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This past Sunday we had an excellent discussion about a topic that’s easily my least favorite:  Anti-Semitism.  It’s very important, an absolute necessity in any survey of Judaism, and I would never think of skipping it, but I never enjoy it, either.

In case you couldn’t be with us, here are some essentials:

1.  The word “anti-Semitism” was coined in the 19th century in Germany by journalist William Marr, as a scientific sounding substitution for Judenhass ["Jew-hatred"].  It’s a pity that it stuck, because it’s a misnomer.  ”Semite” means “person who speaks a Semitic language” which would also include all Arabic or Aramaic speaking people.  However, the term anti-Semitism applies to the hatred of Jews only.

2.  In classical times, Jews were regarded as odd, difficult, and sometimes as lazy, since we insisted on keeping the Sabbath, but there does not appear to have been anything like modern Jew hatred.

3.  After Christianity became the established religion of the Roman Empire, and after the rise of Islam, Christians and Muslims looked upon Jews as people who had rejected revelation in the form of Jesus or Mohammed.  This gave rise to many problems, laws against Jewish practice, laws against conversion, etc.

4.  In 1480 in Spain, the Inquisition was established to deal with heretics against Christianity, including Jews and “Judaizers,” converts to Christianity who were suspected of returning to their Jewish loyalties.  In Spain, we got the first sign of more than a purely religious objection to Jews, because converts to Christianity from Judaism were regarded as suspect, and their descendants were suspect forevermore.  This is the first we hear of “Jewish blood” or DNA being the problem.

5.  Speaking of blood, you need to know about the “blood libel,” the horrible belief that Jews use the blood of Gentiles, especially Gentile children, for ritual purposes.  Often the rumor includes a description of making matzah from Gentile blood.  (Clearly no one who says this has ever seen or tasted matzah.)  The blood libel first appeared in 1144 in England, but it has surfaced again and again, most recently in the Saudi Arabian press in 2002.

The blood libel is heinous since it has no base in fact whatsoever, and yet it has been used as a justification for the murder of countless Jews.  Traditional Jewish law forbids the consumption of blood in any form, and has rejected human sacrifice since the earliest times.

6.  Another lie that persists is a document titled “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”  It was published in Russia in the early 20th century, and claimed that there was an international conspiracy of Jews planning world domination.  The document is fantasy, but it continues to circulate on the Internet and in print even today.  (For more info on the Protocols, click on the link above.)

7.  True anti-Semitism arose in modern times, combining the original religious objections to Judaism with the racist thought of William Marr and others in Europe and the United States.  The article on Marr in the Jewish Virtual Library puts it well:

Over the centuries, antisemitism has taken on different but related forms: religious, political, economic, social, and racial. Jews have been discriminated against, hated, and killed because prejudiced non-Jews believed they belonged to the wrong religion, lacked citizenship qualifications, practiced business improperly, behaved inappropriately, or possessed inferior racial characteristics. These forms of antisemitism, but especially the racial one, all played key parts in the Holocaust.

Anti-Semitism was not limited to Germany. No country in the world, including our own United States, would accept the Jews that desperately tried to leave Germany in the 1930′s.  Leading voices for anti-Semitism in the United States were Henry Ford and Father Coughlin.

8.  Since the 1980′s we have seen the rise of what is sometimes called the “new” anti-Semitism which cloaks the same old anti-Semitism in the language of criticism of the modern State of Israel and Zionism.  It is perfectly legitimate to criticize any government, including that of Israel, but not when the assumption underlying that criticism is a prejudice against Jews and the denial of the right of Israel, the Jewish state, to exist.

9.  Organizations to know:

• Anti-Defamation League
• American Jewish Committee
• Southern Poverty Law Center

 OK, enough already!  In two weeks we will meet again to talk about a much more pleasant subject, the foundation of the modern State of Israel.  We’ll also have a quick vote to see where you want to send your Tzedakah Fund this term.

See you then!

– Rabbi Adar

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Sometimes, especially in the middle of thousands (thousands!) of years of history, students feel discouraged.  There’s so much to take in, so many names, so many places, so much.  A very conscientious student might wonder, “Can I learn it all?”

One response to that question is in the Mishnah, Pirkei Avot: 2:20:

It is not incumbent on you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it.

No Jew, no matter how learned, knows it all.  Even scholars who spend their entire lives studying Torah always find more to learn.  The same is true of all Jewish studies:  there is a vast sea of material for learning.

