The image of the Menorah, which we read about this morning in our Parsha Beha'alotcha, is a fitting image indeed to use as a bridge into my words to you this evening.
Using our Menorah as a fitting symbol - I would like to share with you seven lessons which I have learned over my years of service with the WUPJ - lessons which hopefully will shed some light as well upon our work in the SAUPJ. The lessons are not in any particular order except the seventh one, the middle branch, which generally stands a bit taller, a bit more prominent, occupying a place of distinction. You might even try to imagine what that seventh lesson might be!
Lesson #1
As I travel the vast distances of our World Union, from the Far East of Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and hopefully soon in Shanghai (if you know any liberal Jews in Shanghai who would be interested in establishing a Progressive congregation - please let me know) through the Former Soviet Union, Europe, North America, Latin America and of course South Africa as well, one of the most empowering lessons I have learned is precisely "The Power of One" - the power of the individual person to effect change, to create and build communities - all because of one person and his/her commitment to make it happen.
Why is this so unusual you ask? Because we have been conditioned in our highly sophisticated, highly technological and highly bureaucratic world to believe in the power of numbers - the power of globalization - of interconnected peoples, nations, systems, structures.
We are so aware of how the world operates, so conditioned to believe that the little guy has no chance against the big system, that one person has no chance to make his/her will prevail against the vast system, that we often lose our faith in the power of one single human being to make a difference.
Then I visit our World Union congregations and institutions in every region and I learn this fundamental lesson, time after time - the largest and most successful synagogue centres, schools, community welfare associations; nearly every one was established because of one single individual's passion and commitment.
Elyse Silverberg in Beijing, Bob Green in Hong Kong, Sylvie Witmann in Prague, Marvin Sossin in Costa Rica, Zinoya Kogan in Moscow, Rachel Dohme in Hamlyn, Germany - I could name many more and certainly more in your SAUPJ. We have to remember the importance of each single one of us to create new realities, to establish new institutions, buildings, structures. It starts with one light, the flame of the candle which has the capacity to light millions of other flames. All that is needed is that first small light to light the next lamp and the next one - our work as community builders has never been based on scientific systems at the core - fundamentally our work is based on Meshuga l'devar (a person who devotes all his energy and total being to something - One who is literally crazy to do something) - crazy for the matter and one crazy person can move mountains and build institutions, schools, soup kitchens, synagogues and reach to the stars.
Lesson # 2:
I have learned and re-learned the message of the great modern Jewish philosopher, Mordechai Kaplan, that Judaism is not a religion, it is not a dogmatic or a systematic code of beliefs or practices - Judaism, unlike Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and all the other religions - is a civilisation - more accurately, a religious civilisation. We end up in utter confusion and complete distortion when we try to make Judaism fit into the mould of normative religions.
Judaism, as a religious civilisation, includes all of those essential elements which constitute a civilisation: A people, a land, a language, a literature, a theology and ritual practices and forms, a history, a culture informed by all of the above. A variety of culinary styles associated with different cultural expressions and the like.
Of particular importance for us to appreciate is the essential role which Jewish Peoplehood and our group play in what we understand as Judaism.
From our very beginning as a religious civilisation, the core element of Judaism was the family unit - Abraham and Sarah, their relationship to God, to the land God showed Abraham and to the unfolding of the covenant established between God and the family of Abraham - we are truly the children of Israel - B'nei Yisrael. We are a family - spread out across the globe with a land called Eretz Yisrael, serving as our anchor - as our home.
I see this family dimension when I visit congregations in our member regions. When I was with the Jewish Religious Union in Mumbai - family members of the B'nei Yisrael ethnic group with Jewish religious norms patterned after local Indian customs as well as Oriental Jewish customs, I couldn't help but feel so different, so alien. But when we all prayed together, when we chanted the Sh'ma Yisrael in Hebrew, I remembered Abraham and Sarah and felt at home, felt like I was with family.
