How is this Thanksgiving different from all the rest?

 

I say it every year: I love Thanksgiving!

This year, we should ask: How is this Thanksgiving different from all other Thanksgivings?

The answer:  We desperately need it.

As we enter the holiday season and leave behind what seemed at times to be an endless election cycle full of negativity, taking a moment to reflect about all that we have to be thankful for is exactly what we all need.  These are not easy times.  There is a palpable sense of heightened unease.  In the weeks since the election, the volume of the discussion has grown shriller and louder.  We have seen protests; hatred; blatant displays of anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim and bigoted behavior; movement for the mass deportation of illegal immigrants and an energized white supremacist movement.   The frenzied media coverage along with the increasing frequency of volatile statements and actions make my head spin.  So many people in American society - and in the Jewish community - have serious needs, while the country and our neighbors and friends seem so divided about how to best address them.

What can we do in response to the very real challenges we face today?

In the Jewish community – as with the general population, there are so many voices.  People legitimately have different views, but it feels like we are coming apart at the seams.

What do we do to make things better?

 Send in the nuns! 

Do you remember the line in the Mel Brooks’ movie, History of the World, Part One?  In our case, the nuns we need were part of the famous “Nun Study,” a continuing longitudinal study to examine the onset of Alzheimer’s disease which began in 1986.

678 American nuns between the ages of 75 and 102, all members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the United States, agreed to allow their records to be accessed by a research team investigating the process of ageing and Alzheimer’s disease.

What gave this study its unusual longitudinal scope is that in 1930 the nuns, then in their twenties, had been asked by the Mother Superior to write a brief autobiographical account of their life and their reasons for entering the convent.  These documents were now analyzed by the researchers using a specially devised coding system to register positive and negative emotions.  By annually assessing the nuns’ health, the researchers were able to test whether their emotional state in 1930 had an effect on their health some sixty years later.

The results, published in 2001, found that the more positive emotions – contentment, gratitude, happiness, love and hope – the nuns expressed in their autobiographical notes, the more likely they were to be alive and well sixty years later.  The difference was as much as seven years in life expectancy.  This finding has led to a new field of gratitude research, as well as a deepening understanding of the impact of emotions on physical health.  (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks references this study in a Thanksgiving Message.)

The bottom line?  Gratitude is the key to happiness, a positive outlook, and a more fulfilling life.  This year, we need Thanksgiving more than ever.

Think about it.  Thank God, we have so much!  Take a moment to compile a list of the things we each have.  I would hope things like food, shelter, health, and family are on many of lists.  Even if we face challenges to some of life’s essentials, we are the beneficiaries of living in an incredible time in an amazing country.  There are so many opportunities.

What about the negatives?  I do not deny that there are many items we can put on our list.  At the same time, let’s try to be honest.  The pros crush the cons!

What can we do?  Be thankful. This will help us stay positive and remain hopeful about our country and our future. 

We should consider concrete steps to counter all the negativity out there. 

One person started a campaign to provide each of the 535 members of Congress with a pin that had George Washington’s famous words (written to the Jewish community in Newport): "To bigotry, no sanction; to persecution, no assistance."  He felt now is the right time to reinforce these sacred sentiments.

We can start our days with a daily affirmation of tolerance and respect for all.  Of course we believe it, but we also should say it so our ears – and those of our children, friends, and community – hear it so that our hearts and minds feel it.  There is a reason we say the Shema prayer out loud.  It is not enough to think about our commitment to God.  We must articulate it loudly enough to hear it.

We need to call out and condemn bigotry and intolerance.  We have seen and heard numerous disturbing examples of hatred in recent weeks.  I think they were always present and may just be getting a little more attention now.  It doesn’t matter.  It is important to strongly condemn and express outrage at displays of hate against any individual or group. 

We need to call on all of our country’s leadership - from our elected officials on the city state level, to members of the House and the Senate, to President-elect Trump, to vigorously condemn all hateful remarks – including those of those who claim to be admirers and supporters.  Abe Foxman, former National Director of the ADL, and Alan Dershowitz both recently made this point.  This week, President-elect Trump expressed his “disavowing” the alt-right and called on the country to come together.  These are encouraging sentiments.  Hopefully, we will hear more rejection of all forms of hatred and more calls for unity from all those in positions of responsibility and power.  We know evil when we see it, and we need to remain vigilant so that our leaders do the same.

Each of us should find ways to help move our country forward.  We can each have different ways to respond to the election and the state of our community and our country.  The most important thing is to stay positive. 

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Chief Rabbi in Israel, famously taught: “If we were destroyed, and the world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we shall rebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with baseless love — ahavat chinam. (Orot HaKodesh vol. III, p. 324)

Let’s religiously and vigorously celebrate this Thanksgiving.  Let’s be supremely grateful and, in turn, become more optimistic about the world around us.  Let us transform hatred into love; darkness into light.

We need Thanksgiving now more than ever.

Avraham Avinu was a veteran

Today is Veterans Day.  We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of America’s veterans. 

Veterans Day on Friday allowed the Ramaz Lower School to honor and thank our veterans while celebrating their pre-Shabbat Oneg.  Veterans were invited to attend and participate.  It was a rocking, moving, and meaningful experience.

I was tasked with connecting Avraham Avinu (our patriarch Abraham) with Veterans Day.  Here is the message I shared.

