New book by Yonassan Gershom opposes using chickens for Kapporos

Richard H. Schwartz's Foreword to 

Kapporos Then and Now:  Toward a More compassionate Tradition

by Yonassan Gershom

 Kol hakavod (kudos) to Rabbi Yonassan Gershom for writing this splendid, much needed book, arguing that Jews should practice the ritual of Kapporos using money rather than chickens.  He is the ideal person to write such a book for many reasons:

1. He is very knowledgeable on Jewish teachings, especially with regard to those about the proper treatment of animals. These include: 

Jews are to be rachmanim b’nei rachmanim (compassionate children of compassionate ancestors), emulating God, Whose compassion is over all His works (Psalms 145:9).

Compassion to animals is a test for righteousness because, as Proverbs 12:10 indicates, “The righteous person considers the life of his or her animals.” 

Compassion to animals is so important in Judaism that it is part of the Ten Commandments, which indicates that animals, as well as people, are to be permitted to rest on the Sabbath day.

A Jew must feed his or her animals before sitting down to a meal. The great Jewish heroes Moses and King David, were deemed suitable to be leaders because of their compassionate treatment of sheep during the time they were shepherds.  In short, Jews are to avoid tsa’ar ba’alei chaim, causing sorrow to animals.

2. Rabbi Gershom is a Breslov Hasid, so he is very familiar with the thinking of Hasidim about the use of chickens for Kapporos.  He is not an outsider who feels he can and should tell practitioners of Kapporos that their practice is irrational and has no redeeming positives.  He recognizes that one cannot change a traditional practice without first understanding what it is, where it came from, and what it means to the practitioners.  So he carefully explains the history of the rite and why Hasidim and other religious Jews find it meaningful.  Most importantly, he eloquently explains how the purpose of seeking compassion from God during the “Ten Days of Repentance” between the start of Rosh Hashanah and the end of Yom Kippur can better be carried out using money rather than chickens.

3.  He and his wife have long lived on a hobby farm where they raise chickens and other animals, consistent with the powerful Jewish teachings on compassion mentioned above.  Hence he is sensitive to how serious the mistreatment of chickens is, before and during the Kapporos ritual.  He explains that while initially the ritual was carried out using chickens that were raised and treated with care by the practitioners, nowadays massive numbers of chickens in cages are transported long distances by trucks, are often not given sufficient food and water, and mishandled during the ritual by people who are not used to handling chickens.   As Rabbi Gershom explains, holding chickens by the wings during the ritual is very hurtful to the birds and they only appear calm because they are playing dead, as they instinctively do when they are attacked by another animal.

4. He properly sees his role as a bridge between animal rights activists, most of whom are secular and/or non-Jewish and often act in ways that are counterproductive, and practitioners of Kapporos, who do not recognize that they are performing a custom based on transgressing Jewish teachings about compassion to animals, and thereby committing an act that is not recognized as positive in the Jewish tradition.

5.  Rabbi Gershom has a very clear, conversational style of writing, scholarly yet very readable, and he explains complex issues very well.  He is careful to put issues in context.  He is not a polemicist, but seeks common ground and solutions.  He uses examples from his own personal experience and also cites authorities.

In summary, he is the ideal person to argue that Jews should use money rather than chickens for Kapporos and he does it splendidly in this groundbreaking book.  I strongly recommend it,  hope it will be widely read, and that his message will be heeded.

You can order your copy now on Lulu.com

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus, College of Staten Island

Associate producer of the 2007 documentary film,

A Sacred Duty:  Applying Jewish Values to Help the World

Author of:

Judaism and Vegetarianism

Judaism and Global Survival

Mathematics and Global Survival

Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying

              Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet

And over 200 articles and at JewishVeg.com/schwartz

Nature Knows No Political Parties

By Rabbi Yonassan Gershom

(Re-posted here with permission from Rabbi Gershom's blog at JewishThoreau.com)

There is a saying in the Talmud that "Once the sword is let loose in the land, it does not distinguish between the innocent and the guilty."  Perhaps a corollary to this should be:  Once a storm is let loose in the land, it does not distinguish between Republicans and Democrats.