The point of a class like this is not to teach you “everything.”  This is a survey, intended to give you a taste of many subjects.  Some of you may find that history excites you, that understanding the past of our people is something that gives you great satisfaction.  Others may find that text study is something they enjoy.  Someone else may find that living the cycle of the holidays has great meaning for them, or that turning the words of Torah into action, into social action, is very fulfilling.  This class is just a beginning.

So if any of you are feeling discouraged about now, or feeling that we aren’t going deeply enough into a subject, don’t worry!  No one expects you to master all of Jewish Studies from one survey class.  At the same time, I hope that you will find things that intrigue you, things you want to study more deeply, or practices that you want to incorporate into your daily life.  If this class enriches your Jewish experience, then it will have been successful.

– Rabbi Adar

The headline above is a summary of what we covered in class this week.  We began looking at rabbinic literature, and at the process of  living Torah. As the fellow who wrote The Year of Living Biblically found out, Torah without interpretation is a pretty unworkable guide to daily life.  Torah is a living process, leading us towards holiness; it is not just a set of rules.

We also talked about the fact that there’s a pattern in Jewish texts:  texts were not set down in writing until the historical situation demanded it.  The Mishnah was set down in writing in 200 CE because Rabbi Judah the Prince, the leader of the community, saw that this knowledge might be lost if it were not written down, because the political situation in Eretz Yisrael was so unsettled.  The same thing happened with the Gemara, in about 400 in Israel and somewhat later in Mesopotamia.

Next week we’re going to look at the Middle Ages, up until Emancipation.  What’s that?  Come to class and find out!

– Rabbi Adar

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It was great to see everyone again after the break, and wonderful to welcome some new faces!  Welcome back, everyone!

We began today by looking at the Jewish Bible, which we call Tanakh:  Torah + Nevi’im [Prophets] + Ketuvim [Writings].  The Jewish Bible contains those three.  It has no New Testament, and we Jews do not refer to it as the “old testament.”  As far as we are concerned, it’s sufficient in itself.

The Bible may come in a single volume, but it is a collection of 24 books that were composed in different times, to speak to different situations.  The Torah tells the origin stories that make sense of who we are as human beings and as a Jewish People.  The Prophets call us to account for our behavior in the world: they insist that human actions and words matter.  The Writings are a library of Jewish voices and stories that speak to every mood, from anguish to exaltation to erotic love to despair.

I strongly recommend that you own a copy of the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible.  How is our Bible different?  There are differences in translation sometimes (all translation is commentary, remember!) but the big thing is the order of the books.  A Christian Bible assumes that all the books are history-ish, and orders them in chronological order.  A Jewish Bible classifies them as Torah, Prophets, and Writings, in descending order of holiness.  Torah is Torah:  every word in it has to be taken with the utmost seriousness (even if I seriously struggle with it).  Job or Ruth or Esther are holy books, but not at the level of Torah.  They comment on Torah, they ask questions of Torah, they expand on Torah.  They are also not Prophets:  the Prophets have their own unique role in our scripture, voices of challenge and rebuke.

Next meeting we’re into Rabbinic Judaism.  Check the Syllabus (link at the top of the screen) for the readings.  We’ll learn about Midrash and Mishnah, and a little about Talmud.  Remember that we meet again on January 22.

Until then, enjoy your reading!

– Rabbi Adar

Looking forward, in January we’re going to begin a survey of Jewish history via its texts.  If you have been curious about Tanakh [Bible] or were mystified by words like midrash, mishnah, gemara, or talmud — be mystified no more!  Rejoin the class in January for an introduction to all those things, set in the context of history.

We are often called “The People of the Book” but sometimes I think we are really “The People in Time”– every week we build our “palace in time,” as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel called it, when we keep Shabbat.  We live on a distinct calendar, and we measure out  our Jewish lives in ways that are distinct from the other cultures around us.

I look forward to exploring a different aspect of Jewish time with you:  history!

– Rabbi Adar

We begin this cycle at Purim, with the story of Esther.  Megillat Esther, the Scroll of Esther, is a book in the last section of the Jewish Bible, the Writings (Ketuvim).   The book tells about a near-disaster to the Jewish community in Persia, when a Jew-hating courtier named Haman plotted to kill all the Jews.  His plans were foiled by Queen Esther, a secret Jew, and her uncle Mordechai.  The book ends in a bloodbath, and the name of God is never mentioned, even once.  While the ultimate outcome is a triumph for the Jews of Persia, the final chapters are gruesome:  thousands of Persians dead.  We generally sanitize the story by leaving off the bloody parts, and in America today it’s largely a children’s holiday.

