"
Place there the Ark of the Pact, and screen the ark off with the curtain."
Exodus 40.3 [JPS Tanakh 1985]
In a previous post here in Sefer HaGedi, I mentioned that the congregation ,
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim [KKBE], that I am a member of, had a "unique place" in the history of Reform Judaism in America. It still does. It seems, at least to some outsiders or visitors, that we have a rebellious streak and a history of stubborness. One that persists to this very day. One that almost seems sacreligious.
We have been undergoing a period of transition in our congregation from "one generation to the next" and there has been a strong resistance to some of the ritual changes that have been proposed. The diffences are between "Modern Reform" and "Classical Reform" views of worship and ritual.
The "Reform Judaism" started in Germany 200 years ago as a response to Judaism's lack of modernity. Reform Judaism is an attempt to meet the "spirit" of the commandments while living in a modern world. Many of the 613 commandments do not have a 'rational' meaning today. (You thought there were only 10 commandments ? Wrong. Count 'em again.)
In the beginning, Reform Judaism was something like Unitarian Universalist with Jewish trappings. It scandalized what are now called the orthodox or
Heredi Jews. They thought [and still do think] Reform Jews are at best apostate or at worst sinful, evil doers making a mockery of G-d.
The Reform Movement has found that there is an on going need for more Orthodox "tradition" and "ritual" so there has been a swing back to more traditional "forms" of prayer and worship. As time has passed Reform Judaism has slowly brought back some of the more orthodox ways.
By a tradition going back to Moses, the Ark is the place in a Jewish house of worship [a "temple" or "synagogue"] where the Torah Scrolls [the Five Books of Moses] are held. The Ark in a Jewish temple sanctuary is the 'Holy of Holies'. Tradition dictates there is a curtain to keep the scrolls hidden if the doors of the Ark are opened but the Torah Scrolls are not removed-- just as the curtain [in Hebrew,
parochet ] in the "Tent of Meeting" kept the Ark of the Pact hidden.
[See page 544 of "
The Torah A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition, W. Gunter Plaut, General Editor, 2005, Union of Reform Judaism, for a floor plan of the of the Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting]
Apparently a long time ago [the date is uncertain] the
parochet [curtain] in our temple [KKBE] was removed. Some say it was during a renovation of the Ark and the
parochet was not put back when the work was completed.
Recently, the Ritual Comittee at KKBE submitted a recommendation to the Temple Board to restore the
parochet on the ark.
Times have changed and so has most of the Reform Movement... but some did not change with the times. The idea of restoring the curtain has caused an uproar from the "classical Reform" members of the congregation who had grown up with an almost "Deist" view of Judaism.
Deism is a recognition there is a God... and that Man should recognize God and be ethical and moral. That sounds pretty much like Reform Judaism except Deists do not have Jewish traditions nor a strong belef in the Torah or even in the Mitzvot.
I believe that the only real difference between "Classical Reform" Judaism and Unitarian Universalists is that in Reform [And all Judaism] the central prayer is the Sh'ma:
Sh'ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad (Listen Israel: The Lord, Our God, The Lord is One.)
There was a meeting held in June 2006 to give the congregation the opportunity to voice their opinions about the proposed change to install the
parochet. Needless to say it was quite a meeting. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend so I had to rely on the words of some of the eye witnesses. As it was described to me the meeting was not pretty to say the least.
From this came the idea for a story... Of course there is a long history storytelling in Judaism. When have you ever known a Jew
not to tell a story?
I entitled this story:
The Holy Daughter of the Pavilion [16]
The numbers in the text are for the footnotes at the end [after all if I am going to play the
Maggid I might as well be a scholarly one... :-)]
***
There once was a Wise and Holy King who had a Wise and Holy daughter.
The King having many things to do [for he was a *very* great King], He gave Her into the care of His Chosen. A clan of a few people whom He trusted that they might care for Her while he was away on His Wise and Holy, Kingly business.
But His time span measures greatly beyond our time span [which is but an instant to His] for He is, after all, a Great King and the journey He was to make was a long one.
