A German-Trained American Rabbi in Yorkshire

I have spent a lot of time this week thinking about the tools of the streams of progressive Judaism—the tools of Wissenschaft des Judentums that have been passed down by our recent sages and handed to us to help redefine how we view our texts and our religious practice. The question I have is if the scientific tools that we have been given – textual and narrative criticism, scientific study of history, archeology, etc. are appropriate parts of the rabbinical tool chest to help elucidate our weekly readings and teachings. Do they have any place in the attempt to address the spiritual and existential needs of a congregation? Can they help at all in the process of tikkun olam – repairing the world? And then I came to this passage in the current weekly reading from Bamidbar, Parashat Masei: 33:50 The Eternal spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. He said: 33:51 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you have crossed t...

(Translated from the German -- original version here .) It was our great teacher, Rav Indiana Jones, that first taught me and many other members of Beis Hollywood about the Ark of the Covenant. As a matter of fact, the film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” seems to offer a variety of insights into the nature of the Holy Ark. For example—we are taught that it is powerful, that it can destroy entire armies, that it is so mysterious and awesome that it gets a special moment of John Williams soundtrack when the Ark is discussed – and – that the Ark is today hidden away in some secret CIA warehouse. OK – perhaps all of these points aren’t really to be found in Torah. But there nonetheless seems to be a spark of truth behind the Beis Hollywood drama. We read in Parashat Terumah about the construction of the Ark of the Covenant—its material, its size and so forth, and then we come upon: (Exodus) 25:18 You are to make two cherubim of gold; you are to make them of hammered metal on the two ends o...

So -- I finally posted something, just not here. For my German speaking friends, family and colleagues I have set up a sister-blog to post the Drashot that I actually write down. (Oy -- I know -- once again bad BAD Paul.) The fact is, Geiger has a policy that all Drashot are written minimum 8 - days before a pulpit visit, that our Director of Student Placement can review and make suggestions/changes to a sermon. I actually believe this to be a positive idea, I am just not always successful in complying as it takes me ten times as long to formulate my thoughts in written German and I am still much more comfortable with five bullet points and free speaking. That being said, complying with my school's wishes is important, and in an effort to push myself, I will publish any Drashot that I successfully get on paper before a deadline. I have to give here also a huge shout-out to my German coach that has been helping me more than I can say getting this stuff done, and that made the ...

In the course of my rabbinical studies I have already been gifted with amazing opportunities and experiences. This summer as I study in Jerusalem at the Steinsaltz Yeshiva , however, one of the most intense of these experiences has arisen -- I was invited to sing with the choir at the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem for Selichot and the High Holy Days. Well, streaming vids are worth several terabytes worth of words, so I am posting a link to a video here -- sorry, I cannot imbed it and the site is all Hebrew -- that might help shed a little light on the nature of the experience. Several groups filmed Selichot this year at the Great Synagogue -- the sound is not great but certainly gives a little idea as to the nature of the music. For those of you that are not Jewish, and maybe even for some that are, this might be a bit of an alien experience. This video is 25 edited minutes from a 3 hour service that lasted until 1 in the morning (and unfortunately does not contain the early part...

I have been thinking a lot recently about the old New Age maxim that we create our own reality. This is a thought form that has existed in many guises throughout history, but hit the global collective conscious in the 60s. The only problem is that we didn’t really create are own reality – all the wonderful energy that went into this seems to have been somehow either misplaced or re-directed into the desire to create the reality of acquisition. Either way, the concept has been nagging at me recently and demanded my consideration. As one who has struggled my entire life with at times paralyzing amounts of self criticism, I have to lay my own challenge to the maxim. On the one hand, the idea of creating one’s own reality is freeing. It means that once we begin the process of challenging and questioning with the hope of living a conscious life-- as opposed to the birth-default mode of living life purely through the will and pattern of tribe/family/faith into which “chance” brought us—...

I haven't known what to write about the latest incident of "tractor terror" in Jerusalem this past week. The first one took place near the open-air market that both Sandra and I frequented, and the violation of one of my "homes" affected me. But the latest one took place one block from HUC in one direction and ended one block from where Sandra and I lived in the other direction. So rather than try to address it, I want to share the words of the Dean of the HUC Jerusalem campus (and one of the finest gentlemen I have ever had the pleasure of learning from) that were posted in the Jerusalem post. Reform Reflections: Life and death on King David street Posted by Rabbi Michael Marmur For much of my adult life I have studied, taught and worked on King David Street in Jerusalem. It is certainly no ordinary work address. World leaders stay there - in recent months we have played host to Bush, Blair, then Bush again, Blair, Rice...