One of the interesting things about Purim is that while it is supposedly a “minor holiday,” Jewish tradition insists that the annual reading of the story is essential:  we are told to read it on the 14th of Adar, but if not then, the rabbis give us a whole list of other times to read it.  The sense is, this is a Very Important Book and we should reread it every year.

The day after Purim, we embark on the process of getting ready for Passover.  This is the origin of “Spring Cleaning”:  every bit of chametz must be cleared from the house.  For many Jews, this is literal housecleaning.  For others, it has become a spiritual housecleaning, asking what “crummy things” are lying around our life, and cleaning those out.  Either way, the process takes a month and concludes on the 14th of Nisan as we get ready for Passover, which begins at sundown on the 15th of Nisan.

Passover is the most-celebrated of Jewish holidays:  more Jews sit at a seder meal every year than keep any other holiday.  On Passover, we retell the story of our deliverance from slavery in Egypt.  It is similar to the Esther story, in that the entire Jewish community is in peril, but different, in that God is front-and-center:  in the Haggadah, the script for the seder meal, Moses is never even mentioned!  It is the Jewish community in its infancy, totally dependent on the “outstretched arm” of God to save it.  At the seder, we eat prescribed foods to help us remember the pain of slavery and the joy of redemption.  There are four ritual questions (that are never really answered) which are there to remind us to ask questions, to increase our learning.  We finish the meal with the afikomen, a broken piece of matzah.  (The rabbis devised the seder after the destruction of the temple.  Greek symposium meals were a model of modern education at the time, and they wanted the best “educational technology” for teaching the story of redemption.  However, those meals often finished with “afikomen,” a dessert and entertainment show that often got out of hand.  The rabbis transformed the afikomen so our focus would stay on the story, not after-dinner shenanigans.)

On the second night of Passover (it runs for 7 nights) we begin to count the Omer, which will continue for 49 days.  Each night before dinner, we say a blessing counting the days.  It originated in the Temple offering services, which had special grain offerings for the 49 days after the first night of Passover, but today it’s an exercise in discipline.  It sounds so simple, to remember to do something at the same time every day for 49 days!  And yet it is difficult to maintain the focus day after day.  Our ancestors had to learn discipline in the wilderness after the deliverance from Egypt:  it wasn’t enough to be miraculously saved from Pharaoh.

Which brings us to Shavuot.  Shavuot means “Weeks” and it falls exactly seven weeks (49 days!) after the first night of Passover.  On Shavuot we remember the covenant of Sinai and the giving of the Torah.  It is a third story, different from the other two, in which we take responsibility for partnership with God in doing the work of healing the world.

This cycle of holidays takes us from the assimilated Jews of Persia, whose story ends in a massacre of their enemies, to the slopes of Mt. Sinai, where the Jewish community commits to a covenant of partnership with God, bound by the laws of Torah.  We then return to our normal lives after all these stories and reflection, to work out the messy business of “real life” on our own, hopefully in partnership with God, informed by the Torah.

Next Sunday:  The National Cycle.

– Rabbi Adar

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On October 3 we had a nearly full classroom to discuss the High Holy Day Cycle.  We looked at it as an arc, beginning on the first of Elul, peaking on Yom Kippur, and concluding with the return to the beginning of the Torah at Simchat Torah.  [Note:  Instead of translating every term again and again, I will put a link to an entry in the Jewish Virtual Library or another reliable source.  Click on the links to learn more about those words and the concepts behind them.]

A recap:

The great arc of the High Holy Days begins with a private month of inward evaluation (Elul).  We may hear the shofar at weekday services, an ancient, raw sound to “wake us up.”  We examine our lives, and our deeds, to see where we have fallen short or missed the mark in our dealings with God and our fellow human beings.  We begin the process of approaching those we have harmed to ask for forgiveness; we also open our hearts to forgive those who approach us.

Near the end of Elul, on a Saturday evening, we offer Selichot, prayers asking God for forgiveness of our sins.  At that point the music in the synagogue changes, the color of the Torah mantles changes, and we hear more about sin [chet] and repentance [teshuvah] in the service.

The first of Tishri is Rosh HaShanah, the day that the Jewish Year changes: last week, from 5771 to 5772.  It is a happy day, when we eat apples and honey in hopes of a sweet year ahead, but the emphasis on teshuvah [repentance] continues:  the words of the service speak of God as Avinu Malkeinu [Our Father, Our Ruler] and as our Judge.  While we ask for the year to be a good year, we also ask God to forgive our shortcomings. What began in Elul as a private self-examination becomes a communal project. and the intensity builds.   The service includes repeated blasts from the shofar; hearing the shofar is the primary mitzvah [sacred duty] of the day.

