Time To Wake Up
Two elderly Jews, who haven't seen each other in 50 years, meet, slowly recognize one another, and embrace. They go back to one of their apartments to talk about the days long ago.
The conversation continues for hours. Night falls. One asks the other, "Look at your watch. What time is it?"
"I don't have a watch," says the second.
"Then look at the clock."
"I don't have a clock."
"Then how do you tell the time?"
"You see that trumpet in the corner?" said the man. "That's how I tell the time."
"You're crazy," says the first. "How can you tell the time with a trumpet?"
"I'll show you," said the other man, picking up the trumpet and blowing a deafening blast out the open window.
Thirty seconds later, an angry neighbor shouts, "Two thirty in the morning, and you're playing the trumpet!?"
The man turns to his friend and says, "You see? That's how you tell the time with a trumpet."
Confident Speech
There is a lovely short prayer recited five times on Yom Kippur. It reads like this:
"And so, Lord our G-d, grant honor to Your people, glory to those who are in awe of You, good hope to those who seek You, confident speech to those who yearn for You, joy to Your land, and gladness to Your city..."
What is the meaning of these words, "Confident speech to those who yearn for You"?
The Obsession
One of the great enigmas of history is the world's obsession with the Jewish people.
From our very inception 3,700 years ago, and throughout our long history until this very day, we, the Jewish people, have evoked a fiery and passionate response. Jews, it seems, never knew how to play "Little League", staying out of the world's spotlight. We have been always playing "Big League", caught up in the center of world events. Over the past four millennia, almost every great culture and civilization has been obsessed with the Jew, for better or for worse.
When a guru sits and meditates on a mountaintop, who blinks an eye? When Indian shamans smoke peyote and go into a trance, who pays attention? When a monk secludes himself in a monastery, who cares? But when the world spots a Jew, even an assimilated and self-hating Jew, it experiences an allergic reaction.
Nor is the situation any different today. Indonesia has a population of 300 million people. How often do you hear about it? Israel has a population of under seven million, yet barely a day goes by without front-page news from this little piece of land the size of New Jersey. The Muslims blame all their woes on Israel. Many Christians (no doubt recently re-inspired by Mel Gibson's Passion) accuse Jews of deicide, and many extreme liberals and atheists blame the Jews for the scourge of terrorism. Nations who don't see eye-to-eye on anything, many of whose populations have never even met a Jew, unanimously agree that Israel is guilty of many sins. The only thing you can get the United Nations to agree on is condemning Israel. The Jew appears to be the great unifier, possessing the ability to unite the world in a profound and unique way.
A war rages in Iraq between US troops and Islamic killers. Who is caught in the crossfire? Israel. And when, for a few days, no news comes from Israel, the Jew - in the form of AIPAC - emerges in the media as a suspect for controlling the Pentagon.
Why the obsession with a people who never constituted more than one percent of the world's population? Why can't the world ever forget about us? Why do we generate so much interest without intentionally wanting to do so?
To quote a line from My Favorite Year: "Jews are great at two things: suffering, and finding great Chinese restaurants." Well, why can't we just be left alone to focus on our second great quality?
History As A Progression Of Sermons
The Land of Israel's first Chief Rabbi, Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), a brilliant mystic and philosopher, once formulated his own daring response to this age-old question. Whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, it is an idea we must reflect upon in our present situation.
All cultures, civilizations and peoples, suggested Rabbi Kook, have emerged on the world arena to grant humanity a unique contribution: a philosophical perspective, a scientific truth, an artistic expression, a political principle, a technological development and the like. Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, and so many other cultures and states left their individual mark - small or large - on civilization. But once the people or civilization gave the world the gift of its genius, it left the center stage of history. The civilizations presented their "sermon" with great pathos and then moved on, to allow for the next "speaker" to emerge and deliver his subsequent message to humanity.
How about the Jews? From the moment they ascended to the center stage of history to deliver their message to the world, they have never descended. They have not even moved slightly off stage. The Jewish people remained standing in the center of every age and milieu in history. While the Greeks and Romans of old have vanished, the Jews still manage to constitute the hot topic at dinner parties and political conventions the world over.
Why?
Because, says Rabbi Kook, after 4,000 years of existence, they are still stuttering. The Jews have yet to deliver their message to the world with unwavering dignity and unambiguous clarity. We stand there, on center stage, the eyes of the world upon us on a virtually daily basis, but we speak in half sentences and apologetic undertones, continuously turning around to make sure we are not offending anybody. Lacking the courage to present ourselves for who we really are and what we really have to share with the world, humanity awaits with bated breath for the real Jew to stand up and speak.
Some Jews recoil into religion, shunning the world and ignoring its reality. Others travel in the other direction, attempting desperately to accommodate modernity and not come across as "too Jewish". Yet Judaism in its purest sense is the courageous attempt to generate that romantic kiss between heaven and earth, to uncover the truth that the G-d of the heavens and the reality of earth are truly one .
Our ambivalence often stems from our own confusion about whether we could place our wholehearted trust in our tradition, in our Torah, in our faith. Many of us feel that to embrace Torah in a modern world is unsophisticated and fundamentalist. Even Jews who adhere to a lifestyle governed by Torah feel that the Torah is good for their families and communities, but that it can't stand up to the pragmatic reality on earth. Washington and the United Nations are too "goyish" for Torah. They will never accept Torah. So our leaders, rabbis, politicians, journalists and spokesmen stand there during press conferences and stutter.
