[My last Open Letter provided Act 1: “A Union, “A Community of Communities,” the recognition that “Communities need other communities; that Reform is a movement – many congregations impacting the world together.” This, the second act, turns to that impacting of the world, namely, “Principle and Purpose,” Reform Judaism’s insistence that “Judaism is no tribal faith. It exists to pursue the great and noble causes that make us fully human.”
Here too, the original script was considerably shortened, because of time constraints, so in what follows I have added back in some of the parts that were cut. Where large chunks were omitted (not just a line here and there), I bracket them with braces {as here}. Significantly, in the 1966 letter from a southern congregation objecting to integration, a paragraph was omitted on the grounds that it might be too painful for us to use publicly. I disagreed. I thought it provided necessary honesty about the depth of racism at the time, so I restored the text to include it here {in braces}.
What I cannot reproduce on paper, especially with this second act, is the impact of video clips (hearing the voice of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, from over 100 years ago, a champion of social justice before we had a name for it); watching Rabbi David Saperstein speak to us from the Religious Action Center; and seeing rabbinic student Kelly Whitehead describe what it means about to be ordained as a rabbi who is black in a movement that is still overwhelmingly white.
Each act ties the Reform Movement to a different dominant image of the human condition. Act 1 featured the human need for community. Act 2 explores the human need to matter. This act too, ends with ritualized statements, “I am a Jew because….”; a congregational response: “Anachnu modim lakh. We praise You God and give You thanks”; and a version of Halleluyah (in this case the one by Leonard Cohen.]
***
{Human beings are not forever things:
We grow, mature, and age,
And then we die.
Foreverness comes clothed in causes.
History is the perpetuity of these causes —
The great and noble callings of our species.
So we are Jews be-cause:
Because the human spirit thrives on linking its eternity to causes.
Reform began in Europe,
With Jews who, having left the ghetto,
Were leaving Judaism too,
Because Judaism seemed oblivious to causes,
Because it did not seem to matter.
*
To matter is a curious thing.
We are born without being asked
And die against our will;
And in between, we inhabit this curious thing called life:
An infinitesimally tiny drop of personal time
In the grand universal scheme of eternity.
Yet we want our drop to matter.
By linking Judaism to this will to matter,
Reform gave those who were shedding their Jewish identity
Reason to be Jewish once again.
Reform is insistence on the causes that matter.
*
The romantic, William Blake saw “eternity in a grain of sand.”
We Jews see eternity in a grain of care, a speck of hope, a pinpoint of promise
In the vastness of the human story
Which we get to enter only briefly:
Mere walk-on actors for cameo roles in the drama of whole centuries and more.
But roles that matter because we join ourselves to causes.
*
What did Eve and Adam learn from the tree of knowledge?
What insight did they gain that drove them out of paradise,
If not the realization that Eden wasn’t real.
An oasis is not the desert.
A coffee break is not the work we do.
Eden was perfection,
But it came with a snake
To explode the fantasy
That we can live forever in such paradise.
Our progenitors learned to enter the world
Where causes are the things that gives life meaning.
Reform is Judaism fixated
On meaning, monumentally.
We are Adam and Eve, humanity without a Garden,
Updated for our time.}
*
Reform imagined a new kind of Judaism and a new kind of rabbi:
A Judaism that cares about the human condition.
And rabbis who call us to a world that is better than what we have.
It did so by reading the Bible differently.
*
For its first 2000 years, Jews had known the prophets
Only as snippets of Haftarah readings,
Chanted in Hebrew that few even understood.
Reform brought the prophets to life
By accenting their message of social justice,
Proclaiming an era of Prophetic Judaism.
Take Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, for instance,
Whose booming sermons demanding justice
Filled vast auditoriums
Over 100 years ago.
[AUDIO CLIP – STEPHEN S. WISE]
*
The most painful moral defects are those cancers of conscience
That metastasize with sinful subtlety.