Radar map of areas
 affected by Hurricane Sandy,
October 29, 2012

I am referring to the hypocrisy of  the 36 Republican Senators who voted against federal aid for the victims of Hurricane Sandy,  yet previously voted for -- even demanded! -- similar aid for disasters in their own states. (See a list of who they are and what they previously voted for).  In Jewish numerology, the number 36 is "double life," but theirs was hardly a humanitarian decision.

To me this vote was the height of hypocrisy.  It makes me wonder why anybody would vote against helping their fellow Americans recover from the worst storm system to hit the East Coast since we have been recording the weather.  Was this in retaliation for New York City Mayor Bloomberg's support of Obama and acknowledgement that global warming is real?

If that sounds like some sort of paranoid conspiracy theory, consider the fact that in 2011 the Republicans on the House Energy Committee voted unanimously to deny the existence of climate change. This was part of a concerted campaign on the part of  the Tea Party to de-legitimize global warming in the minds of the public, starting right after Al Gore won the Nobel Prize for "An Inconvenient Truth." (Watch the PBS documentary "Climate of Doubt")  And they came close to succeeding -- until Hurricane Sandy hit and demonstrated what the scientists have been predicting all along:  Manhattan was going to end up under water.  Suddenly climate change seems very real after all.

This time the water receded, but if the polar ice caps continue to melt, the flooding of the Coast could  become permanent.  2012 marked a new low in the amount of polar ice since the advent of the satellite era (when we could observe the Earth from space.)  And no amount of denial is going to stop the big meltdown if we don't stop pouring CO2 into the atmosphere.

You can't vote science out of existence.  The universe is not a democracy, it simply is what it is.  Nature is no respecter of party politics.  Had we listened to the warnings that scientists have been sounding for decades, we might not be having these devastating (and very expensive!) super-storms now.  I have argued before that climate change -- not Obamacare or Medicare or whatever -- is the biggest threat to our economy.  Those who resist aid to storm victims are often the same people who have been trying to convince us that global warming is a hoax.  But nature does not listen to votes on congressional committees.  Nature just marches on.

It's not too late to begin changing our polluting ways, although turning the situation around is going to take a long time -- if it is even possible at this stage.  Meanwhile, the very least we can do is to help those who are in the path of the storms.

Shame on those 36 Republican Senators!

Activist Ideas: 18 Ways to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet

Now that the High Holy Days are over and we have all resolved to lead better lives this year, I thought I would share an excerpt from Who Stole My Religion? with 18 practical things you can do to help heal our imperiled planet:

--------------------------------

In attempting to change the world, sometimes we have to start by first changing ourselves.  Rabbi Israel Salanter, the founder of the mussar (ethics) movement in Lithuania, taught: “First a person should put his house together, then his town, then his world.”

 If you feel that global crises are so overwhelming that your efforts will have little effect, then consider the following. Judaism teaches: “You are not obligated to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it” (Pirkei Avot 2:21). Each of us must make a start and do whatever he or she can to help improve the world.  Judaism also teaches that a person is obligated to protest when there is evil and, if necessary, to proceed from protest to action.  Each person is to imagine that the world is evenly balanced between good and evil, and that each good deed tips the whole world toward the side of good.  Therefore, her or his actions can determine the destiny of the entire world.  Even if little is accomplished right away, the act of trying to make improvements will prevent the hardening of one’s heart and will affirm acceptance of an obligation to try to improve conditions.  Even the act of consciousness-raising itself is important, because it may lead to future action for change.

 In considering how much to become involved, please consider that the world is arguably approaching climate, food, energy, water, and other environmental catastrophes, as well as other threats.  Consider how essential it is that major changes soon be made so that future generations will have a decent world in which to live.

Here are some things that each person can do:

1.  Become well informed. Learn the facts about current environmental and other societal problems and the applicable Jewish teachings from this and other books.

2.  Check rumors you receive by email against the facts before passing them on to others.  Snopes.com is an excellent resource for verifying whether or not a particular Internet rumor is a hoax.  Remember: Spreading lashon hara (evil gossip) is forbidden, and this includes material you receive by email.

3.  Help elect candidates whose positions are most consistent with Jewish progressive values and environmental concerns.  Join their campaigns and, of course, vote for them.

