“Hashiveynu Adonai, eylekha venashuvah, chadesh yameinu kekedem.” (“Cause us to return to you, Adonai, and we will return; renew our days as in days of old.”). Each Shabbat morning, these words from Megillat Eycha (The Book of Lamentations) accompany our return of the Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) to the ark at the end of the Torah Service.
I’ve long been struck by this verse --- by its spirit of partnership between God and humanity, by its hopefulness, and by its acknowledgement of the interplay among past, present and future. We treasure our ancient traditions, while seeking ongoing spiritual and cultural renewal.
In particular, I often find myself thinking about this verse at times of transition in my own life. I’m writing this article less than a month after I have begun work here at Temple Israel as your new rabbi. As with any person coming into a new position, I still have plenty to learn about the workings of the place. However, from the first day here (and indeed for months prior to my arrival) I have been bowled over by the warm welcome that all of you have given to me and Peter. Thank you so much for your kindness – and thanks in advance for bearing with me while I’m still on my “learning curve” here.
I look forward to getting to know each of you and sharing our Jewish journeys together in the months and years to come. If I haven’t made your acquaintance yet, please feel free, invited and welcome to say hello at Temple or to give me a call or send me an e-mail.
Wishing everyone a new year 5771 filled with health, happiness and fulfillment.
Shanah Tovah u’metukah (“a good and sweet year”),
Rabbi David Steinberg
(218) 724-8857
(Last Shabbat evening [8/13/10] I spoke in my dvar torah for Parshat Shofetim about the controversy surrounding the new Islamic community center ("Park 51") being developed two blocks away from the former World Trade Center site. Here's a slightly edited version of that dvar torah:)
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When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human* to withdraw before you into the besieged city? Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed; you may cut them down for constructing siegeworks against the city that is waging war on you, until it has been reduced. (Deut. 20: 19-20)
[Hebrew: "Ki Ha-adam etz hasadeh" (literal translation: "For the human being is a tree of the field" or alternatively "Is the human being a tree of the field?")]
The mitzvah not to cut down fruit trees in times of war evokes for me the old saying “don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” In other words, don’t make your problems worse when you’re trying to solve those very problems. Fruit trees represent sustenance and, if you’re trying to sustain yourselves in a struggle against evil forces, to destroy the fruit trees is to hinder your own sustainability.
This week in the news we’ve heard a lot of voices raised against the prospect of an Islamic Community Center by the name of “Park 51” which is being built in lower Manhattan a few blocks away from the World Trade Center site. Opponents of the project make feverish claims that Park 51 would be a foothold for terrorism and hate.
Yes, we may be in a struggle against fanatical forces in the world like Al Qaeda and the Taliban who claim religious justification under Islam for acts of terrorism – from the World Trade Center attack in 2001, to the murder of medical workers in Afghanistan this week.
However, it seems to me that the sort of community center planned for lower Manhattan would in fact be like that fruit-bearing tree in our Torah portion. Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, the religious leader who would lead the center, has been a leading force for moderation and interfaith fellowship in New York City for some time. The New York Times reports that NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg asked for advice from Fatima Shama, a Palestinian-American who is New York City’s commissioner of Immigrant affairs. She advised Mayor Bloomberg that “she has three sons.. but there is no place in the City for them to share their Muslim faith with their Jewish and Christian friends. .. ‘This could be that place.’ “
(“Bloomberg’s Defense of Muslim Center Near Trade Center Site Has Deep Roots”, New York Times, p. A1, A17, August 13, 2010)
I’ve been really impressed with the forceful leadership of New York City Michael Bloomberg, who has defended the project in an impassioned manner. I’d like to share with you an excerpt from a speech he gave on the topic earlier this month:
He said:
“This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions or favor one over another. The World Trade Center site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan.
“Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11, and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans. We would betray our values and play into our enemies’ hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists, and we should not stand for that.
“For that reason, I believe that this is an important test of the separation of church and state as we may see in our lifetimes, as important a test. And it is critically important that we get it right.
“On Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of first responders heroically rushed to the scene and saved tens of thousands of lives. More than 400 of those first responders did not make it out alive. In rushing into those burning buildings, not one of them asked, ‘What God do you pray to?’ (Bloomberg’s voice cracks here a little as he gets choked up.) ‘What beliefs do you hold?’
