It's the Environment, Stupid

Aping the predictability of my pet Puggle Bailey, who jumps when she hears me go to the refrigerator, Republicans and their surrogates are quick to remind us that a devastating hurricane is not about global warming and shootings in movie theatres are not about gun laws. Do not be surprised if Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey is exiled by his party for doing the unthinkable, thanking President Obama for the federal government’s quick response to his flood devastated state.

The other side is not immune to its political biases and trumped up malarkey either. Maureen Dowd in her NY Times column on Wednesday actually hypothesized that Governor Christie, a Romney supporter, praised Obama so that he can run for president in 2016, rather than wait for a President Romney to retire in 2020, his appreciation being calculated rather than genuine. It is impossible to Dowd that Christie might have something more important than his career on his mind, like governing his state during an emergency.

If pundits and politicians politicizing everything turn you off, you are not alone. Christie, ever the straight talker, is quoted as saying about the upcoming election that it is the farthest thing from his mind; he’s got bigger fish to fry. Kudos to you Chris.

Whether you are one who believes that it’s the hand of God or simply nature that brought on this weeks Super-storm Sandy, well, like chest pains before a heart attack, you have been warned. Granted, I can foresee the lunatic fringe saying that it indeed is a warning from God, but for us to end abortions and gay marriage. Meanwhile, the godless, infidel, scientists will tell you it has something more to do with greenhouse gasses, melting of the polar ice cap, a thinning ozone layer and pollution, in other words; science. 

The only thing I am advocating for right now is sanity. From my earliest recollections until say my fortieth birthday I remember seeing the occasional hurricane, tropical storm and extreme weather on the news. Perhaps they were more common than I recall from back then, but one thing is for sure; it is only in the last fifteen to twenty years that we have had to deal with el-Niño, tsunamis, tidal waves and hurricanes that go further inland and causing this much destruction. Maybe climate change is not as devastating as Al Gore tells us it is, but I think we owe it to ourselves to at least try and find out. I just want to tell all the loonies that think climate change is a hoax, to stay away from doctors and hospitals too, what they practice there is science as well. Yeah, I flush my toilet too much, I don’t unplug my appliances when they are not in use and I drive a big car, in other words I am guilty along with everyone else. While we all have to do our little bit we need leadership. It is said that George W. Bush missed an opportunity after the events of September 11^th, 2001 to radically change the way we treat the environment and our reliance on foreign oil. It remains to be seen if President Obama can use this devastating Super Storm to move us forward on climate change. Here’s to hoping he does. 

Is God an American

Despite the puritan reputation of the American electorate and the brouhaha over the omission of God in the Democratic National Convention Platform, religion in the United States seems to be going through a shift. A Pew research study released this week shows that Protestants whom as recently as 40 years ago made up two thirds of the population, now account for under half. Much of the loss is attributed to the growth of those who identify as atheist or “not religious.” Catholics have maintained their numbers at 22% of the population but this is attributed to immigration and not to the Church maintaining its numbers amongst those already living here. Islam has grown in the U.S. but also due to immigration and robust prison recruitment. Orthodox Judaism has grown, Conservative Judaism is in decline and the Reform maintain their numbers via liberal intermarriage rules and their policy on patrilineal descent which some argue dilutes rather than increases Jewish populace.

This paradigm shift in religious attitudes and the pace at which it is happening offers an interesting view of America. Assimilation and integration of ethnic minorities offers proof of a successful American – democratic project. Freedom of religion and separation of Church and State proves that a multi-cultural society can function peacefully and with tolerance. At the same time, liberal denominations are losing numbers, while the strict orthodoxies are gaining in strength. While more people than ever identify as not religious those who identify as religious tend to be more observant or so it seems. 

History is full with tales of those killed in the name of one religion or another. Even now in an enlightened and modern world we have to contend with extremists who believe they speak for God as they murder, plunder and destroy in His name.

Western culture welcomes all religions while maintaining secular governance. Yet the West in now faced with losing religious moderates as they are being closed out by more doctrinaire theology and I don’t even need to expand on the state of religion in religious based countries. What we are experiencing is the growth of a wider chasm in religious belief and tolerance. There may be an increase of tolerance towards other religions but there is much more intolerance for the non-religious. Previously, many would be proud to identify with a religion on any level; many now feel alienated by the same religions as the more stringent adherents shun upon their moderate or lesser style of observance.

