Note: This is the sermon I gave this week. Before the election was called. Which happened during services this week. I chose not to announce it because it could wait. Nonetheless I will never forget the moment I heard.

Chesed of Abraham

This week is big. Not for those reasons. That’s a discussion for another time. We learn a lot about Abraham and our need to show to chesed to everyone. Imagine sitting in the heat of the day and you just had your brit milah—your circumcision. Which you did to yourself. You hurt. You are tired. And no less than G-d, the Healer, G-d your Friend, appears, shows up to comfort you in your pain. And then you raise your eyes and three anashim, men appear, Or maybe they are angels, or beings. You race to take care of them. Your tent is open to all four sides exactly so you can welcome guests from wherever they appear. Two big values, Jewish values—visiting the sick, bikkur holim and chanasat orchim, welcoming guests. Each made harder but not impossible by COVID-19. Nonetheless they are critically important to creating the kind of society we want to be a part of. Friday night we brainstormed ways to keep connected.

The third mitzvah, and what sets Abraham apart from Noah, is he argues with G-d. Abraham was righteous, because he argued on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. If there were just 10 righteous people, Sodom and Gomorrah would not be destroyed. From this we learn that 10 people is the necessary number, the bare minimum to have a community. Last night we talked about why 10.

Today, I want to talk about what a community is. We know that we need a minyan to say Kaddish or Barechu or to read Torah. We know that the nature of community is changing. Look at your faces…we are gathered together electronically. We are a community. We count this as a minyan. Even a few years ago that might not have happened. So what is it that we want from a community. In starting a new Jewish community out on the prairie for example, you need three things: a cemetery, a school and a mikveh. You need to take care of the widow, the orphan, the sojourner. You need to teach. You need to come together to daven, to pray, to celebrate a marriage or a birth. You need to bury the dead and comfort the bereaved.

Let’s look at Abraham’s argument.

Abraham demands, calls upon G-d to be just. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Gen.18:25) Doing justly is being righteous. It is an act of kindness, chesed. These are often linked in our tradition. G-d is both full of lovingkindness and just.

So this argument with G-d is set in that context. And it is why Abraham is called a righteous person contrasted with Noah who was a righteous person in his generation. Abraham dares to argue with G-d. Abraham dares to stand up. He is not a bystander. Last week we looked at another instance of Abraham not standing idly by. He rescued his nephew Lot. Here he is arguing not just for Lot but for the whole community. Later we are told in Leviticus, “Do not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds.” So part of being in community is standing up for one another—even if that means arguing with G-d.

As Von Rad said, “The issue here is not one of mere numbers, but as presented, it is a story about who God will be. This strikes the modern ear as presumptuous, but the text leads us in this direction. Many have seen in this text an important principle taking shape: will the righteous be able to act in behalf of the guilty? “Should not a small minority of guiltless men be so important before God that this minority should cause a reprieve for the whole community?” (http://www.crivoice.org/gen18and22.htm#-11-)

Did you know that G-d prays? What does G-d pray? That G-d compassion with overrule G-d’s justice. That G-d’s house will be a house of prayer for all people. Here is the story in the Talmud:

Yochanan says in the name of R. Yosi:
How do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, says prayers?
Because it says: ‘Even them will I bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer’ (Isaiah 56:7).

It is not said, ‘their prayer’, but ‘My prayer’; hence we learn that the Holy Blessed One, says prayers.

What does G-d pray? R. Zutra b. Tobi said in the name of Rav:

‘May it be My will that My mercy, my compassion may suppress My anger, and that My mercy may prevail over My [other] attributes, so that I may deal with My children in the attribute of mercy and, on their behalf, stop short of the limit of strict justice.’ (Berachot 7a)

This phrase from Isaiah is over the doors of many synagogues, including the one that Simon grew up in, Chicago Sinai. May this house be a house of prayer for all peoples. May it be true of this house too. That too is an act of kindness.

