According to Conservative estimates, the continuous performances of Yizkor Services conducted here this past week drew crowds numbering from eight to nine thousand. This Rabbi, heretofore uninitiated into the vagaries of this Yizkor-centered religion of the masses, was astounded beyond words by these multitudes. Whatever one might say about this phenomenon – and we shall have plenty to say about it in a few moments – it is quite an experience, and one which sets into motion the wheels of thought. No one can really understand the religious tempermant of American Jewry until he has witnessed this spectacle.Let me tell you of two remarks which were made to me during these services by two individuals who rank high in the echelons of the Officialdom of this Synagogue. One was "You see Rabbi, despite all your complaining about Yizkor, where else would these people go? . The second remark was: ״Rabbi, it makes my heart feel good to see so many people giving honor to their parent:. When these remarks were made to me I promised a sermon as an answer. Hence, this talk on what I believe to be an objective analysis of the American Yizkor Cult.I think that there are three pleasant aspects to this matter of a three-day-a-year-religion. First, the fact that the ״Yizkor Crowds”, by their contributions, help maintain our worthiest religious institution. I have no quarrel with this argument? and) quite to the contrary^ I wish that this show of charity were increased a hundred-fold • The second argument advanced in favor of the Yizkor-Crpwds is, that by this act of memorializing their parents they show their respect and abide by the commandment KABgD ES aVICHA VS’SS IMEChA This too reflects favorably upon the Yizkor—sayers, although, -parhapa it should constantly be kept in mini that it is vastly more important to honor purentsjwhiLe they are yet alive than afterwards. A kind word in a mother’s or father’s ears is infinitely more valueable than the most magnificent tombstone over th…

In this portion we read of the tragedy that struck Aaron, the high priest of Israel, when his two sons were devoured by a fire from the Lord when they ministered in the Temple and changed part of the regulations. We read that Aaron was silent at the time of this tragedy. Probably the grief, the inner protest, was too overwhelming for him to say anything at all. At this moment Moses turns to his mourning brother and says to him “בקרובי אקדש ועל פני כל העם אכבד”, “through those who are close to me will I be sanctified, and before the entire people will I be honored.” What is it that Moses told his brother, and that he wished to impart to all posterity, at this time?         There are two concepts that are mentioned by Moses: kedushah, holiness; and kavod, honor or respect. Both of these are worthy Jewish goals deserving of our highest aspirations. Yet, they are not equal to each-other; one is on a higher level than the other. Kavod or honor refers to an attitude that is external to the soul. I honor or respect somebody, but that does not necessarily mean that I subscribe to his opinions. I admire or give reverence to a great musician, although I may be absolutely flat and a monotone. It is an external act of courtesy; a gesture that is sincere but does not involve my whole personality. Kedushah or holiness, contrariwise, implies an inner transformation, a total commitment and dedication of the entire personality toward the transcendent goal for which it strives. One can give kavod without being changed within. One cannot achieve kedushah until one has undergone a complete spiritual metamorphosis.           Now, kavod is something that the masses are capable of. Kedushah is something which only the initiated are capable of and obligated to achieve. Isaiah proclaims even as we do thrice daily, holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the world is full of his kavod. The Lord of Hosts, he who is above and beyond the world, in His essence kadosh, holy. That is the highest realm and…

We read this morning of the strange rite of the Parah Adumah, the ashes of the red heifer which were used to purify one who had contracted levitical impurity by contact with a dead body, but which ceremony at the same time defiles the priest in charge of the act of purification. Parah Adumah has thus always been accepted as a mystery, a hukah or incomprehensible law that defies reason in its paradoxicality. It is therefore an annual reminder that important as reason is in the life of religion, it is not the totality of religion. If man understood all that religion and God demand of him, he would not need Divine revelation; indeed, man would displace God as the center of life, and all authentic religion would thus come to an end.Parah Adumah therefore, tells us that intelligent as man is, and as much as he must endeavor at all times to exercise that intelligence, his intellect nonetheless remains limited. God, as Creator and Source of all intelligence, transcends human intellect. Life conceived only in terms of reason or logic is shallow. It is even monstrous, like a man with an oversized head and an undersized heart.The idea that pure reason is a sufficient guide for man through life is sophomoric; it is an index of intellectual adolescence. One might even describe it with that worst of modern epithets: it is non-modern, medieval. Modern science emerged only when it denied the omnipotence of reason, when it cut itself off from the tyranny of pure reason. Natural science does not at all come to its conclusion on the basis of logic, but on the basis of empirical evidence: testing, experimenting, investigating. Indeed, one of the greatest theories of modern physics, concerning the nature of light, embodies a logical contradiction, it violates the principle of reason that a thing cannot be two opposites at the same time.This does not mean to say that science affirms faith and religion. It does mean that shallow rationalism is a thing of the past. The Rabbis told us tha…