4.  Inform others.  Write timely letters to editors of publications. Set up programs and discussions. Become registered with community, library, or school speakers’ bureaus.  Wear a button. Put bumper stickers where many people will see them. Make and display posters.

5.  Simplify your life-style.  Conserve energy.  Recycle materials.  Buy and wear used clothing.  Bike or walk whenever possible, rather than drive, and learn to combine errands on your trips.  Share rides.  Use mass transit when appropriate.

6.  Become a vegetarian, and preferably a vegan, or at least sharply reduce your consumption of animal products.  As discussed in Chapter 12 of Who Stole My Religion, veganism is the diet most consistent with such Jewish values as showing compassion to animals, taking care of one’s health, preserving the environment, sharing with hungry people, conserving natural resources, and pursuing peace.  Even if you don’t feel you can give up meat right now, try having a meatless day each week, when you try new recipes at home, or eat out in a vegetarian restaurant.

7.  Work with organizations and groups on some of the significant issues.  If your time is limited, then choose one issue that interests you and devote yourself to that.  For contact information for Jewish groups working on such issues, see Appendices D and E. If there are no local groups or if you differ with such groups on some important issues, set up a group in your synagogue, Jewish Center, or Hillel.

8.  Encourage your public and congregational libraries to order, stock, and circulate books on global issues and Jewish teachings related to them. Donate any duplicate copies. Request that libraries regularly acquire such books. Subscribe to relevant magazines, and, if you can afford it, buy some to donate.

9.  Speak or organize events with guest speakers and/or audio-visual presentations on how Jewish values address current critical issues. Consider requesting a complimentary DVD of the documentary film, A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World at aSacredDuty.com  Schedule a showing of the film at your synagogue or other organization.  Offer it to your local film festival or other arts event.

10.  Ask rabbis and other religious leaders to give sermons and/or classes discussing Judaism’s teachings on social justice, sustainability, hunger, peace, conservation, and other Jewish values and how they can be applied to current issues.

11.  Contact editors of local newspapers and ask that more space be devoted to current threats and on religious teachings related to them.  Write articles and letters using information from this book and other books and magazines.

12.  Try to influence public policy on the issues.  Organize letter-writing campaigns and group visits to politicians to lobby for a safer, saner, more stable world.  Run for office if you feel inclined to do so.  Members of city counsels, school boards, and other local institutions can have a big impact.  Think globally, act locally.

13.  Consult with rabbis and religious educators and leaders on how to apply to today’s critical issues such Jewish mandates as “seek peace and pursue it,” “bal tashchit” (you shall not waste), “justice, justice shall you pursue,” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” Ask principals of yeshivas and day schools to see that their curricula reflect traditional Jewish concerns with environ-mental, peace, and justice issues.  Volunteer to speak to classes and to help plan curricula. 

14.  As an outgrowth of Jewish teachings on helping feed hungry people and conserving resources, work to end the tremendous amount of waste associated with many Jewish organizational functions and celebrations:

•  Encourage friends and institutions to simplify, reduce wastefulness, and serve less lavish celebratory feasts.  Put this into practice at your own celebrations.
•  Request that meat not be served, since the production of meat wastes grain, land, and other resources and contributes substantially to pollution, deforestation, desertification, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Refraining from eating meat also expresses identification with the millions of people who lack an adequate diet, as well as the billions of farmed animals slaughtered each year.
•  Reclaim left over edible food from simchas to donate to shelters and food kitchens.  Recommend to people hosting a celebration that they donate a portion of the cost of the event to Mazon (an organization discussed in Appendix D) or another group working to reduce hunger.

15.  Start a community garden, or participate in one already established.  As much as possible, buy your food from local farmers’ markets.  Volunteer at a homeless shelter or food shelf program.  Encourage your children to go with you, so they develop the habit of caring for others less fortunate than themselves.

16.  Help set up a committee to analyze and reduce energy consumption in your synagogue.  Apply steps taken to reduce synagogue energy use as a model for similar action on other buildings and homes in the community.

17.  Set up a social action committee at your synagogue, temple, Jewish Center, day or afternoon school, or campus, to help people get more involved in educational and action-centered activities. Build coalitions with other social justice groups in your community.