Later in this parsha, it seems that Lot offers up his daughters, to spare the guests in his house. And Abraham, the righteous one, who just argued to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, offers up Sarah to Abimelech. This chapter maybe the original #MeToo Movement. But in fact, G-d rescues Lot’s daughters. G-d rescues Sarah. Let’s also not overlook Abimelech. Abimelech is outraged that Abraham has tricked him into “taking” Sarah. This is a great moment for the universalism that is Judaism. And the first mention of “to pray”, l’hitpaleil, a reflexive verb is Abraham praying for Abimelech. And Abimelech is healed, by G-d, the Healer. So our parsha has come full circle.

We know that to be a mensch, to exhibit acts of love and kindness, to do justly means to visit the sick, welcome guests, not stand idly by and yes, even argue with G-d. Those are the messages of kindness in this week’s parsha. May we have the courage to do them here today.

We have spoken about Aleinu calling for l’takein olam b’malchut shadai, a repair of the world. On that day, the Lord will be one and G-d’s name will be One. Here is Judy Chicago’s version in her The Merger Poem:

And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind

And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another’s will

And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many

And then all will share equally in the Earth’s abundance

And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old

And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life’s creatures

And then everywhere will be called Eden once again

Copyright Judy Chicago, 1979.

Here is my poem that I wrote to my congregation expressing a similar thing that I read before Kaddish:

Ours is not to finish the task
The election was never the task.

The task is to create a society
Where everyone is free
Where everyone is recognized
Created in the image of G-d
Where we love G-d
Where we support the widow
Take care of the orphan
Love the stranger

Where we love our neighbors as ourselves.
Where we take care of one another.

But this is hard.
People want to take care of themselves.
Their own family
Their own needs
The physical ones and the spiritual ones.

Abram went on a journey
He left his country
The land of his birth
His parents’ home
To a land that he didn’t know.
Full of uncertainty.
Taking care of his needs
Yet he raced to welcome guests.
He fed them.
He bathed them.
He refreshed their souls.

Mirroring Abram,
Our ancestors went on a journey
To a land, this land, that they didn’t know
Filled with uncertainty
To be.a light on the hill
To create a society
Where they were free
To love G-d
As they saw fit.
To escape persecution,
Whether the Puritans
Or those chased out
Of Eastern Europe, Western Europe
The Mediterranean Basin
The whole world
To come here.
To care for themselves
And for one another
Not one or the other.
Both.

Yet it turns out.
Caring is hard.
Kindness is hard.
Love is hard.

We forget
We revert to old patterns
We put our individualism
Ahead of the common good.

It is time to remember.
Love yourself.
Love your neighbor.
Love the widow, the orphan the stranger.
Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with G-d.

Ours is not to finish the task
Neither are we free to ignore it.

 

 

My mother died on Election Day in 2008. It seems like it was a lifetime ago. The world seemed full of optimism and hope. Even her hospital room. Even in Grand Rapids, MI. That Grand Rapids, where the President ended his campaign last last night. That Grand Rapids, where President Ford was the sitting President when I took civics in High School and he was the hometown boy. Where my mother was actively involved, Girl Scout leader, PTO, League of Women Voters, Ladies Literary Club and so much more. So it seemed natural that I as a rabbi would teach for her yahrzeit. Here is what I taught:

Pre-Election Teaching in Memory of Nelle Frisch

Some people mark a yahrzeit with a candle. Some with saying Kaddish. Some by offering a teaching. As a rabbi, I teach.

We will look at

• Historical and Current Prayers for our Country
• Why Jews are proud to participate in democracy and citizenship
• Talk about the flag above prepared by the Bureau of Jewish Education several election cycles ago
• What the ancient Jewish sources have said about government

We will end with Kaddish.

Grant Us Peace

Grant us peace. Your most precious gift, O Eternal Source of Peace,
and give us the will to proclaim its message to all the peoples of the earth.
Bless our country, that it may always be a stronghold of peace,
and its advocate among the nations.
May contentment reign within its borders, health and happiness within its homes.
Strengthen the bonds of friendship among the inhabitants of all lands.
And may the love of Your name hallow every home and every heart.
Blessed is the Eternal God, the source of Peace.
– From The Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayer Book,
by the Central Conferences of American Rabbis

In another era this was my mother’s confirmation speech at Shereth Emeth in Saint Louis in 1938 from the Union Prayer Book with all the thees and thous. She then read it at my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah in 2003 at Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley.

