Water Over Rocks

A friend of mine posted a link to this on her face...

2012-02-04T09:25:30.208-05:00

A friend of mine posted a link to this on her facebook wall and I had to share-- that reading this was an incredible way to start my Saturday morning.

I'm so glad you were there and bore such beaut...

2012-02-03T11:38:26.607-05:00

I'm so glad you were there and bore such beautiful eloquent witness. As always, your biggest fan. -- Wesley

Stunning - thank you for seeing the light and keep...

2012-02-03T08:32:05.881-05:00

Stunning - thank you for seeing the light and keeping it alive. With budget cuts, CBE's service is more necessary than ever.

Andy - I studied the first post hoping to express ...

2012-01-27T16:36:45.064-05:00

Andy - I studied the first post hoping to express a different thought but couldn't find the words. And then you did with this one - "the sense of community, the warmth and purpose of the shared collective on Fridays and Saturdays at CBE is compelling and powerful;." From my perspective, this sense of community at CBE should not be undersold in terms of how much it is fostering a connection and engagement. I see it with my children and witness it in many others in our community gatherings. And I think it has the same benefit for adults. So maybe another tweak? Let them family that undertakes the two week visit to Israel also have full "rights" at the synagogue? Yachad, holiday tickets... Hopefully they still contribute of course to fund raising efforts. This way they are not in "exile" for the other 50 weeks of the year. This will hurt the bottom line (profitability) no doubt, but doesn't the benefit to the top line (for individual and community) more than make up for this?

And, by the way, according to this fantasy, their ...

2012-01-26T13:49:13.700-05:00

And, by the way, according to this fantasy, their involvement and generosity increase, which, in my career, I've seen over and over again.

Hardly likely.

2012-01-26T13:46:36.303-05:00

Hardly likely.

But what if they come back from Israel to find tha...

2012-01-26T12:55:33.540-05:00

But what if they come back from Israel to find that the synagogue has crumbled to dust for lack of money?

Brilliant. Innovative.

2012-01-25T22:11:51.193-05:00

Brilliant. Innovative.

But Andy, is tradition worth saving just for tradi...

2012-01-23T23:39:31.427-05:00

But Andy, is tradition worth saving just for tradition's sake?

So beautifully written and moving--thank you!

2012-01-20T09:07:05.963-05:00

So beautifully written and moving--thank you!

Hi Andy, I left a long comment but it disappeared ...

2012-01-13T09:53:24.184-05:00

Hi Andy, I left a long comment but it disappeared into the either. I will now give the abridged edition. I've always been a sucker for an English accent, even when it's not spoken but written. I was a big Hitchens fan because, whether I agreed with him or not, I think that we need more argument, discussion what-have-you about big ideas and big questions. Plus, however annoying Hitchens could be due to prejudices and excessive carousing, he stood up for Salman Rushdie during the fatwa and didn't give an inch to the hypocrisy and cowardice that was rampant in the publishing world at that dismal time. Regarding GOd is Not Great ( got it hot off the press, in hardcover), I was very disappointed. Hitchens set a self-defined straw dog, God and then failed to distinguish between God, religion, spirit, soul, nefesh and kishkes (that thing in your gut that compels you tp be a mensch and be ethical, distinguishing wrong from right. Hitchens defined religion and God as, basically, all things that he despised about the self-defined opponent. The good in religion/God/soul, spirit, civilized behavior and guts were excluded by him as aspects of God/Religion. To me, the book was intellectually dishonest but I am also aware that he needed the money and who didn't enjoy Hitchens taking on the Fallwells of the world. Wish he were around to have a debate with Rick Santorum.
Hitch-22 is a much different work because Hitchens's friendships and the love and devotion evoked by the descriptions contained within the memoir confirm my defintion of the journey of the spirit. Namely, that the good in us and the love we give to others and the good that comes out of sustaining and being part of a community of friends is always paid forward to increase the neshama and spirit of the world we inhabit. As an individual, my spirit is lifted by the wondrous existence of public intellectuals like Christopher Hitchens. Sometimes you have to be outrageous to get heard. And be willing to take the abuse just for saying what you think, even if you are not trying to convince others to agree.
Shabbat Shalom.

What you get for being a Zionist. Did you see Susa...

2011-12-23T10:00:02.394-05:00

What you get for being a Zionist. Did you see Susan Sarandon on the way to strangely lit mansion?

Answer your own question: How much learning and p...

2011-12-11T20:02:48.863-05:00

Answer your own question: How much learning and praying and arguing about Israel have you done since?

Andy, To what degree can we consider a five week ...

2011-12-11T20:00:11.614-05:00

Andy,

To what degree can we consider a five week summer program in Israel an episodic Jewish experience?

Hey Andy, I'm a religion reporter for The Bro...

2011-11-14T22:59:51.781-05:00

Hey Andy,

I'm a religion reporter for The Brooklyn Ink (www.thebrooklynink.com) and I've been following your blog for awhile. I was curious to know your thoughts on the wave of anti-Semitic incidents that took place in Brooklyn this past week. I wrote a story on it here http://t.co/6VqyxUQM

Wishing you well.
-Omar.

