimes and deaths handily, but not to a new way to understand each other for increasing numbers of our collective community, country and world. Yes, many of us gather repeatedly to mourn and to share but that we are doing so too often is the problem.

I sit here once again with the past few days as busy as ever but clearly overshadowed by the latest tragedy in New Zealand at two mosques where forty-nine people of faith were gunned down and others were physically injured and an entire community, actually an entire world of Muslims and all people of faith are mourning. I have been involved once again (too often this happens) in mobilizing communities of Jews and multi-faith organizations to go to yet another Interfaith gathering of sorrow and support for our Muslim brothers and sisters in faith. I have just been in communication with many of my Muslim colleagues, supporting them as they did me a few months ago after the Pittsburgh massacre.

As Peter, Paul and Mary asked, “when will we ever learn?” Apparently, what is being learned is hate and intolerance and lack of acknowledging that we are part of a human family. This past Shabbat (Sabbath) was Parshat Zachor, in the Jewish community. On this Shabbat, always the one before our observance of Purim, we remind ourselves to destroy Amalek, the force that attacked the Israelites in the desert so long ago, going for the weak and tired, and killing them without mercy. When we remind ourselves to Remember and DO NOT FORGET what Amalek did, it is this hatred and lack of humanity that we are to continue to work to eradicate, wherever it is found, including in ourselves.

I am privileged and have so much gratitude for being able to be connected to so many wonderful people of faith. Whether we pray to HaShem or The Lord or Allah or any other Supreme Being, what my colleagues and people I am proud and honored to call friends and I share is a sense of humility that we are trying intentionally to live the life our Supreme Being wants us to. When one holds oneself accountable to that Higher Being, being careful with words and actions comes as a necessary part of one’s daily existence. The Talmud and so many other sources teach repeatedly that words that hurt, embarrass, minimize the other are as dangerous weapons as anything concrete, for which the punishment for use is significant, worse than many other misdeeds. What we also need to understand is that WORDS COUNT and our leaders and all responsible members of our community really have to go back to when we were taught to think before we speak. Communications theory teaches that what you hear is more important that what I say. I have written about this before, but I remember when Yigal Amir stated that his Rabbis and teachers at Yeshiva taught him that Yitzchak Rabin was threatening the lives and well-being of all of Israel by engaging in peace talks and initiatives. Amir used that as permission to assassinate him. For a few weeks afterwards, there was some reflection in the Orthodox Jewish community regarding how they taught, and then it was back to the business of hate and vitriolic diatribes as usual and in rather quick order.

I am hurting as are many people in my world. Many of us will be gathering in a few hours to share and mourn together. When will they ever learn in our world that it is not our purpose as human beings for X to hate Y and Y to hate Z. As I often say, if we do not learn to play nicely on the playground called world nicely, we will have no playground. May we all try to reach as far as we can and share the message of the necessity to roll back the words we speak and consider what impact they have on others. We all need to go back to the pre-school basics and what Robert Fulghum calls the curriculum of Kindergarten in his book Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, including such things as saying nice words, not hitting, sharing one’s space, etc. because too many adults in our world are not doing these most basic things so well.

Another Round of Lessons from the Talmud about Interaction and Relations with Others

I am presently studying Masechet Avodah Zarah. One might think given the name of the Tractate, it’s about all of the awful things that people who worship idols do. But that is absolutely not the subject as I have been studying this text (I am presently past the half way point). Quite the opposite! Much of the discussion is dedicated to how we interact with others respectfully and with honor while maintaining our own identity. The degree of interaction that is assumed and accommodated as well as structured is really quite remarkable and speaks to the point that inclusion and interaction is the desired way to go, not excessive exclusion and separation. As I listen to the vitriolic speech and watch the horrible way people are acting towards each other in our world today, it is clear to me that there is a clear delineation between what one is to do to protect and insure their identity and the need we have to be a respectful member of our larger world.

The discussions amongst the Rabbis in this Tractate are truly instructive with regard to not separating ourselves too much and not assuming the worst in other people, but rather practice the dictum of giving the other the benefit of the doubt, maintaining the core of one’s own identity and practice, and remember that all of us are here with a purpose and hopefully, a code of ethics. It is too easy to walk away from those who are different than we are, but this does not build society. Maintaining the balance of respect for the other, confidence in one self, and the conviction that we are all here to teach each other something may require work, but this is work that has rich rewards embedded in it on so many levels.

