November and December Surpises

It all comes down in a torrent this year.  

 

Order now.  If you buy gifts for Hanukkah, do not wait.  There are stockyards full of goodies (throw a couple of Jewish books in there – you never know it may have more of a lasting impact than the Nintendo set).  Don’t forget the candles!! They sell out quickly.  And remember little tschakakes (Yiddish for tschkakes) are often cast aside and thrown out after the novelty is worn out.  But a gift that means something and related to the holiday of lights will last for years, maybe even a lifetime.

 

November 21: Come to shul, eat a corned beef sandwich at Bubbie’s Bat Mitzvah bonanza.  You won’t regret it.  But come early, or order early because you know how the really tasty edibles fly out the door!  Don’t be left standing at the door salivating at what you wish you had ordered.

 

Now that you have eaten your fill, Beth Shalom is hosting our annual Thanksgiving Service! This year it is in our home at 4 PM.  Let’s face it: after downing all those plates of brisket, stuffed cabbage and cakes, you will want to sit for a good while and digest it.  No grepsing allowed (you will have to use your Yiddish dictionary for that).  Best place to be?  BSS at 4 PM with all the other ministers, rabbis and congregants up and down Trenholm Road.  It’ll help with digestion.  And it never hurts to make new friends with our neighbors.

 

Then light ‘em up and bless them on November 28, the first night of Hanukkah.   Why not invite God to join you in bensching licht (Yiddish for blessing the lights)? Heat some latkes, tell the story of light overcoming darkness and bask in the freedom you have to practice your faith.  Watch them flicker and remember what it means to be young and mesmerized by the tiny lights that grow with each passing day, just like the fire in your soul.

 

Take this tour.  There are lots of things to do in Columbia but we have a recent newcomer to our community, the Anne Frank Center - the only one in North America!!!  It’s for kids, families and adults.  Truly, this building on the premises of the University of South Carolina will change your internal and external worldview.  It is remarkable and an experience that is worth traveling a continent to see….and it is in our backyard.

 

Escorted through the timetable leading up to their being ensconced in the tiny garrett in Amsterdam, you will hear and feel the full impact of feeling like you were actually there.  The only other related Anne Frank connection in America is  in Georgia at the Bill Clinton Museum where they grafted a piece of the tree that Anne describes in her journal and planted it there.  But here, in Columbia, you get the full experience of her life.

Make a date of it this month.  Email them at AFCUOFSC@sc.edu.  Here’s what Harris Pastides had to say about it, “When my children were young, my wife and I took them to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and I can remember the feeling of hallowed ground when we entered.”  And you do not need a plane ticket.  This is the biggest thing to happen in our state since the Confederate flag came down.  Do not miss it.

Truths

“Dialectic generally means “of the nature of dialogue,” which is a conversation between two persons.  Nowadays it means logical argumentation.  It involves a technique of cross-examination, by which truth is arrived at.  It’s the mode of discourse of Socrates in the Dialogues of Plato.  Plato believed that the dialectic was the sole method by which the truth was arrived at.  The only one.”  So wrote Robert Persig.

 

Truth is the goal of life. It is also the goal of Torah.  

 

Truth is not ephemeral; it is not true for one generation and untrue for another.  It is eternal.  The aim of Judaism is to arrive at truth through the art of dialectic.  For those who have studied case law or Talmud it is the precise application of argumentation to make sure that the “truth” we seek does not sink to the level of dogma.

 

A question I ask often of students is, “What truths do you know?”  The easiest, most accessible response is to name the physical – a chair, a shoelace, or yogurt.  Truth does not shift or change with the times.  It is eternal.  But what about the harder truths, the ones that are supposed to undergird society?  The ones that make us function as a caring society?   The ones we frequently ignore at the expense of our life’s meaning?  Truths are different than beliefs.  

 

In this brief article I’d like to list some truths. 

> Helping someone to overcome their personal obstacle(s) to realize their potential is good.

> “Anyone who destroys a human life is considered as if he had destroyed and entire world.

Anyone who preserves a human life is considered to have preserved and entire world.” Talmud

>The ultimate purpose of mitzvot is to enter into a relationship with the Almighty.  It is responding “heneeni” to the question, “Where are you?”

> It is not about who is “right” but who is righteous (Heb. tzedek or tzedaka).

> You are unique (as are the people you love and those whom you ignore).

> If you treat people with kindness they will surprise you, and perhaps themselves.

> If you treat people with kindness and forgive them you elevate your soul.

> You have qualities that can enable building or razing, creating or eradicating.   

> Evil exists.

> Evolution of the mind and character are not givens; they are earned.

> Growth or death.  We are either learning/growing or unlearning/diminishing.  We are never still.

> Lashon ha-ra, gossip, is destructive and evil.

> Listen.  That is why you have two ears and only one mouth.

> If your life were to end now, would the world be a better place because you have lived?  Or not yet?

> Morality does not evolve.  Human instincts remain as they have always been.  If you want change, become it.

> What you do, how you behave is who you are.

>What you say, the words you utter, you become.

> You are the determinant of your happiness.  No one else.

> Shabbat is a gift God gave but you must accept.

> Sharing elevates both the giver and receiver.

> What you have owns you, not the other way around.

> Believing in God is less important than believing that God.

> The universe is awesome - from the tiny amoeba to the tallest mountain peaks.  See it.  Feel it.

> Bless the clerk, the homeless woman, the banker, gas station attendant, bless every person you pass whether known or unknown and then you will ultimately become a blessing.

Truth

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.” 
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Be unafraid to seek the truth for it is Torah.

Legacy

Few of us are willing to take big risks in life.  Some of the sure things like little league baseball, work (and overtime!), cleaning, falling in love, giving tzedaka, watching tv, eating out feel secure because they are usual and dependable.

But none of these activities are “good.”  Most of them are warming, many are needful and some are wonderful.  But one aspect that they all have in common is that they do not contribute to making the world – in a macro or micro version – a better place.

As one wit put it, “It is easier to be empathic and caring about starving Ethiopians than their own family.”  Often we run into the arms of ephemeral gratification.  They are distractions that take us away from the fields of human interaction and change.

Here is a truth: The place where the most important decisions of life are made are around the kitchen table, not at the fancy schmanzy restaurant or the vacation in the Bahamas.  They happen where the most angry confrontations also occur, the kitchen.

When in rabbinical school a teacher, a famous scholar and author lamented, “Most people do not go to shul because they are afraid of meeting God.  They are frightened that, just maybe, during their prayers God will actually answer them. Worse yet, they will have to respond to what He demands!  They will be hopelessly trapped!”

I laughed.

I have since learned that what I took for a joke may actually have been more true than I was willing to admit or know.  People are genuinely afraid to commitments, which will lead to a deep emotional involvement.  That is why falling in love is so easy as there is little commitment with lots of palpitations, but being in love and staying in love is so trying. 

So it is with a three-day a year religion, dance classes, and horticulture.

The biggest risks in life are inevitable the most rewarding.  Great pride comes after graduation, a process of commitment.  The knowledge that your children will carry on your heritage after you is even greater.  Or a lasting love, one that involves forgiveness takes effort.  In life the best risks we take have the greatest yield.

Part of risk-taking means drawing lines.  It means saying yes or no to looting, allowing our children to rise or fail and to learn from their experiences, living a Jewish life of values and practice and certain absolutes of right and wrong.

What are you leaving as a legacy?