January 7, 2012 | 12 Tevet 5772

Do you remember New York Times op-ed writer William Safire, of blessed memory? Do you remember his traditional last column of the calendar year? He called it, “The Office Pool.”

Each year Safire would write a list of poignant questions or situations he expected to be answered or resolved during the course of the coming year. For each question or situation he would offer four different possible outcomes. And then, at the very end of the column, he would share his predictions for the year.

Last Shabbat on New Year’s Eve between Mincha and Maariv, I offered some 2012 predictions pertaining to our congregation, our Jewish community, and the State of Israel. I asked those present if anyone wanted to offer their own predictions – no takers. Then a hand shot up, and the person said, “What can we do about Israel? The coverage in the newspaper this week has just been horrible.”

The person wasn’t offering a critical perspective on the newspaper. He was showing concern and disdain for what the newspaper had reported about Israel... specifically, that an eight year old religious child living in Bet Shemesh was afraid to walk to school. Why? Because a group of Charedi Jews, extremists among the extreme, had spit on her and hurled unconscionable epithets at her because they didn’t think her dress was sufficiently modest.

December was not the first time that little Naamah Margolis was spat upon and otherwise insulted. It was only the first time the media reported such incidents.

If you were sitting in Congregation Etz Chaim this morning you would hear Rabbi Shalom Lewis speak about the experience he and his wife Cindy had with the Women of the Wall as they davened with them in the Old City on Rosh Chodesh Tevet less than two weeks ago. As Rabbi Lewis describes it, police protection is now necessary when women gather to publicly pray there. Moreover the police routinely videotape these scenes in case violence breaks out. But no power, no authority can shield these women from the horrible words that Charedim shout at them.

Are we disgusted?  Of course! But we are way past the point of disgust.

Spiritual leaders must call these actions what they are. They are acts of chillul hashem – profaning God’s name. The police must do everything possible to prosecute people who commit such acts. And Israeli elected officials must set aside practical political considerations, act on the moral position they know is right and forthrightly condemn those who engage in such disgusting actions.

Our tradition however offers a harsher, albeit in this instance largely symbolic, step that would enable Jews to register their feelings in very Jewish ways. It is called “cherem” and entails a formal act by a Beit Din, a Jewish legal court.  

The word “cherem” is most often translated as “excommunication” but a more accurate description of it is captured by the word “shun.” It is considered to be a drastic action. When a Jew is placed in cherem he is to be totally shunned – in every possible way. He is to be isolated.

Now, of course, when it comes to the Charedi community you might say, “Why bother to place members of that community in cherem? They already isolate themselves!”

Absolutely true.  I can’t deny it. The statement would, as I said, only be symbolic, but if Jewish courts of law throughout the world made this statement it would be a powerful one. It would be a statement reminiscent of the words we sometimes read in the haftarot of our classical prophets - Rigid ritual behavior so utterly and contemptuously divorced from righteous living is meaningless to God; it only profanes the Holy One.

Oh, yes, Jews speaking to so-called religious Jews in Jewish spiritual terms would be a powerful statement to caring Jews outside the Charedi community.

It would be a powerful statement because it would say that Jewish religious life has as much to do with what comes out of one’s mouth as it does with what one puts into it. It would say that ritual acts separated from moral living are nothing more than religious behaviorism. It would say that people who live in these ways are heretics and must be shunned.

Our parasha and rabbinic tradition support and undergird this view. When Jacob blesses his grandsons, Ephraim and Menashe, he says, “ve’yikaray va’hem she’mee” – “May my name be recalled in them” (Gen. 48:16). In other words, as people interact with Ephraim and Menashe they should recognize the presence of Jacob in his grandsons. But the use of the word “shem” – “name,” understood literally, raises an interesting question.

“May my name be recalled in them.” Which name - Jacob or Israel? Would Jacob want to be remembered as “Yaacov,” the one who, in childbirth, grabbed his brother’s ankle in an attempt to supplant him or as “Yisrael,” the one who struggled with divine and human beings and prevailed? Surely he must have meant “Yisrael.”

He wanted his grandsons and all subsequent generations, including us, to struggle at times with God…which really means to struggle with how to recognize God’s presence in our lives. But even when individuals or groups disagree with each other about such things, there must be mutual respect and acceptance.

The Torah, augmented by the Rabbis, is both descriptive and prescriptive regarding those who cannot abide by this value.

Consider the story of Korach and his followers. What happened to them? The earth swallowed them. Think about that image as a metaphor. What does it represent? Korach and his followers who acted in unconscionable ways were completely separated from the rest of the community. The rabbis in Pirkei Avot generalize from this story. They say that arguments that are not “for the sake of Heaven” - in other words, arguments and actions that profane God’s name - will not endure (Avot 5:19).

Our tradition couldn’t be clearer. What is a worthy punishment for those who impugn God and God’s creations through their disgusting actions? If the earth will not actually swallow them, then we must act to create the metaphorical equivalence – we must utterly shun them.

Last Saturday evening, our friend who raised his hand and rhetorically asked, “What can we do about Israel?  The newspaper coverage is just horrible!” was pointing to more than a public relations problem. He was also saying, “How can the State of Israel and how can we as Jews, stand idly by when Jews do such things to other Jews?!”

The answer is we cannot do so.

The State of Israel, its elected officials and spiritual leaders cannot do so… not for God’s sake and honor, and ultimately, not for our own sake and honor.

Shabbat Shalom.