18.  Raise the consciousness of your synagogue and other local Jewish organizations and individuals about how Jewish teachings can be applied to respond to current societal problems.  Ask respectful but challenging questions such as those discussed in Chapter 15 of Who Stole My Religion.

(Excerpted and adapted from Who Stole My Religion?:  Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet by Richard H. Schwartz with Yonassan Gershom.)

Rosh Hashanah L'Behamot -- the New Year for Animals

Toward a modern Jewish New Year for Animals
By Rabbi Yonassan Gershom


Rosh Hashanah, the day that we traditionally celebrate as the Jewish New Year, comes on the first and second days of the month of Tishri on the Hebrew calendar.  But in reality, there are actually four "new years" in Judaism, each serving a different purpose  (based on Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 1a, but arranged in a different order here):

1. The first of Tishri, for the counting of calendar years, Jubilee years, etc.
2. The first of Nissan, for dating the reign of kings and for various legal documents
3. The fifteenth of Shevat, for tithing fruits of trees
4. The first of Elul, for tithing cattle

Only the first of Tishri is a "New Year's Day" in the sense that we now think of it.  The others are more like fiscal years, similar, for example, to how income taxes are due on the 15th of April (in the USA) and not the first of the secular year.

The first of Elul "for tithing cattle" was the cut-off point for determining in which year an animal should be included in the count.  Animals born before that date were tithed in the old year; animals born after that date were tithed in the new year.  Nowadays very few Jews are raising flocks of animals and, since there has not been a Jerusalem Temple since the year 70 C.E. (when the Romans destroyed it), nobody is tithing animals for Temple sacrifices anymore.   Nevertheless, this date remains on the Jewish calendar, although, admittedly, it is not very well known today.

A mother hen on her nest in my yard.
(The white spot by her head is a chick.)
Very few chicks are hatched this
natural way anymore

Recently, there have been suggestions among Jewish animal welfare activists to make the first of Elul, the "Rosh Hashanah for Animals," into a day for focusing on the many teachings in Judaism about the proper treatment of animals.  This would not be the first time that a Jewish holiday got re-defined after the Temple was destroyed.  Shavuot, the "Feast of Weeks," was originally celebrated with processions of people bringing their first-fruits to the Temple.  Today it focuses on receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai, which also took place on the same date.  Tu B'Shevat, the "New Year for Trees" (#3 in the list above) is now a form of Jewish Earth Day, when people not only plant trees, but also focus on current environmental issues.

In the same way, the New Year for Animals would shift the focus from tithing sacrifices toward learning about how animals are treated on factory farms, comparing that with Jewish teachings about the proper treatment of animals, and making choices about where we get our milk, eggs, and meat -- or maybe even considering vegetarianism as a better alternative.  Given that most Jews today are urban people who rarely, if ever, have contact with farmers or farm animals, I think that developing a modern version of this day would be a great educational opportunity.


Typical ram's horn Shofar

It would also fit with the overall theme of the month of Elul.  Traditionally, we blow the shofar (ram's horn) once each morning during Elul (except on the Sabbath.)  This is to remind us that the High Holy Day season is coming, and that we should "wake up" and take account of our lives in preparation for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Adding the observance of Rosh Hashanah for Animals on the first of Elul would mean that on the very first day of the month leading into the High Holy Day season, we would examine how we are treating God's creatures.  Perhaps we might start with the words of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism:

"A worm serves the Creator with all of his intelligence and ability... A person should consider himself and all creatures as comrades in the universe, for we are all created beings whose abilities are God-given."  (Tzava'as Ha Rivash 12)

(This article was reposted here with permission from Rabbi Gershom's website, Notes from a Jewish Thoreau, where you can find more essays exploring the relatonship between Judaism and nature. 

See also Richard Schwartz's article, "An Audacious Initiative to Restore the Ancient New Year for Animals" posted on August 8, 2012 on Tikkun Daily.)

"Who Stole My Religion?" is now in print -- order your copy today!

Who Stole My Religion?
Applying Jewish values to help heal our imperiled planet



Richard Schwartz, author of
"Who Stole My Religion?"



