A New President
"A New President" 1/23/09
Rabbi Mark S. Kram,
Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the
Nicholas Kristof of NYT wrote: " At the end of Bill Clinton’s presidency in January 2001, the Web site The Onion declared: “Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is over. That was supposed to be satire, but in retrospect it proved a shrewd analysis. One measure of the bleak trajectory of the last eight years is that today The Onion looks equally astute when it says of the latest transition: “Black man given nation’s worst job.”
What a week! What a Tuesday! Chills ran down our collective spines when President Obama took the oath of office! How else to describe it but Awesome! The first black/African-American to take our nation’s highest office. Even Republicans were impacted by the day – give him a chance – reaching across political divides to get the job done! What impacted me the most were two messages – the same side of the same coin. “Yes We Can.” And “Hope, not Fear.”
Or as another commentator described the inauguratio0n as: "…the inauguration left the whole country glued together emotionally, one big American ball of hope."
And it’s about Hope, not Fear. It's about looking towards the future. President Obama preached it throughout his campaign: Hope, not fear. How do we look at this now?
I spent about 20 years working with Jewish students on campus. I left my 1st career as a campus rabbi/Hillel director to take a congregation, and returned to the campus world when a new international director assumed the leadership role. This was 1992. And his message was – Hope not fear. It resounded with me then, as it does now!
Then it meant that instead of looking at the Holocaust as the reason to exist and to survive as Jews, we needed to look towards other issues. Surviving with what was called the “Jewish continuity” – continuing what we were doing – was not going to save us. Looking back was not going to carry us into the 21st century, nor was it going to provide us with the rationale to enthusiastically hold on to our Judaism. Our youth would not “buy” Judaism if that was the main choice on the menu. Vanilla ice cream only. We needed celebratory and positive and triumphant Jewish messages – maybe some Rocky Road Caramel Mouse Marshmellow Zing!
You've heard the phrase "shaver zein a yid" – "it's tough to be a Jew!" Also was not going to provide us the momentum into the next century for the next generation. “It’s tough to be a Jew” would only encourage young Jews (and older?) to run away from Judaism and their Jewish roots. Why in the world would I voluntarily choose to live a life that is difficult?! I want it easy. At least smooth. I don’t want to struggle or fight in order to live as a Jew. Easier to just abandon it. Take another path. Life is difficult enough.
Today, as Reconstructionists, our Jewish lives are the yardstick by which we measure the “fit” of our Judaism, rather than vice versa. While Orthodox and some Conservative Jewis view Judaism as the standard. How we fit our lives to conform with Torah Law – is the essence. The goal. The outcome for a Jewish life is how we sacrifice and enhance our lives by living Jewish lives.
President Obama’s message is one of hope. How to be hopeful instead of fearful is really a Jewish view. In our view, things always get better. Life evolves from difficulty to better. Situations improve. Slavery turns into freedom. Oppression to independence. The tendency of life goes up. Things do get better.
What Obama brings is Hope - tikvah. How important is that? How about for someone who is sick? What role does hope play in their healing? How does a hopeful attitude assist good medical care and doctors’ and caregivers’ able hands?
Fear paralyzes us. Fear of the future, of what might happen – usually bad. And what we fear doesn’t necessarily happen – probably 90% of the time. When we look at the future, sometimes we become paralyzed with worry of what COULD happen to us. Sure we could fall ill; we could lose our job; we could be in an accident. All that could happen.
Look at the state of
A land of promise – a land of milk and honey – was made into a land of milk and honey.
Look at this country – with only an idea of being able to worship as they wished, Americans built the strongest and most powerful nation on earth. A leader internationally – both culturally and economically. Things get better. With a vision of what could be and what can be.
They took the long view – beginning with struggle – but always hopeful and holding on to a vision of how things could be.
This week was a watershed event. A new beginning (NYT) for our country and its impact upon the world. There was hope in the air. “Yes we can!” becomes more than a byline. More than an empty saying. When we put flesh on it – what does it really say?
First, it says “Yes!” Yes, a positive affirmation confidently labeling the future. Yes we will, yes it is possible, yes – all of us together. Possibility rather than limits. (Zanger bk). A life without limits. What are the constructs we impose upon our lives? Our thoughts? Our actions?
So often we would like to say yes, but we say no. Not now. Maybe later. If only… if I had…. If..if..if. What would our lives be like if we gave ourselves an “A” at the beginning? Example – The Art of Possibility – all we think is but a construct of our own making. Isn’t everything actually possible? No, I can‘t fly. But I can do so much more than my small view of my life dictates. What’s stopping me? Isn’t it “No, I can’t” rather than “Yes I can”?!
And second, it says [we] can. We ARE ABLE. We can do whatever we try.
There is a story of a rabbi who was condemned to death by the king. When the king had finished reading the sentence, the rabbi said:
‘You are a wise man, Your Majesty, and curious about everything that your subjects do. You respect wise men, gurus, sages, and snake-charmers. Well, when I was a child, my grandfather taught me how to make a white horse fly. Since there is no one else in the whole kingdom who knows how to do this, my life should be spared.’
The king immediately ordered a white horse to be brought to him.
‘I need to spend two years with this animal,’ said the rabbi.
‘All right, you will have two years,’ replied the king, already somewhat suspicious. ‘But if this horse does not learn to fly, you will be hanged.’
Overjoyed, the man left with the horse. When he reached his house, he found his whole family in tears.
‘Are you mad?’ they all cried. ‘Since when has anyone taught a horse how to fly?’
‘Don’t worry,’ the rabbi said. Even if everything remains exactly as it is, I will still have gained two years of life with which I can do anything I like. AND, there are 4 possible outcomes. First, he said, the king is already very old and in the next two years he might die. Second, the horse might die. Third, I might die. And fourth, who knows? I might actually teach the horse to fly!'
How can we bring “Yes I can” into our lives this year? What do we need to do?
YWC – said at the lowest time of our country’s mood – at the lowest point of our national mood. He captured our spirits. Rekindled our hopefulness. Dared us to dream again – to once again take our place proudly on the international stage. Promoted a vision of ourselves that we could believe in and that we so sorely wanted again.
We all want that – a "can do" attitude; everything and anything is possible.
We adopted this for TBO in July when I asked why not? Why isn’t there room for a Reconstructionist Congregation – small, intimate, hands-on, alongside all the other synagogues in our area. And look – we’re growing, not dramatically, but the slow decrease in membership has ceased. We’re building. There is a new spirit, new enthusiasm; new eagerness and interest; zest and passion. It was always there, but we became depressed, like the poor Chickee out back. Slowly deteriorating until we hardly noticed the changes – they happened so slowly. So insidiously.
Now I hear excitement in your voices. I hear enthusiasm in your ideas and suggestions. You want to learn, to grow Jewishly, and to build our community. We’re not looking for congregational partners to join forces to strengthen us. No we are looking at how WE want to build Beth Or ourselves. We’re asking questions about how to create the future, how and what we will become.
This is the year of: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can! Maybe we can teach the horse to fly!
Kein yihi ratzon.