Sinat Chinam

We approach Tisha B'Av.  Admittedly, it is one of the holidays to which I never connected emotionally.  While there is certainly a need to set aside time to acknowledge misfortune, it is much harder to buy into the concept of divine retribution for my own misconduct or that of the community.  When loonies of the ideological right suggest that hurricanes or AIDS are payback for social misconduct of one form or another, I do not take them seriously.  And while there is a reason to discourage Avodah Zarah and at least be selective with Sinat Chinam, both have their constructive elements.  Yes, the Temple was destroyed but how sincere anyone is about wanting it back the way it was stretches credibility.  Slicing through the neck of a sheep to bring Kavod to HaShem who already has Kavod in abundance makes me wonder about what we really aspire to.  We have in place in Jerusalem today this bearded God Squad creating mayhem and inhibiting religious fulfillment of a sizable part of the Jewish population that they regard contemptuously until the Tzedakah box needs a refill.  It seems to me that it might be better not to have Achdoos than to have the wrong kind of unity, particularly an irreversible one.  So mourn for destruction?  Maybe, but not for very long.  I think it better to take the view that no time is better than right now because we can address our many diversities right now.  Rabbi Akiva, seeing foxes emerge from the ruins of the Second Temple, concluded that they hit bottom as a prerequisite for redemption.  But he believed it would come passively, and maybe it will.  But it won't come between tonight's Tisha B'Av and next year's.  In that interval, while perhaps biding our time until we are once more subjugated internally by frummies, we can express a certain amount of Sinat Chinam toward those who restrain our minds and our actions in the name of the illusion of unity.

Dysfunctional Alliances

This shabbat we had visitors to AKSE, four Pastors somewhere in the Protestant spectrum, disciples in some way of a prominent megachurch minister Rev. John Hagee, who established an organization known as Christians United for Israel.  One of them spoke rather eloquently of what his organization has done to influence members of Congress on behalf of Israel and create a presence on campus that is needed to retort increasing anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic rhetoric which has taken hold on many.  Which raises the question of whether all friends of Israel are good to have.  Some time back I outlined in my longest post the six contributions I made to AKSE's well-being.  Were there a seventh, it would be an effort on my part to rid the table at the sanctuary entrance of inflammatory literature, most notably a good deal of  "in your face" pamphlets from the Zionist Organization of America which I thought would send the wrong impression of what the dignified citizens of AKSE are like.

We approach a contentious presidential election where I am sometimes reminded that there really were guys who voted for George Wallace in 1968 who survive and vote to this day.  The republican candidate is probably a pretty decent fellow personally but his circumstances require him to throw some red meat to the surviving voters who have to repackage some very odious thinking in a form that people will not find threatening.  The butchers of that red meat seem to comprise the governing board of Christians United for Israel.  When they meet with members of Congress, most of whom vote on Israel's behalf most of the time without any prompting, I cannot but wonder how much of that panim el panim time goes to other parts of the agenda, many diverting far from any concept of Judaism that I might have.

While listening to a course on the Book of Isaiah this month, I learned that the most repeated mitzvah in Torah, mentioned 36 times, mandates the dignified treatment of Gerim, people who are not like us.  America may be the first place that implemented this idea effectively but it has some opposition.  The pastors and former government officials who occupy CUFI's Board are that opposition, spewing various forms of genevas da-as trying to get people to think that unemployment problems and some natural disasters result from public policies on abortion or gay rights.  That is not totally foreign to Jewish thought, by the way, with much of the prophetic literature assigning temple destruction or foreign invasions to systematized Jewish misconduct, whether that be avodah zarah, sinat chinam, or mistreatment of vulnerable people.  While the lessons of avoiding idol worship and treating people respectfully have become part of the culture, we have long since abandoned the theory that our woes are internally generated divine retribution.  Attempts at inquisition, pogroms, delegitimization of Israel and genocide really originate from evil external forces that we need to resist, with no preconceived notion that our conduct generated any of these things.

רבי שמעון אומר:

שלושה כתרים הם: כתר תורה וכתר כהונה וכתר מלכות. וכתר שם טוב עולה על גביהן.

"Rabbi Shimon said: There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of kingship. And the crown of a good name is superior to them all (lit., 'goes up above them')."  Avot 4:13

This type of alliance jeopardizes a Shem Tov,  AKSE's for sure, Israel's perhaps.