The people loved the Daughter, for She was as beautiful as she was wise. She was a Gift and a Sacred Treasure. When the King had been gone for a very long time, the Chosen decided to build a pavilion for Her and once a week they would share in a holy day honoring Her Father and His gift to the Chosen.
She loved Her Father's people but the pavilion had a curtain which separated Her from the Chosen. For the Chosen had reasoned that She was Holy and should be held separate and may even aloof from the eyes of the even the highest of the Chosen.[1]
Sometimes she would come out of the pavilion and share the wisdom Her Father, the Holy King, had entrusted to Her but mostly She sat alone in Her pavilion. Yet though She and the people Her Father had Chosen were separated by a curtain, they felt as if they were One.
Sometimes She would peak out and show but a momentary glimpse of Her beautiful face to one or another that She knew loved Her. Years passed: A generation went and another came [2]. And the pavilion and its curtain began to look a little thread bare. Yet another generation came and another passed. The people realized that they needed to renovate the pavilion. So they engaged a builder and his workmen. The weekly holy day was approaching and the pavilion needed to be ready by then, '
The hour was late, the need was great but the workmen entrusted the task were lazy and slothful.'[3]
When it came time to open the pavilion that the people might sit with the Wise and Holy Daughter of the Wise and Holy King who had Chosen them over all other peoples to care for Her, the curtain of Her pavilion were missing! There She sat in Her royal robes for everyone to see! This was quite a shock! Yet the king's daughter upheld Her dignity, for had not Her Father, the Wise and Holy One, entrusted Her care to these His Chosen people?
Did the people of that time willfully hide the curtain away? Did they forget where they had been laid? Were the workmen *that* sloppy and lazy? Days passed. Months then years.These are questions that cannot be answered now as it was a long time ago and yet another generation had come and gone.
When one of Her holy sisters came weeping at the door of Her pavilion, She, the Beautiful One, could not turn Her away. A few more years passed and another Daughter of the King came to live in the open pavilion and then another. Each was beautiful and wise. Each was the Holy Daughter of the King.
Another generation had come before the previous one departed and a furious debate arose among the Elders of Chosen people as to whether the curtain should be restored.
"It's been fifty years! Fifty years! May be even a Hundred! She and Her holy sisters have sat with us without the curtain! We do not need the curtain!
They do not need them!" Cried one of the Chosen.
"But the curtain rods are still there! See? Tell me why the pavilion has curtain rods if it was not intended there be a curtain?" Replied an opposing voice of another of the Chosen.
"Have you asked
Them?" Asked a stranger.[4]
"Eh?" Said one of those of the Elders who were debating.
"What did he say?" Said another.
The Chosen turned to the Stranger and heard his words.
"I said," replied the stranger. "Have you asked them?
The Holy Ones."
The Chosen turned to the Wise and Holy Daughters.
The first among the Daughters looked from one face of the Chosen then to another.
"It is well you are my Father's Chosen." A slight smile crossed Her face. "These and Those [5]. Did he not say '
You shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am Holy'?[6]". He chose you above all others to care for me and my sisters. I find pleasure that even in your argument, it is for I and my sisters sake."
She paused a moment then asked them "Do you know my Sisters?"
One of the debaters stepped forward and bowed to Her, embarassed. "Uh... No, Holy One."
"Come and See: Let me introduce you to them." She walked and stood beside Her weeping sister, embracing Her. She who had wept for fifty years and more.
"This is my Sister, Shoah. Do you know why she weeps?"
The other debater came forward, "No, Holy One"
"She weeps for the six million and more that died to defend Her and the Name of our Holy King. She weeps and she remembers their love, their respect and their caring for Her."
The Daughter walked to the next Sister, the youngest one who smiled a wide beautiful smile. "She is called '
the Rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley' [7]. Long ago did your father's fathers and your mother's mothers love Her. They danced together in the fields of a time now lost."
The Daughter came to the last sister. "This is Miriam. She, who's well never runs dry. They who come to Her well in thirst, never leave thirsty. Her dance and song saved you when no other's would have. Still once, she became arrogant and was punished for showing disrespect for one loved by our Father, the King."[8]
"And who are you Holy One?" Asked one of the Chosen Elders.
