So many of us were shocked by the brutal murder of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle. Their deaths are so tragic from so many perspectives. 

         I plan to dedicate one of my weekly podcasts to my favorite Rob Reiner movie and the lesson that it can teach us. But, I prefer to wait until after the holiday season to discuss that very serious topic.

         Still, Rob Reiner’s career is very much in my mind and, speaking for so many I’m sure, our memories go back to his role as Mike Stivic in All in the Family.

         That groundbreaking situation comedy was such a powerful influence in this country beginning in 1970 and carrying us with it through most of the decade. Many of the issues presented in that series had never previously been discussed on TV in any format and the characters were memorable for all who watched the show regularly.

         I referred to All in the Family on several occasions in sermons and in print. But two sermons focused directly on the series. The first one, posted below, is a sermon I delivered in 2013. The second sermon will be posted at a later time.  This 2013 sermon is not about the character of Mike Stivic but does mention him in the context of the program. I look forward to posting the second sermon and urge you to listen to my podcast, Wrestling and Dreaming, Engaging Discussions on Judaism, at wrestlinganddreaming.podbean.com or other sources for podcasts to hear my thoughts on my favorite Rob Reiner movie when I post that podcast episode in January. 

         May the memories of Rob and Michelle Singer Reiner be for a blessing and may their family find comfort during difficult days. 

Here is my sermon from 2013:

                           In Memory of a Beloved Character

You are about to hear a eulogy.  But, this eulogy is different. It is a eulogy for a fictional character. In one sense, the eulogy should have been given at the time of the character’s death in 1980. But I wasn’t a Rabbi at the time and I doubt that I could have spoken as passionately and as emotionally then. With age comes maturity and historical perspective, and so, when the individual who portrayed this character, Jean Stapleton, died recently, I decided that it was my opportunity to write and deliver a eulogy for  the woman who was arguably one of the most universally beloved characters in television situation comedy history: Edith Bunker, may her memory be for a blessing.

         The 31st^st chapter of the book of Proverbs includes the section known as the Eshet Hayil, the Woman of Valor. While we all have known real life women of valor and while fictional television characters are obviously not nearly as important in our lives, they still can be teachers, and they can merit our respect, admiration and emulation. Edith was reflection of some of the verses of praise for the woman of valor from Proverbs 31.

“A woman of valor who can find: her worth is far above rubies.” 

 No one could argue that Edith was not a woman of valor- a woman of strength. She put up with the constant abuse that her husband Archie heaped upon her, tolerated and then later fully embraced the changes her daughter and son in law brought into her world, and fulfilled her chosen role as a housewife and a mother and grandmother with joy, enthusiasm and such love.

         “The heart of her husband trusts her and he lacks nothing.“

         Through thick and through thin, through good times and bad, Edith stood by her husband. She was uncomfortable with his bigotry, but she stood by him, nonetheless. She packed his lunch every day, including of course, a Twinkie, brought him his can of beer when he demanded it and made sure his white shirt was clean for work.

         But that was only part of the story and there was so much more. When Archie was burdened with worries and concerns, she held him tight at night and stroked his hair and told him things would be all right. Sometimes, she tried to sing to him but that was always a bad idea.

         And, when her daughter and son-in-law Gloria or Mike complained too much about Archie or spoke of him behind his back with anger or disgust, Edith pleaded with them to be a bit more patient, to be a bit more tolerant, to be a bit more compassionate and understanding.

         But not only did others trust in her, she trusted in others and that trust was clear in so many aspects of her life as she treated everyone, with the benefit of the doubt. 

And when that trust was shattered, in two occasions, she had the courage to confront those who disappointed her. She looked Archie in the eye when she discovered that he had been tempted to be unfaithful and uttered words which broke our hearts when we first heard them: “You were the only one I could always trust but now I can’t trust you no more”. After his eventual somewhat half hearted apology, she came back to him with love and dedication, although a bit more demanding that trust be returned.

         Edith also was a deeply religious person who found such comfort in going to church and clearly trusted in God. But her faith was shattered when her good friend, Beverly Lasalle, was killed in a mugging, and she refused at first to go back to church. Still, she persevered asking the difficult questions, confronting the collapse of her theology and, after a struggle she returned to church, less naïve, but realizing that, like so many of us in times do in times of sadness that she was desperately in need of the spiritual support that religion and a religious community gave her.

