From the Rabbi
Rabbi Robert L. Wolkoff
Previous Messages
“Discussion, Not Debate”
Dear Members and Friends,
As I’m traveling through Europe, I witness how strongly the events in America still reverberate throughout the world. Most newspapers are showing President-elect Trump or President Obama on his trip in Europe endorsing our democracy.
As many of you, I was awake most of Tuesday night, Nov. 8, following the intricate American election system. Some of us are content with the results, and some of us are not. But after a long period of debates, it’s time to engage in discussions. During this long period of the presidential election process, it was too convenient and even entertaining to make every difference of opinion into a debate, too often in a vitriolic manner. Two days before the election, the Southold Town Anti-Bias Task Force organized a Vigil of Respect and Civility. A few days after the election, this vigil proved to have been necessary.
Rabbi Gadi Capela addresses attendees at the Southold Town Anti-Bias Task Force vigil. He speaks of the importance of discussion verses debate.
Recently, we read the story of Noah. How God flooded the world — His precious creation, because people couldn’t be peaceful and respectful to each other. But before He did, He gave Noah a chance to build an ark. Noah spent the next 40 days and 40 nights in the ark with his family and the family of animals, then a few more months inside until the water subsided, forcing them to find that common language, a common word. In fact, the word “ark” in Hebrew — Teivah — means “word.”
The Talmud says that just as people’s faces are different, their opinions are different. So disagreeing is a given, but it is up to us to find a peaceful way to disagree. In the words of Ferenc David, a Unitarian preacher (16th century, Transylvania): “We don’t have to think alike to love alike.” We should respect the results of the election. The real protest was made in the ballot box. The time for a debate is over. Now it is time for a discussion. Voting was the easy part. Time now to do the hard work. Many times during this campaign, the answer to questions about alleged inappropriate actions of the candidates was: “But let’s focus on the real issues.” Well, these are the real issues. Before we promise to improve big things like national security or the economy, we need to improve something small in ourselves.
One of the great disappointments I had during this campaign occurred toward the end, at the Al Smith Annual Dinner in New York, a Catholic charity fundraising night for children. What can be a greater cause and a better way to bring everybody together? After the speeches of the two candidates, it was Cardinal Dollan’s turn to speak. As the host of the evening, he sat between the candidates and now was his turn to offer a few words of comfort and peace. However, as he was walking toward the microphone, the network I was watching silenced his remarks and, instead, rushed to hear the commentators remark on the quasi-fourth debate.
How can it be? Why would they cut his speech? I don’t know if I was one of the few looking forward to hearing the Cardinal, but I was deeply disappointed when I searched for another network to hear his words, and I couldn’t find one. All of them seemed to focus on the entertainment, discarding the precious opportunity for a few words to bridge peace.
Anti-Bias Task Force Co-chair, and Tifereth Israel member, Sonia Spar, son Noam, NF Reform Synagogue member Rabbi Barbara Sheryl, Tifereth Israel member Elaine Goldman at the vigil.
Later, I found the Cardinal’s remarks on YouTube. It was merely 4 minutes — four minutes of a few words of hope and a peaceful prayer. The voice in the middle was silenced. When we eliminate the word of God, we are bound to make any discussion into a debate. I found it disrespectful for the host of the event, and a manifestation of how we can be disrespectful to our ultimate host in heaven. It was a missed opportunity.
So let’s come together into Noah’s Ark – Noah’s word. Four minutes of coming together can save us 40 days of flood. It may never be possible to avoid harsh discussions, but it’s imperative to find the opportunity to come together. It is important to remember that God will work it out. It is important to give time for peaceful words in the midst. It is important to say we are proud and love our country and pray for it as we do every Shabbat:
“Our God and God of our ancestors: We ask Your blessings for our country — for its government, for its leaders and advisors, and for all who exercise just and rightful authority. Teach them insights of Your Torah, that they may administer all affairs of state fairly, that peace and security, happiness and prosperity, justice and freedom may forever abide in our midst. Creator of all flesh, bless all the inhabitants of our country with Your spirit. May citizens of all races and creeds forge a common bond in true harmony, to banish hatred and bigotry, and to safeguard the ideals and free institutions that are the pride and glory of our country. May this land, under Your Providence, be an influence for good throughout the world, uniting all people in peace and freedom and helping them to fulfill the vision of Your prophet:
‘Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they experience war any more.’” (Isaiah 2:4) (Sim Shalom Prayer book)
God bless the United States of America.
—Rabbi Gadi Capela
“A Servant in the Temple”
Dear Members and Friends,
It was wonderful to see so many of you on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; it always feels like an extended family reunion. After several months of preparation and excitement, then a few days of long and intense prayers, and one long fast day, comes the moment of the last blast of the shofar, telling us that we worked hard, now we can sit and eat! As we read in the Book of Ecclesiastes, “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.” (9:7) There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy pleasure for his labor.” (2:24) And boy, we do; at Tifereth Israel we break the fast with a feast.