"I am called Ruth. Did not my Father not say to you concerning me: '
For wherever you go I will go, and wherever you lodge, I will Lodge. Your people will be my people'[9]?"
"Yes, Holy One... but..." One of the debaters stepped forward.
"Yes?" She looked at them.
"You have been with us so long, you are like a mother to us. What would you have us do?"
She answered with a question. "Is it not said '
Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother'[10]? How do you honor those whom you love?"
"By showing them respect." Replied one of the Chosen.
"Do you know the traditions that others hold concerning my Sisters and their Sisters who dwell elsewhere among you?"
"Yes... We do." Said the one who had argued that the curtains not be replaced. "But they are elsewhere. Not here."
"Is your neighbor then only those near to you? Only those in your community?" She asked.
"Yes!" Came the reply.
She pointed at the other chief debater and said to one who had just answered, "Is this one not your neighbor? Tell me how do you show respect for your neighbor?"
After a moment came the reply."By not doing that which is hateful to them[11]."
"Does that not mean respecting their wishes? Their hopes? Their Dreams? What if they believe that a curtain on my pavilion shows great respect to I and my Sisters? And by showing that respect they feel they are honoring their promise to my Father, The King? What then?"
There was silence.
She turned to the other debater and asked "What if your neighbor believes with all his heart that the curtains show my Sisters and I disrespect?"
"But it seems so arrogant! You are the Holy Ones given into our care. We made a covenant with your Father, the Holy King. A covenant that is as real today as it was so long ago." Replied the one who wanted the curtain to be replaced.
She replied again with a question. "What if your neighbor's desire is not born of arrogance but of love and desire to be close to I and my Sisters?"
She paused "Yet..." and looked at them then said, "It is said, '
Do not look elsewhere for an answer'. Did my Father not say, '
The thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart'[12]? Do you not see? " She pointed one to the other. "This and that. You are a community." She said as she walked among the Elders.
"Come and see: Would you have strangers and evil ones saying, '
She is become a mockery, All who admired Her despise Her, For they have seen Her disgraced'[13]? Do you not see? '
For you must distinguish between the sacred and the profane and between the unclean and the clean.'[14] '
For I honor those that honor me but those that spurn me shall be dishonored.'[15]
And the elders of the Chosen looked at the Holy Sisters and then at one another. They wept over one another and then bowed to the wishes of the Holy Daughter and the wise words of Her Father, the Holy King.
*************
Footnotes:
[1] Exodus 40.3 This appears as the first refernce to a curtain in the Tent of Meeting. See page 544 of "The Torah A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition, W. Gunter Plaut, General Editor, 2005, Union of Reform Judaism for a floor plan of the of the Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting
[2] Ecclesiastes 1.4
[3] Talmud, Sayings of the Fathers 2.19
[4] This might be the same stranger seen in Genesis 37.15
[5] Eruvin 13b "
For three years there was a dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, the former asserting, "The law is in agreement with our views," and the latter contending, "The law is in agreement with our views." Then a 'bat kol', a voice from heaven
, announced, "Eilu v’eilu divrei Elohim Chayim", 'These and those are the words of the living God, but the law is in agreement with the rulings of Beit Hillel.'"
[6] Leviticus 11.44
[7] Song of Songs 2.1
[8] Numbers 12.10
[9] Ruth 1.16
[10] Exodus 20.12
[11] Hillel, Sayings of the Fathers
[12] Deuteronomy 30.14
[13] Lamentations 1.8
[14] Leviticus 10.10
[15] I Samuel 2.30
Added Note August 22, 2006: It seems I've found another of my mystery "co-incidences". This morning I was reading the Pritzker Edition of the Zohar and found a reference to the Pavillion:
[16] "
Pavilion is the adorning of the lower world by the upper world." Zohar 1.29a [Zohar, Pritzker Edition pgs 170-171 see note 503 & 504. pg 171] "In the Zhohar the appiryon (pavilion) is Shekhinah, the divine palace."
*****************
The idea came to me as I was reading Rabbi Eugene Borowitz' "Reform Judaism Today" which was released in 1983... it is odd that things have changed so very much yet so very little in the last 23 years.