Approaching Tisha B'Av

This year Tisha B'Av coincides with Shabbat.  That delays the fast and the mourning rituals until the sun sets on Saturday night into Sunday.  As I did last year, I plan a private observance with my MP3 player instead of a more formal attendance at synagogue where Eicha is chanted, Kinot are read and men delay their t'fillin until the following day.  While non-observant Judaism has been on the decline, recognition of Tisha B'Av as an integral part of heritage has gained increasing recognition.  Just as constructing sukkot in the back yard or studying on shavuot night have captured a wider audience, so has some recognition of destruction.  Sinat Chinam and Avodah Zarah which brought the dire situation about probably continue as they always did and as I wonder if these enhanced observances reflect more on ethnicity than religiosity there is something to be said for setting aside one's daily amusement to engage in a measure of Judaism.

Tisha B'Av as a communal event never captured my personal interest.  There is something contrived about sitting on benches or the floor, the sincerity of belief that we bring about misfortune through our own misconduct has not been there for centuries.  We are victimized because the external forces are evil, not because we dissed the Rabbi or voted for Goldwater or refused to accept patients on Medicaid.

So when the sun sets on Shabbos, private electronic introspection commences.  Yeshiva University and the Orthodox Union offer podcasts of a quality that the local sanctuaries cannot duplicate.  I do not yet know what the subjects of the Rabbis will be but that is the destination for me again this year.

Tisha B'Av Thoughts

Last night Eicha and Kinot marked the high point of a three week mourning period from the time the walls of Yerushalayim were breached  on Tammuz 17 to the destruction of the Temple on Av 9.  A theology of just deserts permeates Tanach, one that most contemporary rabbinical thought has rejected.  Contrary to the bombastic pastors of TV ministries, the jets did not take down the World Trade Center because we integrated American schools, allowed female sufferage or repealed prohibition.

Both Temples fell victim to outside armies for identifiable internal cause.  Tzuris to the inhabitants finds its justification in Avodah Zarah (worship of idols) in 586 BCE and Sinat Chinam (baseless animosity) in 70 CE.  Avodah Zarah and Sinat Chinam both remain highly prevalent within the Jewish community.

Depending on how you define Avodah Zarah, it is fairly easy to see why people have not abandoned it.  There has always been something alluring about defying some of the ascetism that rabbis of yore advocated.  Hellenism brought beauty and creative thought to the Jewish world.  Today, the relentless quest for money over piety gets a mixed message.  From the pulpit it is one of save some time for coming to shul.  From the synagogue presidents it is can we have some of that money.  From Reb Tevye comes the recognition that "If you're rich they think you really know."  There has always been a tension between how values are presented conceptually and how they are presented in reality.

Sinat Chinam may be more difficult to tease out, since the benefits to individuals and community are more subtle while the risks seem obvious.  Would the world really be better if Sinat Chinam disappeared?  As I ponder this question each year around this time, since it was proposed by a very fine Conservative Rabbi in his Tisha B'Av remarks, I remain convinced that a certain amount of Sinat Chinam has its place.  The original Talmud story involves reprisal by a man who was snubbed for a party invitation, which most of us would regard as trivial, but left him with anger and very limited recourse other than to let the Roman authorities take reprisal when he personally could not.  In the ensuing two thousand years we continue to have injustices inflicted upon us, usually by those in authority, for which we have limited ability for reversal.  There are the proverbial Macher Swoops of synagogues and Federations where the organizational policy is made in the back seat of a Mercedes-Benz while the Rabbi drives.  I've seen people in my synagogue blackballed from aliyot for beliefs that conflict with those of the gabbai who hands out the aliyot, while the rabbi acquiesces to the gabbai's positional authority to do this.  I've seen people with obvious neurologic disorders undermedicated with psychotropics prevented at Board meetings from expressing what they think.  On a more historical level, we have widespread departures from our communities, via immigration to America where men tossed their tfillin overboard on sighting the Statue of Liberty, to Jews responding to their mistreatment by embracing the Bolsheviks or the Hasidim.  If the greatest sage of his generation, Elijah the Gaon of Vilna, could really have his way, there would be no Hasidism which has enriched Judaism to our time.

In many ways, Sinat Chinam remains our Trump Card that we depend on as our recourse to amend mistreatment.  It is really part of Tikkun Olam, even its consequence is the absence of a Beit HaMikdash.