         “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and her tongue is guided by kindness”. 

       These words so beautifully describe our dear Edith.

         It goes without saying that Edith was kind. Archie called her Edith the Good and he meant it. She rarely said a bad word to anyone, opened her home to everyone regardless of race, gender or sexual identity, or political viewpoint. She embraced every friend of Archie or the children, loved her grandson with an unlimited affection and was the epitome of fairness and justice.

         But was she wise? Absolutely she was.  You see, Edith understood people. She listened with sincerity and compassion. She never went to college but had more common sense than her graduate student son-in-law. In fact, in one of the most brilliant scenes in the entire run of All in the Family, she took Mike aside and made him listen to her. She told Mike that the reason Archie insulted him so often was because he was jealous of him. She told him that he envied the choices that Mike had in life when Archie would never be more than he was. It was a brilliant observation, and the truth is that one of the underlying themes of the entire show was how much wiser Edith was than Mike who was so busy studying for his master’s degree.

         Yes, she was prone to statements which defied common sense. Who else but Edith would suggest playing a game of twenty questions to try to figure out what famous person Archie had driven in his cab that morning and then said, in her characteristic voice: “I’ll go first: Living or Dead?”

         And who else but Edith would conclude her long story about the can of cling peaches- or shall we say hmmm hmmmms- in heavy syrup-that jumped out of her carriage at the market and dented a car by saying to Archie as he sat there staring at her during her long, convoluted story: “It was a freak accident”.

         And yet, it was Edith the Good who left the note on the car with her phone number. It was Edith the Good who made Archier offer to pay the owner of the car, Father John Majeski, for the damages. And she was so wise that two minutes after he had walked into the house, Father Majeski was confessing to Edith, a lifelong protestant, his deep frustration with the job he had to do every day as a priest. Edith gave him advice. And Father Majeski listened intently.

         Edith saved a man’s life by CPR, successfully fought off a would be rapist, stood firm as the only juror to vote for acquittal of a man who was eventually exonerated of murder and, in one memorable episode, convinced Archie to perform an act of what Jewish tradition refers to as the epitome of hesed shel emet, true sincere kindness,  by paying for a proper funeral for his freeloading uncle who had died in the Bunker home. To top it all off, when she was bored at home, she dared to defy Archie, leave the house and embrace her volunteer work at the Sunshine Home with love and dedication.

         She appeared to be simple. Her shrill voice, off key singing and awkward gait around the house which reminded one of a servant afraid of being punished if she didn’t walk quickly enough made you think she was “a nothing”. But, as Gloria said very clearly after insulting her once: “Ma, I’m sorry I called you a nothing. You’re really something”.

         Some of you don’t own a TV. Some of you don’t remember All in the Family. Some of you remember it and dislike it. But most of us who remember All in the Family, loved it. And, love it still.

         All in the Family was without a question the most influential example of American popular culture in the 1970s. And, to those who question what role Edith had to play in this, look at it this way. There were many, many American women and men in 1970, the year of the show’s debut, who were not ready either to be Gloria Stivic or to be in a marriage like Gloria and Mike’s. But, as the decade moved along, and as we all watched Edith take small but critical steps to become more of an equal partner in her marriage and to impact the world outside her home as she did inside, more and more women and men warmed up to the idea that this idea of women’s demand for equality in marriage and in the world wasn’t so bad and so dangerous after all. Many learned this from those who were passionately fighting in the public arena for more respect for women. Many learned it from the simple, daring steps that Edith Bunker took as her character changed and grew through the years thanks to the superb acting of Jean Stapleton, may her memory be for a blessing.

         We have all known women whom we would call women of valor and obviously those we know in real life are more important That goes without saying. But, turning to tv, there is, I believe, one woman who stands miles above the rest for her loyalty, her love, her generosity, her cheerful attitude, her compassion and yes, her wisdom.

         May the memory of Jean Stapleton and Edith Bunker be for a blessing and an inspiration to all of us.

I delivered this d’var Torah on this week’s parashah of Hayei Sarah, without the final paragraph, twenty years ago. I found it in my files recently t and I realized how significant the topic is to me and I hope to others as well.

We all know that Jewish tradition loves to debate the meaning of verses from the Torah. Even verses which appear simple and straightforward are open to multiple interpretations and our texts are full of discussions among Rabbis as to which interpretation of a certain Torah verse is correct.

But, what is not as well known is the fact that the interpretations themselves often become the subject of great discussions. There are many interpretations which are as well known as the verses that inspired them and Rabbis endeavor to debate and discuss these interpretations as sacred texts in and of themselves.

A perfect example of this can be found when studying this week’s Torah portion. In the first verse we read of the death of Sarah and the Torah says that the years of Sarah’s life were one hundred years and twenty years and seven years.

So, naturally the Rabbis have to ask why the word year appears three times, when one mention of the word years would have been sufficient.

In reality, the language is not odd for the Torah. In fact, we read the same expression about Ishmael. He lived one hundred years and thirty years and seven years. 

But the Rabbis still wonder whether we can learn anything from the rather clumsy construction of language concerning Sarah.

There is a beautiful Midrash on this question which has become the standard interpretation for this verse which is that the Torah expresses the idea of Sarah’s age in this way to connect different periods of her life. The commentary teaches that regarding beauty, Sarah was the same at age 20 as at age 7 and regarding sin, she was the same at age 100 as she was at 20. 

This is a very well known commentary found in many sources in the tradition but it is not accepted at face value. The Rabbis of the tradition start dissecting it and debating it as if it were Torah itself. 

The first question that they ask is why is beauty mentioned at all? After all, don’t we teach in Eshet Hayil, the beloved section of Proverbs describing the Woman of Valor, that beauty is vain and is meaningless? Why highlight it here? 

One creative answer to this is that the point about Sarah being the same at 20 as at 7 regarding beauty is offered by Rabbi Yehoshua of Kutna. He points out that just as at age 7 Sarah didn’t have any awareness of or concern for her own beauty, she didn’t at age 20 either. She never paid attention to the beauty she possessed and the message of the commentary is that none of us should ever be concerned about physical beauty.

Another Rabbi actually offers a proof of this. If you were to look at the Torah scroll, you would notice that there is a letter in this section of the Torah which is smaller than any of the others. When Abraham comes to mourn Sarah, the Torah says that he came livkotah, to cry over her. The letter kaf in livkotah is smaller than the rest of the letters. This Rabbi reminds us that kaf in gematria, the numerical system attached to the letters is 20. This, says the Rabbi, proves that Sarah minimized the aspect of her life most prominent at 20, namely her beauty. 

But, other Rabbis add another piece to the entire discussion. They question whether in fact the original commentary has been in fact misquoted.

Rashi, for example, states the commentary should be stated in the opposite way. Sarah was the same regarding sin at age 20 as she was at 7 and the same regarding beauty at age 100 as she was at 20. 

This is more satisfactory to some commentators for two reasons. First, it would seem that describing an individual as beautiful would be more appropriate for a 20 year old than for a 7 year old. Thus, stressing her beauty at ages 20 and 100 is more reasonable. 

Secondly, perhaps, and this is my personal commentary, pointing out that a person was able to navigate the adolescent years between 7 and 20 and come out of them as innocent as she or he was at age 7 is a remarkable accomplishment, at least one which is important to note. 

But reading the commentary this way, we encounter the issue of whether this means she was not as free from sin at age 100 as she was at 20 and that might be problematic. 

The conclusion is that both approaches to this midrash are not completely satisfying .But, it is at this point that a beautiful commentary on the commentary on the Torah verse helps us to understand a wise, critical lesson.

In a collection of texts called May’anah shel Torah, a rabbi teaches that with advanced age comes several notable characteristics: experience, wisdom, calmness of demeanor among others while with youth comes other notable characteristics: passion, strength, seemingly boundless energy. Thus the commentary teaches us that in Sarah, those qualities, both of youth and of advanced age were mixed together as one. When she was 20, she was already blessed with the characteristics one would associate with an older person, and at 100, she had not lost the characteristics identified with youth. 

I find this be a beautiful commentary on the commentary and a beautiful teaching for us all. 

When Pharaoh responds to Moses’ demand to allow the Hebrews to leave Egypt, Pharaoah says: Mi va mi haholchim: Who is going to go? And Moses says biziknaynu ubinuraynu nelech, we will go with our old and our young. 

Of course, Moses meant that everyone was going to leave Egypt together but he also might have meant that we will leave Egypt with all of the characteristics necessary for such a journey, passion and experience, energy and patience.

Whether we are talking about our own lives, the lives of an institution, certainly a synagogue being an example, or the lives of a nation, it is critical that both types of characteristics be honored, embraced and displayed. We must find the passion, excitement and energy we had when we were younger and not lose sight of the wisdom, experience and maturity we have gained along the way. 

Last year, I came across a quotation from the ancient Roman author Cicero. I love the quotation and taped it to my office desk at home. It serves as a great postscript to this d’var Torah: “As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind.“

Cicero was one wise man.

I delivered this d’var Torah on this week’s parashah of Hayei Sarah, without the final paragraph twenty years ago. I found it in my files recently t and I realized how significant the topic is to me and I hope to others as well.

We all know that Jewish tradition loves to debate the meaning of verses from the Torah. Even verses which appear simple and straightforward are open to multiple interpretations and our texts are full of discussions among Rabbis as to which interpretation of a certain Torah verse is correct.

But, what is not as well known is the fact that the interpretations themselves often become the subject of great discussions. There are many interpretations which are as well known as the verses that inspired them and Rabbis endeavor to debate and discuss these interpretations as sacred texts in and of themselves.

A perfect example of this can be found when studying this week’s Torah portion. In the first verse we read of the death of Sarah and the Torah says that the years of Sarah’s life were one hundred years and twenty years and seven years.

So, naturally the Rabbis have to ask why the word year appears three times, when one mention of the word years would have been sufficient.

In reality, the language is not odd for the Torah. In fact, we read the same expression about Ishmael. He lived one hundred years and thirty years and seven years. 

But the Rabbis still wonder whether we can learn anything from the rather clumsy construction of language concerning Sarah.

There is a beautiful Midrash on this question which has become the standard interpretation for this verse which is that the Torah expresses the idea of Sarah’s age in this way to connect different periods of her life. The commentary teaches that regarding beauty, Sarah was the same at age 20 as at age 7 and regarding sin, she was the same at age 100 as she was at 20. 

This is a very well known commentary found in many sources in the tradition but it is not accepted at face value. The Rabbis of the tradition start dissecting it and debating it as if it were Torah itself. 

The first question that they ask is why is beauty mentioned at all? After all, don’t we teach in Eshet Hayil, the beloved section of Proverbs describing the Woman of Valor, that beauty is vain and is meaningless? Why highlight it here? 

One creative answer to this is that the point about Sarah being the same at 20 as at 7 regarding beauty is offered by Rabbi Yehoshua of Kutna. He points out that just as at age 7 Sarah didn’t have any awareness of or concern for her own beauty, she didn’t at age 20 either. She never paid attention to the beauty she possessed and the message of the commentary is that none of us should ever be concerned about physical beauty.

Another Rabbi actually offers a proof of this. If you were to look at the Torah scroll, you would notice that there is a letter in this section of the Torah which is smaller than any of the others. When Abraham comes to mourn Sarah, the Torah says that he came livkotah, to cry over her. The letter kaf in livkotah is smaller than the rest of the letters. This Rabbi reminds us that kaf in gematria, the numerical system attached to the letters is 20. This, says the Rabbi, proves that Sarah minimized the aspect of her life most prominent at 20, namely her beauty. 

But, other Rabbis add another piece to the entire discussion. They question whether in fact the original commentary has been in fact misquoted.

Rashi, for example, states the commentary should be stated in the opposite way. Sarah was the same regarding sin at age 20 as she was at 7 and the same regarding beauty at age 100 as she was at 20. 

This is more satisfactory to some commentators for two reasons. First, it would seem that describing an individual as beautiful would be more appropriate for a 20 year old than for a 7 year old. Thus, stressing her beauty at ages 20 and 100 is more reasonable. 

Secondly, perhaps, and this is my personal commentary, pointing out that a person was able to navigate the adolescent years between 7 and 20 and come out of them as innocent as she or he was at age 7 is a remarkable accomplishment, at least one which is important to note. 

But reading the commentary this way, we encounter the issue of whether this means she was not as free from sin at age 100 as she was at 20 and that might be problematic. 

The conclusion is that both approaches to this midrash are not completely satisfying .But, it is at this point that a beautiful commentary on the commentary on the Torah verse helps us to understand a wise, critical lesson.

In a collection of texts called May’anah shel Torah, a rabbi teaches that with advanced age comes several notable characteristics: experience, wisdom, calmness of demeanor among others while with youth comes other notable characteristics: passion, strength, seemingly boundless energy. Thus the commentary teaches us that in Sarah, those qualities, both of youth and of advanced age were mixed together as one. When she was 20, she was already blessed with the characteristics one would associate with an older person, and at 100, she had not lost the characteristics identified with youth. 

I find this be a beautiful commentary on the commentary and a beautiful teaching for us all. 

When Pharaoh responds to Moses’ demand to allow the Hebrews to leave Egypt, Pharaoah says: Mi va mi haholchim: Who is going to go? And Moses says biziknaynu ubinuraynu nelech, we will go with our old and our young. 

Of course, Moses meant that everyone was going to leave Egypt together but he also might have meant that we will leave Egypt with all of the characteristics necessary for such a journey, passion and experience, energy and patience.

Whether we are talking about our own lives, the lives of an institution, certainly a synagogue being an example, or the lives of a nation, it is critical that both types of characteristics be honored, embraced and displayed. We must find the passion, excitement and energy we had when we were younger and not lose sight of the wisdom, experience and maturity we have gained along the way. 

Last year, I came across a quotation from the ancient Roman author Cicero. I love the quotation and taped it to my office desk at home. It serves as a great postscript to this d’var Torah: “As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind.“

Cicero was one wise man.

There are many famous and not so famous quotations that have moved me over the years. But, every so often, I come across a quotation which moves me so deeply that I regret that I had not heard it many years before. It would have fit so nicely into sermons and articles I have written. I don’t know I missed it.

This morning, I was preparing for a class that I am going to teach and came across a reference to the statement implied by the Talmud that one of the questions we will be asked at the final judgment after our physical death will be: “Did you take advantage of the pleasures that were permitted to you during your life?”

I’ve heard that idea and taught it so many times and I also know that the Talmud never specifically says this. So, I decided to do a bit of research to see what the actual statement is in the Talmud and, at least according to one online source, it is derived from a statement in the Jerusalem Talmud attributed to the Rabbi referred to as Rav that God would judge us for all that our eyes saw and didn’t eat.

So, God’s question about permitted pleasures is only implied. Still, it makes an important statement about the responsibility that we have to live our physical lives to the fullest within the limitations that our ethics and our traditions place upon us.

I made a note of the actual quotation but before I closed that webpage, I noticed a reply from one of the readers that included a story which I found so moving that I wondered how I had missed it over so many years.

The story is told about Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the 19th century Rabbi who was, in many ways, the inspiration behind contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Late in life, he made a trip to Switzerland and when asked why, he replied: “Soon, I will stand before the Almighty. I will be held answerable to many questions. But, what will I say when I am asked, ‘Shimson, my son, it is true you did many mitzvot, but did you see My Alps?”

Did you see my Alps? Such a simple question. But, one with tremendous implications.

I have not seen the Alps except from an airplane, which I suppose counts to some degree, but I have had the privilege and taken the time to see many, many other places in this world which reflect the beauty and splendor of God’s creation and I have always found those to be moments of deep, spiritual meaning. In so many ways, these moments complement my observance of our spiritual ritual traditions and the study of Torah. From the New England coastline to Bryce Canyon to Denali to the Sinai Peninsula and so many places in between, they have played such an important part in my personal theology. They speak to me of God’s presence and remind me of our responsibility to appreciate and respect the beauty of the world around us and the sanctity of life.

How sad it is that some see religious inspiration from books or religious rituals alone. How important it is that we realize, appreciate and experience the beauty and grandeur that surrounds us.

Have you seen my Alps?

I wish I had read that story many years ago. I have always felt it but to see it put into words in this way was, in many ways, are a revelation.

Each year on the fast day of Tisha B’av, we read the book of Eicha, the book of Lamentations. The book describes, in extremely graphic terms, the horrors which followed the destruction of the 1st Temple. We read of the agony of death, of hunger and thirst, of a complete lack of hope in the wake of the loss of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.

It is impossible to read these words without thinking of the tragedies that have happened to our people through the centuries. We think of our ancestors who suffered at the hands of ruthless, hate-filled enemies. We think of those individuals and communities destroyed during the holocaust. And, we most certainly remember the tragedy of October 7, 2023, the horrific attack in which Hamas terrorists took the lives of so many in Israel and took hostages, some of whom are still imprisoned almost two years later.

We can not forget them or those who came before.

But, when we read the descriptions in the book of Eicha, we also can not ignore another fact: the devastation, the pain, the hunger which is rampant in Gaza. We must confront the reality of the pain of innocent people, particularly children, who are suffering as a result of a war which has gone on for almost two years. While it is absolutely true that the war began in the wake of Hamas’ horrible terrorist attacks of October 7 and while it is also true that Hamas could do so much more to feed and care for those who are in despair in Gaza, it is also true that Israel could do much more to help to alleviate the suffering of innocent individuals by increasing the amount of food and medicine going into Gaza.

So many of of our teachers have taught us the danger of indifference, of placing blame on others and absolving ourselves of the responsibility of action. So, whatever one believes about how responsible Israel is for the suffering of the children , it can not be denied that our tradition demands that we not turn our eyes away, Israel must help these victims of war.

I believe Israel was absolutely justified in waging this war but it has gone on far, far too long. It is time to take all steps to bring the hostages home, to end this war so that the Israeli solders can come home in peace and the children in Gaza will begin to see an end to their suffering. I pray that that day will come soon.

This has been a monumental 24 hours, and I want to share my thoughts on what has transpired over the last day based on what I have seen, heard and read. 

While I hope we all would have greatly preferred to see a diplomatic solution to the conflict, the world is potentially a significantly safer place today than it was yesterday and Israel is potentially significantly safer than it was yesterday and for that I am grateful. Grateful to Israel for having taken the initiative to take significant steps in hopes of ridding the world of the threat of Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons, grateful to the Trump administration for the bold decision to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities and grateful to our military for the way in which the mission was carried out.

If the operation was as successful as the administration claims, President Trump deserves credit for this decision which stands to benefit not only Israel of course but the United States and the entire world.

Having said that, there are several issues which deeply concern me.  

First, there is so much uncertainty in the days, months and years ahead. We do not know how Iran will respond and whether these attacks have struck a permanent blow to that country’s nuclear program and ambitions. Time will tell whether the sense of increased safety many feel today will continue in the days to come. There are so many obstacles that remain and so much to fear.

Secondly, I share the concern that I have heard from some rabbinic colleagues and from others. In his speech last evening, President Trump said something very unusual. He said: “We love you, God”. It sounded like it was an ad-lib or a confusion of the phrase which followed: “God bless America”. But it raised a great concern. 

Earlier this week, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee urged President Trump in a text to understand that while he is hearing many opinions “there is only one voice that matters: HIS voice” and that he believes “he (Trump) will hear from heaven”. 

I am deeply concerned with the language which seeks to portray presidential actions, especially those involving Israel, as divinely inspired or directed. This is a dangerous approach for so many reasons and one which should raise great concern. Our country’s approach to conflicts in the Middle East can not take on Messianic overtones.

Finally, even if in the end this attack should prove to have achieved all of its goals, this should not distract us from the fact that both leaders are leading their nations down very dangerous paths. 

Here at home, the Trump administration’s continued assault on the rights of individuals, tax laws which favor the rich, budget cuts which threaten so many needed programs, health policies which will take us back decades in disease prevention, attacks on immigrants and so many other issues demand our attention and our criticism. Attempts by the administration to use the support for the military action against Iran to solidify support for unjust and undemocratic policies must be met with strong opposition. 

And, while I dearly hope that if not now, then in the long run, Israelis will feel safer without the threat of nuclear attack from Iran, we can not ignore the other issues which demand attention. 

Israel’s military action in Gaza must come to an end. The innocent civilians in Gaza must receive the food and medical supplies they so desperately need. Negotiations to return the remaining hostages to Israel must take place. And Israel must reverse the current trend of increased oppression of the Palestinian population of the West Bank and take steps to ensure security and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians must take place. All of these will, I believe, bring more long-term security to Israel. 

