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{TO HEAL THE BROKEN PLACES}<br />
Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio<br />
The year was 1946 and the war had finally ended. Rabbi Schenk rose and spoke<br />
passionately about the role of the synagogue, he said: “Judaism must not stand aside<br />
when the great problems of humanity which are reborn in every new epoch, struggle in<br />
the minds of men to gain expression, battle in the societies of mankind to find their way.<br />
We must not as Jews, deny<br />
ourselves to the problems of<br />
the time, nor hide ourselves, as<br />
Jews in the face of them; they<br />
must not be something that<br />
goes on outside our Judaism<br />
in another sphere. We are Jews<br />
also for the sake of humanity…<br />
we must fight the Jewish fight<br />
for the new world of men, of<br />
God’s children, of universal<br />
morality, justice and peace.”<br />
For Rabbi Schenk it was not<br />
possible to divorce the spiritual<br />
from the religious, for one led<br />
to the other. And so too for the<br />
founders of Temple <strong>Emanuel</strong>,<br />
who all saw the work for tikkun<br />
olam, healing the world, as<br />
fundamental to their lives, their<br />
Judaism and their synagogue.<br />
Judaism has always been a<br />
religion of action; the great<br />
prophets of our tradition exhort<br />
us to act. They argue that the<br />
spiritual means nothing unless<br />
it inspires us to correct the<br />
injustices of the world and to<br />
heal the broken places. Rabbi<br />
Abraham Joshua Heschel said:<br />
“A religious man is a person<br />
who holds God and man in<br />
one thought at one time, at all<br />
times. Who suffers harm done<br />
to others, whose greatest passion<br />
is compassion, whose greatest<br />
strength is love and defiance of<br />
despair.” Judaism is a religion<br />
of the day to day, the here and<br />
now. Our texts cry to us to<br />
take action, to be involved.<br />
Heschel said: “The teaching<br />
of Judaism is the theology<br />
of the common deed. God<br />
is concerned with the<br />
everydayness, the trivialities<br />
of life… the prophets’<br />
field of concern is not the<br />
mysteries of heaven, the<br />
glories of eternity but the<br />
blights of society, the affairs<br />
of the marketplace…<br />
the prophet addresses<br />
himself to those who<br />
trample upon the needy,<br />
increase the price of<br />
grain, use dishonest scales<br />
and sell the refuse of corn”<br />
And our synagogue has a proud<br />
history of involvement in social<br />
action, in bold acts of tikkun<br />
olam, healing the world. In the<br />
founding years, the synagogue,<br />
especially through its Board<br />
and its Women’s Guild, worked<br />
tirelessly in the war efforts. They<br />
welcomed refugees coming<br />
from Europe, cared for military<br />
personnel far from home,<br />
helped with soup kitchens,<br />
trained as home nurses to offer<br />
care to the wounded and sick.<br />
The Women’s Guild members<br />
made camouflage netting for<br />
the war efforts, sitting in their<br />
homes in the evenings and<br />
Rabbi Max Schenk<br />
working during the day<br />
in Martin Place creating the<br />
nets. The synagogue continued<br />
to reach out and help during<br />
the war years, and afterwards<br />
settling new arrivals, healing<br />
and welcoming them into<br />
community. At the same time,<br />
almost every member of the<br />
congregation was working<br />
to help others in individual<br />
projects outside the synagogue,<br />
something which has spanned<br />
the generations of synagogue<br />
members, so many contributing<br />
to shaping a better world<br />
either under the banner of the<br />
synagogue or individually.<br />
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