[Part 1 of 2]
Two elderly Jews, who haven't seen each other in 50 years, meet, slowly recognize one another, and embrace. They go back to one of their apartments to talk about the days long ago.
The conversation continues for hours. Night falls. One asks the other, "Look at your watch. What time is it?"
"I don't have a watch," says the second.
"Then look at the clock."
"I don't have a clock."
"Then how do you tell the time?"
"You see that trumpet in the corner?" said the man. "That's how I tell the time."
"You're crazy," says the first. "How can you tell the time with a trumpet?"
"I'll show you," said the other man, picking up the trumpet and blowing a deafening blast out the open window.
Thirty seconds later, an angry neighbor shouts, "Two thirty in the morning, and you're playing the trumpet!?"
The man turns to his friend and says, "You see? That's how you tell the time with a trumpet."
Confident Speech
There is a lovely short prayer recited five times on Yom Kippur. It reads like this:
"And so, Lord our G-d, grant honor to Your people, glory to those who are in awe of You, good hope to those who seek You, confident speech to those who yearn for You, joy to Your land, and gladness to Your city..."
What is the meaning of these words, "Confident speech to those who yearn for You"?
The Obsession
One of the great enigmas of history is the world's obsession with the Jewish people.
From our very inception 3,700 years ago, and throughout our long history until this very day, we, the Jewish people, have evoked a fiery and passionate response. Jews, it seems, never knew how to play "Little League", staying out of the world's spotlight. We have been always playing "Big League", caught up in the center of world events. Over the past four millennia, almost every great culture and civilization has been obsessed with the Jew, for better or for worse.
When a guru sits and meditates on a mountaintop, who blinks an eye? When Indian shamans smoke peyote and go into a trance, who pays attention? When a monk secludes himself in a monastery, who cares? But when the world spots a Jew, even an assimilated and self-hating Jew, it experiences an allergic reaction.
Nor is the situation any different today. Indonesia has a population of 300 million people. How often do you hear about it? Israel has a population of under seven million, yet barely a day goes by without front-page news from this little piece of land the size of New Jersey. The Muslims blame all their woes on Israel. Many Christians (no doubt recently re-inspired by Mel Gibson's Passion) accuse Jews of deicide, and many extreme liberals and atheists blame the Jews for the scourge of terrorism. Nations who don't see eye-to-eye on anything, many of whose populations have never even met a Jew, unanimously agree that Israel is guilty of many sins. The only thing you can get the United Nations to agree on is condemning Israel. The Jew appears to be the great unifier, possessing the ability to unite the world in a profound and unique way.
A war rages in Iraq between US troops and Islamic killers. Who is caught in the crossfire? Israel. And when, for a few days, no news comes from Israel, the Jew - in the form of AIPAC - emerges in the media as a suspect for controlling the Pentagon.
Why the obsession with a people who never constituted more than one percent of the world's population? Why can't the world ever forget about us? Why do we generate so much interest without intentionally wanting to do so?
To quote a line from My Favorite Year: "Jews are great at two things: suffering, and finding great Chinese restaurants." Well, why can't we just be left alone to focus on our second great quality?
History As A Progression Of Sermons
The Land of Israel's first Chief Rabbi, Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), a brilliant mystic and philosopher, once formulated his own daring response to this age-old question. Whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, it is an idea we must reflect upon in our present situation.
All cultures, civilizations and peoples, suggested Rabbi Kook, have emerged on the world arena to grant humanity a unique contribution: a philosophical perspective, a scientific truth, an artistic expression, a political principle, a technological development and the like. Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, and so many other cultures and states left their individual mark - small or large - on civilization. But once the people or civilization gave the world the gift of its genius, it left the center stage of history. The civilizations presented their "sermon" with great pathos and then moved on, to allow for the next "speaker" to emerge and deliver his subsequent message to humanity.
How about the Jews? From the moment they ascended to the center stage of history to deliver their message to the world, they have never descended. They have not even moved slightly off stage. The Jewish people remained standing in the center of every age and milieu in history. While the Greeks and Romans of old have vanished, the Jews still manage to constitute the hot topic at dinner parties and political conventions the world over.
Why?
Because, says Rabbi Kook, after 4,000 years of existence, they are still stuttering. The Jews have yet to deliver their message to the world with unwavering dignity and unambiguous clarity. We stand there, on center stage, the eyes of the world upon us on a virtually daily basis, but we speak in half sentences and apologetic undertones, continuously turning around to make sure we are not offending anybody. Lacking the courage to present ourselves for who we really are and what we really have to share with the world, humanity awaits with bated breath for the real Jew to stand up and speak.
Some Jews recoil into religion, shunning the world and ignoring its reality. Others travel in the other direction, attempting desperately to accommodate modernity and not come across as "too Jewish". Yet Judaism in its purest sense is the courageous attempt to generate that romantic kiss between heaven and earth, to uncover the truth that the G-d of the heavens and the reality of earth are truly one .
Our ambivalence often stems from our own confusion about whether we could place our wholehearted trust in our tradition, in our Torah, in our faith. Many of us feel that to embrace Torah in a modern world is unsophisticated and fundamentalist. Even Jews who adhere to a lifestyle governed by Torah feel that the Torah is good for their families and communities, but that it can't stand up to the pragmatic reality on earth. Washington and the United Nations are too "goyish" for Torah. They will never accept Torah. So our leaders, rabbis, politicians, journalists and spokesmen stand there during press conferences and stutter.
[Part 1 of 2]