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Yom Kippur Morning, 5765, by Rabbi Julie Schwartz
Two individuals deeply in love - what's not to celebrate about a marriage! Oh, yes - two extended families each with their own well developed mishigas and concerns and then throw in some religious issues and money decisions and well, you know, weddings become rather complicated!
In fact, I am always delighted to officiate at a wedding and then anxious as well. There are so many unknowns as a couple decides to enter into a lifelong partnership. To begin a covenantal relationship is an awesome decision at which my presence as the officiating rabbi gives blessing. This very morning our Torah portion spoke about the fact that we, the Jewish people have entered into such a covenantal relationship with God and so every marriage within our community is meant to be forged in that sacred image.
But now I want to tell you about one couple for whom I was unable to stand at the chuppah and so had to ask that they find another rabbi for their ceremony. My need to bow out of the occasion had nothing to do with anything overtly Jewish or religious. My need to bow out had nothing to do with a request from the couple to do something bizarre and I promise you that I have been asked to say and do some strange things at weddings. Rather my sad determination that I could not be the m'saderet kiddushin - the one who arranges the wedding as the Hebrew term puts it - this came from something that the couple explained to me during our second meeting and something that I believed challenged the premise of it becoming a sacred covenant, a relationship that was in God's image. Certainly couples have told me before that they intended to remain voluntarily childless. When folks share that they do not feel that they would make good parents or that they simply do not like children, then it is a very good decision for them to not become parents. Choosing to accept the challenge of parenthood should be a conscious, intentional act. So for those couple who know that this is not something for which they are suited, I ask instead that they participate in supporting the future of Judaism, our children, through other means - by being active leaders in the Jewish community, by being financially generous to causes that assist the Jewish education of children, to be good aunts and uncles for others' children. But this particular couple had a reason for choosing to not have children that was quite different. They did not want to have children because they did not believe that this world was a place to which they would choose to subject another person. They did not believe that the world would survive and they felt that it was a hopeless, ugly place. They felt that it would be better to have humankind accept the truth that the world was doomed. Now parenthetically, this couple did not actually choose to marry and I do believe that our discussion about this subject influenced their break- up. Each of them had much to consider about the future and the way that they felt about life.
I cannot argue with their concern that this world has a lot of problems. I cannot argue with the reality that children born into this world will face significant challenges, many of which I cannot even imagine. But our Jewish tradition doesn't give us the option of deciding that we should end this world because it is just too messed up. Our Jewish tradition simply, incessantly, commands us to better it. As so many of you know, that call to better the world has an official theological term, Tikkun olam -- repair of the world. But to fully embrace this concept, we have to go back to the roots of the phrase, Tikkun Olam as it was born from Lurianic Kabbalah. Ah...now time for another brief, self serving commercial message - do you want to learn more about mysticism and kabbalah - and find out just what Madonna, or should I say Esther doesn't know about it - please do register for the four session program on the textual basis of mysticism that will be held beginning in late October on four successive Thursday evenings. The class will be taught by a dear friend of mine, Rabbi Steven Ballaban and space will be limited to 25 students. If enough interest warrants, then we will have an encore run of the class in the early spring. But back to Tikkun Olam and Lurianic Kabbalah. In the late 16th century, after the trauma of the Spanish expulsion, a group of scholars based in Ts'fat, Israel sought to find answers in Judaism which would ease the suffering of the people. Rabbi Isaac Luria or Ha-Ari - taught that the world's very beginnings accounted for the ongoing struggles of people in an imperfect creation. Luria explained that God was originally everything and everywhere and in order to actually create the world, God needed to contract, tzimtzim, the Divine presence so that there would be space for something that was not God. God sent Divine light into the space that was then provided and this light eventually led to the creation of the world. The light was finally gathered into Kelim, vessels that contained it so that creation could be completed and an Eden like first world came to be. However these original kelim, vessels, could not contain God's light-presence and they broke in an action termed sh'virat ha-kelim. Divine light that clung to the broken vessels were kelipot, the shells or husks and these became forces of evil. Thus the presence of evil in this world does not come from human actions but from an accident - an accident that is actually God's fault! And God cleans up after this cosmic catastrophe but cannot gather back all of the forces that have been released onto the earth. God's final creations, human beings become tasked with the responsibility of joining forces with God in repairing the world by doing actions that negate the evil kelipot. Our job is to so live that our own goodness, our righting of wrongs, our correcting of injustices changes the balance of power in this world and we can effectuate its ultimate correction.
