September 29, 2011 | 1 Tishri 5772

I never tire of watching “The Wizard of Oz.”

When I consider the vivid colors of Munchkin Land and Oz and the efforts that went into creating this masterpiece more than seventy years ago, I am just astounded. But that’s not the reason I still watch this classic. I continue to watch “The Wizard of Oz” because of its timeless and reassuring message.

“There’s no place like home…”

I appreciate the clever thinking of the Scarecrow without a brain and the warmth of the Tin Man without a heart, but I have always been drawn to the Cowardly Lion who lacks courage…or does he? I think you know the answer.

The theme of courage was an important theme in two other excellent movies this year and in the heart-wrenching anniversary we commemorated just over two weeks ago. All of them speak to us today in powerful ways.

I’m sure that many of you saw the film, “The Help.” It is a movie that had to strike home for many of you. You can quibble with the details of the film…did the fictional households depicted in the film really resemble southern households of the 1950’s and 60’s?

However you must find resonance in the way the film portrayed the central role the African American maid played within many southern families of that era. And, obviously, you can only recognize truth in the depiction of southern society at the time. Yes, that’s the way it was back then, but it was about to change.

In the movie “Skeeter,” the recent college grad idealist and aspiring writer, is the symbol and catalyst of that change. Skeeter is the paradigm for a courageous counter-culturalism that confronts stereotypes and racism. She can’t yet do so openly. She can’t yet directly speak truth to power. But in her own way, Skeeter acts courageously to speak out against popular views and actions.

There are few, if any, issues today that compare with those raised in “The Help,” issues so large and so disturbing they have to be addressed no matter what the nature of the prevailing society.

Yet there are issues, especially one that looms large for us as a Jewish community right now, and we must have the confidence to speak up, perhaps against a rising tide, on behalf of what we know is right. I am referring to the well-being of the State of Israel.

As you know, last Friday the Palestinian Authority applied to the UN Security Council for full membership in the United Nations. Certainly that action was borne of Palestinian frustration. But, even more, it is about increasing pressure on Israel and the United States.

It is about the rejection of direct negotiations as the only way to move forward. And it serves to support those who seek to delegitimize Israel.

With continuing economic woes and pressure to reduce our federal budget, we can expect popular will to prevail upon members of Congress to reduce foreign aid, including military aid to Israel. It will take a certain amount of courage to assert the truth about Israel, about its pursuit of peace and about why any decrease in military aid to Israel would be unwise.

Today growing numbers of people deny the Israeli narrative. They find truth in images of Israel as an abusive power seeking to beat down the Palestinians. They view Israel as an intruder in an area of the world where it doesn’t belong.

“Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.” That is the venom Helen Thomas, the former long-time White House correspondent, spewed in answer to a question just over a year ago. Yes, Helen Thomas represents the extreme, but many people in this country have developed a special antipathy for Israel and are not shy about sharing it.

It takes courage to stand up to them. It takes confidence and conviction to answer their lies and half-truths.

Courage, confidence and conviction begin with a base of knowledge.

This November and December our congregation will join with other Atlanta-area congregations and Jewish institutions in offering a program that will help you to solidify your knowledge about Israel’s history, how it has sought to pursue peace and what it means to the world today.

I hope you will participate in this program called “Step Up for Israel.” This program will bolster your knowledge, provide you with greater confidence and embolden you to speak at this important time.

Let’s consider another type of courage. Our recent commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 ought to remind us about a second type of courage we may be called upon to reflect…the courage to face the unspeakable.

I marveled, even as I recoiled, when I watched one of the tenth anniversary retrospectives and heard loved ones recollect conversations with spouses and other loved ones who knew they would never make it out of the World Trade Center towers alive. I felt the same way as people recounted conversations with loved ones aboard United Flight #93 whose brave passengers tried to take the plane back from terrorists before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

Words can’t possibly capture the horrifying quality of these moments. Yet one could only marvel at the courage displayed on both ends of the phone line as ordinary people faced the unspeakable horror that had been thrust on them.