What the ancient Jewish sources have said about government:

“Be sure to place over yourselves the king that God elects for you” (Deut. 17:14–15). God chose the first king, Saul (1 Sam. 9:16–17), but God’s choice for the second king, David, was confirmed by “all of Israel’s elders” (2 Sam. 5:3). And the third king, Solomon, ruled in David’s bloodline but “all the people” together ratified his accession (1 Kings 1:39).

Rabbi Isaac said: One does not appoint a leader for a community without consulting the community, as it is written, “See, the Eternal has singled out by name Betzalel” (Exodus 35:30). The Holy One said to Moses, “Moses, is Bezalel worthy in your opinion to be a leader?” Moses answered to God, “Ruler of the Universe, if he is worthy before You, how could he possibly not be worthy before me?” God said to him, “Even so, go and ask them.” (Berachot 55a)

1. Be cautious with the government, for they only bring a person close to them for their own needs. They appear as friends when it benefits them, but they do not stand by a person in his time of difficulty. (Pirke Avot 2:3)
2. Rabbi Hanina, the vice-high priest said: pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every man would swallow his neighbor alive. (Pirke Avot 3:2)
3. Rabbeinu Yonah, 13^th-century Spanish rabbi, Talmudist, and ethicist, explained this passage in the following way to emphasize the importance of Jews praying for the welfare of all people: “Man would swallow his fellow alive: This matter is wanting to say that a person should pray for the peace of the whole world and be in pain about the pain of others. […] As a person should not make his supplications and his requests for his needs alone, but rather to pray for all people, that they be at peace. As with the welfare of the government, there is peace in the world.”

Judaism and Civic Engagement:

Questions:

• How do we continue to have civil discourse?
• How do we reconcile these values if we see something else happening?
• What is the difference between political and partisan?

“Judaism teaches us that voting is not just a civic duty. In fact, throughout Jewish history, many of our rabbis and sages have framed voting as a mitzvah, a Jewish imperative.

Our tradition views us as working in partnership with God to create a better world – as we pray in the Aleinu prayer, l’takein olam b’malchut Shaddai – and Torah calls on us to pursue justice, to care for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan, and to sustain our world.

We are further taught to “choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30). Choosing life is a positive action, reminding us that we have to make choices to create the world we want to live in. Voting, in a democratic society, is such an example of making a choice.

Rabbi Yitzhak taught that “A ruler is not to be appointed unless the community is first consulted” (Babylonian Talmud Berachot 55a), further explaining that in the Torah, Bezalel could be chosen to build the Tabernacle only with the community’s approval. This deeply embedded ethic of political participation has guided Jews to enthusiastically participate in the democratic process.” Rabbi Dara Lithwick

Chazon Ish (a Russian-born Orthodox rabbi who spent his later years in Palestine/Israel, 1878-1953) to explain that he didn’t have enough money to pay his taxes; therefore, he would not be allowed to vote in an upcoming election.

Hearing the man’s dilemma, the Chazon Ish responded: “You should sell your tefillin and pay the taxes… tefillin, you can borrow from another, but the right to vote you cannot get from someone else.” Rabbi David Russo

Historical and Current Prayers for our Country:

And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the LORD in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper…For thus said the LORD: When Babylon’s seventy years are over, I will take note of you, and I will fulfill to you My promise of favor—to bring you back to this place. For I am mindful of the plans I have made concerning you—declares the LORD—plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a hopeful future. When you call Me, and come and pray to Me, I will give heed to you. You will search for Me and find Me, if only you seek Me wholeheartedly. (Jeremiah 29:7, 10-13)

Yoḥanan said in the name of R. Yosi: From where [do we know] that the Holy Blessed One prays? As it is said, I will bring them to the mount of my sacredness, and let them rejoice in the house of my prayer (Isaiah 56:7) – ‘their prayer’ is not said, rather my prayer. From here [we know] that the Holy Blessed One prays. What does he pray? R. Zutra b. Tuviah said that Rav said: May it be my will that my compassion subdue my anger, and my compassion prevail over my [other] qualities, and I will behave with my children with my quality of compassion, and I will enter before them short of the line of the law. (Berachot 7a)