Frances Kissling is president of the Center for Health, Ethics and Social Policy. She was the president of Catholics for Choice from 1982 until 2007. In a conversation she had some time ago with Krista Tippett of “On Being,” she explains that we would all do well to have a bit of doubt about what we know to be certainly true within ourselves, while thinking about what we admire in the other. By engaging in this exercise of questioning ourselves and valuing others, we can truly build important bridges, with no need for walls that divide us, often due to unfounded fears.

In Avodah Zarah, there are discussions about what foods one can eat that are prepared by those who are not Jews and therefore not accountable to or observant of the dietary laws that charactize religious Jewish life, Kashrut. There are deliberations about when one can do business with those who are part of other peoples, yes including those engaging in idol worship. In all of these negotiations, there are clear lines of the importance of maintaining one’s identity and sanctity while not going overboard in separating oneself from those around us. There is an understanding that much is to be gained by interaction, and that it is to be done carefully and within certain established parameters. But, and this is what is most important, those parameters are precisely what allow us to interact with those around us.

Complex discussions of the involvement of idol worshippers in any aspect of preparation of food (known as Bishul Ackom) clearly show what is allowed and what is not, and more important, why. For example, there is a desire to maintain a bit of a distance in some instances due to worship practices of the other people that are not the same or not acceptable within a Jewish context. Fair enough. Other instances are given of boundaries to be set so that intermarriages do not happen. Also a fair concern.

Reasonable and appropriate concerns are valuable and needed. Interactions with our neighbors who are different than us in their faith communities, political beliefs, values and life styles are also valuable and needed. As I often say, we can clearly celebrate where we are similar to others, and we must also have respect and regard for where we differ. When we understand and have an appreciation for the complexity and intersection of all of these concerns, we will be able to be constructive members of society. When people are so sure of themselves, there is no room for doubt; and so convinced that the other has nothing to offer us, this is where we lose hope in our present situation and cannot see a vision for our future. That is NOT the message of the important Jewish texts that are so foundational to who we are and how we live.

What Does Inclusion Look Like To You?

This past week was and continues to be busy, including the Women’s March, the Creating Change Conference for the LGBTQ community and Martin Luther King Day. Clearly, Martin Luther King Day is to remind all of us of our humanity and our need to see ourselves as equal and cherished members of this large family of beings created by God who are to insure the well-being of each other. Yet, through his life, King had to fight for this basic element due to its absence. In the 1968 Campaign for the Poor, King was asked what about the Native American poor, could they join the Blacks who were marching? Absolutely, yes. What about the Hispanic poor? Yes. What about the White poor? Why not? He wanted all those who shared this concern to march for and with each other. In marching for inclusion, he wanted inclusiveness. That makes sense right? Of course, he did not live to see this ideal concretized as an assassin’s bullet ended his physical life, but not the work he had done, with all of its imperfections, missteps and such but notwithstanding the very correct ideas he upheld and for which he lived and worked. The difference he made was felt for many years, and now here we are in 2019.

So why did this not happen with the Women’s March of this past weekend? Commentary after commentary reports how this march intended to bring about unity brought disunity and discord. Women who were to focus on their shared humanity often chose to use this very vehicle to discredit the humanity of others, turning what was to be an experience of solidarity into a political view shout out and a podium for prejudiced views reflecting prejudged hatred and malignment. In California and New York as well as other locales, once again Israel was painted in horrible hues as a victimizer in a misguided application of intersectionality, by which all victims identity as such, stand together and paint the rest of the world in black or white. The presence of anti-Semitism, comments about different groups greatly offended Jews, Muslims, Blacks and others. Much is being written at this moment regarding this lack of appropriate use of the movement itself, which is so important at this point in time for self-evident reasons.

Then there is the Creating Change Conference, which has been touted as the most important gathering of LGBTQ persons and is occurring as I write this. I was actually supposed to be there to teach, but due to issues within the organization and the group it serves, those who are more religiously observant cannot actually attend at this point and have their safety assured. For that reason, I did not go. I am comforted to say that I am involved at this point in trying to address this and meetings are scheduled to begin this process after the end of the conference. I am hopeful that this will begin a year of growth and consideration and do hope that next year’s conference and those to come afterwards will look different and that ALL members of all of our communities who are LGBTQ and their allies can come together to learn with and from each other as well as bolster all members of all of our communities who should be part of this gathering of inclusiveness.

