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September 14, 1957

Forgetting God (1957)

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Outline

Selichot (1958)

I. Tonight, סליחות, refrain is י"ג מדות, ד' ד' א-ל רחום וחנון וכו' and חז"ל say ד' קודם החטא and ד' לאחר החטא (ר"ה י"ז)/ Now, ד' = מדת הרחמים. This appropriate אחר חטא. But who needs רחמים before חטא. Answer (JB) – need רחמים וסליחה for our good deeds – done only half-heartedly. II. אבות ד'-י"ג: רבי אליעזר בן יעקב אומר – העושה מצווה א' קונה לו פרקליט אחד – one advocate, one angel to protect him. If the מצוה is incomplete, grudging – then his defense is crippled
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Synagogue Sermon

Fear and Forgetfulness (1965)

There is a verse in the Psalms that we read every Shabbat morning as part of our services, and that we also recite, with special gusto, at the end of our Grace or ברכת המזון. The verse reads: יראו את ה’ קדושיו כי אין מחסור ליראיו, “Fear the Lord, you, His holy ones; for those who fear Him will suffer no מחסור, no lack or want or need.” On the face of it, this is a beautiful verse, but rather unexceptional: those who are God-fearing will be rewarded by not having to suffer need or privation.However, on second thought this sentence appears somewhat puzzling and troublesome. Is this not basically an uninspired appeal to selfishness? Is it spiritually worthy to appeal for piety on the grounds that we will be handsomely rewarded for it? Is this not a classical case of what the Rabbis called, disapprovingly, the servant who obeys his master על מנת לקבל פרס, on the condition that he will receive a tip or reward?A meaningful answer is offered by the great Hasidic teacher, author of the “בני יששכר.” Divested of its complex Hasidic terminology, his answer is that the fear of God, which is simply the Hebrew idiom for “religion,” is fundamentally different from any other kind of יראה. Every other fear is caused by a חסרון or מחסור, a lack that I recognize within myself. I fear the government because I know that I am powerless and weak by comparison. I fear the Internal Revenue Service, because I know that I lacked integrity in preparing my returns. I fear an examination, because I know that I failed to study and hence lack the learning to pass it. I fear exposure to disease, because my body lacks the strength to combat and endure illness. Every יראה is symptomatic of an inner מחסור. However, the fear of God is not the result of any personal מחסור. I do not fear God because I am afraid of Him in the ordinary sense. My religion is not motivated by some basic material or psychological needs that I experience and that cry out for fulfillment or care. I am not religious because – a…
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Synagogue Sermon

Thank God! - editor's title (1955)

In the agricultural community that was ancient Israel, the ripening of the first fruits of the season was an occasion of great rejoicing and gladness. For the farmer of that day, it represented the beginning of a year of prosperity and plenty. It dissipated his fears of ruination by drought or locusts. It meant that he would have a harvest so that he could feed his wife and children during the winter and that the worries that weighed on him from the time the first blossom opened were over and done with. At such time, he would gather up these first fruits, called the bikurim, and bring them to Jerusalem, where, according to this morning’s Sidra, he recited a prayer upon offering them up, a prayer which is moving in its simplicity, its beauty, its sincerity, and its depth. This short prayer is primarily a testament of the historical relation between G-d, the People of Israel, and the Land of Israel. Having lived to see his labors so well rewarded and the land bear its fruit, the Jew came to his Temple, brought the first fruits to the Kohanim, and declared that this Land was given to him and his people only by the goodness of G-d. It is therefore a prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude, which is, at the same time, a resume of the history of Israel, which is, in return, the story of the relationships between the G-d of Israel, the People of Israel and the Land of Israel.Now since this is a prayer of this kind, giving insight into this history and these relationships, its importance far transcends the ancient farmer and the agricultural community of that day. A prayer of this kind has meaning and urgency for all Jews of all time, for are we not always a people, always praying to our G-d – and for our Land? Its meaning, then, should give us some serious clues as to our own predicament today.In this connection, the very first three words of the prayer of bikurim are of greatest significance for they set the tone and establish the basic premise of what a Jew and Judaism rea…
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