HaNoten Teshuah:
May the One who grants victory to kings and dominion to princes, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, who delivers His servant David from the evil sword1, who makes a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters, bless and protect, guard and help, exalt, magnify and uplift–
Our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria and Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales and the entire Royal Family

May the supreme King of Kings in His mercy grant them life, and protect them, and save them from every trouble, woe and injury. May nations submit under their feet, may their enemies fall before them, and may they succeed in all their endeavors.

May the supreme King of Kings in His mercy put into their hearts and the hearts of all their counselors and officials, to deal kindly with us and all Israel. In their days and in ours, may Judah be saved and Israel live in safety, and may the Redeemer come to ZIon. May this be His will and let us say, Amen.

(Based on prayers of Sephardic Jews in the 16th century. It was already widespread by the 1660’s, including in England, where this version originates. (“Hanoten Teshua’ The Origin of the Traditional Jewish Prayer for the Government,” Barry Schwartz) Thanks to T’ruah for supplying this one. 

A prayer for the country written after the ratification of our Constitution in 1789 by a Jewish Congregation in Richmond, Virginia. It is displayed in Philadelphia at the National Museum of American Jewish History. Note: Washington spelled out as an acrostic.

Translation: We beseech thee, O Lord to have the President of the United States … and all U.S. Senators and Representatives … grant them such a share of knowledge that will tend to the happiness of the people … that they may wisely and successfully execute the trust committed to their care, that knowledge, religion, and piety, arts and sciences, may increase, and that agriculture and manufactures, trade and commerce, may flourish.

Our God and God of our ancestors: We ask Your blessings for our country – for its government, for its leaders and advisors, and for all who exercise just and rightful authority. Teach them insights of Your Torah, that they may administer all affairs of state fairly, that peace and security, happiness and prosperity, justice and freedom may forever abide in our midst.
Creator of all flesh, bless all the inhabitants of our country with Your spirit. May citizens of all races and creeds forge a common bond in true harmony, to banish hatred and bigotry, and to safeguard the ideals and free institutions that are the pride and glory of 6ur country.
May this land, under Your Providence, be an influence for good throughout the world, uniting all people in peace and freedom – and helping them to fulfill the vision of Your prophet: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they experience war any more.” And let us say: Amen. Siddur Sim Shalom

Grant us peace. Your most precious gift, O Eternal Source of Peace,
and give us the will to proclaim its message to all the peoples of the earth.
Bless our country, that it may always be a stronghold of peace,
and its advocate among the nations.
May contentment reign within its borders, health and happiness within its homes.
Strengthen the bonds of friendship among the inhabitants of all lands.
And may the love of Your name hallow every home and every heart.
Blessed is the Eternal God, the source of Peace.
– From The Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayer Book,
by the Central Conferences of American Rabbis

And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind

And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another’s will

And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many

And then all will share equally in the Earth’s abundance

And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old

And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life’s creatures

And then everywhere will be called Eden once again

Copyright Judy Chicago, 1979.

Prayers for Voting:
Baruch Atah Adonai Elohaynu Melech Ha-olam
She-asani Ben/Bat Chorin –
Thank you, Power of all time and space, for making me a free person.
The morning blessings as recited by Rabbi Jon Spira-Savett, Nashua, NH

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam,
she–me׳tzapeh me’itanu l’asok b’avodat ezrachut ha’medina.
Blessed are you, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the Universe,
who expects us to engage as citizens in our country.
Rabbi Laura Novak Winer

