Erev Shabbat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim May 1, 2009 by Rabbi Tirzah Firestone

For Jews everywhere, this time of year signals that bitter sweet mingling of our sad-happy history, as we celebrate all in a bunch, a stellium of holidays: Yom HaShoah, and Yom HaZikaron, and Yom HaAtzma-ut: Holocaust Memorial Day, Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen, …Israel Independence Day.

It’s important to notice this interweaving in the Jewish holidays at this time of year, because it reflects the interweaving of dark and light which coexist hand in glove in our Jewish story.

Especially the story of the last century: Think of the State of Israel birthed even as the ashes of the holocaust were still smoldering.
Life springing up from death. The New lifting up out of the Old.
Hope rising like a phoenix in the form of the State of Israel.
.
It’s so important to understand the larger context of our trajectory and be awake to the miracle of Israel. The miracle of a homeland after 2,000 years tends to get obscured with the news nowadays.

Some people have made remarks to me like: I love being Jewish but I don’t relate to Israel at all, I don’t like what goes on there so I just tune it out. Israel is not part of my reality.

Well, whether or not we hold Israel as our homeland, whether or not we relate to Israel, Israel is part of our Jewish reality. As Americans, Israel is a central key to US foreign policy. As Jews, and as global citizens, Israel is a phenomenon unlike any other in world history.

Think about it: The ingathering of millions of Jews from the Arab peninsula, Africa, the Soviet Union, and the West. Jews who had been scattered all over the world and came from all socio-economic classes; who spoke scores of languages and dialects, with skins of all colors, and all levels of education and culture, Millions of Jews who shared nothing but the Shema Yisroel, and Shabbat, and a foundation of menschlichkeit. What an incredible socio-religious experiment to blend all of these people into one tiny strip of land, to make a common home together, to revive an almost dead language, to form one state of government/mind …What an unimaginable miracle.

Tonight we are going to share a few snapshots, from a few of y ou who have witnessed this miracle.
But before we do, I’d like to return to this idea of the confluence of death and hope. These two are deeply intertwined and embedded in our beings as Jews.
In fact…I would go so far as to say that the twinning of these two archetypes is part of our spiritual DNA, our mission as a tribe. Death and Purpose.

You will find this twinning tonight at the top of your program and you will see….the Torah portions of this week:
ACHAREI MOT…KEDOSHIM After death, comes holiness.
This Shabbat we read two Torah portions, first what happened after the death of Aaron’s sons. And then Kedoshim the famous chapters of the Holiness Code, the laws pertaining to how to be holy and bring holiness into the world.

Of course this is a just a coincidence, the two portions just happen to follow one another…But I say: these words are key to the mystery of our being, our very ontological purpose.
And therefore, this Shabbat holds for us a hint. Acharei Mot-Kedoshim.
After death, we are called again to be holy in the world.
Afterdestruction, we are given a fresh start, a new chance at living, but that new life must be guided by our most profound calling, to be holy in the world, not to be like other nations, but to stand in our ethical greatness. To answer to our highest calling.

Just as every person has a magnetic pull to the fulfillment of their purpose here on earth,
So every people or nation has a pull to its highest purpose, a magnetic pull to its guiding principles.
When we get away from that pull, we feel it. We know it.
We felt it here in the US over the past 8 years. We had begun to slip, to lose our constitutional moorings. We all witnessed how our fundamental principles were being eroded, our civil liberties whittled down.

So in Israel now, 61 years after Statehood, and 42 years after the miraculous 6 day war, we must challenge ourselves, in the light of our highest calling to be an ethical people, who are enjoined to care for the stranger, to have one law for citizen and alien alike. We must ask ourselves if what we are creating in Israel, today, is bearing out the fulfillment of the gift, the grace, the miracle that followed Acharei Mot, after the death.

There is no question that Israel must be a safe and secure home for the Jewish people, so that we will never again have to suffer persecution, injustice or oppression anywhere in the world. But in securing our own sovereignty, health and well being, we cannot close the gates to sovereignty, health and wellbeing to another people. We must learn from the death, and after the death, to return to our calling, "Kedoshim tihiyu," to be holy.

To hold these questions is a delicate thing. To hold them with love is critical. And we must discipline ourselves to hear all sides, to examine and learn more, not to be oblivious to what is happening in our lifetimes, to understand how we got here and how we can move forward.
For this reason NK is holding three events this May:
This Sunday, May 3, a beginners’ teach-in and brunch on the history and polit ics of Israel and Palestine. Good for beginners. With 4 amazing speakers representing a spectrum of viewpoints.
Next Tuesday night May 5 at the Boulder Public Library, the founder of Jstreet, the Pro-Israel Pro-Peace Political Action Committee in Washington, Jeremy ben Ami will be dialoging with Dr. Shaul Gabbay of Denver U. professor of ME Studies and director of ISEME. Moderated by best selling author and mediator, Dr. William Ury.
Finally, next Shabbat May 9, when we will be studying a new tractate of Talmud, based on Israel’s Declaration of Independence at Torah study. All of these events are ways in which we are celebrating the miracle of Israel, and realigning ourselves with our sacred purpose.
The words at the top of your program hold the key: Acharei Mot-Kedoshim.
After death, holiness. After destruction, we are given a fresh start, a new chance at living, but that new life must be guided by our highest calling, to be holy in the world, not to be like other nations, and say Look what they are doing, we have to do it too, but to stand in our ethical greatness.

I pray that the phenomenal experiment of Israel will bear fruit in the form of peace. The kind of peace that comes from a return to our deepest magnetic pull, our highest calling.
Shabbat Shalom.