If you have read Jewish theology then you immediate recognize the radical nature of this thinking. Luria transforms the problem of an omnipotent God who allows the presence of suffering because once God is contracted then God is limited, no longer omnipotent. God only gains power through the actions of human beings. God needs us, at our best, in order to have the world become the creation that it was originally meant to be.
There is tremendous hope in this theology because it says that we have a critical role in the world and that by fulfilling this role we affirm the presence of goodness and God here. As well this transforms our understanding of redemption and of the redemptive figure whom we have termed, the Messiah. Now this scholarship comes from the mystical tradition but there are related ideas from the more rational teachings. Our greatest scholar from the middle ages, Moses Maimonides also contributes to a new way of envisioning the redeemer, the Messiah. According to his teaching, such a person no longer needs to be from the royal Davidic line or to perform miracles. A messiah is simply the one who helps all of us to join together to fulfill our jobs as the partners of God. The messiah is the one who sets into motion the activities that lead to the perfection of life here on earth. And then centuries later, an early and radical father of the American Reform movement builds upon Maimonides ideas a bit more. David Einhorn was surely not someone who would ever be described as mystical but his concept even supports the kabbalah. Einhorn expands the notion of messiah to be more than one individual, to mean that all of the Jewish people have the job of redeeming the world, of serving as the messianic force in the universe. He teaches that it is the power of our people using our tradition that can generate the power to repair, to change our existence.
Thus even if you are not one who will connect with the Lurianic story about the broken vessels, it is within good Jewish parameters to understand that we have a potent role in the way of this world. We are bound to work as God's partners in lifting the tremendous weight of suffering. And we are expected to be doing this work all the time. That is another difficult burden that Judaism places upon us. We do not get to choose when we will feel like doing the work of repairing the world. We don't get time off from acts of justice. We do not get to decide that it should be somebody else's turn and I am on sabbatical from Tikkun olam. Rather the price of breathing the air, smelling the flowers, tasting the honey, and experiencing the sunshine - that price is constant involvement in acts of justice making and the overturn of evil in our midst. So, as I have explained many, many times, we don't do tzedakah because it makes us feel good. We do tzedakah because that is part of our daily responsibility. It is, of course, so much nicer when we feel good before, during, and after doing good. It is, of course, a lot easier to get volunteers and to interest our children when we know that it will at least be pleasant together or we will have that wonderful warm feeling as the reward. But we do not do tzedakah because we will earn a reward. We do tzedakah because we recognize that the world is not just and that the only way that we can prove God's presence in an unjust world is by doing tzedakah. In fact, Rabbi David Hartman - the very same scholar who taught here last fall - has explained that the way that we can continue to believe despite the regular cataclysms in our lives - the factor that sustains our faith is our ability to continue to struggle for justice. It is our ability to wrestle towards good that lets us know with certainty that there is good. Tikkun olam, social justice, social action gives us the ability to experience God.
So, my dear friends, for our faith to continue, our acts of Tikkun olam must continue. And all of us must find our call. All of us. This notion of call includes the idea that we hear God calling for us to act. And the rationalists amongst us will complain that you cannot hear God - you cannot only hear what God is not. So it is in that spirit that I want you to hear those who cannot call to us and know that God is also in that silence, the unspoken cries of those who struggle without a voice in our society.