Avraham was the first veteran.  He joined the battle of the five kings versus the four kings to rescue his nephew, Lot.  Avraham did not want to fight, but he felt the need to stand up and do battle for what was just and to protect his family.

The Torah says (Bereishit 14:14) that Avraham armed his “disciples,” and they went off to battle.  What is the significance of the Torah describing these soldiers as disciples? 

Avraham did not merely impart information to his students.  He did not just teach them information.  Avraham taught them to act.  His students didn’t just absorb lessons and values.  Avraham impressed upon them the need to fight for those values.

Students and young children are not the ones who go off to battle.  Most of us do not fight with weapons.  Each and every one of us, though, has a mission.  We have orders to follow and battles to win.  Our mission is to follow Avraham’s example and stand up for what is right.  Our battle is to fight for goodness and respect and kindness.  It is a battle to be a mensch, a good person and a good Jew.

We don’t have weapons with which to fight.  We have our smiles, our acts of kindness, and our commitment to do what is right.

On Veterans Day, we say thank you to those who served our country.  This Veterans Day, being so close to Parshat Lech Lecha, we also remember the Torah’s first veteran, Avraham.  We remember that he led his students to battle.  Each and every one of us is a student of Avraham.  Let’s do our best to win the battle for what is right.

The best part of the Oneg came a little while later.  Mr. Manny Gross, a Ramaz grandparent and one of the veterans in attendance, asked to say a few words.  He message was absolutely incredible and so powerful.  I strongly suggest you watch it!

Mr. Gross described his army experience.  He focused on how he maintained his Judaism throughout his time in the military.  He put on tefillin EVERY SINGLE DAY.  He described keeping kosher and how he would trade his rations with other soldiers for food that he could eat like crackers, jam, and tuna fish.  Mr. Gross is a military veteran as well as a veteran – and a victor – in the battle for Jewish identity and values.

We can learn a lot from our veterans.  We learn a lot from Avraham about what it means to stand up for our values.  We can all learn a lot from Mr. Gross about what it means to be dedicated and committed to maintaining our Judaism.

We pray to God that we are successful in all of our battles.

Election 2016 Edition

Election Day is next Tuesday.  Don’t forget to vote!  It’s a mitzvah!

Anyone out there suffering from election overload?

According to a New York Times/CBS News Poll, an overwhelming majority of voters are disgusted by the state of American politics, and many harbor doubts that either major-party nominee can unite the country after a historically ugly presidential campaign.  82% of respondents said the 2016 campaign has made them feel disgusted.

That’s not a vote of confidence in our political system.

I understand the disgust and disappointment. People are tired of all the negativity and anger.

Think of the memorable sound bites of this campaign.  Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” remark or Donald Trumps, “such a nasty woman.” 

Is this really what we want to hear?  It is no surprise the enthusiasm and expectations are low.  Leon Wieseltier, the Isaiah Berlin Senior Fellow in Culture and Policy at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor at The Atlantic, noted, “The country needs healing, but nobody seems much in the mood for healing.”

Maybe, there’s a solution.

The other night, during a family discussion about who will win the election, I noted that some people write in a candidate who is not on the ballot.  I then thought to myself, “How exactly does writing in a candidate work?”

I googled it.

It seems like a hot topic.  In yesterday’s Washington Post, there was an article entitled “Who are you writing in? The overwhelming allure of voting for someone who won’t win.”  A number of prominent politicians have publicly stated they’ll be writing in candidates.  Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he wrote in John McCain for president.  Sen. John McCain has said he might write in his longtime friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham.  Some supporters of Bernie Sanders plan to write his name on their presidential ballot.

It’s an interesting option…

As Election Day is here, I have one final thought about what I am looking for in anyone running for office – and it comes from the weekly Parsha.

וַיָּחֶל נֹחַ אִישׁ הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּטַּע כָּרֶם:

Noah, the man of the earth, debased himself and planted a vineyard. (Bereishit/Genesis 9:20)

Following the flood, as the rhythm of life returns to normal, Noah gets busy working the land.  He plants a vineyard.  He drinks wine.  He gets drunk.  The story continues with how his sons reacted, but I want to focus on Noah.  There is a noticeable shift in how the Torah describes Noah before the flood compared to how Noah is referred now.

At first, Noah is an ish tzaddik, a righteous person.  Now, even before he gets drunk, Noah is an ish ha-adamah, a man of the earth.  Noah went from a man of vision to a man with far more modest goals. 

Life can do that sometimes.  There may be many obstacles that can get in the way of our big dreams for the future, but we should never give up on our vision and ideals and trying to make them a reality.

Noah was a victim of his experience in the flood.  I don’t know the cause for today’s tone in politics, but we should all be demanding the aspirational tone of the tzaddik and not settle for the mediocrity of the adamah.

I want aspirational candidates.  I want some positive ads.  I want a civil conversation about issues and not the top stories to be physical results or tax returns.

I want candidates who talk about how to create stronger communities, how to provide better healthcare for Americans, how to bring more people out of poverty, how to lower gun violence, how to provide better education for all of our children, and how to make the future better.

Am I asking for too much?  It is difficult to stay positive, but let’s get back to the business of dreaming big and aspiring to a bright future.

One who speaks with the voice of the tzaddik.  That’s who gets my vote.