(Picture note: One of my favorite of the Chagall Windows at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. The inspiration for the windows, other than Chagall's purely amazing creativity, was the section of Torah dealing with Israel/Jacob's blessings to his sons. The blessing that inspires this window starts, "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall." Why is בן פרת, literally "descendant that bears fruit" repeated? I think because Torah, above else, has power by forcing us to ask questions and always examine and move forward in our lives, rather than leaving status quo alone. There is always work to do. As descendants of Israel we continue to ask the questions prompted by a repeated word here, and extra pronoun there. And in those Kleinigkeiten we find G-d because G-d is in the process of making connections much more than any temporary answer that we would wish to stand on and claim to be the only truth. At le...

(Picture Note -- Sandra and I at the beach in Tel Aviv -- I am really going to miss this place.) During our first weeks in rabbinical school, we were told that our program was a combination professional school, graduate school, and seminary. Although I believe that there is truth in this analysis (after all, our hours spent in class seem to reflect three programs rather than one) I think that there is also an indefinable fourth school at play—let’s call it the discard-all-preconceived-notions-school— perhaps we might even call it the “pay close attention and you might learn something really valuable” school. HUC chooses to call it the “Israel Seminar,” and for anyone who decided this year to allow for the possibility that someone in Israel might know something more than they about this region, the Israel Seminar provided an education that money simply cannot buy. I had my own share of preconceptions about Israel . As a self-proclaimed moderate I believed that I possessed ...

In conjunction with His Royal Highness Prince el Hassan bin Talal of Jordan ( recent winner of the Abraham Geiger Award ) and Dr. Hans Küng , President of the Global Ethic Foundation, Switzerland, the Director of my school in Germany, Dr. Rabbi Walter Homolka ( hier auf Deutsch ), issued the following statement that I wished to pass on to all. We—Muslim, Jewish, and Christian—decry the violent attack targeting the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem this week. The murder of eight students is a tragedy for all people of faith. We strongly condemn this act of violence at a Jewish religious seminary. Such aggression contributes to the vicious cycle of violence that has tormented Israel-Palestine and the region. Gaza has been under Israeli military attack for a week. Dozens of Palestinians have died on Israel’s southern border with the territory, where militants have launched Qassam rocket attacks into Israeli southern towns for more than a month. Just this week, international huma...

(Picture note: In a discussion of G-d, one might as well show a picture of the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee. There must be a connection there somewhere.) It is not particularly easy to give up a comfortable image of "God." The bearded-one in the sky may to some extent be a straw-man used by some to denigrate those that are perceived to have a less sophisticated spirituality. I am pretty sure that I may have even done that a few times, but I am not sure any more of my own wisdom enough to mock anyone else's definition. I cannot personally agree with a personal father/savior anthropomorphism, but I also can no longer throw quite the same stones. This is all merely a long and drawn out introduction to say that the struggle to re-allow spirituality into your life when years ago the concept and trappings both were given up for dead is in many ways a semantic struggle. Since most of us think in words we formulate most of our spirituality in words and are therefor force...

(Picture note: 17th century Italian Ark from the Istanbuli Syanagogue in Old City, Jerusalem.) I suppose that for a future rabbi the fact that Synagogues are such a comforting place is a good thing. After all, if everything works out I’ll be spending a bit of time in them for the remainder of my life. So this wonderful opportunity to continue exploring all shapes and sizes and traditions of Synagogues is as much an exploration of what exactly about synagogues gives this comfort as it is expanding that comfort zone. As the prayerbook daily becomes more familiar, thanks to that melding of activities called “liturgy class” and “improving my Hebrew,” some of the last things that were not comfortable have given away and allowed me to finally face things that are truly uncomfortable. Before anyone comments that this makes no sense, let me try and clarify. When I attended Hebrew University last summer and spent the majority of my prayer time between the two orthodox...

( Photo -- The House Channukia of Chez Andrews-Strasko working really hard to give some light in that darkness, 8th Day of Hanukkah, 5766. Taken from my mobile phone, I think the effects are kinda trippy.) First of all, let's all clear up a misconception. You may have heard that Hanukkah is a "minor" holiday. Aha! The power of language! I am not sure what "minor" is translated from in other languages, but I do know that when most of us hear the word "minor" we tend to translate that as "insignificant" or "only really important in the US because we have to give gifts to our kids so that we don't hear complaints like 'Johnny and Suzi are Episcopalian and they get gifts -- why can't we be Episcopalian?'" Not meaning to be pedantic (ok, maybe I am but I'll try to keep it 'minor') but the reason this connotively incorrect lable is applied is not because Hanukkah lacks significance, but simply because it does ...