In the five decades since Richard Schwartz first became a religious Jew, he has watched the mainstream Jewish community shift more and more to the Right, often abandoning the very values that originally attracted him to Orthodox Judaism. In this soul-searching book, Schwartz examines the ways in which he believes his religion has been “stolen” by partisan politics, and offers practical suggestions for how to get Judaism back on track as a faith based on peace and compassion. Tackling such diverse issues as U.S. politics, Israeli peace issues, the misuse of the Holocaust, antisemitism, U.S. foreign policy, Islamophobia, socialism, vegetarianism, and the environmentalism, Schwartz goes where many Jews fear to go — and challenges us to re-think current issues in the light of positive Jewish values. (With photos, notes, action ideas, resource lists, and annotated bibliography. Also includes appendix materials with Rabbi Yonassan Gershom.)

About the cover design:

The background photo (#ISS028-E-020072 from the NASA files) was taken aboard the International Space Station on July 31, 2011, when the sun was just below the horizon. When observed from space, the palette of gaseous layers of our atmosphere reminds us of the fragility and tenuousness of the thin cocoon that shelters life on Earth from the cold harsh vacuum of outer space. Without this precious envelope of air, life on Earth could not exist.

A thin crescent of the new moon appears to hang above the Earth, although in reality it is more than 238,855 miles away. On the Jewish calendar, the important holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which begins the High Holy Days season of repentance, always begins on a New Moon. Perhaps the message of this photo is to encourage us to think about how we are treating our planet’s fragile atmosphere, and to change our polluting ways before it is too late.

Where to order:   

Who Stole My Religion?  is available in both print and ebook versions on Lulu.com.  Order the print copy with this button:

A FREE download of the PDF ebook version is available to readers of this blog (see link on the sidebar).  However, if you can afford it, you are encouraged to buy a download on Lulu.com for $5, to help offset Richard Schwartz's production costs in self-publishing this book.  In addition to getting your book super-fast, the PDF version has the advantage of seeing the photos in color:

Will there be ebook versions for Kindle, iPad and Nook?

Not unless those programs are vastly improved for handling academic works.  Epub, the program used on iPad and Nook, completely reflows the text -- which means it does not respect page numbers, indented paragraphs for long quotes, footnotes, and other academic formats.  Every time the reader changes the font size, the pages are all renumbered.   Kindle does the same thing, plus the feedback on it's handling of footnotes is horrendous!  The fact is, these new e-reader formats are mostly suitable for novels and non-fiction works with plain prose text, but just can't handle the more complex layout of  an academic work.  Until such time as the program developers solve these problems, the format best suited to Who Stole My Religion? is PDF, which preserves the original layout and can be read on your desktop or laptop computer.

Why this book? A dialogue on "Who Stole My Religion?"

Richard Schwartz and Yonassan Gershom: 
Perhaps we can best explain our thinking about this book, why we wrote it, and what we hope to accomplish, through some questions and our individual responses.

Why did you write this book?

Schwartz:   I decided to complete this book, along with Rabbi Yonassan Gershom’s superb help, because I feel that Judaism has gone off track in some important ways and that our planet has as well.  Evidence is mounting that the world will experience an unprecedented catastrophe from climate change and other environmental threats and also very severe economic problems if major shifts in attitudes and policies do not soon occur.  I believe that it is essential that there be open dialogues on where Judaism stands today and how its teachings can help address the many current threats.  I believe that this book has the potential to break through some artificial boundaries and help resolve many difficult problems, reduce antisemitism, improve the security of Israel and, indeed, all the world’s people, and help move our imperiled planet to a sustainable path. If I did not believe this very strongly, I would not have decided that I must complete this book.

Gershom:   Richard and I have known each other for over 30 years, and have been dialoguing on these issues for at least a decade.  We don’t always agree on how to approach the problems – I tend to be more confrontational than he is – but we both agree that Judaism has gotten off track lately.  So when Richard asked me to collaborate on this book, I saw it as a great opportunity to put our heads together.  We started with our many email dialogues as a springboard, then Richard, along with a lot of input from many other people, went on from there to write the book.

What was the impetus that got you started writing this book?