At the same time, religion has become fungible to those on the left. Recently, some gentile bold-faced names have married Jews in famous bi-religious ceremonies. Chelsea Clinton, Anne Hathaway and Drew Barrymore to name a few, have made marrying a Jew become in the words of Tablet Magazine “aspirational” rather than a religious transformation. To some, this might indicate the ultimate success of the Western model; to the religionists it is a call for further isolation.

One thing is for sure; no one belief system holds a monopoly on God any longer. Technology, accessible information and quite frankly, God’s relative silence make any one religion as credible as the next, at least on a purely intellectual level. It leads me to believe that if God had to be a citizen of any country He would choose to be an American, this way everyone can claim Him and He wouldn’t have to reveal any favoritism. 

The God Particle : The South Shore Standard

The God Particle : The South Shore Standard

Scientists have recently confirmed the existence of something called the “God Particle.” The scientific name for this particle is the “Higgs Boson,” named after the physicist who originally theorized its existence. The theory is that electroweak or elementary particles acquire mass by colliding with mass. Of course this would entail a great deal of force and speed. The idea behind the research is to confirm the existence of the “Big Bang Theory” and in essence how the world was created. For 50 years a laboratory in the suburbs of Geneva called CERN, has been using colliders to test the theory and recently after billions of dollars spent has identified the particle.

While physicists prefer to call it by its scientific name, “Higgs Boson,” almost everyone else calls it the God Particle. I think it’s obvious that we prefer God Particle because for up until about 700 years ago the only way humans could describe creation and the physical world was in religious terms. Since then science has added a different dimension to explaining creation. Or as I like to describe it, the world was chugging along at 30 MPH until about the 15th Century, then we put the pedal to the metal and have not taken our foot off since.

In order to reconcile the existence of God with Big Bang, religious people rely on two things that science can never explain; what came before Big Bang and the human conscience otherwise known as the soul. The scientific blueprint may prove exactly how the world was created and how we evolved but it fails to explain who or what pushed that first button. Science simply explains the existence of things in terms of time, space, motion and mass; religion explains things as beyond the scope of those logical things.

Young people today look at the world as less complicated than before. My kids still cannot believe I ever had to dial a phone number or had to go to the library to do research for a term paper. They barely know what a pay phone is and cannot fathom that anyone used a typewriter. But we older folks remember a simpler time when we were not connected to everything and everyone all day long. We spoke to our friends and family when we were near a phone and had something to say. We saw the news once a day and we read newspapers. More importantly, we took time out to recognize that there was a power greater than science and technology that explained things to us that logic could not. And we basked in the world’s relative simplicity.

I like the term God Particle because it denotes the limits of scientific explanation. There are just some things that cannot be explained and frankly shouldn’t be even in a world where information can be obtained in seconds on a smart phone. Mysticism tries to explain the unexplainable on a spiritual level but even the mastering of that discipline is limited to a select few. What excites me most about scientific revelations is not the absence of God but His apparent retraction. We used to need God to explain every element of the universe and our existence, now we really only need God to explain why we should choose good over evil, why we should tap into our soul.

Science enables us to limit religion to our homes and communities and to unify as the human race in wider areas. We no longer have to fight over who holds the ultimate truth because no matter which deity we worship science has proven He used one blueprint to get us all to this point. The rest is up to us. We are the only species that has the ability to retract from animal instincts. We are not predators and overall we seek to help one another. Science may explain which chemicals in our brain coax us to be altruistic but deep down we all know that only God has the power make us this way. In the immortal words of the great Bob Dylan:

“Well it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody.”

God, It’s Judgment Day For You Too

As Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year approaches I am reminded of a skit from the 70’s in which Gilda Radner playing Roseanne Rosanandana on Saturday Night Live goes to Times Square to report on the revelry bringing in the new year. Dumbfounded, she reports that no one is there to celebrate and no matter how many times her colleagues back in the studio try to tell her that it’s the Jewish new year not December 31^st, she doesn’t get it and continues to talk over them reporting back on the lack of celebrators.

Jews do celebrate the arrival of a new year differently than the rest of the world. Ours is a more solemn occasion. Our culture influenced by the religious traditions of thousands of years force us to use the days as a time of reflection and repentance. We sit in judgment before the Master of the Universe who on these days decides if we shall live or die, become rich or poor or find happiness or sorrow. Our synagogues fill up more than on the rest of the year either from all the guests and family who have joined to celebrate with relatives, or just those who come only for such important holidays.