I ended up "wrestling" with this story all one Tuesday night, "She" would not let me rest-- I ended up with about 3 hours sleep... the following night, Wednesday, after class I spent all night writing it and researching the footnotes.
Take this story as a "Stranger's Words" [what ever those may be worth] on the spectacle that he sees in '
These and Those'
[See the footnotes above for an explanation of "These and Those".]
While I am not
really a scholar, this story reflects my feelings toward the Torahs that are in
Our House and in our care. Many of those opposed to the parochet in the Ark would not "get the point" so I certainly have not made any effort to bring it to their attention.
Yet these thing I do believe: We must respect the Torah and honor it, yet at the very same time we must respect and nurture one another, our
family, our
community. It is our duty and joyful obligation.
As you know I am in the conversion program. Among the important things I've learned is that being a Jew means wrestling with G-d and occasionally "
arguing with the Rabbi". I have done a lot of wrestling with G-d coming to understand my Jewishness-- how I've been a Jew all along and did not realize it. I've done a lot of reading and studying [Cynthia is shaking her head over the number books I have been reading ;-) ].
I am beginning to think the part about "arguing with the Rabbi" is more of a tradition just to make sure you are paying attention to "wrestle with G-d". I have not found cause to argue with either of my teachers as I have participated in the conversion classes or in Torah study-- I've been too engaged it studying.
Yet for all of this I had not really realized being a Jew also entailed "verbal fisticuffs" from fellow congregants-- I do realize there is a long history of this in the Reform movement. :-) It seems that if G-d is not available that your fellow congregant is fair game.
This wrestling with G-d is serious stuff!!!
The most painful part of this whole process has been seeing how this issue has caused tempers to flare in the "passion" of the positions or "sides" assumed. Even for all of the argument and discussion in my own family I can see how it has brought our family closer together. Even, my step-daughter put in her two cents by noting: "It says '
You shall hang a curtain...' but it does not say '
You shall hang a curtain and close it.'"
As you can see from reading the "Aggadah" above concerning the parochet, I believe hanging the parochet is a "proper" way to show respect for "the stranger among us" and show respect for the Torahs which have given our people life and made us a Holy People...[ As we discussed before if it were printed in the bulletin they'd be hanging us instead of the parochet... :-) ]
What makes us Reform Jews? The power to choose how we fulfil the "Spirit" of G-d's law in a modern world. We recognize the world changes and that G-d, in His goodness, has given us the power to make choices. We recognize that some of the mitzvot of times past cannot be performed in the modern world but our intent should ever to keep our focus on what makes us "feel" Holy and do those things.
Hanging a parochet is presented in the Torah as a positive, affirmative mitzvah. I cannot see how we can justify *not* fulfilling this mitzvah.
To put it metaphorically: It is said "Honor thy Father and thy Mother." As Children of Yisrael, G-d is our Father and Torah is our Mother. G-d had the intent to create a Holy People and Torah gave birth to us.
She is the Mother who nurtured us, taught us, dried our eyes when we were sad, gave us laughter and joy. It is to our Torah which we cling and we are honored to hold in our arms. We should do those things which honor of Father
and our Mother.
The leadership of the Union of Reform Judaisim has been forthcoming in admitting they have made mistakes in regards to past practice and polices and in the light of those those admissions they have made changes. Does this not indicate we need to examine ourselves and our practices and policies?
For myself the hardest part is bracing myself for what will happen if there is no compromise or an easing of the animosity. I feel as if I were a small lost child who was taken in from the streets, into a household where the relatives were all fighting, and I am hurting because all those people whome I have come to love are yelling and screaming at are each. [Even though there is strong indication that this is "traditional" among G-d's "stiff necked" Holy people]
In my past wandering among Deist churches [I was never a Christian], I have see congregations that have torn themselves apart from conflicts such as this one. Why? The participants never paused to reflect upon their actions nor consider how they had assumed the mantle of hubris and failed to see they were failing their duty to G-d by failing their duty to their fellow congregants.
Tikkun Olam means not only healing the world but also healing each other.
Of course this isn't the last of the events nor the last of my discoveries on my journey so I'll share more next time.
HaGedi
