Lech Lecha 2013 â€" Time to EvanJEWlize

Last week I, along with many of our congregants, had the pleasure of listening to fellow congregants Gary Smith and Jim Sloan talk about their experience at the Federation of Jewish Men's Club convention this summer. During his talk, Gary said that he was reJEWvenated at the conference. His pun brought many smiles to the faces of congregants, including my own. I myself love this type of Jewish pun, and in my previous congregation I had decorated my classroom and the hallways of the school with a number of posters containing such puns. There was a poster with a picture of a Torah scroll with the words "Jewish Soul Food" underneath the Torah, another, using the same pun Gary used, said "ReJEWvinate your life" – with a JEW in the middle- and because it was Birmingham, Alabama there was another with the Hebrew letter "Hey" with the word "Y'all" underneath it, thus reading Hey y'all. There are two other Jewish puns I'd like to share today. The first is Torahfied – the inability to remember one's lines when called to read from the Torah at one's Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Happily, Sydney was NOT Torahfied this morning. The second is a word pun that I believe was "invented" last year by Rabbi Michael Simon, and it may be a little surprising to some. It is "EvanJEWlical."

Now in the modern vernacular, an evangelical Christian is one who is enthusiastic or zealous in their beliefs, especially their religious beliefs that emphasize the authority of the Bible, acceptance of Jesus as their personal savior, and a desire to share those beliefs. Obviously that won't work for Jews. So what does EvanJEWlical mean? According to Rabbi Simon to "evanJEWlize" means to acknowledge "the realization that we need to missionize to ourselves first. We need to bring our own back to Judaism, to show them what a Jewish life is all about , before we can begin to convert others. In other words we, all of us, have to become "EvanJewlicals." We must live Judaism, we must explain Judaism, and we must sell Judaism.

Not to non-Jews. But to our fellow Jews. We must engage in the process of returning other Jews to themselves and to their faith."

Rabbi Simon wrote those words last year, but as we all begin to work our way through the implications of the recently released Pew Research Center's "Portrait of American Jews," his words couldn't be more important. The poll, which undoubtedly will be discussed in the organized American Jewish community for a long while, were startling. There were many surprising components, but for me the most shocking was that according to the survey 22% of American Jews describe themselves as having no religion!

Let that sit for a second. The People of the Book, the ones who brought monotheism to the world, who brought the concept of right and wrong, the Ten Commandments, and more, 1 in 5 in this country describes themselves as Jewish but with no religion. On the one hand it is wonderful that these non-believers still ally themselves with the Jewish people. On the other hand it is a tragedy of immense proportion.

Today Sydney is celebrating her Bat Mitzvah and she is wowing us all. She is choosing, perhaps with a little push from family, to take a stand and declare herself a Jewish woman. Three decades ago I celebrated my Bat Mitzvah. My mother wrote a lovely speech that I delivered about Jews by Choice, and how we must welcome them into our communities. Today though, we are all Jews by Choice. And unfortunately, what this research reveals is that for many Jews in America they are choosing to keep their Jewish identity without incorporating Judaism into their lives. It is these individuals Rabbi Simon was writing about last year!

Earlier this week I read a d'var Torah [by Rabbi Simon Jacobson] about the Baal Shem Tov, the 18th century founder of the Hassidic Movement. The story is that one day the Baal Shem Tov came to synagogue and found the place relatively empty. Nevertheless a short way into the service he ran out the sanctuary complaining that the place was too packed, leaving him no room to pray. When his students wondered what he meant, the Baal Shem Tov explained that the prayers, rather than soaring to heaven as they should, were so rote, so lifeless that the synagogue felt stuffed with dead words and there was no room for him.

What a good message. Our prayers are supposed to be filled with joy and uplift. Indeed, nearly everything we do as Jews is supposed to bring uplift and joy into this world. This emphasis on bringing joy into the world can be traced right back to the very first Jew, Avraham Avinu, who we met in today's Torah portion Lech Lecha. Unlike the founders of other religions, some who abandoned their wives and children, others who devoted themselves to a life of ascetism, poverty, and near starvation, Abraham did not seclude himself in study, prayer and Divine devotion. He opened his home to all, and he made it his life's work to not only teach his children the path of kindness and justice, but to inspire everyone he came in contact with.

On this subject, Rabbi Simon Jacobson once wrote: "Abraham showed exceptional kindness to everyone he encountered, whether they were friends or strangers, family or visitors, allies or foes. Abraham even showed compassion and prayed for the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah. The first thing Abraham did was open his tent on all four sides – welcoming guests from whatever geographical or ideological direction they came." Moreover, he caused his guests to find God in his acts of kindness. How? After [travelers] had eaten and drunk, they would stand up to bless him, but he would say to them, 'Did you eat my food? You ate of that which belongs to the God of the Universe. Thank, praise and bless Him who spoke and the world came into being.'

Through his loving actions Abraham brought others to love God. This is something we all have the capacity to do, but before we reach out to others we must find the joy for ourselves.

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo once explained it this way: "The tragedy of Jewish life today is that many lack the courage to confront their inner being as Jews. They observe the Jewish people and Judaism as a sociological phenomenon to be studied from without. It is for this reason that they do not hear the music of Judaism and then complain that such music is wholly absent. Like the student who takes a musical instrument, dismantles it and then complains that he cannot find the music, so it must be a fake." Let me reiterate. We must find the music of Judaism, let it fill our souls, and then share its music with our fellow Jews. Those of us who describe ourselves as Jews by religion as well as by culture must share the music, the beauty, the joy of our religion – the oldest of the monotheistic faiths – with one another.

An example of that beauty comes as a promise from God to Abraham later on in the portion, a section that is part of the fifth aliyah if you read the entire portion each year. In Genesis 15:5 a distraught Abraham is wondering, now that Lot is no longer living with him, who is going to carry on his new religion. God says "Look toward the heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them," assuring Abraham that he will not only have someone to follow in his footsteps but that he will be the father of many. Commenting on this passage our Etz Hayim Humash says: "From an earthbound perspective, a star looks tiny. From the viewpoint of heaven, each star is a world by itself. The descendants of Abraham seem insignificant in terms of numbers and power, but each one is an indispensable part of God's plan. Each individual Jew, each individual human being is a world by himself or herself."

Despite what the government has said to some of its employees we are each essential to God and to the world. That is a very inspirational and optimistic message. It is a joyous thing to know that we are each integral to God's plans for the world, that we are God's partners and have both the obligation and the power AS God's partners to make the world a better place.

I began this morning by talking about the idea of us being EvanJEWlicals. According to Rabbi Simon we all have the ability to do so. It is very easy. We do it just by leading the lives we are leading. The key is that we must SHARE it with friends and family. Now is the time for us all to become EvanJewlicals, salesmen for Judaism. And what is it about Judaism that we're selling? It is a way of life, a value system, a community. It is working together for the common good, sharing and helping others, ethics and morals, and rituals that remind us of these values. Now a good salesman will tell you that to sell something you must present it in a good light, an optimistic light. That is what our Torah portion does today.

At the very beginning of this morning's Torah reading, God promised Abraham "I will bless those who bless you." As descendants of Abraham, inheritors of that promise, we can also receive those same blessings by being a blessing to those with whom we come in contact. And they will come to bless us because of what we've shown them. How to live like Abraham. How to be hospitable and kind. How to acknowledge God. And how to live a Jewish life. May we continue to grow in our own Jewish identities, observance, and involvement. And in so doing, may we become EvanJewlicals; returning not just ourselves, but our fellow Jews to Judaism.

Rabbi Michelle "Mina" Goldsmith
October 12, 2013