A Blessing for Holy Act of Voting and America
HaMakom, holy space and energy, source of creation, wonder and kindness, the all-powerful, all-merciful, the one who breathed us into being…I have something to say to you.
I am furious.
I am terrified.
I am fragile and struggling.
I know I am not alone. We the people are struggling.
I am optimistic by nature but I feel like I am being tested, stretched to the edge of my soul’s spiritual boundary.
I know I am not alone. We the people are on edge.
I yearn to meet this moment with love, kindness, and humility – but I watch the violence of words and deeds, the degradation of your holiest creations. I watch our fellow citizens amplifying fear to cement their precarious grip on white dominance. I seek your strength to counter hate with love.
For those who seek to incite violence and preach hate, we call on you to soften their hearts and make heavy their lips.
We call on you to foil those who plot to toss out ballots like trash in the dead of night, to intimidate voters, to fray our democratic systems.
We call on you to let every vote, every voice count.
Guide us to be stonecatchers – to soften the blows of hatred – to absorb the rascally rhetoric of distrust and discord.
Stoke in our hearts the fires of freedom and nonviolent action, to rise to meet this moment, on the streets and in our communities.
Make each of us courageous citizens, elevate our voices, bodies, and spirits, so that in our own way, we collectively inch closer to making this a more perfect union.
Brighten the divine spark embedded in each of us so that we may brighten the days and years ahead of this great nation.
Make each of us like honey bees. May we collaborate to create divine nectar that sweetens life for all, reducing suffering for all, allowing us to reset, re-imagine, and re-encounter our brothers and sisters be they blue or red or purple.
Remind us, we too are divine.
Remind us, we too are loved and matter.
Remind us, November 3rd is just one more day in the lifetime of this nation.
Michebeirach avoteinu v’emoteinu – may the one who blessed our ancestors, force of love and compassion, hold us close as we venture forth – arm in arm – as we secure the blessings of liberty for all. Amen.
Rabbi Benjamin Ross

God Who commands us, “You shall not remain indifferent” (Deuteronomy 22:3); Whose Prophet taught us, “Seek the welfare of the community… and pray to the Lord on its behalf” (Jeremiah 29:7); I am about to cast my vote in America’s Presidential election. Be with me as I discharge this sacred duty… for, as President John F. Kennedy wrote:

“In a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, ‘holds office;’ every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities.”

And as his vice president observed: “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice.”

Keep us mindful of the wisdom of Senator Margaret Chase Smith: “Freedom unexercised may become freedom forfeited” …and of Aeschylus: “In the lack of judgment great harm arises, but one vote cast can set right a house.”

May my vote help secure for all people the blessing invoked by our first President, welcoming the Jewish Community to the United States:

“May the Father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.”

AMEN.
Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the former National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.

Eternal God,
Compassionate Judge,
Concerned Creator,
Spirit of Oneness
Infused into our very existence,
As we exercise our responsibility
As citizens
To decide who will lead us
In the coming years,
Help us to emulate your essential attributes:
Mercy
Grace
Patience
Outrage that leads to productive action
A pursuit and sharing of the truth
Kindness
Forgiveness
and the awareness that what we do in any moment
Can have long lasting consequences.
May the gifts of insight and wisdom
Which you have made available to us
Enable us to combat, in all forms
Cruelty
Violence
Prejudice
Hatred
Discrimination
The misuse of systems of justice
The spreading of misinformation
Intimidation of opponents due to seeing them as less than human.
We know that You have provided us with the tools and the capacity
To love ourselves, our family, our friends, our neighbors,
and people whom we do not yet know.
When we see love, consideration, and decency disappearing
From our communities, our nation and our world,
May we find a way to take a stand
And to join with others
To preserve love – and peace – within our souls
Within our relationships
And within the unseen but powerful ties
That bind together all human beings with all of Your creation.
Rabbi Larry Karol, rabbi emeritus in Las Cruces, NM

May G-d grant me wisdom
Wisdom to choose carefully
Wisdom to hear all the sides
Wisdom to open my mouth with kindness
Wisdom to protect the widow, the orphan and the stranger
Wisdom to love my neighbor as myself
Wisdom to not stand idly by
Wisdom to allow my need for justice be overruled by compassion

May I know that with this vote
I choose
I choose to vote

I vote for hope
I vote for freedom
And peace
I vote for the earth
And the world
I vote for my neighbors
And the sojourners
I vote for my descendants
I vote with my community
And my nation
I vote for myself,
By myself
I vote.
Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein