Category: Rabbinic Thoughts

The month of Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The word “Elul” means “search,” which is appropriate, because this is a time of year when we search our hearts. The month of Elul is the time that Moses spent on Mount Sinai preparing the second set of tablets after the incident of the golden calf (Ex. 32; 34:27-28). He ascended on Rosh Chodesh Elul (the first of the month of Elul) and descended on the 10th day of Tishri, at the end of Yom Kippur, when repentance was complete. Other sources say that Elul is the beginning of a period of 40 days that Moses prayed for G-d to forgive the people after the Golden Calf incident, after which the commandment to prepare the second set of tablets was given. Elul is also a time to begin the process of asking forgiveness for wrongs done to other people. G-d cannot forgive us for sins committed against another person until we have first obtained forgiveness from the person we have wronged. As people mature, they begin to formulate achievable goals, allowing them to later look back and evaluate what they accomplished and where they fell short. The Babylonian Talmud (the repository of Jewish wisdom compiled in the 6th century CE) teaches that at the final judgment, we are asked three basic questions: Did you conduct your business with integrity? Did you set aside fixed times for study? Did you hope for better things to come? (Shabbat, 31a).Each of those three questions is worth thinking about, and we can begin during Elul. The coming year gives us the opportunity to turn – or perhaps to return – to a vision of our highest self. Shabbat Shalom . Rabbi Julia Margolis. (Sourse: Reformjudaism.org)

Although the month of Elul–the sixth month of the year, which  immediately precedes Rosh HaShana has no special importance  in the Bible or in early rabbinical writings various customs arose sometime during the first millennium that designated Elul as the time to prepare for the high holidays because these days are filled with so much meaning and potency, they require a special measure of readiness. We are called upon to enter them thoughtfully and to consider what they mean. As the Maharal of Prague said, “All the month of Elul, before eating and sleeping, a person should look into his soul and search his deeds, that he may make confession.”Jewish tradition points to the name of the month as symbolically appropriate–the letters of Elul form an acronym for the words in the verse Ani le dodi ve dodi li–“I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Songs of Songs 6:3) Believing that the “beloved” refers to God, the sages take this verse to describe the particularly loving and close relationship between God and Israel. Elul, then, is our time to establish this closeness so that we can approach the Yamim Noraim, or Days of Awe, in trusting acceptance of God’s judgment. We approach the trial not out of fear, but out of love. One of the important commandments is to visit the graves of our loved once, please join us this coming Sunday to clean the children’s section in West Park cemetery. Please let me know if you are planning to attend: rabbi.margolis@betdavid.org.zaShabbat Shalom. Rabbi Julia Margolis (Source: masorti.org)   Clean-up of the Children’s Section at West Park Jewish CemeteryPlease join our Rabbis in an effort to clean up the area around the Children’s Section of West Park Cemetery on Sunday 23 August 2015 at 10.00.  Perform a mitzvah – meet at WPC with small gardening tools, rubbish bags etc. Please RSVP to rabbi.margolis@betdavid.org.

Tuesday night I was invited as a panel guest speaker at a “Wonderful Women” event, held at Great Park Shul.The objective of the event was to screen the movie “Wonderful Women” and then host a panel discussion regarding the importance of dialogue in breaking down barriers. The documentary, which was screened on Israeli national TV (Channel 1) on Tisha B’ Av last year, illustrates the complex connections between eight secular women from Mateh Yehuda and eight Haredi women from Beit Shemesh (South Africa’s partnership region).  In the film these women come together to represent the meaning of “being a Jewish Woman,” and demonstrate that barriers can be broken down in almost any situation.This evening was organised by P2G, which is a Jewish Agency program connecting some 550 Jewish communities in the Diaspora with 45 Israel Partnership areas. It is dedicated to establishing bridges of understanding between Israeli and Diaspora Jewry. This was the ideal opportunity for communities abroad to become personally involved in developing Israel’s National priority areas. South Africa is partnered with the town of Beit Shemesh and the surrounding rural area of Mateh Yehuda. Our partnership helps the region deal with its changing education and welfare needs, supports the economic development and facilitates a wide range of relationship-building activities.The panel discussion comprised of four women from South Africa (Rebetizzin Estee Stern from Sydenham shul, Adina Roth, myself and Marlene Bethlehem.) From Israel we were privileged to have the producers of the movie- Hila Timor –Ashur and Gila Joffee. We discussed the subject of the connections between Secular and Haredi women and how by bringing these women together, it represents the meaning of being a Jewish Woman in South Africa.The evening was also a great opportunity to show the South African Jewish Community how these women from Israel managed their complex relationships within a diverse religious environment, and further how this can be applied to any conflict situation. These women realised that although they had some different religious beliefs, at the end of the day they actually had so much in common, that this enriched their lives, ultimately leading them to become true friends. Great project that hopefully will be established in South Africa.Link to the movie: http://goo.gl/8LlPEsShabbat Shalom. Rabbi Julia MargolisPicture: Estee Stern, Adina Roth, Rabbi Margolis, Marlene Bethlehem, Gila Joffee and Hila Timor Ashur

This past week has been a dark one in Israel. We are all mourning the innocent children murdered in the name of baseless hatred. There is no justification to any murder. It’s a loss of life, doesn’t matter how old is the human being, but the situation becomes impossible for understanding when we are talking about a 16th year old girl who was murdered before she was able to start her life. One of my dear friends is Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, he is the former president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Rabbi Fuchs is trying to look at this horror from a different angle, he shared with me his thoughts about Shira’s death and allowed me to share with our congregants.No country in Asia comes close to Israel’s affirmation of LGBT rights, and observers commonly regard Tel Aviv as one of he most gay-friendly cities in the world. The government of Israel affirms LGBT rights, and even the mainstream Orthodox establishment concurs. When the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, Aryeh Stern, went to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital to visit the victims of Yishai Schlissel’s despicable stabbings at the annual Gay Pride parade, he proclaimed, “It is a day to pray for the safety of the wounded.”His visit was an important gesture and sent an important message. The Orthodox establishment is not the problem. In fairness too, far from all the ultra-Orthodox population advocate violence against Israel’s LGBT population.And yet we cannot deny that Yishai Schlissel comes from a fanatical fringe environment that continually calls any sort of LGBT sexual activity an “abomination.” An apt analogy is Yigal Amir’s 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Most of Israel supported Rabin, but many citizens objected to his peace initiative. Supporters and detractors engaged in vigorous debate, but only the fringe far right called him a rodef, one who threatened Jewish lives and was therefore fair game to be cut down. That fringe right — well beyond the Orthodox and even much of the ultra-Orthodox spectrum — also influenced Yishai Schlissel. He took cues from the likes of chief rabbi of the Samaria region in the West Bank, Elyakim Levanon, who called homosexuality “an abomination.”Ah, the old abomination tag? It comes from Leviticus 18:22, which calls men lying with men an abomination, and 20:13, which says those who do so “shall be put to death.” As many have pointed out, if we did that, those who gather sticks on the Shabbat or insult their parents are also subject to execution. The real sin here is “bibliolatry” the sin of taking the Bible literally and not interpreting it to reflect anything beyond the literal rendering of the words. What gives homosexual acts “privilege of place” over those other “abominations”?Here’s a guess. Everyone gets that the death for gathering sticks on Shabbat business is to impress the reader with the importance of making Shabbat a special time. The same goes for impressing kids to respect their folks. As for a man lying with a man, we need a different perspective. I challenge anyone to carefully read the 39 books of the Hebrew Bible and show me a single clear reference to a homosexual relationship described in warm, loving terms. David’s relationship with Jonathan might have been that (I Samuel, 19 ff) or it could have been a strong “bromance.” We cannot be sure. What is sure is that the only clear biblical references to men “lying with men” are to forced acts of homosexual sex as in the context of war or rape situations. The desire of the men of Sodom to force themselves upon Lot’s protected guests (Genesis 19) is a prime example. Of course the Bible condemns such acts. It is clear to me as well that the “abomination” passages are trumped by one of the most basic principles of Hebrew thought: that human beings are created “in the image of God (Genesis 1:26ff).”Any serious Bible student should be able to see that if God made people a certain way, and we revere God, than we need to respect the diverse innate realities of others’ lives as a reflection of the Divine. The ability to interpret biblical passages as I do here (and the way I do so in my book What’s in It for Me? Finding Ourselves in Biblical Narratives) is not new. In the Talmudic era (c. 200 B.C.E. until c. 550 C.E.) wise sages interpreted scripture in such a way to upgrade the status of women in many important ways and made other vital innovations to bring the emerging Jewish religion from an ancient agrarian society to a much more urban one. Unfortunately, the fringe ultra-Orthodox has failed to evolve in any way since then. As far as LGBT issues go, society itself has been slow to evolve. The good news is that we are in a period of great awakening and growing awareness. Let’s pray and hope that this horrible experience we saw this past week will never comeback. May Shira’s memory be for a blessing. –  Rabbi Julia Margolis

 by Rabbi Gilad KarivRabbi Gilad Kariv is the Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive JudaismThe US Supreme Court decision to compel all 50 states to recognize the right of gay couples to marry was celebrated as a historic, reality-changing event. To a large extent it was. But anyone familiar with the gay community’s struggle for acceptance, dignity and equality knows it was the culmination of a long and often arduous process. There were two preliminary stages that made the legal and constitutional change possible: First, the evolution of a culture of political correctness in relation to the gay community and the drawing of red lines defining what is and what isn’t acceptable in public discourse. Second, the establishment of facts on the ground, which helped to shape reality and ultimately to create a mass culture in which gay couples have a dignified and respectful place.Something similar is happening with regard to the long march for acceptance of Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel. The storm of angry reaction in early July to Religious Services Minister David Azoulay’s contention that “Reform Jews aren’t really Jews” reflects a huge shift in what Israeli opinion is prepared to tolerate. The prime minister’s swift condemnation and the fact that he was immediately joined by Orthodox politicians like Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely is indicative of a profound change in public sensibilities. The media also slammed Azoulay’s comments and gave the issue high-profile coverage. Obviously the wall-to-wall denunciations did not change the legal position or alter government policy. Reform and Conservative Judaism still face severe legal and institutional discrimination in Israel.Nevertheless, as the gay triumph in the US shows, the pathway to change runs through cumulative shifts in public and government discourse. And here the ultra-Orthodox Shas minister’s rant achieved precisely the opposite of what he intended and made a significant contribution to the red lines in public debate on Reform and Conservative Judaism. Drawing those red lines is important and necessary. But it is clearly not sufficient. The US Supreme Court ruling only came after hundreds of thousands of gays lived as married couples, after innumerable TV series and films showed them in a favorable and sympathetic light, and after countless public campaigns conferred practical recognition. More than creating a new reality, the Supreme Court put its imprimatur on a reality, which already existed outside the courtroom. The non-Orthodox streams in Israel are trying to make their public breakthrough in much the same way. For years their modus operandi had been based on initiating legislative change to facilitate their growth in Israel. Over the past decade that approach has been turned on its head. The current view is that only creation of facts on the ground and the establishment of a significant presence will transform relations between religion and state in way that genuinely includes the non-Orthodox streams, enhancing Israel’s Jewish and democratic character.Over the past decade, this new approach has led to the establishment of scores of new Reform and Conservative communities in Israel, the ordainment of around 100 non-Orthodox Israeli-born rabbis, significant investment in kindergartens and schools, and the development of a wide array of programs for young Israelis. Recent surveys by leading polling institutions show that eight percent of the Jewish public in Israel define themselves as Reform or Conservative (as compared to 26 percent Orthodox). As many as a third of the Jewish public have participated in a ceremony, prayer or lesson led by a Reform or Conservative rabbi in the past three years. Reform and Conservative education programs have been approved by the Education Ministry, and are taught in Israeli state schools. In dozens of local councils there is fruitful cooperation. True, both movements still encounter glass ceilings. But gradually cracks are beginning to appear.When Azoulay railed against Reform Jews, his attack was not directed primarily at a religious ideology or at the millions of Reform Jews in North America. What bothered him far more were the growing numbers of Israeli Jews who see in Reform or Conservatism the form of Judaism that best suits their religious needs. The promised land of religious pluralism in Israel is still a long way off. But one thing is certain. The furor following Azoulay’s outburst proves that Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel have broken free of their slave chains and begun their journey to freedom and equality. The minister and his colleagues can try chasing after them to bring them back. But, as the book of Exodus shows, it didn’t work then. And it won’t work