It is one of the premises of Judaism that, whereas all people are created equal, they are different both individually and in their groups. Individuals are different in talent and endowment, and collectivities are different in historic experience, in the formulation of their destiny, and in their national character. Thus, when the prophet says הלא אב אחד לכלנו? “Behold, do we not all have one Father?,” he is enunciating the Jewish principle of equality. And when the sages said: כשם שפרצופיהם של בני אדם אינם דומים זה לזה, כך דיעותיהם שונות, that “just as people’s faces differ one from the other, so do their opinions and characters differ,” they were expressing the Jewish concept of the differentness of each human being from all others. Both are true – the universality and equality of innate human values, and individual variety and group heterogeneity.Hence, Judaism ordains different laws for men and women, for Jews and non-Jews, for the Cohen, the Levi, and the Israelite, for the scholar and the ignoramus. In addition, amongst people in general, whether men or women, Jew or non-Jew, the greater the achievement and potentiality of a person or group, the greater the responsibility that must be assumed and the more may rightfully be expected. Thus, power imposes a certain obligation on people who possess it, a burden which the powerless are free from. The wealthy are obligated to certain duties which do not devolve upon the less affluent. Genius and intellectual brilliance impose on those blessed with them responsibilities that the ordinary people are not expected to bear. Similarly, those who have, through sacred resolve and fortitude of spirit, or even by accident of station or birth, attained certain positions and have come close to God and His service, have heavier spiritual, moral, and religious burdens to bear. With this introduction, we may be able to better understand an important passage in this morning’s Sidra. We read of the tragedy that occurred when Aaron l…

Our Sidra begins by describing events in the Tabernacle on the first day when it actually was used for the service; or, if we include the שבעת ימי המילואים (the seven days of the consecration of the priests), the eighth day. ויהי ביום השמיני, “and it was on the eighth day.” The Rabbis were extravagant in describing the significance of that day. תניא: אותו היום היתה השמחה לפני הקב”ה כיום שנבראו בו שמים וארץ. “That day (when the priests first began their ministrations) was an occasion of such great joy before the Holy One, that it was equal to His joy on the day that heaven and earth were created.” The textual reasons for this equivalence between the day of Creation and the day of ministry at the Tabernacle are the similarity of expressions in the two verses of ויהי ביום השמיני, and (with regard to creation) ויהי ערב ויהי בקר יום אחד, “and it was evening and it was morning, the first day.” Now, while we may have some kind of textual excuse for drawing this analogy, the question yet remains what the Rabbis really meant by comparing the first day of the Tabernacle to the day of creation. One of our commentaries offers an answer that is full of insight and of the greatest importance to us. He refers to the Midrash which states that עיקר שכינה בתחתונים היתה, God originally intended that His Shechinah (presence) dwell here on earth. However, when man sins, His Shechinah rises to an ever higher heaven. Thus, when Adam sinned, the Shechinah left the earth and ascended to the first heaven. When Cain killed his brother, the Shechinah rose to the second heaven. In the generation of Enosh, the Shechinah was banished to the third heaven; in the generation of the Flood, to the fourth; in the generation of the Tower, to the fifth. The events of Sodom caused the Shechinah to ascend to the sixth heaven. And finally, the persecution at Egypt banished the Shechinah to the seventh or the highest of the heavens. In order to rectify this situation, עמדו שבעה צדיקים והורידם לארץ, seven ri…

In our Sidra we read the strange story of Nadav and Avihu, the sons of the High Priest Aaron, who met a tragic end. It was the very day on which they and their father Aaron were consecrated to the service of the Tabernacle. It was the greatest day in the life of Aaron, as he formally began his ministry. On this day, Nadav and Avihu made some basic error in the service. They offered an אש זרה, “a strange fire,” to the Lord. As a result, they were struck dead at the altar. It is not clear exactly what sin it is that they committed. There are many, many opinions and interpretations offered in the Rabbinic literature. As usual, this indicates that none of them has a claim on certainty. Thus, some Rabbis were of the opinion that their sin consisted in undertaking the service while in a state of intoxication. Others maintain that they boldly entered the inner part of the Sanctuary, where entrance to them was forbidden. In one interpretation, filled with charm and a bit of whimsy, some Rabbis maintained that Nadav and Avihu were arrogant, and their arrogance expressed itself in the fact that they were bachelors by preference! They said to many of the available young ladies, “We are important people: our uncle is Moses, our maternal uncle is Prince of the Tribe; and we are assistants to the High Priest. No one is good enough for us!” Yet another interpretation has it that their arrogance expressed itself in a grab for power. They kept on saying, מתי ימותו שני הזקנים האלה ואנחנו נוהגים שררה על הציבור, “When will these two old men – Moses and Aaron – die, so that we can take over the leadership of Israel? They were guilty of over-ambitiousness. Or, another expression of arrogance was that הורו הלכה בפני רבן, they presumptuously decided the Law in the presence of their teacher Moses, a violation of the most fundamental ethics of Jewish discipleship.Yet as we ponder these various descriptions of the wrongdoing of these two men, it occurs to us that none of them is really that …