I see our family dimension when I help Genia and Marek in Russia to establish a congregation in Cherkassy, or in Minsk, or in Kiev. I am proud to tell you that today we have over 60 World Union congregations in the Former Soviet Union (FSU), with six full time rabbis, the largest youth movement - Netzer Olami- in the region and the exciting new reality of two new synagogue-centres being renovated in Moscow and St. Petersburg. When I work with "family" in the FSU, I see in their eyes my own grandfathers' eyes on both sides of my family - Oseransky is my real name - a product of Ukrainian and Belarussian ancestry, some more religious, some less - eating borscht, which in Phoenix, Arizona, where I was born and grew up, I thought was Jewish food, until I ate borscht in every goyish restaurant in the Ukraine and I realised it was just one of the many local foods my family ate because they were good Ukrainians - not necessarily good Jews.
The lesson of Peoplehood - means religion is one factor of who I am as a Jew - but it is absolutely not the entire story.
Lesson # 3:
Our World Union congregations across the globe, while established by and large by Meshugaim l'devar (plural of Meshugah) who are volunteer lay leaders - do need the guidance, knowledge and leadership of rabbis to propel them onward and upward. With my unlimited appreciation for what lay leaders can accomplish - a synagogue needs a talented rabbi to grow and mature as a religious community.
This is something which you here in South Africa know very well - I am so pleased that at this time in your history, there is a strong contingent of rabbinic leaders in nearly every one of your important centres. I enjoyed meeting with your rabbis during these last few days- take good care of them, nurture them and they will surely nurture you as well.
Our challenge as a Progressive movement, especially outside North America, is to increase the number of rabbis able to serve our expanding world movement. There are too few Progressive rabbis to serve the World Union in our various regions - partly because of the culture of Progressive Judaism and our sociological norms, and partly because rabbinic salaries are nearly impossible for small communities to provide.
I am not so chuzpadik to stand here and say that we need rabbis prepared to lead local communities for little or no salary - since I am not prepared to do that either. But we can expect our world movement to create a rabbinic start-up fund to help launch rabbinic positions, to provide seed money to get positions started, and then we have to expect rabbis in our movement to help raise funds for their congregation as well - we need not be ashamed to expect our rabbis to play a major role in building communities by helping to raise funds needed by the community. Our rabbis are first and foremost our teachers, our spiritual guides and mentors - but they are also in our contemporary Progressive congregations, our institutional leaders as well, and thus will need to play a part in institutional building as well.
Im ein kemach ein Torah. (If one has no flour - resources - then one has no Torah. In other words, it takes money to provide for Torah education.)
Lesson # 4:
The Jewish religious denominational world has been changing over the past quarter of a century. I see everywhere the breakdown of what our 20th century denominational world represented - Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Secular.Today, more and more, the Jewish world is moving into two divergent groupings: Halachic - Orthodox and often, Ultra-Orthodox; and traditional (non-Halachic) - Progressive, Masorti, Reconstructionist, and more and more, secular groups who are eager, thirsting for Jewish tradition, Jewish community and spiritual nourishment, even if they don't see this as a religious direction.
In North America and in many parts of the world, the Conservative movement, which ideologically strives to be counted within the Halachic approach, is losing ground to Reform, which is becoming more traditional. So too in Latin America, where Masorti is struggling to preserve its stature as a Halachic movement.
We are witnessing a convergence of traditional groups - all thirsting for more Torah education, more spiritual nourishment, more tradition, but within a humanistic, value-centred, open-minded atmosphere. Let us support such a momentum; let us work co-operatively, outside the box with partners who seek a more knowledgeable Jewish community. Our target population has been, and continues to be, the huge number of unaffiliated Jews in our community - let them find in us a serious, traditionally-rooted Jewish way, knowledgeable and steeped in Torah education, but welcoming to the spiritual traveller who is in search of God and Tikkun Olam.
Lesson # 5:
As the differentiation of Halachic/non-Halachic Jewish approaches continues, I see more and more expressions of rigidity in Orthodox-controlled community federations and governing bodies to maintain their control and hegemony and prevent the sharing of communal funds and decision-making with Progressive groups. And I see more and more, the need for Progressive communities to advocate for their legitimate communal rights. I am pleased to say that I have been impressed with the level of co-operation here in South Africa between communal bodies and our Progressive movement. The harmonious relationship I see is truly good news for the entire Jewish community in the region.The situation is not so positive in Europe, however. In Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Italy, Progressive communities are in various stages of advocating for their legitimate communal rights. The World Union is precisely the entity which must work with local Progressive movements to advocate for the legitimate rights of Progressive Jews.
