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1968

Speech for Banquet at Camp Morasha Seminar (1968)

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Hebrew Compassion (1961)

1. Sidra smbodies some of Jsm’s loftiest ethical insights – so much so that if Jews or non-Jews with latent anti-Torah tendencies were to read this portion carefully, they would be convinced error judicesof their pre…2. Perhaps some of greatest ethical insights: משוח מלחמה. Thus exemption for kerem. Even more – כל הירא ורך הלבב… R. Akiva: literally, But רבי יוסי הגלילי: מפני עבירות שבידו.
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Speech at Chanukkah Banquet (1977)

Perhaps the historic act of Chanukkah itself offers the best paradigm of the relationship of our lay leadership to our educational mission. חנוכה = rededication בהמ"ק. Several sacred items foremost: מנורה, ארון, מזבח. Symbols: מנורה = beauty, esthetics, secular studies יפיפיתו של יפת, Aron = Torah scholarship – our true essence... מזבח = service... esp. "service of the heart" which = prayer, and synagogue. Indeed, the Hasmonean victory was marked by חנוכת המזבח ... Hence, the importance in our Temple of Torah and learning of the services – hard, loyal, arduous, often sacrificial – of all you who are part of our communal family, and especially of those who have been called to leadership.I should like to offer warm public welcome to those who have recently joined our various Boards as Trustees: .....
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Justice, Justice - Plus Just a Little Jewish Compassion (1974)

In preparing for the revelation at Sinai, Moses read the “Book of the Covenant” (from the beginning of the Torah up to that point) to the children of Israel. ויאמר כל אשר דבר ה’ נעשה ונשמע, “And they said: ‘all that the Lord hath spoken we shall do and we shall obey.’” Our tradition saw in these two words, naaseh ve’nishma, not just an indication of consent but a whole philosophy of religion. For the Tradition did not translate naaseh ve’nishma as “do and obey,” but as “do and understand.” It is the particular order of that expression, the priority of action to understanding, that was acclaimed by our Sages. They tell us that even God was overwhelmed: יצתה בת קול ואמרה מי גילה רז זה לבני שמלאכי השרת משתמשין בו? A divine voice issued from heaven and cried out, “Who revealed to My children this secret which only the ministering angels know of?”But we must be honest. If the Jewish tradition admires the response of naaseh ve’nishma and God was astounded that the secret is out, clearly we moderns are shocked for the opposite reason. The modern temper sees in this attitude a symptom of blind religion, of lack of understanding, of irrationality. Surely an intelligent person seeks to understand before he practices, he seeks to know before he commits himself.How then can we go along with Judaism’s enthusiastic approval of naaseh ve’nishma?We must understand that we here face two radically different approaches. The modern temper can be characterized as autonomous. Man himself must determine each act, each decision, each challenge. A demand must appeal to his intellect and to his emotion before he commits himself to it. He, man, is the measure of all things. What he does must issue from internal consent, and not be imposed upon him externally. Judaism, however, is theonomous. Naaseh ve’nishma implies not man as the center of all things, but God. It is the nomos of Theos, the law of God, to which we submit in humility. Judaism regards autonomy in religion as an act of intellec…
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