Poisoning the core of a nation’s very psyche.
Such is the American tragedy of slavery.
In the terrible war for the soul of the nation,
The sad truth is:
Rabbinic voices could be heard
On either side of the slavery question.
When the Civil War was finally over,
It still took an entire century
To excavate the American conscience,
Brush off the silt and sediment of its indifference
And take responsibility as the moral beings
Whom God intended us to be,
We Reform Jews among them.
Where had we been for that hundred years?
*
1865: the Civil War ends.
1965: This UAHC Statement on Synagogues and Social Action
“Judaism offers no easy escape from the problems of life and rejects the device of passing all responsibility for social problems to God… A synagogue which isolates itself from the fundamental issues of social justice confronting the community and the nation is false to the deepest traditions and values of the Jewish heritage.”
*
Only in the 1950s and ‘60s
did America’s vocabulary begin to ring
with the newly poignant language of ongoing oppression
and the jangling discords of injustice:
Bull Connor in Birmingham;
Ku Klux Klan Nightriders in St. Augustine Florida.
Fourteen-year old Emmett Till, mutilated, murdered,
and dropped dead-weight into Mississippi’s Talahatchie River.
But their opposite, as well:
Freedom Riders,
The Little Rock Nine,
A lunch counter at Woolworths,
Rosa Parks,
John Lewis,
“I have a dream.”
Liberty in the making at last.
Acting with prophetic conscience, our movement took a stand, despite objections from some southern congregations, who wrote letters such as this one:
*
To Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, president of the UAHC.
May 1, 1956,
“It was the unanimous opinion of our board that segregation is not a religious issue and not a Jewish issue….
The Jews in this community have been accepted in social and educational activities without prejudice or discrimination. The Jews in this community mingle with the white non-Jews and form a large percent of their country clubs, business clubs, and civic activities in general…
{If integration is had at this time, it would mean 60% of the enrollment of our grammar schools would be Negro students. A large percent of these Negro children come from homes with no special background or environment, and a large percent of them are the result of illegitimacy. It would only retard the white Jewish children, as well as the white Gentiles to have their children placed under this integration and environment.}
Feeling as we do, we respectfully urge your fine organization not to embarrass and injure the Jews of this community and other Southern communities who feel as we do, by having it broadcast that the Jews as a whole are actively working to desegregate the South.”
But the official stand remained.
We marched for integration,
And issued calls to conscience.
[VIDEO HERE : CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH]
[MUSIC LIVE: “MAKE THOSE WATERS PART”]
*
Sitting in the Religious Action Center, Rabbi David Saperstein recalls the role we played in striving for social justice.
David Saperstein: “So by the shaping of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 … some of the most famous civil rights leaders in America sat around this very table…and crafted their contribution to the seminal foundational civil rights laws that changed the face of civil rights and social justice in America. And for 30 years, every single civil rights bill that was put before Congress, the civil rights community sat in this conference room and mobilized how we were going to support it.
Hy Bookbinder, who was the legendary lobbyist for the American Jewish community, used to say, ‘If the walls of this room could talk, they would resound with some of the greatest social justice achievements of the 20th century in America.’”
*
Those were heady days, the 1960s,
Messianic, even, to protesters of the time.
But when no messiah came,
The world moved on to other things; and so too did the protests,
While the cancer, never fully cured,
Reappeared in other, devious, ways.
The arc of the moral universe may indeed bend toward justice,
But only laboriously.
For the 1960s are 60 years in the past,
And so much has still not happened.
Yet, some things have.
Student rabbi Kelly Whitehead will be ordained this Spring.
She gave this sermon to the Hebrew Union College community.
*
[Rabbinic Student, Kelly Whitehead: “Eved, the biblical word for slave, is first used by Noah, who curses the descendants of his son Ham, saying they will be eved avadim, the ‘meanest of slaves.’ And so it happens: Ham becomes the father of the African people, who later become enslaved by white Europeans.
