The more things change...

(NOTE: I originally published this piece on this date 6 years ago, reflecting that time's concerns of "Protests, Civil Disobedience, and Revolution." Interestingly, just as we were mindful regarding immigration, economic disadvantage, violence and even deportation - so too we find these issues leading the headlines today. When will we progress?)

This has certainly been an interesting few weeks, for anyone who pays attention to the worldwide (and local) social and political scene. From Tunisia, Egypt and Libya to Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio - we are witnessing shifts in the landscape ranging subtle to seismic. Amazing to watch the power of mobilization and mobility in play, perhaps unlike any time yet in history. Tweets and texts have added to the tools of those who instigate, organize, and orchestrate all forms of political action from peaceable protest to violent upheaval.

On a much more limited scale, I was fortunate to take a very small part in such activity this evening. At tonight's meeting of the South Bend Common Council, a resolution was to be introduced that would voice this community's concern about legislation that is pending in the Indiana Senate (S.B. 590, which would toughen restriction and regulations around the issue of immigration policy, etc., a la recent news items in AZ). Such a morally outrageous step would be detrimental to our community and region, beyond the economic factors that have been stated. These kinds of anti-immigrant moves (coming from a generally bigoted perspective) go a long way to denigrating and de-valuing the people involved.

The local Hispanic community, which has been working to create a network through which to address its concerns in the public sphere, did an admirable job in mobilizing a supportive presence to attend the Common Council session. I was asked to attend by a fellow member of our congregation (who, in addition to being our Social Justice chair, serves on the Reform movement's Commission on Social Action. Together we have been working to build bridges in our broader community that cross religious, racial, and socio-economic lines).

By the time we arrived, the Council chamber was already packed to standing-room-only. No one was being admitted, and a very large number of additional people filled the lobby area just outside. We cocked our heads, trying to hear inside, to little avail. After some time, an entire team of firemen appeared, expressing concern for the potentially hazardous situation of so many people possibly blocking safe access or exit. We were told to leave the area, and congregate in the main lobby downstairs. At this time, the officers closed the door to the chamber - which of course was a visually disconcerting gesture, as if to say to the crowd we are disallowing your participation in the process of government.

The entire group did gather in the lobby, very patiently and peacefully awaiting news from the Council chamber. Eventually, the results were reported - the Council passed the resolution unanimously, 8-0. Cheers erupted and the organizers addressed the crowd. There was a sense of accomplishment and pride that on this occasion our community, no matter what its challenges, declared its solidarity with ALL its residents, and will strive to support fair and just immigration policy.

Looking around, and noting clearly that I was one of just a handful of non-Hispanics in the assembly of several hundred people, I was awed: it's not usual that, even as a Jew, I feel in the minority. Typically being called upon as a community leader, it was again eye-opening, and even refreshing, to be overwhelmed by my sense of smallness - not even being able to understand the words of the organizers (as I do not speak Spanish). Yet the positive vibe was powerful, and the feeling of being part of something good was undeniable. As we left the building to make our way back to my friend's car, we shared these thoughts - both of us knowing, even more than before, that we are fortunate with the lives we have: our families of origin, the opportunities we've been given, and the generation in which we were born have made sure that we have never known disadvantage or bigotry on any significant level. As we parted with our Hispanic friends, I was reminded once again of my responsibility to all my fellow human beings, friend and stranger alike, for we were strangers too.

We were strangers too...

“When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall not do them wrong. The strangers who dwell with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19: 33-34).

With these words of Biblical encouragement, Jewish tradition demands that we reach out to the “stranger”, “newcomer”, “outsider”, or “other” and include them in the embrace of our society. Though times and situations have certainly changed since these words were first written, and even since the time my family came here just a few generations ago - it remains our sacred obligation to provide and ensure the same opportunities to those who, like each of our families, hoped to create a better and more meaningful life in the United States.

I stand here as the proud offspring of immigrants to America, as do most among us. And I know it is my obligation to support the effort to accomplish meaningful reform to our immigration policy. As our tradition commands us to welcome the stranger - this responsibility inspires us to work to fix our broken immigration system in a manner befitting our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants. Our immigration policies must be rooted in principles of human dignity.