Schwartz: I have felt that “my religion has been stolen” for a long time.  This feeling is renewed when I find Jews telling me that we need not be concerned about climate change or other environmental threats because God will take care of them or the Messiah will arrive and handle them; when members of my Modern Orthodox synagogue tell me that they are concerned only about Israel when voting, and they favor only the most hawkish Israeli politicians; when I attend a simchah (Jewish celebration) where meat is widely consumed and my wife and I are among the very few (if any) requesting a vegetarian meal; when I see so many women coming to synagogue wearing fur coats, unaware of the cruelty involved in producing them -- and much more that is discussed in the chapters of Who Stole My Religion.  Because of many such experiences, I decided that, in spite of the opposition that I expect to receive, I must complete this book.

Gershom:  I've been thinking along the same lines for quite a while now.  I have been a peace activist since the 1960s, and have become increasingly frustrated with the hawkish turn that the Jewish community has taken in recent decades.   In my own books, I use popular culture and storytelling to address Jewish issues, because I am working primarily with outreach to alienated Jews and the general public.  My 2009 work, Jewish Themes in Star Trek, for example, used that TV series to demonstrate a lot of basic principles in Jewish thought.  But I have also written many articles, essays, and letters to the editor on political issues over the years, the best of which were collected into Eight Candles of Consciousness:  Essays on Jewish Nonviolence in 2009.  So this is not the first time I have discussed these issues in a Jewish context.  My teaching methods are different, but Richard and I are on the same wavelength politically.

Who is your audience?

Schwartz: Who is our intended audience?  Jews who look to Judaism for moral and spiritual guidance, but who find that contemporary interpretations of our faith traditions do not address the pressing issues of today.  Jews who are seeking a Judaism that will make a difference in responding to the crises of today and will help guide humanity in directions that can bring a more just, compassionate, peaceful, environmentally sustainable future for generations to come. Jews who recognize that the Jewish calling to be a "light unto the nations" gives them a special responsibility to live in ways that benefit all of God’s creation. Jews who believe that Jewish teachings can make a difference in responding to the crises of today; Jews who feel connections to Judaism but also feel that something is missing; Jews who are turned off by some of the realities in Jewish life today and would like to see positive changes; Jews who would like more of a dialogue as to Judaism’s future direction. And, since other religions have similar problems and concerns, I believe that many non-Jews will also find this book interesting, challenging, informative, and valuable. Several of the commendations (blurbs) presented for the book are from Christians and one is from a Muslim.

Gershom:   I think we are talking to Jews from a lot of different backgrounds, who might have these same questions in their hearts but are afraid to say it in public.  You know, before I wrote my first book, Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust, there were both Jews and non-Jews who had past-life memories of dying in the concentration camps.  Behind the scenes, both therapists and their clients were telling me about these cases.  But nobody was willing to break the ice about it.  Outside the Hasidic world, few people even knew that there are reincarnation teachings in Judaism.  But after the Ashes book came out, it was suddenly OK to talk about it.  I opened the floodgates.

     So maybe we are doing the same thing here – giving people permission to say, "You know, I've felt that way, too."  If the emperor isn't wearing any clothes, maybe we need to be the ones to say so, even if we do look like fools.  In the courts of earthly rulers, the fool is often the only one free to give honest feedback to the king.

 

Is it proper to criticize Judaism at a time when Israel faces so many critical threats and antisemitism is increasing so rapidly?

Gershom: Yes!!!  Look at Tanach [the Hebrew scriptures] -- when the government went wrong, that is precisely when the prophets marched into the throne room and confronted the king.  We aren't prophets, but they do set the example.  If somebody is about to drive over a cliff, do you just sit in the passenger seat quietly and let you both die because you don't want to criticize his driving?  Of course not!  So yes, I think it is not only proper to criticize the current Jewish leadership, I think it is our duty as responsible Jews to do so. 

     Back in the 1980s when I carried a sign with both a Palestinian and Israeli flag on it, I was blackballed as a traitor.  Now the majority of Israelis support a Palestinian state, as do a lot of American Jews.  Was I wrong to criticize back then?  I don't think so.  I think I was ahead of my time.  As they say, "Walk three steps ahead and you're the leader.  Walk ten steps ahead and you're a heretic."  The moral principles do not change, but public opinion often does.