Our founder, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, rejected that biblical lesson, but failed to attack the institution of slavery itself. Once the Civil War began, Wise declared that ‘silence must henceforth be our policy, silence on all the questions of the day.’
The Rabbis of our past could not envision that blackness and Jewishness could be intimately intertwined.
Yet here I am.”
*
To be Reform is to draw hope from history
and shepherd humanity to a better time.
We stand on the shoulders of generations past.
But even on those shoulders,
we stand on tiptoes, heads held high, eyes peering ahead
to envision a future with God’s promises realized,
because of a messiah who turns out to be ourselves.
[MUSIC LIVE: WE RISE]
I am a Reform Jew because I want my life to have purpose: Reform Judaism helps me make a difference in the world.
I am a Reform Jew because Reform Judaism adds depth to my days: My synagogue is a community of conscience.
For the gift of mind and heart; consciousness and conscience;
For eyes and ears that see and hear a world crying out for help;
For the prophets of the past,
Whose call to justice, love and righteousness
We can renew in our own time;
Anachnu modim lakh:
We praise You God and give You thanks.
[MUSIC LIVE: HALLELUYAH, LEONARD COHEN]
Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Ph.D. 
thank you for this inspiring piece
Thank you, Rabbi. I very much appreciate you sharing your thoughts and writings. Please keep doing so.
-your student, Andrea
[[[After the memory of Moses, the daring of David, and the opulence of Solomon, ancient Israel came to believe that it was God’s chosen people who had a monopoly on God’s love and God’s goodness. ]]]
T’NaCH does not teach history but rather prophetic mussar based upon the prophetic mussar instruction learned from the Chumash itself. The Chumash broken down to אבות הזמן גרמא מצוות opposed by תולדות מצוות. Av בראשית followed by תולדות: שמות ויקרא ובמדבר. Talmudic mesechtot Shabbat and Baba Kama ask the famous question: Do the toldot follow the Avot? Based upon the Av/toldot relationship of the opening 4 Books of the Written Torah.
Hence the Book of Kings has a similar relationship to the Book of Shmuel wherein the prophet Shmuel anoints David as the definition of the mitzva of Moshiach for all generations to come. Hence since Torah mitzvot – not a one-time affair as the gospel counterfeit false messiah so declares – Torah mitzvot apply equally to all generations as does all prophetic mussar. Hence all the anointed Moshiach kings of both Yechuda and Israel kingdoms, they all exists as toldot of the Av anointing of David as Moshiach king. Now weigh the Talmudic question asked by mesechtot Shabbat and Baba Kama: Do the toldot follow the Avot? All the kings of Israel did not follow Av David mitzva of Moshiach. A few of the kings of Yechuda did follow the Av David mitzva of Moshiach.
Hence the Books of Kings totally repudiates the Roman counterfeit gospels account of the Torah mitzva of Moshiach.
This Primary/secondary dichotomy in both Chumash and T’NaCH sealed masoret, likewise expressed through the Primary/secondary functions of the mitzva of Moshiach. The Av/primary mitzva of Moshiach: to rule the land with justice. Torah “faith”, defined as: the pursuit of judicial righteous compensation for damages, inflicted upon Jews by other Jews. Hence the Primary function of Moshiach: to build the Federal lateral common-law Sanhedrin Courts system. Expressed through the משל/metaphor of building the Beit HaMikdash. The משל not the same as the נמשל, just as a dream always follows after its interpretation.
The secondary/toldot of the mitzvah of Moshiach, for the king to go out and fight the wars of the people. This role of Moshiach plays “2nd fiddle” to the Av/Primary role of ruling the land with established Judicial common-law courtrooms. Avoda zarah in similar fashion pursues the tumah of pursuit of theological belief systems/creeds\dogmatism which dictate how people must believe in this or that God(s). A fundamental error. Just as obvious as the Sun shining in the Heavens on a cloudless Summer Day.
