As the Rabbi Said...

AS THE RABBI SAID... Sermon Excerpts Paying Respects to Righteous Danish Lutherans Too few people are aware of the role of the Danish Lutheran Church and the kingdom of Denmark, with the support...

...They then will Do your rabbi's sermons make you sit up and take notice...
...Perhaps the greatest temptation to lose hope comes to us as parents...
...What connection does resting have with being our highest selves...
...Danes hid Jews in their homes, attics and barns...
...Madison Avenue promised us that the child with the new toy truck would get instant popularity—that the teenager with the right toothpaste would be eminently lovable—that the young man with the shiny sports car would feel instantly fulfilled...
...Along with monotheism, we Jews gave the world the idea of history itself and the notion of linear direction to human affairs...
...There are only my people...
...King Christian X obtained the cooperation of Sweden and in less than a month the Danes smuggled 7,200 Jews and about 700 of their non-Jewish relatives to safety...
...Hospitals discharged every Jewish Dane and readmitted them under Christian names...
...The small strait between Copenhagen and Malmo in Sweden became a path of courageous commitment...
...It doesn't work, does it...
...Whatever our childrens' achievements, we can hope they will turn out to be menschen, moral, productive citizens who take care of their basic needs and are happy to be alive...
...because the church and clergymen dared to speak out and to demand greatness from their people...
...We have dreams for our children that they probably will not fulfill...
...Aren't we really being our best when we are doing something, either for ourselves or for others...
...On Shabbat we have a chance to immerse ourselves in our divine natures...
...We should concentrate our hopes on the grandchildren being born, some with a poignant longing for belonging, for returning to the Jewish people...
...Having done that we can then bring that divinity out with us into the activities of our week...
...Eli J. Schochet Congregation Beth Kodesh Canoga Park, California...
...We play many different roles in the course of a week—fathers, mothers, lawyers, teachers, sisters, brothers, grocery shoppers, and so on...
...So, where do we turn now...
...Let us love our children, even those who have disappointed us, and when you hug your grandchildren—al tishkach el hatikvah, do not forget to hope...
...turn around and accuse us of making them feel guilty for not living up to our expectations...
...We are b'nai melech-^-the children of the mighty intelligence of creation...
...If so, encourage your rabbi to send a sampling to Sermons, MOMENT Magazine, 3000 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20008...
...But, to,paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the Jewish soul have been greatly exaggerated...
...Why Denmark...
...The guarantee is worthless...
...some of us feel cheated by television's "unfulfilled promises...
...Taxi drivers drove through residential neighborhoods warning brother and sister Jewish Danes...
...Sermon Excerpts Paying Respects to Righteous Danish Lutherans Too few people are aware of the role of the Danish Lutheran Church and the kingdom of Denmark, with the support of its citizens, in rescuing Danish Jews from the Nazis...
...If we are ceaselessly active, day in and day out, we can forget that we are anything different from the activity we engage in...
...because when King Christian X was asked about the 'Jewish Question" he replied, There is no Jewish question in this country...
...The German High Command had decided to make Denmark Judenfrei, to ship her 8,000Jews to concentration camps...
...Avis Miller Adas Israel Congregation Washington, D. C. Unfulfilled Promises and a Challenge Two generations nurtured by television have grown to maturity in the United States...
...Hope is the invention of the Jewish people...
...We fly the Danish flag, sing the Danish national anthem and express our thanks to the Danish crown and the Danish Lutheran Church...
...Our tradition teaches us yesh tikvah I'achareitech—there is hope— hope for ourselves and for our world...
...Through a breach in security, the Danes learned of the German plan...
...The Danish project began...
...The advertising industry promised us that possessing the right gadgets would guarantee us love and happiness...
...Some have turned to Judaism—with its novel promise that fulfillment in life derives not so much from the acquisition of spatial objects but from the sanctification of time and celebration of moments...
...That Sunday, every Lutheran minister read an identical pastoral letter from the bishop telling the people to risk their lives to save Jewish fellow Danes...
...Arthur Gross Schaefer Congregation B'nai B'rith Santa Barbara, California The Jews Invented Hope These days, discouragement has reached the epidemic level among Jews...
...It is only when we stop our usual self-limiting activities and rest that we can experience ourselves in this higher way...
...We forget that we are also creative, intelligent, divine beings...
...John Sherwood Temple Emet Woodland Hills, California Why Should We Rest...
...We should, perhaps, spend less time, as individuals and as a community, mourning our hopes for those who have intermarried...
...Why Denmark...
...For the first time, people realized that the world could be changed, could be perfected through human efforts...
...Each year on Shabbat Shuvah, the Friday night between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, at Temple Emet we retell the story...

Vol. 15 • June 1990 • No. 3


 
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