Sermon, September 8, 2001
Old Clothes and Renewed Faith
You are well aware that there are differences in customs from synagogue to synagogue. For many years, the clergy here at Temple Israel have worn robes and stoles or tallitot on top of the robes. I grew up in a Reform temple in Pittsburgh where the rabbis never wore robes; they did wear formal attire on the High Holydays - including coats with tails and striped pants. Today the rabbis in that congregation wear a tallit. There are even some who argue that the robe should be abandoned as it creates a barrier between pulpit and pew.
I strongly disagree with that suggestion, but primarily for practical purposes. The robe can hide a multitude of pounds! I don't have to worry about how tight my clothes may have become in the last year as long as I can put on my pulpit robe. In fact, a miracle happened earlier this week - I put on a suit which I had purchased several years ago and my wife said "it won't fit you." You know what happened? It buttoned.
That's a miracle. All these years of living with a great cook and the suit still buttons. Actually the last couple of years I've put on weight, which I didn't need and many of my clothes don't fit. This week's miracle is not to be taken for granted.
Our Torah portion for this Sabbath speaks of a bigger miracle. Moses says: "I have lead you 40 years in the wilderness and your clothes have not grown old upon you." How could that be? Did the manna have no calories? Weren't many of them children 40 years before? How could their clothes still fit? How could they have not worn out?
I recently read a homily by Steven Lewis, which helped me understand the passage in this week's sedra in a way I had never understood it before. I share it with you today because this is the season of the year when many of us shop for new clothing to wear in honor of the High Holydays.
Steve Lewis points out that there are two places in the Torah, which speak about clothing and may give another dimension to Moses' statement. The first is in Genesis 30:4. Jacob's sons rescue their sister Dina from the city of Shechem and, as a result of that rescue, the women and the children of Shechem are absorbed into Jacob's clan. God then speaks to Jacob and tells him to rededicate all of his people. How did he do it? Jacob says to all who are with him: "put away the strange gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Beth El," i.e., the house of God.
There is a strange emphasis on one single detail of the preparation and purification - changing one's clothes. Not only that, but why are they told to change their garments as they begin their journey instead of at the end of the journey?
Steve Lewis suggests that the changing of the garments here symbolizes the changing of one's belief system. The newcomers to the People of Israel cast off their old garments and put on new ones as a way of expressing their acceptance of the Israelite faith.
In the second incident it is even clearer. The Israelites come to Mount Sinai and are about to enter into a covenant with God. God says to Moses: "Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments." (Exodus 19:10) Again the people wash their garments on the day before they are to enter into the covenant; it is a kind of cleaning of the slate before they begin a whole new stage of their lives. So Steve Lewis suggests that here too Moses is saying: "I've lead you 40 years in the wilderness; the beliefs you accepted at Sinai have not grown old upon you."
Yontif is growing near, ten days away. I have two wishes for you, my friends. The first is, may you get a new outfit in honor of the Holydays, for that is the way we Jews have always purchased our new clothes. Jews don't get a spring outfit, we get a Pesach outfit; we don't get a fall dress, we get a new dress for the Holydays. That tradition ought to continue. We ought to measure time by the major events of the Jewish calendar. So my first wish for you is that you will get a new outfit in honor of Yontif.
And my second wish is based on Steve Lewis' insight. "May your faith still be fresh this new year." You see, the real enemy of religion is not atheism but boredom. Being jaded is the opposite of being religious. The great Yiddish poet Aaron Zeitlin wrote: "If you look at the stars and yawn . . . I created you in vain, says God." There is no way of refuting a yawn; there is no way of countering boredom. So my prayer for you, friends, and for myself and for all the Jewish People is - may our faith stay fresh, may it be vital and vibrant and never become just a matter of habit, or rote.
The Baal Shem Tov once made a marvelous statement on one of the best-known prayers of the High Holydays. In the Sh'ma Koleynu prayer, it says: Do not cast us away in the time of old age. The Baal Shem said that this prayer refers not only to human beings but also to Judaism itself. Why do people throw away the mitzvot? Because the commandments grow old, taste stale, and seem boring in their eyes. So what we need to do in these days before Yontif is regain the sense of anticipation, of excitement that we used to have. There is all the difference in the world between the person who cries out with excitement "Yontif is coming again!" and the person who sighs, "Yontif is coming, again.
May our faith stay fresh in this New Year soon to begin. May it develop and grow and mature, but still be vital and vibrant and vigorous.
One further thought for this coming Holyday season. Some Jews - disillusioned, discouraged, depressed by the tragic conflict between Israelis and Palestinians during most of 5761 - look toward the New Year with despair. For them I must share the story my colleague, Rabbi Bernie Presler, tells. He was on the way to the wedding of a nephew in the Israeli town of Gush Kativ. Tragically, one of the young people in Gush Kativ was killed by an Arab terrorist. Gush Kativ is really a small village where everyone knows everyone and cares about everyone. So most everyone in the village was going to not attend the wedding so as to spend time instead with the family, which was sitting shivah. The rabbi of the community then issued a ruling that the family sitting shivah (in mourning) must lock its doors and admit no one. Further, they must not observe shivah that day, but postpone shivah for one day so that the community could go to the wedding instead.
That was a bold halachic decision and a very Jewish one in the spirit of today's Torah portion. That rabbi sensitively understood the tension the villagers were feeling between the mitzvah of honoring the bride and groom, and the mitzvah of consoling mourners, and he made a wise ruling. This story makes real for us the pain and the determination to continue living despite all obstacles that challenge the people of Israel today. Israelis will put aside their mourning and dress up for the Days of Awe. May we share in their determination.
May God perform the miracle that God performed for me this week, and may my old suits continue to fit in the New Year.
May God perform the greater and more important miracle. May our spirit and our faith continue to be fresh and inspiring during this entire coming year. Amen.
I sincerely appreciate the inspiration of Rabbi Jack Riemer which is reflected in this message.