Ten years couldn’t mitigate those feelings. God-willing, none of us will ever face anything like the conversations that were recounted two plus weeks ago. But the reality is that life may force us to face a horrible, personally unspeakable moment. Perhaps it will occur with the news of terminal illness. Maybe it will be a sudden, unexpected tragedy that alters your life forever. Perhaps, sadly, it will be the moment you learn a loved one has acted to break trust with you.

In such a moment, when you are confronted with a situation you never imagined, I pray that you will have the courage to face it. If you do, it will be because you have acted long before that time to develop a resilient spirit.

Our haftara this morning provides us with just such an example. It describes the difficult straits of Hannah who dearly wishes to have a child but is unable to do so. Eventually, there is a happy ending. Hannah becomes pregnant and gives birth to Shmuel, a man destined for greatness in our biblical tradition.

Two details within the story help us to understand the source of Hannah’s courage to face what was, for her, the unspeakable.

First – We are told that Elkanah, Hannah’s husband, always gave her a double portion of the sacrifices he prepared “because he loved her.” Hannah’s resilient spirit was nurtured by her husband’s expressions of love. She faced her difficult situation with support…and not just with the support of her husband.

The second detail this story shares about how Hannah was able to face the unspeakable is her soulful prayer to God. It reflected her conviction that she was not spiritually alone, that she could turn to God in her time of extreme need.

Neither of these qualities, of supportive love and faith in God, appear out of nowhere. You have to nurture each of them long before the unspeakable occurs that calls for your courageous response.

So, like Elkanah, express the love you share with those closest to you.  They, too, will express their love for you.

Know your God – Know what you believe about the divine and about God’s role, if any, in tragedy. Love your God. Develop a relationship with the Holy One that may falter but will not fail you in a crisis. Then you will find the courage to face the unspeakable should, God forbid, you need to do so.

Finally, we can draw inspiration and courage from this year’s Best Film, “The King’s Speech.” By now you must know the story of King George VI who would eventually deliver a speech that gave his countrymen confidence and purpose as England entered World War II. But, oh, what it took to get him there!

King George was a stutterer, a man completely undone in front of a crowd. “The King’s Speech” tells the story of how an unorthodox speech therapist he came to trust was able to help him. None of us will ever occupy the place that King George VI did. But of the three types of courage I urge you to reflect, his is the example of courage upon which we most likely can and need to draw…the courage to risk.

Any new opportunity that is given to us calls upon us to risk to some extent. We are asked to leave behind something of the comfortable present.

As the New Year begins I hope you will have the courage to go beyond the present you

– to develop a new skill
– to engage in a new activity, especially one that might bring benefit to others
– to consider and adopt a new perspective
– and, if appropriate, to pursue new relationships.

This courage to risk will come from faith in yourself, likely a faith that is nurtured by others who really know you. And it will also come from faith in God. You, as a divine creation, are worthy and able to succeed.

Pay attention – nurture that faith, in yourself and in God. Seek to be like the author of Psalm 27, a psalm we repeatedly read at this time of year.

“Adonai ohri v’yeshi meemee efchad” – “God is my light and my salvation, who (or what) shall I fear?”

Let’s return to the Wizard of Oz. When did the Lion know that he was no longer “cowardly?” The answer is when the Wizard gave him a medal for bravery. The medal didn’t give the Lion courage. It simply recognized something that had always been true. Courage is an innate God-given characteristic. It has to be nurtured and then called upon.

I pray that the year 5772 will be a healthy and peaceful one for all of us and our people. But, if necessary, I pray that you will have the confidence, the will and the courage to speak out when circumstances call upon you to do so, as they do now with regard to Israel’s well-being.

I pray that you will have the courage and strength to face the unspeakable in your own life should it turn in such a direction.

And I pray that you will have the courage and openness to risk – to think and do as never before.

Amen.