“The attack was an act of war, and our first responders defended not only our city, but our country and our constitution. We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by defending those rights and the freedoms that the terrorists attacked.
“Of course, it is fair to ask the organizers of the mosque to show some special sensitivity to the situation, and in fact their plan envisions reaching beyond their walls and building an interfaith community. But doing so, it is my hope that the mosque will help to bring our city even closer together, and help repudiate the false and repugnant idea that the attacks of 9/11 were in any ways consistent with Islam.
“Muslims are as much a part of our city and our country as the people of any faith. And they are as welcome to worship in lower Manhattan as any other group. In fact, they have been worshipping at the site for better, the better part of a year, as is their right. The local community board in lower Manhattan voted overwhelmingly to support the proposal. And if it moves forward, I expect the community center and mosque will add to the life and vitality of the neighborhood and the entire city.
“Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure, and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off-limits to God’s love and mercy, as the religious leaders here with us can attest.”
One of those important religious values, that we proclaim on this Shabbat Shofetim, is not to cut down the fruit trees … not to stifle the voices of understanding, moderation, peace and friendship.
We know that the poison of fanaticism and hate can spring up from all types of settings. Osama Ben Laden drew on the teachings of Islam, but Yigal Amir, the assassin of Yitzchak Rabin, drew on the teachings of Judaism. He murdered Rabin in November 2005, when my classmate and Temple Israel's previous rabbi, Amy Bernstein and I were studying together for a year at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva, Israel.
In the days that followed Rabin’s assassination, one of the songs that was all over the airwaves was Shalom Chanukh’s setting of Natan Zachs poem “Ki Ha-adam Etz Hasadeh”, the title of course taken Deuteronomy 20:19.
Every year when we come to Parshat Shofetim and we come to those words "Ki Ha-adam Etz Hasadeh", I remember those crazy, intense, disorienting days in Israel. But I also remember the hope that comes from having peacemakers in the world. Some, like Rabin, may get cut down before they can fulfill their vision. Others, like Imam Rauf and Mayor Bloomberg in New York give us hope that we too can be rodfei shalom, pursuers of peace, in our lives. And that our efforts can bring forth peace, just as the Etz Hasadeh, The Tree of the Field, brings forth fruit.
Ki Ha’adam Etz Hasadeh/ For a person IS like a tree of the field.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0XUURzD2So
Because man is a tree of the field
Like man, also the tree sprouts
Like the tree, man's life is cut short
And I don't know
Where I was and where I'll be
Like a tree of the field
Because man is a tree of the field
Like the tree he aspires upwards
Like man he's burned by fire
And I don't know
Where I was and where I'll be
Like a tree of the field
I loved and I also hated
I tasted from this and from that
They buried me in the earth
And it's bitter for me
It's bitter for me in the mouth
Like a tree of the field
Because man is a tree of the field
Like the tree he's thirsty for water
Like man he remains thirsty
And I don't know
Where I was and where I'll be
Like a tree of the field
I loved and I also hated
I tasted from this and from that
They buried me in the earth
And it's bitter for me
It's bitter for me in the mouth
Like a tree of the field
Because man is a tree of the field
Because man is a tree of the field
Tree of the field
כי האדם עץ השדה
כמו האדם גם העץ צומח
כמו העץ האדם נגדע
ואני לא יודע
איפה הייתי ואיפה אהיה
כמו עץ השדה
כי האדם עץ השדה
כמו העץ הוא שואף למעלה
כמו האדם הוא נשרף באש
ואני לא יודע
איפה הייתי ואיפה אהיה
כמו עץ השדה
אהבתי וגם שנאתי
טעמתי מזה ומזה
קברו אותי בחלקה של עפר
ומר לי, מר לי בפה
כמו עץ השדה
כי האדם עץ השדה
כמו העץ הוא צמא למים
כמו האדם הוא נשאר צמא
ואני לא יודע
איפה הייתי ואיפה אהיה
כמו עץ השדה
אהבתי וגם שנאתי
טעמתי מזה ומזה
קברו אותי בחלקה של עפר
ומר לי, מר לי בפה
כמו עץ השדה.