#Resist

(Pics: Wilhelm der Grosse, the ship that carried my grandfather to America; my young grandmother; the GPs with one of their 15 grandkids; me & grandma at my HS graduation)

Light it up! 2017

The last candles of Hanukkah 5777 gutter (my least favorite time of the entire year) - also bringing 2016 to a close. 

It's been a difficult (ok, perhaps "shitty" is a better term) year in so many ways - and yet, also dotted with great blessings and achievements as well. V has flourished; Ben is looking forward to attending his first choice college. We're all basically healthy. 

The music plays on...time to figure out what I want to do if/when I grow up. 

Obla di obla da....

Wishing your and yours health, happiness, fulfillment and peace.

Happy New Year 2017!!!

Those who fill us with light

This past week marks the 30th (!) yahrzeit since the passing of my grandmother, Mary Siroka. Hard to believe how much time has gone. I was a sophomore in college (at American University, Harvard on the Potomac :) and was on winter break. Mom, Dad, Eliot and I were vacationing in Hawaii when we got the call, the morning of the day before the first eve of the holiday. People plan, God laughs. Dad quickly re-arranged our travel plans so we could get to New York for the funeral, and be with our extended family. Change of pace indeed. We flew through LAX (where Dad insisted on purchasing me a t-shirt with Fred and Barney doing the hula) and arrived at JFK on a blustery cold morning (the warmest item of clothing I had with me was an AU sweatshirt, needless to say no appropriate outfit for the service). Getting settled, Dad and I hustled out to Alexander's to get me a jacket and tie, etc.

The funeral itself has an indelible place in my mind: it may have been the last time that all 15 of grandma's grandchildren were together in the same place. I'll never forget spending those first few eves of that Hanukkah centered at my uncle Harold and aunt Shirley's house - Dad and his siblings and cousins recounting stories, the aunts and uncles bragging about us kids, and even seeing the Japanese flag Harold had captured in the Pacific during the war. Tears, laughter, camaraderie, love....a touching festival of light.

Three decades have passed – all my aunts and uncles, and a couple cousins, are gone now too. The world has changed so much, yet its basic challenges and rewards endure. My life is so very different from when I was 19 for sure – yet I remain greatly the same. Time marches on, making sacred memories all the more profound.

This year, as we celebrate Hanukkah - be mindful of those in your life (living and long gone) who fill you with light. 

CHAG URIM SAMEYACH - wishing you a happy, healthy, love-filled Hanukkah.

#BillofRights225

Today marks the 225^th anniversary of the Bill of Rights – that is, it was on this date in 1791 that Virginia became the 10^th of 14 states to ratify the first ten amendments to the Constitution (for a complete text, go to https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript). For well over two centuries, these foundational concepts of American democracy have been the source of discussion, debate, inspiration and argumentation regarding nearly every aspect of civil liberty. To this day, the Bill of Rights fosters difference in interpretation, and therefore in enactment of policy and procedure. Yet today, it appears these sacred values – which were meant to add to and expand our understanding of how civilized, democratic society operates – are under attack like never before. Beyond scrutiny of the text, beyond articulate if even biased justification of its nuances, we now have masses of our people who would abuse the Amendments for political posturing – or worse, neglect these rights out of intentional prejudice or sheer ignorance. Saddest of all, this movement is fronted by the President-elect, a person singularly stunted in his grasp of history and fact.

What strikes me as so odd is a growing voice over the last year that contradicts the Bill of Rights itself: the seeming zeal, among some, to defend the public reverence for the Ten Commandments, and comfort in invoking those values as a tool in the governmental arena 

(see http://taggedtanakh.org/Chapter/Index/english-Exod-20). 

The First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (the Establishment Clause), which not only protects individuals and groups in practicing (or not practicing) as they wish, it also prevents the imposition of any one’s respective personal religious vantage point over another in political affairs. Ironic that when this is violated, as it has been over the years, it often accompanies abuse of the very next phrase, or abridging the freedom of speech – as its too common in our history, and that of the Western world, that zealots attempt to prove their position by silencing any opposition.

