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May 30, 2000

Even Those Who Presume to Do Good – Must Do God's Will (2000)

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The Perils of Progress - Draft

I. In the Beginning: In the vocabulary of contemporary man, the words "progress" and "progressive" hold a distinct place of honor. Progress is regarded as an unimpeachable virtue, a synonym for all that is good and noble in life. Indeed, the progress resulting from the advances of science in our day is a tribute to the creativity of modern man. It is amazing to note, therefore, that our Torah does not seem to share this popular unconditional adulation of Progress. The Torah, in its hesitation, seems to indicate that there are also pitfalls and perils in Progress. For, as Dr. Israel Eldad in his Hegyonot Ha-Mikra points out, in Genesis it is Cain who represents the man of creativity. Of the two brothers, it is he who is the oved adamah, the farmer who digs and plants and fertilizes and weeds and prunes in order to develop a plant -- a thing of value from a mere seed. And Cain, surely, did not have the most desirable character. And yet there is another aspect to the Torah's estimation of Progress. For if we are to accept this identification of avodah with creativity, "work" as a synonym or at least prerequisite for progress, then we must go back one generation earlier in order to find its true originss. It was Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden who were commanded l'avdah u le'shamrah, "to work it and keep it". The concept of avodah, or Progress, was already known to Adam. And since this is a divine command, and is the occupation of man in Paradise, it would seem that the reverse of what we said above is true; that creativity and progress and technical advances are accepted as noble virtues and praiseworthy goals of human activity in the world-view of the Bible. II. Controlled Creativity: The correct understanding of the Torah's conception of Progress comes when we realize that in the Garden of Eden, God gave two commandments to Adam and Eve: l'avdah u-le'shamrah. The first was "to work it": avodah, creativity, the forward impulse, the capacity to produce and build. T…
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To Be A Jew, Part 2 - Mebasser Reprint (1963)

The way out of the dilemma, then, is to reverse the order to which we have become conditioned by modern life. First live like a Jew, so that later you may love like a Jew. Begin with a full life of Torah and Mitzvot, so that afterwards you may experience the mighty range of feeling that is reserved for the truly devout. One cannot possibly be uplifted by the majesty and mystery of the Shabbat until he has first fully observed its regulations. The pleasures and the wonders are incommunicable; we can only talk about them, we cannot transmit them themselves. Only a personal participation can accomplish that. So, he who waits for inspiration to pray—will not pray. He who prays anyway may yet rise to full inspiration. The Halakhah does not demand full kavvanah before one begins his prayer (except for the beginning of the Shema and the first blessing of the Amidah); it demands only that nothing be present which will hinder kavvanah should it arise.But we must go one step further. In order to be a Jew, one must not only act like a Jew in practice. One must also act as if he were experiencing the emotional wealth of Judaism. In other words, what is recommended is a bit of conscious self-delusion. We must emulate the outward manifestations of religious experience in order to arrive at the experience itself. We must convince ourselves that we have kavvanah so that we may indeed ultimately possess it. We must, in good conscience, tell ourselves that we love G-d and fear Him, that our hearts are filled with awe and joy, so that in the end they really will be.Norman Lamm
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To Strengthen Our Heritage (1957)

We — like our forefathers of old — must "rebuild the Temple." Long have we thought about it. The day for action has come! KODIMOH means FORWARD! When Kodimoh was built only a generation ago, the founders chose her name well. It represented their Faith, their Vision, their Loyalty to a long tradition of three thousand years. These founders were our grandfathers, our fathers — ourselves! They believed they were building for many years. But progress, growth and change have swept over the world, and over our beloved country, like a mighty tide. KODIMOH can no longer contain all her sons and daughters. It cannot welcome “the stranger within our gates.”What shall we do? — We have decided! We shall again, in this year 5718, prove ourselves worthy of our great heritage, as the founders of our Congregation did in 5684. To strengthen that heritage we shall build a new and greater Synagogue — worthy of ourselves, of our great and growing community, of our centuries of unbroken Jewish tradition, of our eternal Torah.We shall make it a true “Mishkan” or Tabernacle where our growing families — and families yet unreached — shall gather together as one great Kodimoh family, to work, to study Torah, and to “worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness.”In a world torn by doubts and fears, we shall prove ourselves worthy of our firm Orthodox tradition — by building on that firm foundation a noble House of God that shall daily be witness to our faith in the Creator and Father of us all.The Founding of A CongregationOne of our KODIMOH families lives in what is believed to be the oldest house in one section of Forest Park — and it is only 45 years old! So, our founders of 34 years ago were pioneers. A small, but dedicated, group of Orthodox Jews who had early settled in this section of Springfield gathered together and decided that they should have their own Synagogue. Already there were relatively large groups of Jews in other parts of the city — but that was not enough. They wished to …
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