The Book of Ecclesiastes is the book customary to read during Sukkot because its message fits perfectly at the end of the High Holidays season. In the book that is attributed to King Solomon (Kohelet is its Hebrew name), the protagonist tells us that he had everything under the sun in wealth and wisdom, and that he had tried pretty much everything. His main message to us is that life is fleeting (he’vel means breath, often mistranslated as futile or vanity); it is like the wind, which we can never catch. We are not the owners of this world but the guests who come to visit for a few days — our 15 minutes of breath. To use it wisely is to not overdo anything or to try to understand everything. The mystics see in this message a clue that this world is a mere vestibule to Olam Habah — the next, eventual world.
After accepting the kingship of God on Rosh Hashanah and as our gracious host, on Yom Kippur we invite God to be a guest in our lives, in our temple. Then by sitting in the Sukkah — a temporary hut — at the culmination of the High Holidays season, we validate our acknowledgement that life is temporary. Like the Sukkah, we are also temporary. Since we don’t know when the end will come, we should enjoy the process. “I saw that there is nothing better for man than to enjoy his endeavors, since that is his portion. For who can enable him to see what will happen afterward?” (3:22) This idea is also backed by the Mishnah in Avot (Ethics of the Fathers 4:2) “A reward of a Mitzvah is Mitzvah,” which means that the reward of the Mitzvah is the process of fulfilling the Mitzvah itself, leaving future outcomes to God.
All the characters we read about over the High Holidays, including Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Moses, and Aaron, have one thing in common: all of them feel as though they are God’s servants. But Aaron embodies this message in full in his Avodah — his service — as the High Priest we read about on Yom Kippur. His service has a definite order and a meticulous process, yet the outcome is not in his control, and is decided by casting lots: “And he shall take the two goats, and set them before the Lord at the opening of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel.” (Lev. 16:7-8)
In our personal and public lives, we are often tempted to rationalize that the end justifies the means, that somehow we can ignore the way as long as we arrive at our destination. But can a product of a non-kosher process still be kosher? Let us remember that being a servant in the temple means keeping the process kosher, and letting God decide the ultimate outcome. It is a humbling and a freeing sentiment at the same time. “…there is nothing better for man than to enjoy his endeavors… For who can enable him to see what will happen afterward?”
May God bless this year in all its outcomes, and may 5777 be a jubilee year of peace and healing for us and for the rest of the world.
Shanah Tova,
—Rabbi Gadi Capela
“Moonrise”
We are just a few days from New Year 5777, and I sense excitement in the air. For Jews, the High Holidays are the spiritual Olympics; it’s time to stretch and give it all we can. It’s time to win ourselves back like an Olympic medal. In a few days, the moon will disappear and will reemerge in the new year.
Numerous theories explain why the Jewish people follow the cycle of the moon, even though adjusting to the movement of the sun. But last Saturday night, I saw the reason with my own eyes and felt it in my own heart. When we gathered at 7 p.m. with our friends from the North Fork Reform Synagogue for a Havdalah service on the Fourth Street beach in Greenport, we witnessed one of the most beautiful signs of God’s creation — the sunset. Half an hour later, we were ready to bless creation, saying goodbye to Shabbat and acknowledge its distinction from the six days of work. At that point, a full, perfectly round moon began to emerge over Shelter Island, directly in front of us. It was as though we were witnessing a slow, upward birth. A moonrise.
Moonrise is very different from a sunrise or a sunset, which tends to be romanticized in our mind and in our lives. It’s not often that people take the time to watch a moonrise. True, it may not be as colorful as a blazing red sunset, yet it surely projects its own drama, which seems to be understated, underrated. So why is it that every day in the Jewish calendar begins and ends with the moon and not the sun? A day on the Jewish calendar begins 18 minutes after sunset and ends about an hour after the following sunset. The moon is there like a sturdy bookend.
One of the verses of creation states: “And God made the two great luminaries; the greater luminary to rule the day, and the lesser luminary to rule the night…” (Genesis 1:16) The beginning of the verse mentions two great luminaries, yet the second part qualifies them as a greater luminary and a lesser luminary. The Talmud (Chullin 60b) deals with this contradiction and attempts to bridge the gap. The Midrash describes them as the sun and the moon with the notion that originally they had the same stature.
What follows is a discourse between God and a luminary that “sheds light” on Jewish philosophy:
“Sovereign of the Universe! Is it possible for two kings to share one crown?”
God answered: “Go then and reduce yourself.”
“But Sovereign of the Universe, just because I pointed out that which makes sense, I should reduce myself?”
In an attempt to appease the luminary, God replied: “Go and rule the day and the night.”
“But what is the value of this?” the luminary asked. “Of what use is a lamp in broad daylight?”
And God replied once again: “Go, Israel shall reckon by you the days and the years.”
Somehow the moon better captures the nature of our Jewish life and our connection to the divine. God was happy to let us sit next to Him and share His throne. He sees us as His co-creators. But it is we who keep rejecting our place next to Him. It is we who keep asking: How can two kings share one crown? The sun, of course, is beautiful and steady, but our lives as human beings more closely resemble the moon — different every day. Following the moon should remind us that sometimes it is good to “reduce” ourselves and be humble — the ultimate goal of Jewish life.
May we all have another Shanah Tova u’Metuka — a happy and sweet year!
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