I am a lifelong liberal Jew, which means I have been educated and encouraged to engage in thoughtful, often difficult navigation between “tradition” and “innovation” in a rich complex religious system. Like the Founders, this has informed my worldview. More so, I am a lifelong political progressive, which demands a similar, if not even more vexing responsibility to understand a dynamism between my personal outlook (including religion) and my place as an actor in an American society that is (yet still) free and requires my participation. I for one fully “get” that no matter how strongly certain religious values are ingrained in me, they are not right for everybody (anybody?) else. Classically, my right to believe in anything, or uphold a position about anything, ends – respectfully – where another person’s begins.

One hope I maintain as this crazed political season endures: that the tumultuous campaign and its aftermath will motivate people to return to their roots – their elementary scholastic roots – and embrace a conscientious regard for our founding documents, and the awe they should inspire about the prospects of our shared humanity. 

(By the way - don't you think there's a reason we protect even the very paper its written on? Just sayin'...)

Profiles in courage - our turn

For those who witnessed, and yes for those born soon after, the assassination of President Kennedy did much to shape - if not define - a generation of America. Growing up outside Boston in the 70's, in what I've always called "Kennedy's Massachusetts", the impact of that event loomed large, as the nostalgia for the Kennedy mystique deepened further. Profiles in Courage and PT 109 were frequent choices on our reading lists in school. I was nearly bar mitzvah before realizing that Camelot was actually a play about some guy named Arthur...

Now here we are, 53 years following that fateful day. It is all too clear that the issues that troubled us then - world peace, economic disparity, racial divides, religious intolerance, the need for greater social justice - are still as significant today. Certainly some of the details and players have changed: Cold War alliances have given way to concerns about global terrorism; the struggle for civil rights now includes the strides we are making for our LGBT brothers and sisters; our social welfare efforts concern not only addressing poverty - they are also needed to fulfill our responsibility to an ever-increasing aging population as we've never known before. Most significantly, these are not "global" issues - as in they fester in far-off places well removed from us in our daily lives. Rather, these are imminent problems, poisoning our very American society, fostered by domestic players. 

And there is still hope that we can live up to our promise to become a better world. Looking at our situation today or during the Kennedy era (or any other point in time you choose) is but a momentary snapshot of the human condition. We need to involve a longer view of our history to sustain such hope. Consider this: this week we also marked the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, that powerful, articulate vision that Lincoln delivered during a particularly bleak and vulnerable time for our nation. Fast forward 100 years. It is following the Kennedy assassination that we truly begin the repair and resolve the issues that had torn the country apart through civil war. The Civil Rights act, the Voting Rights act, enabled in the mid 60s, we're predicated by earlier voices, Lincoln's included.

We still have much to do, much farther to go to bring about the just society that has been hinted at in every generation. It starts right now, by standing up to the emerging neo-Nazi element in our very midst. On this sacred memorial, let us recommit ourselves to partnership with all of our fellow human beings in working toward that day.

Know your history or wither away

Today I saw news coverage of an *interview* with a young, clearly ignorant and uneducated Trump supporter, on his way out of a rally for the candidate. When asked why he supports Trump, the simpleton mentioned “getting rid of immigrants, people from the Middle East, and ending the Zionists, because you know, they control everything like finances and media and stuff…” at which point I turned off the TV in disgust.

Ironic that this happened this morning, November 2, 99 years after the following was published:

November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild, 

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet. 

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." 

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation. 

Yours sincerely, 

Arthur James Balfour

This letter, known as the Balfour Declaration – which established Great Britain’s support of for a Jewish homeland in Palestine – paved the way in part for the fulfillment of traditional Zionist hopes and dreams. Without this vital document, and the exertion that led to it (as well as subsequent Jewish maneuvering afterward), the process that led to the founding of the modern state of Israel would have unfolded much differently, if at all. As I wrote on this topic many years ago:

The complex political maneuvering which took place to create the Balfour Declaration and ensure its intent for a British mandate in Palestine was not caused simply by the tide of history. This great debate was manipulated to achieve particular goals and further the hopes of world Zionism. The letter itself states that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National home for the Jewish people..." This statement evoked both a certain level of Zionist euphoria and a hostile controversy over British aims during WWI. One must remember that the British did not have control of Palestine at that time; nor were they guaranteed it in the event of victory.

For modern Jewish history, today, November 2 – the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration – should be much better known. And yet, due to a variety of factors, this remains one of those “important dates in history that goes unnoticed.” I find this phenomenon fascinating.

Know your history, or wither away.