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friday, february 25, 2011 . www.JTNews.NeT . JTNews OpiniOn
the rabbi’s turn
An offer you can’t
(and shouldn’t) refuse
rabbi JamEs L. mirEL temple B’nai torah
Dear JTNews reader:
This column is addressed
to those who are “unaffiliated.”
The rest of you are welcome
to read it as well.
The word “unaffiliated” in
this context means anyone in
the Jewish community who
is not a member of a synagogue.
According to estimates
by sociologists, this would be
over 50 percent of the Jews
in America — probably a bit more in the
Puget Sound region.
I am going to make you an offer you
can’t (shouldn’t) refuse — at least in my
opinion: I will personally pay the first three
months of your annual dues if you join
a synagogue — any synagogue — before
next Rosh Hashanah* (the details of this
offer will be found at end of this letter).
The body of the letter will be a reasoned
and reasonable argument (in the philosophical
meaning of that word) of why you
should join a synagogue, using selected
quotations from the Mishna tractate “Avot,”
also known as Pirke Avot (the Chapters of
the Ancestors or ‘ancient rabbis’).
“Find yourself a rabbi.” (Avot 1:16)
Every Jew needs a rabbi to call his or
her own. This is someone who will be your
mentor, teacher, confidant, and lifecycle
officiant. While you can probably find a
rabbi on an emergency basis, there is no
substitute for having an ongoing relationship
with your rabbi — someone who
knows you intimately and has a true sense
of who you are. In America, the best way
to “acquire” such a mentor is through synagogue
affiliation.
During the course of a year I officiate at
20 or more funerals. If a Jew dies and needs
a rabbi, if I can I will be there (and I never
charge for any mitzvah). However, there is
a world of difference when I preside at the
funeral of a member of my temple and when
I preside at the grave of someone I never
knew. My intentions are the same, but the
depth of connection is worlds apart.
But it is not only at important lifecycles
that having your own rabbi is crucial.
To know there is someone who will listen
to you day in and day out, and with whom
you have an on-going relationship, is life
affirming. To me, this is one of the most
compelling reasons to be affiliated.
“All those engaged in the life of the
community…will prosper.” (Avot 2:2)
This statement by Rabban Gamliel, son
of the great Rabbi Judah, may appeal to
the more selfish reasons for being affili-
ated. There is absolutely nothing
wrong with that. Not all
motives need to be altruistic.
Synagogue affiliation is a
formula for success in a variety
of ways. You will prosper
materially through networking
and increased connections.
But you will also prosper
emotionally and spiritually
through a sense of belonging
and the ego boost being part
of something larger than yourself brings.
I would challenge a sociologist or Ph.D.
candidate in social science to conduct a
well-designed study, and I would bet that
affiliated Jews are statistically more successful
and happier than those who are not.
Being engaged in the life of a congregation
is a path to success and the more
involved you are, I would contend, the
greater your success.
“Do His (God’s) will as if it were
yours, so that He will do your will as if it
were His.” (Avot 2:4)
I am so foolish to suggest that God
wants you to be a member of a synagogue
and that God will reward you for doing so?
Maybe not.
But this is my belief: The world/fate
operates on mystical principles that defy
our understanding. One does not need
to evoke the Hindu notion of karma to
believe that all things are connected in
ways that defy our rational understanding.
Put another way, prayers may not be
answered directly, but why take a chance?
Judaism is a tradition that is open to all
kinds of connections. Think about it.
“Do not cut yourself off from the
community.” (Avot 2:5)
This oft-quoted aphorism of the saintly
Hillel is the ultimate argument for affiliation.
To be a Jew is to be part of the community.
There are, of course, many other
ways to be part of the Jewish community.
(Reading JTNews is one, to be sure.) I
speak in this context not as a rabbi, but as
a Jew raised from day one in a close-knit
synagogue my grandparents help establish
decades before my birth. I can state
unequivocally that my life was shaped in
a wonderful way by my rabbi, my congregation,
my friends and my teachers. Every
Jewish child deserves such an experience.