One of the most problematic arguments used by the Halachic groups within the Jewish community is the logic that in order to preserve Jewish identity, we must raise the Halachic bar as high as possible to include everyone - meaning, the only way to ensure a united Jewish community is to follow Halacha which, by definition, enables all Jews to participate.
When we, Progressive Jews, argue for our legitimate rights and practices, we are told - your way is divisive, your way fragments the unified community. In order for everyone to feel at home in the community, the Orthodox say, we need to keep Halacha in tact - then everyone will be included.
This is a spurious argument indeed. When our Progressive value of egalitarianism runs counter to Halachic norms, why is our insistence on egalitarianism divisive and not their insistence on Halacha? When our Progressive converts are denied their rightful place in Jewish communal institutions, why are we charged with divisiveness and not those who are desperately holding onto their anti-pluralistic position?
When the sharing of government funds designated for the entire Jewish community are denied to Progressive Jews and our appeal to receive such funds are labelled divisive to Jewish unity, I say to the Halachic camp - stop abusing Halacha and stop abusing your monopoly on Jewish control. We, Progressive Jews, are part of the B'nei Yisrael family - the largest part worldwide I might add, and we will not sit idly by and permit you to distort our tradition and reject the core Jewish values we cherish as well.
As a Progressive Jewish leader, I, no less than our Halachic family members, desire shalom bayit and desire a unified Jewish community. But unity does not necessitate a monopoly of power. Unity does not mean the absence of difference. Unity is based on tolerance and open-mindedness. Unity is based on mutual respect and the willingness of the majority to empower the minority with equal rights. If I must be in the majority in order to have my belief system valued, if being in the minority means I have no say, then what I have is not unity, but rather totalitarianism.
Lesson # 6:
The sixth lesson I have learned in our work with our worldwide movement is the absolute essential need for our divergent regions to be more connected to one another.Progressive Judaism in North America - the largest most powerful of our international regions - must be informed and influenced by Progressive Jewish realities in South Africa, in Europe, in the FSU, and in Israel.
Issues which are normative for one region are often exceptional for another; patrilineality, the role of the non-Jew in the congregational operation, our relationship to homosexuals, lesbians, same-sex commitment ceremonies, the nature of Jewish worship, level of study - all these are often quite differently seen and experienced in our various regions, and we must be better informed and connected with one another in order to help each of us better relate to the powerful challenges we face.
Our movement in the FSU, for example, developing as it is in a most conservative, post-communist society, which still carries the scars of that oppressive regime, has yet to accept some of the more liberal norms of western, enlightened society.
We need to help our brothers and sisters in our large Progressive movement in the FSU to feel empowered by our world Progressive movement's values and norms - whether in terms of human rights and personal liberties, tolerance of differences, personal lifestyle and sexual orientations.
What I say now about North America, I say with great respect and admiration for that region - I was born and raised there and I believe that Reform Judaism in North America is a true blessing for our world movement. But I do believe that our North American movement, as strong, wealthy and successful as it may be, is desperately in need of the lesson of Jewish peoplehood, which our other regions in the World Union, including South Africa, understand far better.
Many North American Reform Jews are part of the American bubble - the world starts and ends on the American continent. Judaism is not the civilisation I spoke of previously, but more and more a religious, even spiritual, guide to inner peace and personal fulfilment. Too many Reform Jews in America have forgotten that they are part of the family of the Jewish people and that they have an intrinsic bond to Jews and the land of Israel. Too many Reform Jews in America have no sense of B'nei Yisrael - the collective, historic Jewish experience. Too many have no idea where their parents and grandparents grew up in Europe or Russia, have no relationship with their mother tongue (even Yiddish, but certainly Hebrew, not English) and feel no goosebumps up and down their body when Hatikvah is played.