As insects no matter how wise cannot grasp Man, so too Man no matter how wise cannot grasp the Gods. Vanity of all vanities: the pursuit by Man to believe in God. What a colossally huge waste of time and energy.
A 4th or 5th grade education of Jewish children in grade schools.
Heavens to Murgatroyd! Exit JeZeus Stage Left! Vanity of all vanities: the pursuit by Man to believe in God(s). What a colossally huge waste of time and energy.
T’NaCH does not teach history but rather prophetic mussar based upon the prophetic mussar instruction learned from the Chumash itself. The Chumash broken down to אבות הזמן גרמא מצוות opposed by תולדות מצוות. Av בראשית followed by תולדות: שמות ויקרא ובמדבר. Talmudic mesechtot Shabbat and Baba Kama ask the famous question: Do the toldot follow the Avot? Based upon the Av/toldot relationship of the opening 4 Books of the Written Torah.
Hence the Book of Kings has a similar relationship to the Book of Shmuel wherein the prophet Shmuel anoints David as the definition of the mitzva of Moshiach for all generations to come. Hence since Torah mitzvot – not a one-time affair, as the gospel counterfeit false messiah so declares – Torah mitzvot apply equally to all generations, as does all prophetic mussar.
Hence all the anointed Moshiach kings of both Yechuda and Israel kingdoms, they all exists as toldot of the Av anointing of David as Moshiach king. Now weigh the Talmudic question asked by mesechtot Shabbat and Baba Kama: Do the toldot follow the Avot? All the kings of Israel did not follow Av David mitzva of Moshiach. A few of the kings of Yechuda did follow the Av David mitzva of Moshiach.
Hence the Books of Kings totally repudiates the Roman counterfeit gospels account of the Torah mitzva of Moshiach.
This Primary/secondary dichotomy in both Chumash and T’NaCH sealed masoret, likewise expressed through the Primary/secondary functions of the mitzva of Moshiach. The Av/primary mitzva of Moshiach: to rule the land with justice. Torah “faith”, defined as: the pursuit of judicial righteous compensation for damages, inflicted upon Jews by other Jews. Hence the Primary function of Moshiach: to build the Federal lateral common-law Sanhedrin Courts system. Expressed through the משל/metaphor of building the Beit HaMikdash. The משל not the same as the נמשל, just as a dream always follows after its qualifying interpretation.
The secondary/toldot of the mitzvah of Moshiach, for the king to go out and fight the wars of the people. This role of Moshiach plays “2nd fiddle” to the Av/Primary role of ruling the land with established Judicial common-law courtrooms.
Avoda zarah in a perverse fashion pursues the tumah route of faith: the pursuit of theological belief systems/creeds\dogmatism which dictate how people must believe in this or that God(s). A fundamental error. Just as obvious as the Sun shining in the Heavens on a cloudless Summer Day.
As insects no matter how wise cannot grasp Man, so too Man – no matter how wise – cannot grasp the Gods. Vanity of all vanities: the pursuit by Man to believe in God(s). What a colossally huge waste of time and energy.
The aggadah of the two babies 1 living and 1 dead and the two mother whores, the latter a משל for Yechuda and Israel the two divided kingdoms. The Book of Kings written AFTER the death of king tyrant Shlomo!
What constitutes the mitzva דאורייתא of Moshiach? Shlomo the heir of king David whom the prophet Shmuel “annointed” Moshiach? A simple פשט question. If any reader of the Book of Kings fails to ask this question of פשט, then they fail to observe the satire of this prophetic mussar! טיפש פשט, another way of describing “revisionist history”. Silly bird-brains ie טיפש פשט.
The mitzva of Moshiach learns from the בנין אב precedent(s) of the oppression of the Court of Par’o, when Moshe and Aaron sought restitution for damages before the king concerning the brutal beatings inflicted upon Israeli slaves for their failure to meet the quota of bricks king Par’o artificially imposed by means of pulling a cruel deception upon Israel. Thereby imposing a decree of cruel slavery upon the Hebrew nation in Egypt.