Your child/grandchild deserves such an
experience. This is why I am making this
offer you “can’t” refuse.
So now the details and the caveats:
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letters to the editor
in need oF deMocracy
Ellis Goldberg’s column (“On Jews and Egypt: Dispatches from the front lines,” Feb. 11)
was informative.
It is important that the new government that eventually emerges in Egypt be truly democratic
and honors the peace treaty it signed with Israel in 1977. Also that there be an orderly
and peaceful transition to democracy after the resignation of Mubarak’s autocratic regime.
Mubarak did not renounce the peace treaty with Israel that had gotten his predecessor Anwar
Sadat assassinated by members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
If the Brotherhood has its way, Egypt will become a Sunni theocracy modeled on Iran.
The terror group Hamas is “the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.” Egypt’s transition
to democracy should not be hijacked by the Brotherhood, which could use violence,
deception and rigged elections to seize power. It has been reported they intend to call for a
referendum to rescind the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Their goal is to turn the
world into an Islamist empire, which would have catastrophic consequences to the U.S. and
Western civilization.
Egypt needs enough time to allow opposition parties to form and reform its constitution
to make democratic voting credible and protect minorities. An orderly transition that does
not result in a fundamentalist Islamic regime would be in the best interest of Egypt and the
civilized world. Why are some in the media seeing this global jihadist group, banned in Egypt
for decades, as moderate?
Josh basson
seattle
the curious case oF richard silverstein
My column, “Jewish Delusions and the Threat to the Jewish People,” (Jan. 28) evoked
Casablanca-like shock from Seattle blogger Richard Silverstein in the JTNews. Silverstein
pieced together, ransom-note style, segments from my article separated by dots to assert
that I had quoted him unfairly. I had not quoted him. His frenetic rant ricocheted from my
implied culpability for the Tucson shooting to listing his Jewish bona fides, which are irrelevant.
No one doubts that Quisling was Norwegian. He may have meant well, but he sided with
the enemy of his people in perilous times. That is also my view of Silverstein.
What his diatribe did not touch on was my thesis: Jews of the extreme left are well-meaning
but delusional, and ultimately dangerous to the Jewish people. To understand my use
of “delusional,” read my column. I stand behind it. The link to my column is at JTNews.net
under the “opinion” category.
Since he can’t take on my thesis, he takes me on ad hominem, and puts me in some
extraordinarily distinguished company. Others he has similarly attacked include Alan Dershowitz
(“intellectual slimeball”), Natan Sharansky (writes “gobbledy-gook”), Elie Wiesel
(“master propagandist”), Judea Pearl (“neocon”), Ambassadors Michael Oren (“sheer mendacity,”
speaks “pure fiction”) and Dore Gold (“intellectual thug,” writes “pablum”), and
Israeli prime minister’s spokesperson Mark Regev (“outright liar”), to name a few. Dershowitz
and Sharansky are “Israeli and American Jewish toadies.” He has ferociously attacked
the leadership of the pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs as “thugs.” I am thrilled to be
included in this list. My Jewish mother, who never let me forget that she wanted me to be a
doctor, would finally be proud.
Silverstein is in the business of vituperative attack. His blog gushes invective at an amazing
rate. In Silverstein’s world, StandWithUs is a “radical, right-wing” organization. I am a
founding member of StandWithUs Northwest. I know almost everyone there. As a lonely
Jewish Republican living in the Seattle area, I can only say, “I WISH!” I have no desire to get
in a food fight with Silverstein, and I am moving on. Thank you, Richard, for encouraging more
JTNews readers to read my columns, and for letting more of the Jewish community see who
you are. Sunlight is good for things like that.
robert Wilkes
bellevue
the Missing Words
How much more courageous can one be than the self-proclaimed journalist/blogger Richard
Silverstein, a Seattle resident?
In his meandering rant in the JTNews (“The Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not
occupy,” Feb. 11) Mr. Silverstein acknowledges that if Israel did adopt the Silverstein plan for
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— Theodore Bikel, rockin’ the Belz, at this year’s Seattle Jewish Film Festival. See previews starting on page 20.