What is wrong with all of this? Why do we have to worry that inclusion may not actually be inclusive? Why can’t I go to various spaces and be assured that the cause that brings people together will be the unifying factor and on other issues, we will simply agree to disagree, but be civil towards each other and join hands to do such much needed work? Why can’t we talk about important and threatening issues in our world today without worrying that it will raise political ire and the issues themselves get eclipsed if not completely overrun by other concerns brought inappropriately to the table?

There is so much to worry about regarding women’s rights that the agenda is large enough to take center and all of the stage, and for those who came to rally around reproductive rights, equal pay, harassment in the work place and other such issues focus on them and not get blindsided by hate speech about other aspects of our lives. We know all too well the precarious nature of the rights of all people. As the Supreme Court of the United States has just revived the ban on transgender persons in the military, many of us are incensed and worried about what comes next. THAT should be the focus of gatherings of LGBTQ persons and ALL individuals in this community and allies and teachers (such as myself), yes, even if we are religiously observant and supporters of Israel, should be able to be present for those proceedings.

It is traditional to observe Martin Luther King Day as a Day of Service. I would suggest that it also truly needs to be a Day of Meaningful and Inclusive Conversations. We have forgotten how to speak with each other. We have lost our empathy for too many members of our human family. This is what is at stake at this moment in time. Would each of us be willing to include ALL members of a category in our gatherings and insure their comfort and safety as Martin Luther King tried to do in 1968? Can we all take a step back and pray that in 2020 when we reach this same season, it will look different? It will only happen with our collective hard work during the coming year.

Israel: Oh, the Spaces I Love and the People in Them

Oh, the Spaces I Love and the People in Them

Ken and I just returned from two weeks in Israel. Every time I return, I marvel at the many different things that make Israel so special, am realistic about her challenges and problems, and am often dumbfounded by people’s lack of understanding of Israel’s reality. I am there constantly as you know by now, and it just is my second home, so I do not think of it as going somewhere as a “vacation” as much as spending meaningful time in a place I love with people I love and with so much for the rest of the world to learn from if there was a willingness to do so.

In full disclosure, yes, Israel is being confronted by similar dynamics in terms of politics and frustrations with the government that we in America are now feeling the full weight of in our own daily lives. That being said, life goes on in both places, not perfect, but with many good people trying to do good things and often succeeding, Baruch HaShem. We were there as they are gearing up for elections recently called, but it will be a few months, not years, and for better or worse, it will occur and be sort of settled until the next time elections are called in this parliamentary democracy. It is fully a Jewish homeland and a democracy in which many groups live side by side. While there as always, we saw Jews, Muslims, Christians (actually there was a huge celebration in the middle of King David Street at the YMCA as we were there during the season appropriate for such), Bedouins, tourists from all over the world, and so many others.

On Friday night as we were walking to shul (synagogue), a special moment occurred which has happened in the past and I just love. We were walking on Keren HaYesod on our way to Shira Hadasha, a community of prayer that actually meets in an International Youth Center on Emek Refaim, and something wonderful happened, that I have experienced before if you catch it just right. At the same time, the Shabbat Siren sounded to indicate the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, Church bells were ringing and the Meuzzin sounded to call Muslims to prayer as well. I just stopped, closed my eyes and took it in. There was no yelling, no contention, just the peaceful calling of three faiths to worship God in the way that works for them. How beautiful and what a wonderful call to all of us to think about what it means to live peacefully together and how it does not hurt any of us to do so. And this happens all of the time in JERUSALEM, the city of peace!

This time in Israel was different in that it was planned by my wonderful husband so that each of us could do what we wanted and play where we want. My cousin said this was like the trip twenty somethings take their first time in Israel. In thirteen days, we were able to spend time in Jerusalem, Ginot Shomron, Tzfat, Netanya, Tel Aviv, Beit Meir, Be’er Sheva, the Dead Sea and Masada and then finally back to Jerusalem. We walked the beaches, said Boker Tov (good morning) and Salaam Aleikem to Muslim beach walkers, saw Jews of all sides and parts of the Jewish continuum just relaxing, going to work, looking at art (a wonderful part of this time there as well), hanging out at restaurants and of course groups of Christian celebrants of the season. We were able to spend time with family and friends which is always wonderful. Our second Shabbat we were also in Nachlaot, a lovely neighborhood that I think still believes we are in the 1960s, and a wonderful community where all are welcome and included. We noted at one of the shuls in the morning, there was a group of Birthright kids who clearly were not aware of what was going on, and one of the shul members ran an impromptu class for them. At lunch, we had a lovely conversation about the many different ways people are coming together to advocate for each other and shared concerns for all people who call this home.

