Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis Sermons

January 29, 2003 by Harold M. Schulweis

Where are we? And why are we drawn together? We are in our house of prayer -- beit tefillah. Prayer in Judaism is not for the lazy, the indolence spirit. Prayer in Judaism does not mean to fold our arms and wait for angels to descend from heaven to do our work on earth. Prayer in Hebrew, l'hitpallel, is a reflexive verb. Prayer means to move us out of our seats, our of our couches and into the real world. He who makes peace in heaven needs allies to make peace on earth.

Where are we? We face the Aron Kodesh, the Ark of Holiness. We have seen on our Bimah our children joined together in a mitzvah covenant and recite under the chuppah the benediction of hope "Soon may we hear in thee cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of song, the voice of peace, the voice of tranquility". We have witnessed the breaking of the glass in the midst of celebration which reminds us that the world is fragmented and the human condition wounded. Know that each of us has an obligation to make whole that which is divided and to bind the wounds of God's children.

Why are we here? Not out of fear and not out of hate, not to destroy but to build. We are drawn together out of love. For where there is love there is life and where there is life there is hope. We are here out of love for our people, the love of the children and the land of Israel. We are here out of ahavat Yisrael.

When it comes to Israel we know in the deepest recesses of our hearts that we are not tourists with cameras slung over our shoulders. We are not voyeurs and Israel is no location with exotic scenery. We are Jews and we are family and we are neither deaf nor blind. We have eyes and ears. We have heard the scream of innocent men, women and children and the sirens of ambulances racing to save the lives of mutilated, amputated, hemorrhaging victims of indiscriminate hatred. We have mourned. The slain are buried and the prayer shawl draped upon the bodies of the dead. But one of the fringes is cut because the dead have no mitzvoth - lo hametim yehalleluyah - the dead cannot praise God. The dead have no mitzvoth.

But you and I are alive. The fringes of our prayer shawls are intact. We can act, we can gather the four fringes of shattered lives together in an act of unification.

We can and are today resolved to lend our good names and our resources to strengthen AIPAC, a people's organization comprised of representatives dedicated to open the eyes, ears and hearts of congressmen, senators and statesmen to educate them to act so as to protect the integrity, security and safety of America's truest ally in the Middle East.

Why are we here? We are American Jews and we are proud of the moral symmetry of that hyphenation. We are proud of the juxtaposition of two ancient and new civilizations who today are joined together in a global struggle to preserve democracy, freedom, tolerance and peace against the forces of fanaticism, racism, anti-semitism and xenophobia.

Many of us in this sanctuary have families who survived yesterday's genocide. We have memories of the sorrowful impotence of our people and of the criminal paralysis of churches and states that closed their ears and eyes and borders to those fleeing destruction. We are here because of the will to live that saw a cremated people resurrected before our eyes. We are here not to study history but to make history. The enemies seek to isolate Israel, to turn it into a parian nation. Therefore, we must be politically engaged with the nations of the world to advance and protect the security of the State of Israel and its democratic institution and support Israel's search for peaceful relations with its neighbors.

After the Shoah we resolved never again to allow fatal impotence to destroy our people and our dreams. We are resolved not to live in regret. "We cannot turn the scream back into the throat; or the gold teeth extracted by the murderers back into the gums; or the fallen yellow star back into the sky."

But we can gird our loins and exercise our God given gifts to give strength and direction to our love.

But let us understand our presence. We are here not in despair, not in fear and not in hate. We are here out of a transcendent love for our people and its threatened state and for the vision of peace. As the first Chief Rabbi of Israel put it,

"From the depths of my soul I speak unto you, from the core of my life where the tie that binds us to each other lives."

"I live in you, each one of you, all of you, the whole of you, in your life, my life has deeper meaning. I love you with infinite love."

Dear haverim, this is our place, this is our moment. This is our people. This is our dream. This is our sacred psalm. "We will not die but live and celebrate the works of Godliness". We will celebrate peace and security in Israel and with all her neighbors. This is the dream of our prophets. "Let love flow like a mighty stream. Let peace fill the earth as the waters fill the sea." This effort tonight of an entire congregation linking arms with AIPAC is unique and will be followed by other synagogues. Together we can bind for peace. "A three fold cord is not quickly broken". Chazak v'amatz.

We must dream of peace. Not to dream of peace is to betray our faith in the future. But we must dream cautiously for to dream is to be asleep. To close both eyes is to lose awareness of the present.

Therefore, we Jews have learned to dream with one eye open. One eye open to political reality and to Israel's struggle to exist.

Tonight we add the vision of Valley Beth Shalom to the insight of AIPAC. Ours is a unique act of harmony. Others will join us in this substantive and symbolic act of united action.

Israel, the United States and the community, "A three-fold cord will not quickly be broken." We are bound together and together we will prevail.

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