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March 1, 1958

Listen Carefully (1958)

Tetzaveh Parshat Zachor & Purim
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Synagogue Sermon

Bending or Breaking? - editor's title (1952)

One of the main and most fundamental contentions of all moralists of all ages is that human nature is not basically unchangeable. Ask any teacher of religion whether change is possible in Man, and his answer is inevitably “certainly.” And yet, my friends, if you were to ask me that same question I would have to qualify that assertion. Is change possible? – Yes and no. If by “change” you mean the transformation of the entire character essentials, the metamorphosis of the basic qualities of the soul, the G-d – given talents and personality attributes, the answer is No. There are certain properties of the soul with which you are born, and which you cannot change, willy nilly. Yet that is not the end of the matter. Because if by “change” you mean not the basic change of the “kochos ha’nefesh”, the powers of the soul, but the salvaging of them: not the scrapping and subduing of the fundamental drives for Man, but their redirection and channeling, the answer is a resounding and wholesome Yes. A man may not be able to rid himself of the trait of stubbornness, but he can certainly direct his stubbornness to desired and beneficial directions. Simpler still, a man may not be able to cure himself from insomnia. But he can himself determine whether these waking hours be spent counting sheep or studying Torah.The Jewish ethical literature has two names corresponding to these two types of change, and there are two schools propounding these opposing these. One group claims that the highest goal is “shviras ha’midos,” the breaking and crushing of the evil drives of man. The objectionable trait must be broken and destroyed. The other group believes this unnecessary and impracticable. Rather it proposes “tikun ha’midos,” the correction and re-direction of these dark forces, the channelling of them from the destructive ends for which they had been employed, to new and constructive ends. Redirection, not breaking and destruction, is the highest aim of ethical development. And Hassidim…
Tetzaveh Parshat Zachor & Purim

Synagogue Sermon

In Defense of Samuel (1970)

There are two good reasons why I should not deliver this sermon. First, it can be argued that it is better for a Rabbi not to raise problems which might disturb the peace of mind and equanimity of his simple, devout people. And second, he ought not pose questions for which his answers are not always fully adequate. If nevertheless I have chosen to discuss this morning the moral challenge implicit in the Haftorah’s story of Samuel, it is because, first, I trust that my people are not simple and devout, but sophisticated and devout, and they are aware of the moral difficulties that I am discussing even without my broaching it to them; and, second, I have confidence in their maturity, that they know that one ought to keep the faith despite questions, that a truly religious approach is not one which presumes to have all the answers, but where one accepts even while he ponders questions and experiences their torment. In the words of one of the greatest Sages of Israel in recent generations, Rabbi Akiva Eger, פון א קושיא שטארבט מען נישט – one can survive challenges and questions; it can’t kill a person.The problem is this. The Prophet Samuel reminds King Saul of the commandment to destroy, to blot out the memory of Amalek. He urges him to undertake the campaign against this wild and uncivilized tribe, and to spare none of them, destroying even their livestock. Saul attacks the Amalekites and achieves victory. However, we read that ויחמל שאול והעם, that Saul and the people took pity upon Agag, the King of Amalek, and some of the sheep and cattle, and spared them. Apparently, Saul acted on the basis of conscience; he was a good and generous man.However, the Prophet chastises the King. Samuel reproaches Saul for having spared Agag and the cattle, and tells him that in consequence of his sin his dynasty will not last, and he will lose his crown. Samuel then orders the captive King brought before him. The King is heard to utter the words אכן סר מר המות, “indeed, the bitternes…
Tetzaveh Parshat Zachor & Purim

Synagogue Sermon

Purim's Third Moral (1953)

The festival of Purim, and the Book of Esther, seem to have a three-fold message for us Jews. There are three individual morals to be learned from it. The first two are, more or less, well known. Here was a people, Israel, dispersed in exile amongst the Persians and the Medes, their very existence threatened by the anti-Semite Haman. There was no way out except through the intervention of G‑d, Who finally did redeem His people. It has been pointed out that the Name of G‑d does not appear even once in the Megillah. However, this does not indicate a lesser religious spirit than one finds in other religious writings. On the contrary, the fact of G‑d is so urgent and real and self-evident to these Persian Jews, that there is no need to mention Him by name. Thus it has been pointed out that Reform Rabbis are more prone to speak about “G‑d” than Orthodox Rabbis, who stick more to practical observance of the Mitzvot because to the Orthodox, G‑d is real enough and there is no need to remind one of Him. So too to Mordecai and his generation, it is certainly G‑d who saves them, and it is because of G‑d that he refuses to bow to Haman, and therefore Mordecai’s reference to G‑d is “Makom Acher” — help will come for us, not from “G‑d,” but from “some other place,” as Mordecai says to Esther.The second moral is the national. Israel is a people torn from its homeland and very much weakened in the land of its exile. Take a foolish king, give him a cruel and arrogant vizier, and apply a liberal dash of anti-semitism, and you have jeopardized the existence of the entire people of Israel. The antidote to this poison is, of course, concerted action. Love your fellow-Jew, work against your oppressing enemy, the anti-Semite. A simple lesson in national solidarity.It is the third moral, however, which is usually overlooked and which is of great importance — that is, the individual character of Mordecai as a leader. Mordecai is by all means the undisputed hero of the Book of Esther. He is…
Parshat Zachor & Purim