“Will The Miracle Continue? It’s Up To Us!”
January 25, 2008
Rabbi Gary S Creditor

Several weeks ago I shared my reflections on the initial installment of the PBS series “The Jewish Americans.” This past Wednesday I watched the last of the series. The following is my additional thoughts about us, whether we are here in this synagogue, in Richmond, in Virginia or anywhere. It is not only based on this program. From my youth I have been keenly interested in our history. Having served in the Jewish community before my ordination and for thirty-two since, I have lived through a significant piece of our current historical journey. These remarks are based on both my interest and my personal observation.

1. The existence of the Jewish people, separate from the faith called Judaism, is a miracle! From the Exodus from Egypt, where a family became a people, a people without a land, and then with a homeland, then exiled repeatedly from it, our existence in 2008, approximately 3,500 years since Abraham proclaimed the belief in one God is a miracle! Time after time, Pharaohs, Hamans, Inquisitions, expulsions, holocausts, and murderous wars have tried to destroy “The Jews.” We have been disorganized, non-hierarchal, and uncoordinated throughout our history. The transition of European Jews to America had no guiding hand. There was little if no organized Jewish community awaiting them here. Instead my grandparents lived in the lowest economic rung, in competition with other socio-economic groups, surrounded by those who hated them for either their identity as Europeans, their identity as Jews – those are separate components, and for jobs. Using 1880 as a baseline, in 127 years the Jews of America have created an extensive network of synagogues, social help associations, publishing companies, YMHA’s – JCC’s, federated giving, and youth enterprises on an unimaginable scale. We have attained positions, education, and wealth to take care of ourselves and to be the largest bulwark for the Jews around the world, and particularly for Israel. Borrowing a famous cigarette commercial’s tag line: “You’ve come a long way, baby!”

2. The end of the third installment focused on the religious dimension of Jewish Americans. Here, too, history serves to give us a deeper appreciation and insight into our current circumstances. The Jewish Americans of today are overwhelmingly the descendants of non-religious European Jews. In Europe, and later Soviet Russia, no matter how little a person embraced or practiced “the faith,” there was no escaping being labeled “A Jew.” Neither Hitler nor Stalin, not the Czars nor Ferdinand and Isabella asked what was the belief or ritual practice of a person identified as “A Jew.” The label and the identity were inescapable. Yet the overwhelming flow of European Jews who came here were not ritually observant, even as they were deeply Jewish. The rabbinical leadership in Europe often implored the Jews not to leave because America was the “Treifa Medinah.”  They were correct! There was no religious infrastructure here: no yeshivot; no Jewish publishing; few synagogues; little kosher provisions; labor was seven days a week negating Shabbat and Yom Tov. Anatevke wasn’t heaven, but there you could live a Jewish life, even if you lived in suffering and impoverishment. My maternal grandmother came from Bielsk, Poland, a little town northwest of Warsaw. She gave away his Shabbat licht that she brought with her to the scrap-metal drive of WWI. While she kept kosher, she was otherwise non-observant but totally identifiable as a Jew. When she came to our Conservative synagogue in New Jersey she sang along with us. In complete amazement I asked her how did she know this? She said: “I remember.” But if my parents had not chosen to set foot in a synagogue, which they didn’t have to do, the melody would have died with her. Overwhelmingly, though not completely, (big brush strokes are dangerous), non-religious European Jews, initially funded by non-religious Jews already in American, for reasons not of faith, built the Conservative and Reform movements in America. That’s where we come from. That’s how we got to 3330 Grove Avenue. We have been infused by survivors from the Holocaust, Jews from the Soviet Union, and by Christians who have sought our faith and converted. The establishment and perpetuation of “the synagogue,” is a miracle!

3. The series ends without really exploring the time and place to which it arrives. We are no longer European Jews, immigrants, foreigners, and strangers. We are Americans. We are not going anywhere. And, we can do whatever we want. No one can force us to “do” or not “to do.” “The Jews” have made it. While there are many, two premier questions remain:

            What does the word “Jewish” mean?

The second question elicits my final thoughts:

            What is the future of Judaism?

                                                            Will the faith survive in the American climate?

The program provided a “split screen.” While they focused on two, there are really three. The first is the revival/renewal of Judaism in ways so very distant and detached from its previous, more traditional incarnation. Borrowing forms and format, musically, ritually, esthetically, this screen shows an attractive, enticing and dynamic display. It has no rules, no obligations, no boundaries. It is egocentric. It is current. It is also alive and vivacious. It also needs to continue to re-invent itself, to find what is the next and newest magnet to draw young Jewish Americans to it. The second is the Orthodox/Hasidic, accurately portrayed as demanding a separation, a distinction, a division between being Jewish as based on “the faith,” and being American based on nationality. The premise is that the demands of the faith come first, that is the primary allegiance, but it can be sustained while being a loyal American, which comes second. This screen is also growing. I leave it to another time and place to digress as to “why” that is happening, but clearly, there is a strong, attractive dynamic. They didn’t really show the third screen. That’s us. Particularly Temple Beth-El. For a long list of reasons we are not a renewal synagogue. For a complimentary long list, we are not an Orthodox synagogue. The question about the future of the faith called Judaism, particularly Conservative Judaism, is not the question about the security of Jews in America as Americans. It is a question and a challenge:

            Do we, and how do we, wish to absorb, embody, embrace and practice the faith of Judaism?

            How does a synagogue – a house of Judaism – thrive?

            How do we persuade, entice, infuse those who join a synagogue – for whatever reason – to embody, embrace and practice the faith of Judaism – to enter these doors for the singular reason they were built?

I wish there was a magic elixir.

I wish I had it.

I can say that a small part in addressing it is the very big change that we are embarking upon starting next week. Except for several b’nai mitzvah caught in the transition, this is the last late Friday night service. Starting with next week’s Shabbaton, that I hope all of you will attend, Erev Shabbat services will be at 6:00 P.M. for about 40 to 45 minutes. Not only are we shifting time, we are shifting format. Twice a month erev Shabbat services will be in a more family oriented mode. Twice a month they will be in a more classical/traditional mode. At all times, within respectful limits, it is a “come as you are” mode – straight from work, however that is. Come join a Shabbat community, pray, sing, and then either join us for Shabbat dinner or go home and make a Shabbat dinner, without the time-imposed demand of rushing off here, or not coming at all. So far, without being a test, this new, for us, format has been attractive.

            I hope it will continue.

            I hope that we can build upon it.

            There is no alternative.

The future of our synagogue depends upon it, as does our religious community, of which this synagogue is a cornerstone.

            I believe that the future of Jews in America depends upon it.

Without Judaism as a faith, the other marks which distinguish us as Jews are going to disappear.

            Our future depends on us.

May God bless us.

May our decisions, our changes be successful.

Not only may Jews be safe an Americans, but

May Judaism flourish in America.

That depends on us.

            That is the beauty. That is grandeur. That is the excitement of this moment

Shabbat Shalom.