One of the things we did that was really special was the snake path walk up Masada to the top where Jews held out in resistance for their right to believe so long ago. We went with a friend of ours from Be’er Sheva and were told to give ourselves two hours for the walk as the one hour or a bit less usually allotted is for people much younger was not realistic for us. Just for the record, we made the walk successfully, have pictures to prove it, went and came without injury and the walk up took us less that 75 minutes. So there, doubters! While there, we witnessed two of the twelve Bar/Bat Mitzvah groups that would be there that morning. The celebrations ranged from just taking pictures to taking out a Torah and singing some songs while standing around it to a more traditional service, according to the Sofer who writes Torah scrolls there, to insure that the ancient shul structure has an ongoing purpose as a place of worship and observance. So many Jews coming to a site with historical meaning to celebrate in their way, again, peacefully and without incident.

These are just a few scenes of the Israel I love. Spending Shabbat in Ginot Shomron where Jews who hold by a variety of levels of observance live together and have respect for each other, leaving the main roads carless during Shabbat and Yom Tovim so that those observing the days can do so, while others go to their cars outside of the designated roads to go where they will on those days. Beaches where people are dressed in all types of garb or lack thereof and no one is throwing anything at anyone else. Jerusalem where three different very visible religious groupings do co-exist and observe according to their beliefs, holding holy their respective special sites. Tzfat where so much art and beautiful scenery cause awe for us all and we thank God in our own ways. Be’er Sheva that is a wonderful community of shared living and where concern for various groups is palpable, where a recent article in The Jerusalem Report chronicled how Bedouin women are making amazing strides in their education and Ben Gurion University is so involved in their progress. On and on the list goes. THIS IS MY ISRAEL and this is the ISRAEL I am so proud of. While some people focus on how it may bring out the worst in people, I prefer to focus on the majority of cases in which this is simply not the case. That is the Israel I keep going back and forth from – my Jewish homeland and a beacon of so much to the world, if they would take off their predisposed lenses of contention and really look carefully. I will return to my Israel, God willing, soon!

Kind Words Are Needed Now More Than Ever; Everyone, Think Before We Talk

2019 is coming around the corner. For us in the Jewish community who already have FOUR new years during our annual luni-solar (though some people think it is “loony”) calendar cycle, what’s another New Year? You can never have too many, right? And with the focus on New Year’s resolutions, this seems like a great reason to mark this turning of the calendar. Looking around at our world, its rather easy to figure out what our collective New Year’s Resolution should be – WATCH OUR WORDS and be aware of how what we say is heard by others.

With the continuing soap opera of our national drama continuing to assault us in our 24/7 news cycle, I find it hard to not get depressed and dejected. Thank God, as religious Jews, at least we get a weekly 25-hour rest from all of this, as we do not use any technology during our weekly Shabbat. But then, there it is again. I keep hoping that during our news blackout, the world has regained its sanity, but so far, no such luck!

I just today finished my learning of Masechet Sanhedrin (a Talmudic Tractate) and it ends with the thought that when there is evil in the world everyone is sad, but when a righteous person comes into the world and acts, there is joy. To be sure, there is a great deal of despondency on many levels in our lives today but there are also so many people doing good and doing so intentionally. As a mom of my four wonderful children, I am always so proud of their accomplishments and victories, yes, but I am most proud of the people they are – principled, intelligent, moral and worried about the world around all of us.. They are indeed living the values I have always held dear and tried to teach them, by word and deed.

Our words and our deeds do count. We can and we do make a difference. I am just as heartened by the wonderful initiatives that are going on all around us – the Toys for Tots drives, the volunteering at so many community spaces to provide for others, the many different levels of intentional redistribution of wealth and resources, the pulling together of people across different strata of society in working together to solve world problems – in short the many different initiatives taken by citizens who truly care in spite or what may be happening on larger official levels or not happening.

So we have the capacity to act with purpose and speak with intention. That is what we can do, and it is my prayer that this year of 2019 will bring us all together so that we can fulfill the words I read and thought about this morning. Let us all think carefully, act prudently and use our words for righteous purposes. Happy New Year Y’all!

