Yom Yerushalaim

I am very glad that in 1967, Israel handed the smack-down to the region that was grouping up against it. I'm so grateful that they won. Almost as grateful as I am that they were willing to give up things like Sinai and some water for peace.

Jerusalem is a BIG city. And like any big city it's complicated. Last night in my final Ulpan (Hebrew) class, we learned a song for Jerusalem Unification Day. Most of it was nice stuff about the Holy city being holy, but there was also a lot of possessive stuff and one line about it being the capital. While I believe that the Old City and most of Jerusalem are doing well under Israeli control, I wonder how an East Jerusalemite, Palestinian, would feel about that. How anyone in the UN would feel about that line. Frankly, I like that legally, Tel Aviv is the capital. I would MUCH prefer a secular city as the capital of Israel than one filled with tension and over-zealous people.

I have no solution. Jerusalem is complicated. It's an archaeological gold mine (or landmine field?), it's a big city with neighborhoods that bleeds into other cities, with ethnicities and histories. I can't think of anyway to heal it or to extradite it that would be pleasant. This isn't 1989 Berlin; we're not ending Stazi control; we're bordering on turf wars and oppression.

I'm not sure that Yom Yerushalaim is a day for celebration as much as it is a day for open-minded contemplation.  

Rabbinical Blessings, Omer Breads and Tikkun Olam: Butter Yo' Shit

So I just read this OU article about some stuff (just read it, don't make me explain things). I've been missing good stories lately from my Chabad and OU posts but then this cropped up. Please imagine at the end it implying all children, boys and girls, instead of just really penis-centric, Frum, patriarchal bullshit only boys.

http://www.ou.org/torah/article/rabbi_weinrebs_parsha_column_emor1#.UYPhq7XCaSo

It very much shares the message of incorporation-station. It also made me tear up a little, but I think the wave of Niddah is coming.

That and something about the omer filled my brain and seemed connected somehow. Just the day to day. There are lots of reasons for the counting of the omer. Plagues, Rabbi's, and Pilgrimages. I think probably it's way simpler than that. Pray extra hard and maybe our bread harvest won't get fucked. JEWS LOVE BREAD. Of course the switching of the crops to bread is an intense time. And Why Lag B'omer? Because you CAN'T BE THAT SERIOUS FOR FIFTY DAYS STRAIGHT. That being made clear, the omer is this extensive period. It's not a holiday or even a holiweek that we can do and put behind us. It's something that happens continually. As should tikkun olam and being holier (progressive not comparative).

But then I found this alread written but not posted. I'm just a schmuck sometimes.

Day to Day: Tikkun Olam

As a disgustingly Reform Jew, there are many things my movement is doing that I like: Gender Equality, Guitars at services, Generally being liberal. I also really like how we've linked the concept of Tikkun Olam into social action. Spreading it way farther than charity or within our communities but really trying to make the world a better place.

However, something happens when you give something a cool name and a category and its own page on your website: you set it aside from your life. Usually, in Judaism when we set something aside we make it holy...or at least holier: The Sabbath Day, Our Diets, Israel, Judaism see, potentially holy things. But I believe that there is something inherently wrong, sinful even, about earmarking Tikkun Olam or social action.

Bettering the world should not be an outlook, it should be a synthesis. Everything I do should be motivated as a Jew...or at least that's my goal. And Judaism has a goal: to better. Everything should be constantly improved. Ethics, diets, environment, life.

We have gotten Tikkun Olam to the same place that we got the Bar/Bat Mitzvah, possibly even by including it in that zero-sum game. I'm not sure exactly how to cultivate the life-long learning, the life-long commitment to making the world better, but I know that removing them from other activities isn't the way. There shouldn't be a box or an activity that I check and say, “done” to. There should be a fire in me burning away the bad and fertilizing the better. I should not only go to a park clean up, but should pick up that bag I pass on the sidewalk. I should not only sort my recyclables, or buy things that are recycled but should try to not use unnecessary things in the first place. I should keep learning Hebrew even after I have chanted my portion on the day because I should keep interacting with Judaism and Hebrew enriches those interactions.

Pirkei Avot tells us that while we are not responsible for finishing the task, neither are we at liberty to desist from it. That's comforting because no matter how much trash I pick up, someone is going to miss the bin and keep walking. The concern that we need to be wary of now is that these compartmentalized, semi-goals ARE GOOD, because they motivate us, but they aren't complete in that they give us an opportunity to turn down the flame without the appropriate means of sustaining or rekindling it. Breaks are fine. Accomplishments should be rewarded. But we are never done. Unless some sort of 100% messiah comes and gives us the all clear, we should probably be more incorporative of Tikkun Olam not just as a branch of the tree of our individual lives, but as the wood-fiber that makes up the tree. Focusing on behaviors not actions. Changing eating habits instead of one quick diet. Whether at a personal, group or institutional level (though all of the above would be nice: the results will be slower, but in the long run more profitable.