While growing up I learned to fear this time of year, after all I might receive a death sentence. I’ve grown older now and I see the High Holidays from a different perspective. It is not just a day for God to judge us but also a day for us to critique God. While I can almost hear the cries of blasphemy emanating from the minds of some readers, understand that in order to criticize God, you have to believe in Him. While I find comfort in the channel of communication given to me by my Orthodox upbringing, I don’t for a second believe that it is the only legitimate form of communication with God.

I will stand in synagogue and cry with the rest of my congregation as we appeal to God to show us mercy. I will also stand there and demand of Him to end the hideous violence that saturates His earth, to end illness and premature death and to lift those impoverished because of a wrecked world economy and natural disasters. I will beseech Him to shut down the ranting of zealots who stand in judgment of others, who play God’s policemen and attempt to enforce their own perverted vision of His commandments. I will beg God to show us a sign that He never intended for hatred and persecution to be carried out in His name. Mostly, I want God to let us know that to Him the content of our character means more than the size of our head covering.

Some years back a prominent Orthodox rabbi said in an interview on CNN that he would rather that people do not attend synagogue than to go to a Conservative or Reform Shul. Similarly, an Orthodox rabbi in this neighborhood at a meeting I attended told the board of directors of a charitable organization that assisted people affected by the financial crisis, that if they include a certain Conservative rabbi on a proposed rabbinic advisory board he would not participate. Ironically, this same rabbi made himself out to be a champion of civil rights when in his previous posting in a mid-west city, Reform and Conservative Jews objected to the expansion of his congregation in the middle of their residential neighborhood.

Now is the time for us to reflect, repent and ask God for His mercy. It is also the time for us to stand up and cry out that God live up to His side of the bargain. The world may have a huge population, the biggest ever and getting bigger. But it is smaller and more interconnected than ever before. He may be watching us, but now we see everything He does – in real time. Much of it is not pretty and outright destructive. We have more to question and more to call Him out on. This New Year I don’t just pray for forgiveness, I pray for answers.

Singing for Forgiveness

I was blessed with a pleasant singing voice and having learned by my father’s side, am well versed in liturgical formula. Armed with this knowledge and God-given talent I occasionally am asked to lead services at my Orthodox synagogue and for some years, just like my father, I supplemented my income by taking a cantorial job for the High Holidays. I have been told my singing inspires some and that I have a decent command of the Hebrew language, a dying attribute I might add.

I always had mixed feelings about leading services. The cantor chants at the beginning of the Mussaf Service on Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur that he is “poor in good attributes” and he beseeches God not to judge the congregation for his faults. Growing up, watching my father cry as he chanted those words I knew that despite his humanity, this Holocaust survivor served as the best representative for his congregation or any for that matter. I on the other hand consider myself all too human, perhaps lacking some of the spiritual integrity expected of one leading such important services.

This is not false modesty, it is a struggle I have within myself. It is not that I think of myself as deficient, though I may be, it is that the Judaism I grew up in – Modern Orthodoxy that has lurched so rightward, outwardly stresses ritual observance, has embraced the modest dress code of the devout and eschews many of the modern world’s innovations. I am guilty apparently of not having caught up with the times. I am uncomfortable standing up there knowing that I do not adhere to this stricter level of observance. I outright question whether God intended for us to be so insulated and shut out from the world around us. Most telling, I embrace technology and the social changes that give equality to women and the freedom for two consenting adults to marry whomever they want regardless of sex or orientation.

I confess that this year I asked my congregation not to include me on the rotation of cantors for the High Holidays (request rejected). While I consider myself observant and I self define as a “good Jew” I am under no illusions that many if not most of Orthodoxy consider the way I practice my Judaism sacrilegious. As a people, Jews have grown since the Holocaust and the founding of Israel and this growth has given rise to a rebirth of Torah observant adherents. The recent Siyum Hashas (completion of the daily Talmudic learning cycle) was celebrated worldwide by hundreds of thousands. It is a testament to this growth. Yet I remain a holdout from a different time. I feel that Judaism needs to stress inclusion, protecting the environment, reaching out to those left behind, welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry and reaching out to those who are not like us. I find the emphasis on head coverings, outdoing each other on strict kashrut (kosher) observance, the details of the paint on tefillin(phylactery) straps to be plain off-putting. I want to return to a time when all Jews, observant and not, unified for a cause – that is something I can stand up and pray for.