Thanksgiving – A Celebration That We Can All Share and Lessons for us all to Learn

What follows is a brief reflection I shared at our recently held community-wide Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration. This was a gathering of celebration, exactly the type I long for when we gather for something somber as we did several weeks ago. I have been asked by several people if I would share this on my blog so here it is. The celebration was held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Glenside, Pennsylvania and coordinated by its wonderful Pastor, Emily Richards. Jews, Muslims, Christians, and adherents of other religious traditions all gathered together as people of faith and as Americans.

About three and a half weeks ago, we had a huge community gathering at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel where people of all faiths came together to support the Jewish community as we mourned the loss of members of our larger faith community in a violent incident in Pittsburgh. I remember feeling so thankful for this outpouring of love, concern and support from my friends in faith, all faiths. I wrote in my blog that week about how I so appreciate how we help each other through challenges and that I would hope we could join hands and hearts in celebration as well. And here we are doing just that. For that I am thankful.

I am thankful to be living in this country and freely practicing my faith as we all, in this beautiful sanctuary of faith, are doing. We would like to think that this freedom is fundamental to our identity as Americans; that we, as the children of Israel so long ago in the text that Rabbi Berkowitz just read, came to our covenanted union with certain understandings of our practices and our responsibilities to be contributing and appropriate members of the society that we would build together. As we all know, while this idealized notion feels good, this is not the entire story. In our lives today, we are constantly reminded of the vulnerability of that freedom to be, that we all cherish and often take for granted, as we remember and share our concern for those whose freedom to be is being threatened.

We in the Jewish community are taught to remember Amalek and to never forget that this nation took advantage of our most vulnerable members. One of the more controversial teachings, for some, is the clear injunction to destroy Amalek for doing so, for not acknowledging strength or integrity, but for fighting those least able to defend ourselves. Many of our Jewish commentators explain that we are to not only destroy the Amalek that takes advantage of others outside of ourselves, but inside of ourselves as well. We as Israelites came to the land promised to us long ago as tenders of the soil, protectors of the land and each other, and as those required to take care of and welcome all those who come to us as strangers, but stay as members of our family, so to speak. This was the idea of the Native Americans so long ago when they too welcomed the other and shared the land and their resources with them. It is this lesson of caring for all those around us and not taking advantage of vulnerabilities that we are to remember and to practice when we are the best we can be. Doing so is fundamental to keeping the commandments God gave to us then, and to our covenant with each other, and what it asks from us now.

We cannot acknowledge and be thankful for our blessings without showing concern for those for whom these very basic elements of a life well lived may be denied or threatened. As there was affliction long ago in the reading from Deuteronomy, we are witnessing the same in our world today. For those of us who are able to be thankful for the blessings bestowed upon us, we hope that we are worthy and that we are properly sharing and caring with our resources as the commanded action of doing Tzedakah asks of us. Many experts tell us that there should not be hunger in our world today, we have technology to clean water and provide healthy environments for so many who do not have these most basic necessities, and with responsible choices, we can use our many financial and material resources to better the lives of so many. All of our religious traditions and our foundational texts tell us to do just this and chastise us when we don’t.

Yes, I am thankful for this assemblage. I am thankful that I can practice the faith in which I believe. I am thankful that we, people of different faiths can come together to celebrate what we share and recognize fully and respect where we differ. And I am thankful for the many blessings God, in Infinite Compassion, has bestowed upon us. Let us behave responsibly with these blessings and the quality of life they enable. My prayer is that for all of us who have come together in fellowship and as people of faith reach out to those who cannot be here and gently remind all of us of our humanity, our need for each other, and how we are indeed to show our gratitude by extending our hand to those around us. Then, with God’s help, we will show ourselves to merit these blessings for which we are so thankful.

And now for a footnote: This past weekend, our entire family gathered together and as is usual for us, we talked about important and relevant issues in our lives. It is always such a treat for me to gather with all of our children, their partners in life and the next generation, our eldest daughter’s four adorable girls. I am always touched by how they each continue to exude the values we all hold so dear in their professional as well as personal lives. Each of them does continue to extend their hand to others, to care about all people and to truly try to make this world a better place. For this too, I am eternally and boundlessly thankful. When people often worry about our next generation, look carefully. There are indeed many wonderful things that are happening due to the efforts of these younger adults who are caring more, doing so much and addressing many of our challenges. I pray that they will continue to do so for many years to come as well as show those who have forgotten how to work together with all people, both those similar to and those different from them, exactly how to do so and the benefit that accrues from such cooperation and sharing.