Based on your blog (and not just this entry or the...

2011-11-14T13:36:08.957-05:00

Based on your blog (and not just this entry or the preceding one), it seems to me that your dad passed his reflective character trait onto to at least one of his kids. You honor his memory by sharing these stories with us.

Thanks for writing, Alon. I suspect my dad was aw...

2011-11-14T10:37:58.593-05:00

Thanks for writing, Alon. I suspect my dad was aware of his impact. He often was quite reflective about how he was as a parent. It was one of his many admirable character traits.

I wonder if your father understood the impact of t...

2011-11-14T10:35:37.509-05:00

I wonder if your father understood the impact of these moments on you. I hope he did. As a father, I never know what moments actually resonate with my children. I suspect I will never know or I won't know until it's too late. All the same, it's moving to read your recollection of these priceless moments with your dad.

Very sweet

2011-11-13T12:52:05.270-05:00

Very sweet

Rabbi - It seems to me that many people are comp...

2011-11-01T09:17:30.257-04:00

Rabbi -

It seems to me that many people are completely missing what the people in OWS are saying over and over - and that is that it is a movement based upon finding a voice, not setting a goal. It's obvious that this message isn't suited for the 24 hour news cycle, as consensus and negotiation doesn't operate on a set schedule.

The one theme that's been constant throughout the protest is the idea of a return to good old fashioned free political speech. Left wing movements of the last 20 years have all been approximation of money-fueled movements on the right (i.e. Move On as an answer the various "moral majorities"), which were themselves approximation of money-fueled movements on the left (i.e. the big labor unions). This is not a bad thing. The big unions are, for the most part, shells and the Move-Ons are hollow. If speech moves democracy, would you prefer impotence?

So, you're disappointed by the Democratic establishment, and the Democratic counterculture. Apart from, say, the resurrection of FDR, JFK or the AFL, what could you get behind?

Last, OWS is pretty obviously not about Israel. Skip the made for cable TV-news narratives.

I don't necessarily disagree but I don't b...

2011-10-19T16:14:41.180-04:00

I don't necessarily disagree but I don't believe that consciousness raising is what is needed now--political action is. Additionally, I fear that Rabbi Heschel's "praying with our feet" notion is getting a bit tired. We need to negotiate with our brains and vote with our hands. In friendship, Andy

Andy, I'm not suggesting that we need a symbo...

2011-10-19T12:00:06.348-04:00

Andy,

I'm not suggesting that we need a symbolic gesture which mirrors, step by step, the one of Moses. I'm asserting that when a critical mass of people occupy a public place imbued with symbolic significance, they are using the same *method* that Moses did to achieve the necessary first (but not only) step towards change: The awakening of the population (whether they be former slaves or current politicians) to the flaws in the system that they are enabling through their misplaced assignment of power.
The smashing of the tablets is not the change we seek. It's a gesture which allows for the rules to be restated to a population that has been made newly receptive to the values inherent in the original document.
I agree that a political solution is what is ultimately needed. But sometimes we need to pray with our legs before we can build with our hands.

cantor--i question whether your analogy about Mose...

2011-10-19T07:29:54.659-04:00

cantor--i question whether your analogy about Moses breaking the tablets really applies here. for it to work, it seems to me, the Constitution of the United States would need to be torn to pieces, the people would have to eat it (at least those guilty of dancing around the Golden Calf) and then the exact same content would be delivered again.

therefore, it seems to me, that the broader issue of leadership, demands, and engaging directly with the Constitutionally validated political system (boring as it may seem) is how change will be made.

hag sameach-

andy

Hi, Andy. First, I think your insinuation that th...

2011-10-18T20:58:19.431-04:00

Hi, Andy.

First, I think your insinuation that the OWS protesters are anti-Zionist is an unnecessary straw man that works against your larger argument. In my time in Zucotti Park, I found little evidence of such feelings on display.

Next, I think it's telling the way you use the midrash about Akiva from Avot d'Rabi Natan. In your interpretation, the drops of water represent the slow march of time, of which much is needed in order for those in power to enact real change.

But I think the OWS movement views the drops of water as people - each additional person who brings attention through their protests to the rifts in our economic and democratic systems is another drop in the bucket. The people in power may not be moved to act until the water overflows.

Then again, sometimes what is needed is not the gradual wearing away of the stone, but the smashing of it in an instant - ala Moses at the feet of the golden calf. Keep in mind that Moses' gesture was purely symbolic. Its purpose was not to abrogate the covenant, but to awaken the people through an act of shocking protest to their flawed approach to freedom's demands.

Chag sameach,
Cantor Eric Schulmiller
The Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore
Plandome, NY

Andy, thanks for this beautiful meditation. I gue...

2011-10-18T09:53:45.912-04:00

Andy, thanks for this beautiful meditation. I guess that stuff about OWS was written by your evil twin. Really glad you're back.
Also, reading Philip Levine gives me shivers. Check out "Animals are passing from our lives."
Jack K