I pray for peace for Israel for the civilians in Iran, Gaza and throughout the world.

Three years ago, our son and I traveled to Utah to visit two National Parks: Zion and Bryce Canyon. I was so moved by that trip that I promised my wife, Ellen, that we would take a similar trip and we did so last summer. I wrote about the experience of that first trip on my website blog in June, 2022 and spoke about it at length on my podcast.

This was not the first National Park trip our family had taken. We took our kids to Yellowstone and Grand Teton and also have visited several other parks including Yosemite and Denali. This summer, we are planning on spending a few days in Olympic National Park in Washington State. The National Parks are truly jewels and the administration’s threatened budgetary cuts are, to say the least, short-sighted and threaten the future of our nation’s commitment to these parklands.

But, this past week, I read of another decision by the Trump administration which has so deeply upset me and should concern all of us. The New York Times article concerning this decision reports: “The Interior Department plans to remove or cover up all “inappropriate content” at national parks and sites by Sept. 17 and is asking the park visitors to report any “negative” information about past or living Americans, according to internal documents.“

Many of the National Parks relate historical aspects of the parks and now these are subject to censorship if they are deemed to convey “inappropriate content” or if they say anything negative about an aspect of our nation’s history. And, visitors to the parks are invited to report anything they consider to be casting aspersions on any individual or aspect of our history.

This is consistent with the general approach of this administration which considers that we should not judge anything in this nation’s history as being negative. Criticism of policies or attitudes are to be muted. Whether the issue is racism or slavery or any other such matter, any suggestion that this country failed to live up to our stated values in the past is not only discouraged but, in certain situations, punished with loss of jobs or other ramifications.

Our nation is not perfect now and never has been. The United States has made serious errors as has every nation. We can not learn from those mistakes if we aren’t allowed to admit them. If we hide from our history because it may cast our past in a bad light, we are more likely to make those same mistakes again. By erasing the negatives of our past, we are inviting those negatives back into our society.

The beauty of the National Parks can not be denied. But, that is only one aspect of the beauty of this great country. Another is our nation’s ability to be more respectful of all, more inclusive and more compassionate. We have seen this administration’s determination to reverse so many of the efforts that have been taken to ensure this growth. This decision concerning the National Parks is not the most significant of those threats to our values as a nation but it is one that strikes me as particularly meaningful as we continue our plans to visit as many of the parks as we can. We see the parks as attesting to the beauty of our nation, a beauty which goes beyond mountains and waterfalls.

This is a tense time in the world and we woke this morning to the news of Israel’s attacks on the Iranian nuclear program. While I am deeply saddened that attempts to negotiate an agreement failed and while I fear for what the days ahead may bring, I support Israel’s actions in attempting to curtain Iran’s nuclear ability.

Every nation has the obligation to defend itself against those who threaten to destroy it and Israel is certainly no exception and Iran has presented a great threat to Israel. In the long term, Israel- and the world-will be a safer place if Iran is not able to manufacture nuclear weapons. But, in the short term, there is much uncertainty. I pray that the days and months to come will bring calm and safety for all in Israel, in the region and throughout the world and that we see a world in which future conflicts are settled only through diplomacy.

Today, we in the American Jewish community are observing two holy days.

Here in the United States, today is Memorial Day. Sadly, the fact that Memorial Day marks “the unofficial beginning of summer” has taken precedence over the reason for the establishment of the holiday.

Whatever our political and philosophical leanings may be, every one of us in this country owes a debt of gratitude and appreciation to those who gave their lives in military service to this country. Our continued existence as a free and democratic nation (God willing, we will continue to always be such) is due to the sacrifices made by American men and women in the many conflicts which have taken place here and throughout the world.

As one who never served in the military, I can not even imagine the courage that such service requires. Of course, we would be a much better world if it was not necessary. I dream of and pray for a day when no one, in any nation, should need to take up arms. But, those days have not come yet and while we all must continue to work for such a day, we must honor and pay tribute to those who, by their actions, ensured our continued safety as a nation.