For Jews everywhere, this time of year signals that bitter sweet mingling of our sad-happy history, as we celebrate all in a bunch, a stellium of holidays: Yom HaShoah, and Yom HaZikaron, and Yom HaAtzma-ut: Holocaust Memorial Day, Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen, …Israel Independence Day.

It’s important to notice this interweaving in the Jewish holidays at this time of year, because it reflects the interweaving of dark and light which coexist hand in glove in our Jewish story.

Especially the story of the last century: Think of the State of Israel birthed even as the ashes of the holocaust were still smoldering.
Life springing up from death. The New lifting up out of the Old.
Hope rising like a phoenix in the form of the State of Israel.
.
It’s so important to understand the larger context of our trajectory and be awake to the miracle of Israel. The miracle of a homeland after 2,000 years tends to get obscured with the news nowadays.

Some people have made remarks to me like: I love being Jewish but I don’t relate to Israel at all, I don’t like what goes on there so I just tune it out. Israel is not part of my reality.

Well, whether or not we hold Israel as our homeland, whether or not we relate to Israel, Israel is part of our Jewish reality. As Americans, Israel is a central key to US foreign policy. As Jews, and as global citizens, Israel is a phenomenon unlike any other in world history.

Think about it: The ingathering of millions of Jews from the Arab peninsula, Africa, the Soviet Union, and the West. Jews who had been scattered all over the world and came from all socio-economic classes; who spoke scores of languages and dialects, with skins of all colors, and all levels of education and culture, Millions of Jews who shared nothing but the Shema Yisroel, and Shabbat, and a foundation of meschlichkeit. What an incredible socio-religious experiment to blend all of these people into one tiny strip of land, to make a common home together, to revive an almost dead language, to form one state of government/mind …What an unimaginable miracle.

Tonight we are going to share a few snapshots, from a few of y ou who have witnessed this miracle.
But before we do, I’d like to return to this idea of the confluence of death and hope. These two are deeply intertwined and embedded in our beings as Jews.
In fact…I would go so far as to say that the twinning of these two archetypes is part of our spiritual DNA, our mission as a tribe. Death and Purpose.

You will find this twinning tonight at the top of your program and you will see….the Torah portions of this week:
ACHAREI MOT…KEDOSHIM After death, comes holiness.
This Shabbat we read two Torah portions, first what happened after the death of Aaron’s sons. And then Kedoshim the famous chapters of the Holiness Code, the laws pertaining to how to be holy and bring holiness into the world.

Of course this is a just a coincidence, the two portions just happen to follow one another…But I say: these words are key to the mystery of our being, our very ontological purpose.
And therefore, this Shabbat holds for us a hint. Acharei Mot-Kedoshim.
After death, we are called again to be holy in the world.
Afterdestruction, we are given a fresh start, a new chance at living, but that new life must be guided by our most profound calling, to be holy in the world, not to be like other nations, but to stand in our ethical greatness. To answer to our highest calling.

Just as every person has a magnetic pull to the fulfillment of their purpose here on earth,
So every people or nation has a pull to its highest purpose, a magnetic pull to its guiding principles.
When we get away from that pull, we feel it. We know it.
We felt it here in the US over the past 8 years. We had begun to slip, to lose our constitutional moorings. We all witnessed how our fundamental principles were being eroded, our civil liberties whittled down.

So in Israel now, 61 years after Statehood, and 42 years after the miraculous 6 day war, we must challenge ourselves, in the light of our highest calling to be an ethical people, who are enjoined to care for the stranger, to have one law for citizen and alien alike. We must ask ourselves if what we are creating in Israel, today, is bearing out the fulfillment of the gift, the grace, the miracle that followed Acharei Mot, after the death.

There is no question that Israel must be a safe and secure home for the Jewish people, so that we will never again have to suffer persecution, injustice or oppression anywhere in the world. But in securing our own sovereignty, health and well being, we cannot close the gates to sovereignty, health and wellbeing to another people. We must learn from the death, and after the death, to return to our calling, Kedoshim tihiyu, to be holy.

To hold these questions is a delicate thing. To hold them with love is critical. And we must discipline ourselves to hear all sides, to examine and learn more, not to be oblivious to what is happening in our lifetimes, to understand how we got here and how we can move forward.
For this reason NK is holding three events this May:
This Sunday, May 3, a beginners’ teach-in and brunch on the history and polit ics of Israel and Palestine. Good for beginners. With 4 amazing speakers representing a spectrum of viewpoints.
Next Tuesday night May 5 at the Boulder Public Library, the founder of Jstreet, the Pro-Israel Pro-Peace Political Action Committee in Washington, Jeremy ben Ami will be dialoging with Dr. Shaul Gabbay of Denver U. professor of ME Studies and director of ISEME. Moderated by best selling author and mediator, Dr. William Ury.
Finally, next Shabbat May 9, when we will be studying a new tractate of Talmud, based on Israel’s Declaration of Independence at Torah study. All of these events are ways in which we are celebrating the miracle of Israel, and realigning ourselves with our sacred purpose.
The words at the top of your program hold the key: Acharei Mot-Kedoshim.
After death, holiness. After destruction, we are given a fresh start, a new chance at living, but that new life must be guided by our highest calling, to be holy in the world, not to be like other nations, and say Look what they are doing, we have to do it too, but to stand in our ethical greatness.

I pray that the phenomenal experiment of Israel will bear fruit in the form of peace. The kind of peace that comes from a return to our deepest magnetic pull, our highest calling.
Shabbat Shalom.