     My experience has been that a willingness to look honestly at a problem is respected, even by those who disagree.  Group-think denial of a problem does not make it go away, and is not really respected by anybody.  Group-think actually increases antisemitism, because people get the idea that all Jews think alike on every issue. 

Schwartz: Unfortunately, I do feel some loving criticism is called for today.  “An open rebuke is better than hidden love” (Proverbs 27:5).  It looks like Israel will face major threats and antisemitism will be a factor for some time, so it is not a matter of waiting perhaps a few years for a “proper time” to write the book.  As the great sage Hillel said: “If not now, when?”  After several unsuccessful starts due to the difficulty of challenging the Jewish community at such a difficult time, having Rabbi Gershom agree to work with me proved to be the factor that enabled me to continue and complete this book.

     I sincerely hope that our thoughts will help initiate respectful and open dialogues that will help revitalize Judaism, reduce antisemitism, improve Israel’s security and well-being and, in general, lead to a more just, compassionate, healthy, peaceful and environmentally sustainable world.

Aren’t you picking and choosing the aspects of Judaism that you think should be stressed while ignoring other aspects of Judaism?

Gershom:  So nu, who doesn't do that?  The Right picks and chooses, too.  We are just offering a different menu.  And I mean that literally.  There are a lot of people citing the rodef verses ("If someone comes to kill you, kill him first" -- Kahanites love that one) but those same people have never even heard of the pacifist lines that are also in the Jewish tradition.  As Ben Bag Bag says in Pirkei Avot, “Turn the Torah over and over, for everything is in it.”  So yes, we are choosing to focus on different verses than our more hawkish brethren.

Schwartz: I agree with Yonassan’s analysis, and I believe that the verses that we are stressing are those that reflect the true spirit of Judaism.  Also, we are trying to start a respectful dialogue in the Jewish community on the issues that we are raising.  Let those who disagree choose their quotations, and let the debate begin!

Aren’t you basically limiting Judaism to aspects of tikkun olam (repairing the world)?

Gershom: Not me.  I also want to talk about God, about inner spirituality, about personal soul-searching, etc.  The Haredi Jews might be ignoring tikkun olam (the mandate to heal the world), but the liberals are ignoring a lot of other mitzvoth (religious duties).  Each side is like a bird with one wing, flopping around because it can't get off the ground.  You need both wings (halachah and social action) equally balanced in order to fly.

Schwartz: Yes, but I conceive of tikkun olam very broadly.  In addition to trying to fix the world, we are also trying to properly transform Jewish education, synagogue services, simchas and other Jewish events, the celebration of Jewish festivals, and much more, to make all aspects of Jewish life reflect the tradition’s emphasis on compassion, sharing, justice, peace, and other positive values.

Gershom:  I am more of a traditionalist when it comes to synagogue services and rituals, but if you consider that, according to Hasidism and kabbalah, each mitzvah is tied into the spiritual fabric of the universe, then, in a sense, every mitzvah can be an act of tikkun olam.  That was the original way in which Rabbi Isaac Luria (16th century) thought of tikkun.  In many Hasidic prayer books you can still find meditations called tikkunim, to be said before carrying out a mitzvah, in order to focus the mind and heart on what you are doing.

What is your main objective of this book?  What do you hope to accomplish?

Schwartz:  In the face of today's urgent problems, I hope to help Jews return to our universal Jewish values and our mission: to be “a light unto the nations,” a kingdom of priests and a holy people, descendants of prophets, champions of social justice, eternal protesters against the present corrupt, unredeemed world, dissenters against destructive and unjust systems. I hope to convince Jews to become actively involved in working toward global survival and Jewish renewal, working for radical changes that will lead to a society where there is a major reduction in oppression, violence, hunger, environmental destruction, poverty, and alienation. I hope our book will help revitalize Judaism and help shift our imperiled planet to a sustainable path.

Gershom:  Plus, we want to reclaim a part of the tradition that has been ignored in the last few decades.  Richard and I are both senior citizens who grew up in a different era, and we feel we must pass down the Judaism we remember to the next generation or, heaven forbid, it will be lost.  We are told in the midrash that Lot stood in the town square and preached to the people of Sodom even though they did not listen to him.  Why?  Because he understood that if he went silent, he became like one of them.  So we must protest even if we think people are not listening.  God listens and knows our hearts, even if our fellow Jews do not.