Rosh HaShanah begins the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, the first ten days of Tishri.  We continue to reflect on our lives, individually and communally, as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement approaches on 10 Tishri.  On Yom Kippur, beginning at sundown, we refrain from eating, drinking, and sexual activity; many Jews refrain from bathing, anointing (using cosmetics), and wearing leather shoes.  Children and those with special needs such as diabetes or pregnancy modify as necessary for health.  The idea is to strip away all earthly pleasures and distractions, as well as to put us into a position to have compassion for those who are forced to fast by poverty and deprivation.  It’s a long, long day, and throughout it we speak of the gates of prayer, and the gates of repentance, metaphors that remind us that we do not have forever to do the work of repentance.  We do not know how long our lives will be:  it is important to get on with the business of atonement.  Yom Kippur includes a memorial service, Yizkor, and it closes with Neilah, a powerful culmination to the day.

After sunset, after we have something to eat and drink, we have a few days to prepare for the next phase of the cycle:  we build a sukkah in preparation for the seven-day festival of Sukkot.  After all the inward-looking and intensity, it is wonderful to relax in the sukkah while we enjoy our newly-repaired relationships.  The mitzvot of Sukkot include eating in the sukkah and waving the lulav, a bouquet of palm, willow, myrtle, and an etrog [citron].  Sukkot begins on 15 Tishri, the full moon, and continues for seven days of celebration.

The eighth day (22 Tishri) is called Shimini Atzeret.  It is not part of Sukkot, but an additional day.  It may be seen as an extra day of celebration (“the party was so great, we didn’t want it to end”) or as a quiet day to settle back down towards normal life (“the party was so great, it took a day to recover.”)  And then the cycle closes with one final celebration, one final act of return:  we celebrate the turning of the Torah, reading the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis, then dancing with the Torah Scrolls, on Simchat Torah ["Joy of the Torah"]  With that final act of turning, we resume our normal lives, renewed, refreshed, and ready to live our Jewish lives.

In our next class meeting on October 16 we will take a look at the second great cycle in the Jewish Year:  the Passover-Shavuot Cycle.  Until then, I wish you a meaningful fast and a joyful beginning to Sukkot!  Shanah tovah!

– Rabbi Adar

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It was a pleasure to meet each of you at our first class meeting on Sunday.  Thank you for your patience with all the details of a first class meeting:  next week we’ll be able to dive into our topic, the High Holy Day cycle.

We went over the Syllabus, talked about the Tzedakah Box, and dealt with the nuts and bolts of registration.  Remember that it will take a little time for everyone to get the book, Settings of Silver by Stephen M. Wylan.   There will be new copies available for sale in class.  (Please bring cash or a check to pay for it.)   Don’t stress over the readings for now — you can catch up when you get the book.

The only homework for now is to take a few minutes to look closely at the diagram of the Jewish year that was in your packet.   When I get a chance to scan it, I will add a .pdf of the diagram to the Resources page.  The point of the diagram is to let you look at the Jewish year on its own, without the Gregorian calendar.  What do you notice in the diagram?  Do you see any patterns?  Do you see anything that puzzles you?

As I mentioned today, if any of you have an idea of a different way to represent the Jewish year, I hope you will bring them to class to share.  What patterns and cycles do you see (or feel!) in the Jewish year?

Next Sunday we will focus on the High Holy Day cycle.  Look closely at it on the wheel diagram.  Are there things there that you do not recognize?  Did I leave anything out?

I wish you all a sweet Rosh Hashanah, a New Year of hope and honey.  L’shana Tovah tikateivu:  May you be inscribed for a good year!

– Rabbi Adar

Also, registration information is available on the Temple Isaiah website.  Click the link and the magic of computers will take you there.

See you on Sunday morning!

– Rabbi Adar

I will use the blog to recap the topics in class, remind people about things to bring the next week, and to make announcements.  Think of it as a handy bulletin board with your class information.

The text for Exploring Judaism will be Settings of Silver, by Stephen M. Wylen.  The book was published in 2000, so if you prefer to get a used text, they are available from many sources.  New copies of the book will be available in class.

I chose this text because it combines a good introduction to Judaism with a concise history of Judaism, allowing you to buy one book instead of three or four.  It also has a very nice index, which allows you to use it as a reference book long after the class is over.  We will not read the book in order from front to back.  The syllabus (which you will soon be able to view by clicking the link in the upper right hand part of your screen) will give page number assignments for each week.

See you September 25!

– Rabbi Adar