May the memory of our brave soldiers be for a blessing. May we honor their memory with our actions and our prayers.

Today is also a special day on the Jewish calendar. It is Jerusalem Day, the anniversary of Israel’s conquest of the Old City of Jerusalem during the 6 day war in 1967. It is a day of celebration in the sense that, in contrast to the previous decades, Jews were now able to return to the holy sites in the Old City, including the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall.

I had the privilege to live in Jerusalem for an academic year in 1979-1980. During that year, as have so many, I fell in love with the city and am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to return 12 times since that year, often leading groups on tours of Israel. Every person that travelled with me could tell, I’m sure, that I viewed our days in Jerusalem as the most important part of the entire trip. Whether getting up early in the morning to lead sunrise walking tours or visiting synagogues on Shabbat or just bringing people to an overlook so that they could marvel at the beauty of the city, it was always the highlight of any experience I had in Israel.

Jerusalem has always represented a yearning for holiness and has been a place of dreams. For me, those dreams were not limited to Jews. On the contrary, the co-existence, even if at times tense, of different religious faiths in the city was an inspiration to me and hearing the sound of the davening at the kotel, the church bells from the Christian quarter and the muezzin call to prayer from the mosques always filled me with hope as Jerusalem reflected a vision of unity that represented a hope for the future.

So, I have always celebrated Jerusalem Day.

But, in recent years, that has become much more difficult for me and, I’m sure, for many others. Over the years, the public focus of Jerusalem Day has changed from being a day of hope and a celebration of holiness to a blatantly nationalistic observance with songs and chants reflecting hatred and calls for violence against Arabs in the city and beyond.

This year as in the recent past, participants in the so-called “March of the Flags” led by members of the Knesset, marched through the Arab neighborhoods of the Old City waving Israeli flags, chanting: “Death to Arabs” and other violent slogans in the face of the residents of the Moslem quarter. In addition, many went up to the Temple Mount to pray in minyanim, an act of provocation which used to be prohibited in deference to the agreement that was in effect to respect the sanctity of that area for Muslims.

This is not what Jerusalem should represent.

It is not the Jerusalem that I lived in and visited so many times and the Jerusalem that is in my heart..

But, this year it is even more painful to watch.

This year, as so many in the Israeli government (and sadly, so many Jews throughout the world) display barely any compassion or concern towards the innocent victims of the war in Gaza: the many thousands of children killed or facing starvation and so many whose homes and lives have been destroyed, these chants are even more disgusting. There is no question that the actions of Hamas on October 7 justified an Israeli military response against those who seek its destruction. But, as the months have gone on, the toll that Israel’s actions have taken on innocent residents of Gaza and on the remaining Israeli hostages is unspeakably tragic. And, seeing the pictures from Gaza and seeing the videos of the march in Jerusalem today leave me with such sadness as I consider where Israel is today.

Jerusalem Day should be a day of dreams, embracing the spirit of peace, not calling for continuing and intensifying violence and the nightmare of war and captivity.

May all people in the region find the power to continue to work for a “city of peace” in Jerusalem but for a region of peace and of life and security for all.

Those are the two words which have been echoing in my mind since I first heard of the act of violent terror which took the lives of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky in Washington DC last evening. There are no words which can adequately convey the sense of loss, of horror and of, quite frankly, fear that their murder has left me and so many others with.

I am a firm believer in free speech and have supported the right of people to protest against the government of Israel and the war in Gaza. I have added my voice to those within Israel and the Jewish community throughout the world who have been calling for an end to the attacks on civilians in Gaza and increased concern for the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, especially children.

However, when those protesting call for violence, it can not longer be defended as free speech. When words call for the destruction of Israel, those words can not be merely ignored. And, when, as we saw last night, violent words turn to violent actions, horrible tragedy results and all of us are endangered.

We have been watching and speaking and writing about increased anti-Semitism in this nation and throughout the world and this horrendous act of terror brings that concern to a new level here in the United States.

I am waiting to hear those who are adamantly and passionately standing up for the rights of Palestinians reject and condemn this act of terror. I pray that this terrible tragedy will cause everyone, on all sides, to lower the volume, stand back from extremism and seek ways to direct their passion to constructive acts of humanity and peace.

May Sarah and Yaron’s memory be for a blessing.