Another בנין אב precedent to understand (discern like from like) of the mitzva of Moshiach, which this question of Moshiach applies equally across the board to all the kings of Yechuda & Israel! Yitro’s rebuke which directly confronted Moshe of the impossibility of him alone serving as the Courts of Israeli common law. NaCH prophets command mussar, the Book of Kings does not teach history. Fools who learn NaCH as history compare to טיפש פשט Xtians who read the בראשית Creation story, that some silly God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. טיפש פשט revisionist history stinks the fowl manure of cleaning the industrial chicken-house after slaughtering all the chickens – something like the avoda zarah stench produced by a catholic mass.
The mitzva of Moshiach sums up the Torah concept of faith: אמונה: צדק צדק תירדוף|justice justice pursue|. The avoda zarah of believing in some theological Creed belief system; whether the Nicene Creed or Mohammedan jargon of Muhammad the prophet and only one God Allah טיפש פשט utter and complete nonsense.
The mitzva of Moshiach – has nothing to do with the avoda zarah of king Shlomo’s assimilated building of a Catholic Cathedral calling it “The Temple” טיפש פשט עבודה זרה abomination! This king fool triggered a ירידות הדורות, dumbing down the generations טיפש פשט that polluted the waters of all down stream generations of Israel!
The “concept” of throwing the ensuing generations into a down-ward spiral of stupidity defines ירידות הדורות; the exact opposite of the Xtian avoda zarah dogma known as “Free Will”. Down stream generations who fail to read the prophetic mussar of the Book of Kings, but through טיפש פשט read this NaCH Book as a book of history, they duplicate the avoda zarah tumah committed by king Shlomo the fool.
The mitzva דאורייתא of Moshiach strives to securely establish the common law Sanhedrin lateral משנה תורה courtrooms across Israel through building the Cities of Refuge דיני נפשות small Sanhedrin courtrooms of common law! Hence the sages placed the Great Sanhedrin within Shlomo’s Temple as a mussar rebuke to the טיפש פשט king whose avoda zarah triggered a mass ירידות הדורות upon the Jewish people to this very day!
But tohor and tumah do not mix, anymore than a person clutching a dead rat and going to the mikveh! A mussar Talmudic נמשל interpretation of placing the Great Sanhedrin into Shlomo’s building of wood & stone avoda zarah – the first and second Temples! Ezra too assumed the mitzva of Moshiach centered around the assimilation to Goyim culture and customs of building a work of architecture, like depicted in the stone building ruins of both Ancient Greece and Rome, as the mitzva of the Moshiach building the Beit HaMikdash avoda zarah!
Rather, the mitzva דאורייתא of Moshiach learns from the last mitzva performed by Moshe Rabbeinu himself! Moshe built the 3 Cities of Refuge with their Small Sanhedrin courtrooms! The mussar of the NaCH Book of Kings, Shlomo the fool tried the Case of the two whores and one living baby before his own Par’o like courtroom rather than through Sanhedrin דיני נפשות Federal courtrooms! All the kings of both Yechuda and Israel failed to establish the Federal Sanhedrin courtroom system of Capital-Crimes Common Law! Hence all the kings of both Yechuda and Israel, only one baby still lives to this day, failed to accomplish and breath the mitzva of Moshiach unto their generations!
Dhimmi Arabs must stand before a Great Sanhedrin court and answer to the crimes committed on Oct 7th 2023. The leaders of Hamas executed by casting them naked off a 3-story platform with jagged rocks beneath. The people of Gaza who in mass rejoiced and handed out sweets and candies exiled in a mass population deportation of all Gazans from this Jewish conquered land. Followed-up with the mass deportation of a Dhimmi Arabs living in East Jerusalem and Samaria unto Gaza. For their mass support of the Oct 7th abomination.