Those without a voice are the very individuals for whom justice is the most elusive. They cannot speak up for themselves, they cannot argue on their own behalf and they are not believed even if their words are heard. Only their appearance and their actions are noted and then the very same are used to limit their voices all the more. Anyone who is different can fall into this category but most sadly those who feel especially different to us are the most maligned. Later during this day which calls us to being active partners with God, we will hear from Bill Bolling. His passion for responding to the needs of the hungry will direct us in ways to better hear their voices. I hope that we will each hear the call of the hungry as we partake in our break the fast this evening and commit a portion of food or donations toward feeding others and make this part of a daily act of Tikkun olam. I am also personally, passionately committed to caring for those who are silenced because they are victims of domestic violence and I promise that this concern will be heard later this year from this pulpit. But as we focus today on the pains within our souls, I think especially of all who struggle silently with the stigma of mental illness. And so I remind you that this means that we are talking about many, many members of our congregational family who feel voiceless. They are silenced by their infirmity, they are silenced by their fear of discovery, they are silenced by their lack of resources and choices. From debilitating anxiety to diseases that rob individuals of their self control and thinking, mental illness continues to be the form of disease for which people assign blame and from which people flee. We rarely keep secret our visits to the family doctor; we regularly keep secret our need for therapy or the medications that may go along with the therapy. And just as with all illnesses, a single individual does not get sick - the whole family shares in the illness. So a family facing mental illness -- whether it is a mild, time limited problem or a lifelong struggle - the whole family needs care and the whole family encounters the prejudice and alienation. I have been most moved by the email interactions that I have had with too many in our community who have felt the cold stare of our Jewish institutions as they have searched for support in their time of pain. One email story led to another email story and I believe that it is only through the joined forces of community that people will know that their stories have been heard. Our congregation took one step in this Tikkun Olam direction when we hosted a NAMI, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill's Family to Family class. We provided a location, a little water and coffee to family members who were gaining additional information about the illness that had joined their family. One of our own members led the group. Both our sponsorship of the meeting room along with the leadership by our congregant said something very important to the Jewish community - we know that we are not immune to this illness, we acknowledge our need to care for those who suffer from mental illness. Yet, I do not see those who are overtly fighting the mental health battle joining us for worship. I don't see our congregation regularly reaching out to ensure that these individuals and their families know that they are welcome at services, to sit in our library, to attend a class. If our building is to be known as the text teaches, as a house of prayer for all people then we need to start with those from whom we have not heard and not made comfortable - even when we have to be less comfortable because they are here. And our next challenge will be to participate in true justice making by becoming involved in the political processes that currently prevent good medical care and social support for those with mental illness. I will be placing on our website and in our e-shofar announcements information about the ways that we can take charge of this issue right here in greater Atlanta and in state government as well. There are simple acts like signing petitions which I pray leads to writing letters which I pray leads to badgering elected officials which I pray leads to changing the way that our health care is funded. In fact on Thursday, I just received notification of a Candle light ceremony that will be held on Sunday, October 10, from 7-9 pm at the Carter Center entitled, "Investing in the Whole Person: Whole Body Wellness Includes Mental Health." I will have information on this advocacy opportunity - a way to immediately participate in tikkun olam - up on the website after this evening. Our community has still not recognized that spending money to care properly for human needs is always a priority and people will vote for those who spend tax money on such critical and meaningful programs. As a Jewish community, we become partners with God when we channel our political energies to right the wrongs of the system, a system that does not treat those who are different any differently that the way that we treat all who are created in God's image.
Let us return to the question of why Tikkun olam is the only way that we can truly move into this new year and know that we are enriching our lives, changing our lives so that both we and all those around us feel a sense of growth, of change, of new value. I was recently introduced to a teaching by Rav Kook, the first chief rabbi of the state of Israel and a most brilliant scholar. In the spirit of the holy day, he commented on a verse from the confessional liturgy that states, "My God! Before I was formed, I was of no worth. And now that I have been formed, it is as if I have not been formed." This statement seems to teach that we have little worth and that is a humbling theme for this day but it doesn't give us much direction. Rav Kook works with the verse and explains, that it is obvious that before we were formed, we had little worth but it is the worth that we may yet attain once we have been formed that is most precious. He wrote, "Since my soul has entered the world at this point in time, it must be that now there is some mission, some goal for me to accomplish. Some aspect of the world was meant to be corrected and completed through me. Were I to dedicate the actions of my life towards that purpose for which I was created, it would confirm and justify my existence. But since my actions are not in accordance with the absolute good, I am not accomplishing my life's goal. And if I am not fulfilling my purpose in life, my existence is not needed. If I do not fulfill my life's mission, I have reverted back to my state of being in previous generations, when, without need and purpose in the world, I was not yet formed." Wow, how powerfully he puts this notion - that if we are not fulfilling our mission then we are wasting our chance at this life, it is as if we have never come to be, we have not taken shape because we have not effected the world in the way that we are directed. I would suggest that we feel so very good when we participate in acts of Tikkun olam because we feel deep within our shapes, our souls that we are fulfilling our mission. That feeling is God's affirmation that we have taken one step towards doing that which we were created to do. We become more whole and thus more filled with peace at such moments. We feel the fulfillment that comes when we join with God and God is with us.
Of course, I could have simply begun this sermon with the terms that are listed in this morning's Torah reading. Torah teaches this clearly. Its first verse that insists that everyone be included in the covenant even those with no voice and then it concludes by teaching us that choosing to act in accordance with God's sense of justice and good will is the choice that leads to life. Because we are not truly alive when we act as if there is no hope for our world. Because we are not truly alive when others are limited in their ways of living. Because we are not truly alive when suffering occurs that our very own hands could have prevented. Because we are not truly alive when our hands do not act as though they were linked with the hand of God in partnership and we repair the world together.