AS THE RABBI SAID...

AS THE RABBI SAID... Sermon Excerpts IchBinaYid! Our realtor in Lincoln, Nebraska, described how he and his family were all faithful Mennonites. He went on to describe some acts of pious humility...

...One day, not having any means of admission, the porter turned him away...
...Can you think of other possibilities...
...One needn't be religious to feel God's presence whether through the mere fact of history or the ambience of Shabbat and holidays observed by the population...
...Almost unconsciously it exploded from his lips, following which he stood shamefacedly in stunned silence...
...Jack Moline Agudas Achim Congregation Alexandria, Virginia...
...I looked in the basement and, sure enough, there one was...
...Feeling embarrassed and not wanting to admit defeat, I went outside and looked for some way to gain admittance...
...Congregants, desirous of catching every word, developed the "yawn syndrome" to unplug their ears in order not to miss a single word...
...Word had it that Rabbi Zelig Starr "could make you or break you"-if you could survive his no-nonsense approach, you could go all the way to smichah (rabbinic ordination...
...Surely the stimulating comments heard from the pulpit are enough to facilitate alertness and attention on the part of the listener...
...He had concealed everything...
...Neither his wife nor his children had any inkling of his true background...
...Perhaps this is the reason for the yawns...
...He froze...
...And what kind of work do you do, sir...
...He began to explain, and in confessional style the full story gushed forth...
...He had come from New York to the Great Plains 40 years earlier in an attempt to escape his identity and begin anew...
...I thought, if only I could find a ladder, I could climb through an open window...
...They brought him inside, put him by the fire and welcomed him...
...Primeval hunters might have yawned to signal the group to gather together...
...At dawn, Shemaiah and Avtalyon saw him...
...One morning, I overslept and arrived to find the door locked...
...Samuel G. Broude Temple Sinai Oakland, California Israel as Home or Haven I am concerned that we have replaced our devotion to Israel as Israel with our devotion to Israel as refuge...
...Recommit yourself to an Israel that is your home as well as to an Israel that is your haven...
...The result of such an attitude is that we have militarized Israel in our minds and created a fortress that must be buttressed and reinforced constantly to prevent disaster from befalling our people...
...But Hillel climbed on the roof and listened through the skylight...
...If so, encourage your rabbi to send a sampling to Sermons, moment Magazine, 3000 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20008...
...I am a rabbi," I replied...
...The spiritual nature of life in Israel is tangible...
...if they all began to yawn, then they understood it was time for bed...
...This siege mentality is exactly what the establishment of a free Jewish homeland was to overcome...
...Somewhere, Hillel smiled...
...Broude, who was so anxious to study Torah that he climbed through the window to join us today...
...Hillel had come to study in the academy of Shemaiah and Avtalyon...
...Do your rabbi's sermons make you sit up and take notice...
...Why, then, is there yawning...
...It would be a mistake to write off even the most remote and nonidentified Jew...
...Rabbi Starr pretended not to see me and continued the session...
...Moshe Pomerantz Hillcrest Jewish Center Flushing, New York Congregational Yawns I have noticed occasional yawning during my sermons...
...he asked...
...He went on to describe some acts of pious humility that were a feature of their ritual...
...I saw the open windows of my classroom one story up...
...The blood drained from his face and he blurted out: "Ich bin a Yid (I am a Jew...
...Yiddish literature speaks of dos p?ntele Yid—that vestigial spark of Jewishness that remains deep in the soul's recesses of even the seemingly most disinterested Jew...
...At its conclusion, when he normally spent a few minutes on musar (thoughts on righteous living), he told the class it "could learn a lesson from Mr...
...We were to be a free people on our own terms, in our own land...
...I climbed through the window and took my seat in the back row...
...I flashed on the story of Hillel, the great sage of 2,000 years ago...
...It started to snow and soon he was covered by snow...
...A home is the place where you feel most comfortable...
...Joel Weintraub Kesher Zion Synagogue Reading, Pennsylvania And Hillel Smiled I enrolled in the Chicago Yeshivah...
...Yawns "unplug" our ears when the air pressure changes suddenly, as in an airplane...
...Perhaps the congregation's synchronized yawn politely informs the speaker that it is now appropriate for the sermon to be put to bed...
...Yet we persist in depicting Israel as the place where Jews can go when no one else will take them in...
...Yawning may also have helped groups synchronize their behavior...
...One of his strictures was to lock the classroom door 10 minutes after the scheduled beginning of class...

Vol. 15 • December 1990 • No. 6


 
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