Who stole your religion?

Gershom:  The religious Right for one thing -- and maybe the influence of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East.  Don't laugh.  The Mizrachis (Middle Eastern Jews) who came from Iran, Iraq, Morocco, etc. in 1948-50s were not the socialist liberals who founded Israel.  They were Jews with a much more hardened attitude about a lot of things.  They came from countries with a more restrictive point of view, without any Western liberalism.  Not that they should not have come to Israel -- all Jews should be welcome – but they are the majority now and there has been a real shift to the Right, both politically and in terms of Haredi-style learning.

       And I think David Ben Gurion stole it from us, too -- by writing off all of the Diaspora experience as a mere "shadow existence" and flipping us back to the Biblical militarism that the Talmudic rabbis had done away with.  Our sages had long ago transformed the historical battles in the Bible into moral lessons for our daily lives.  So, for example, “Wipe out the Seven Canaanite nations” became wiping out the Seven Deadly sins in our hearts.  There is a kabbalistic principle that, once something is elevated spiritually, you don't drag it back down again.  War had been elevated from Assiyah (physical level) to Yetsirah-Briah (emotions-mind level) where it was about ethical struggles with the yetzer hara.  Dragging it back down to political militarism has had disastrous results.  

      Everyone is upset about Abu Gharaib because it was the Americans who did it, and it got widely publicized.  But the Israeli Shin Bet guys have been doing things like that for years.  Only we refused to believe the Palestinians, even though the reports from groups like Amnesty International were pretty consistent.  In past centuries, Jews would never have used torture, which is forbidden by Jewish law.  So is cutting down trees during the siege of a city, yet we know that Israelis have purposely cut down olive trees and grape vines in the Palestinian areas, in attempts to drive the people out.  So we have to ask ourselves if Israel is really acting like a Jewish state should.  We must confront its government today, the same as the prophets confronted their governments in the past.

Schwartz: As a Modern Orthodox Jew who is proud of the many contributions the Orthodox community is making in terms of tzedakah (charity), acts of kindness, deep learning and much more (as discussed in more detail in chapter 1) I regret to say that the attitudes and actions prevalent in many Orthodox Jews are a major part of the problem. There seems to be a major gap between Judaism’s splendid teachings and the realities that I see in Jewish life today; Jews are generally failing to apply Jewish teachings to the many crises of today; many religious Jews have moved to the right and are supporting policies that are inconsistent with the historic Jewish emphasis on compassion, justice, and peace.  Hence, there is a need to revitalize Judaism and bring many disaffected Jews back to participation in the Jewish community.  All of this and more, which is that discussed in the chapters of this book, makes me feel very unhappy about many aspects of Jewish life today and that my religion has been stolen.

This is bound to be a very controversial book.  How will you deal with those in the Jewish community who attack your ideas?

Gershom:  Unfortunately we have already had to deal with some of that.  A few of the advance readers were not very happy over our political stands on some issues, and at least one friendship went sour over what material we decided to include.  But there were far more people who endorsed the book, and although they did not always agree with everything in it, they applauded Richard for having the courage to write it.

Richard: To those who will attack the ideas in this book, I would like to say: Yonassan and I are not claiming that there is only one acceptable way to view Judaism and world conditions today.  We are trying to seek common ground and solutions to current problems through respectful dialogues. To those who argue that all policies of the Israeli government should be supported for the sake of Jewish unity, please explain how Israel can avoid renewed conflict, effectively address her economic, environmental, and other domestic problems, and remain a Jewish and a democratic country if a comprehensive, sustainable resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians is not reached.  For those who think that we are exaggerating about a potential climate catastrophe and think global warming is a liberal plot, please visit the website of Republicans for Environmental Protection (http://www.rep.org/). For those who are supporting the present Republican Party that has moved so far to the right under the influence of the Tea Party, please explain how their support of the wealthiest Americans and highly profitable corporations is consistent with Jewish teachings about compassion, sharing, and justice.