We, in the World Union regions which do relate positively to Jewish peoplehood, must help bridge the tremendous divide with our North Americans. We must encourage them to see their Jewish roots, to experience their family roots, to become closer to their brothers and sisters wherever they live.
If we don't succeed in bonding American Reform Jews to their Jewish family worldwide, we run the risk of losing the largest and most influential part of our Progressive Jewish family to the winds of America - winds blowing in all directions, but not to Zion.
Lesson # 7
And now, the seventh lesson and the one which, according to Jewish tradition, helps integrate and unify all the others - just as the Menorah is fashioned out of one piece of gold, though the centre lamp is predominant and central.It should come as no surprise to you, my friends, that the seventh lesson I have learned during my service to the World Union, and the lesson which somehow unites all others, is the lesson of the centrality of Israel - land, people, state.
As we celebrate Israel's 60th birthday as a nation, we also reflect back to our humble beginnings as a family, father Abraham, mother Sarah and the covenant with God and land which binds each to the other.
Israel is our home, and even though we Jews have established ourselves in incredible and successful ways throughout the Diaspora, including a rich and mutually-beneficial history here in South Africa, we dare not forget that our family's historic and covenantal home is in one place and one place alone - the land of Israel.
We are not strangers to that land, nor are we newcomers there. We were born there and we will live there forever.
Since our state was born 60 years ago, we are still fighting to ensure our rightful place in our homeland. Our only regret is not having established our state sooner, for had we succeeded to give birth to our state even a decade sooner, millions of our family members would not have been slaughtered in their prime by Nazi fanatics.
Some say our State of Israel is truly a modern miracle. For those who want or need to believe in miracles, I would say Israel is probably the best example of a modern miracle you could find.
But I prefer to see Israel as the result of my family's blood, sweat and tears - yes, fuelled in part by our faith in our family's legacy and covenant with the Holy One Blessed be He, but no less fuelled by our commitment to live - l'chiyot - our life-sustaining need to find a small corner in this world where our Jewish family can pursue our family heritage in peace and quiet.
That is all we ask of our neighbours - let us live quietly on a small part of our home, not even on all of it - let us live in peace and we will leave you to live in peace. But not just that, we are prepared to share with you our achievements in nation-building and democracy, in making the desert bloom, in health care and science.
That is all we have been asking for 60 years and we shall continue to ask - give us a chance to live in peace and we will leave you to live in peace.
But until that day, we will never, ever permit you to destroy our one, small corner in this world, which our family calls home and which ensures our will to live.
As Progressive Jews, it is our responsibility to ensure that all Jews, wherever we live, feel at home 'Jewishly' in our family's home. We have a special mission, we Progressive Jews in Israel - to guarantee that each and every member of our family, those at home and those living away from home, will be entitled to live the kind of Jewish life which brings meaning and fulfilment.
We have not returned to Israel after generations of exile only to be further exiled 'Jewishly' in our own home. We shall continue to grow as a Progressive movement in Israel and plant strong seeds of religious pluralism, of egalitarianism, humanistic values and respect for human rights for all our citizens, Jew and non-Jew alike.
We, Progressive Jews, in Israel are committed to this mission, but we are all too aware that we can not labour in that field on our own. We need the full family of Progressive Jews alongside us - we need your commitment, we need your experience in finding dialogue where there was only hate and despair, we need your political support to promote Arzenu, and we need you - your hands, your hearts, your resources. We hope each and every one of you will be present in Jerusalem in March 2009 as we open our Connections 2009 world convention. Let the SAUPJ bring its largest contingent ever to this wonderful gathering of world Progressive Jewish leaders.
That is the ultimate lesson I have learned - we need all branches of our Menorah united in our mutual work across the globe and united in our passionate support for Israel and an enlightened Jewish home.
Let us celebrate our Progressive movement and the critical enlightened message we bring - and let us always remain devoted to our precious Bayit, to our precious home, Israel .
Ki mitzion tetzeh Torah udevar Adonai miy'rushalayim (For out of Zion goes forth Torah and the word of Adonai from Yerushalayim).
