Michael Birnholz

2 Ways to help the people of Ukraine.

1) From the URJ:  We are living in a time of great anguish and concern about the situation in Ukraine. Of particular concern is situation of our Reform communities and colleagues in that region. These are precarious and dangerous times for our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine, who are dealing with scarcity, chaos, and tremendous uncertainty and fear.  We join together here to ask for your support at this critical time. Our friends at the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) have created a special crisis fund of the WUPJ to provide assistance and much needed aid for the Ukrainian communities. We are asking you to help support these efforts of humanitarian relief, evacuation, relocation, and security. Please give what you can, and please help spread the information about this fund to your community. http://wupj.org/give/ukraine

We pray for a peace and an end to this conflict, for safety and health for those in the Reform communities in the Ukraine and for all people. Your generous support will turn our prayers and words into meaningful actions. We work and pray for peace always, as we stand together in solidarity as one global Jewish family.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, President, CCAR, Rabbi Hara Person, Chief Executive, CCAR

Carole Sterling, Chair, WUPJ,Rabbi Sergio Bergman, President, WUPJ

2) From Richard Bialosky

My cousin Mark Jonathan Harris, who wrote and directed the two Oscar -winning films,  “Into the Arms of Strangers” and “Long Way Home” also wrote and directed this 2017 film about the Ukraine:

Watch Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine | Prime Video (amazon.com)

I didn’t see it when it made a very limited theatrical run some years ago but now that it’s on Amazon I plan to watch it tonight, probably on both sides of the SOTU speech.  I asked Mark if he had any donation suggestions and that follows.

Breaking Point suggests why the Ukrainians are putting up such resistance to the Russians.  I gave money to   United Help Ukraine https://unitedhelpukraine.org/  which was recommended by a close Ukrainian friend of mine. 

a) A Prayer for Peace Lev Shalem: Weekday and Shabbat page 178

This text is full of quotations from across Hebrew scripture. this is a prayer for peace as we call out to the Infinite and Divine to offer respite and protection and also challenge ourselves to pursue and generate peace.

May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease, when a great peace will embrace the whole world.

Then nation will not threaten nation, and the human family will not again know war.

For all who live on earth shall realize that we have not come into being to hate or to destroy.

We have come into being to praise, to labor and to love.

Compassionate G!d, bless the leaders of all nations with the power of compassion

Fulfill the promise conveyed in Scripture: I will bring peace to the land, and you shall lie down and no one shall terrify you.

I will rid the land of vicious beasts and it shall not be ravaged by war.

Let justice and righteousness flow like a mighty stream.  Let’s G!d’s peace fill the earth as water fill the sea. And let us say Amen.

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b) The Chief Rabbi in Ukraine invited Christians to join Jews in praying the Psalm this week, drawing on established interfaith relationships to spread the word.

“The Chief Rabbi unexpectedly invited all us Christians and all Ukrainians to read Psalm 31 (text below) during these difficult times,” says Anatoliy Raychynets, the Deputy General Secretary for the Bible Society in Ukraine.

“For me, as a pastor, that Psalm … well, I read it differently now, because it’s about our current situation in Ukraine. This ancient prayer – written several thousand years ago – now we see is so alive, is living.”

Raychynets says that Ukrainians are asking “serious questions” in the face of the crisis and Christians need to give them serious answers.

“Our answer, first of all, as a worker of Bible Society and as a pastor in church, is that we invite them to join praying the prayers in the Bible,” he says.

“In the stories in the Bible, we see stories of people going through different, difficult, challenging times. Times of war, of hunger. These are good stories that are teaching us.

“So when people come to us asking questions, we pray together. We encourage them to stand for peace and to pray for peace. We don’t pray for victory over our enemy. We pray that the diplomacy of Ukraine and the whole world will bring a solution. We pray that God’s miracle happens because we know that it must be a miracle to stop this. So we read the Bible with people and pray.”

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/world/christians-and-jews-unite-across-ukraine-to-pray-this-psalm/

Psalm 31

1 For the leader. A psalm of David.  2 I seek refuge in You, O ETERNAL ONE; may I never be disappointed;

as You are righteous, rescue me. 3 Incline Your ear to me; be quick to save me; be a rock, a stronghold for me, a citadel, for my deliverance. 4 For You are my rock and my fortress; You lead me and guide me as befits Your name. 5 You free me from the net laid for me, for You are my stronghold. 6 Into Your hand I entrust my spirit; You redeem me, O ETERNAL ONE, faithful God. 7 I detest those who rely on empty folly, but I trust in the ETERNAL ONE. 8 Let me exult and rejoice in Your faithfulness when You notice my affliction, are mindful of my deep distress, 9 and do not hand me over to my enemy, but a grant me relief.-a 10 Have mercy on me, O ETERNAL ONE, for I am in distress; my eyes are wasted by vexation, my substance and body too.-b 11 My life is spent in sorrow, my years in groaning; my strength fails because of my iniquity, my limbs waste away. 12 Because of all my foes I am the particular butt of my neighbors, a horror to my friends; those who see me on the street avoid me. 13 I am put out of mind like the dead; I am like an object given up for lost. 14 I hear the whisperings of many, intrigue c on every side, as they scheme together against me, plotting to take my life. 15 But I trust in You, O ETERNAL ONE; I say, “You are my God!”

16 My fate is in Your hand; save me from the hand of my enemies and pursuers. 17 Show favor to Your servant; as You are faithful, deliver me. 18 O ETERNAL ONE, let me not be disappointed when I call You; let the wicked be disappointed; let them be silenced in Sheol; 19 let lying lips be stilled that speak haughtily against the righteous with arrogance and contempt. 20 How abundant is the good that You have in store for those who fear You, that You do in the full view of men for those who take refuge in You. 21 You grant them the protection of Your presence b against scheming humans;-b You shelter them in Your pavilion from contentious tongues. 22 Blessed is the ETERNAL ONE, for He has been wondrously faithful to me, a veritable bastion. 23 Alarmed, I had thought, “I am thrust out of Your sight”; yet You listened to my plea for mercy when I cried out to You. 24 So love the ETERNAL ONE, all you faithful; the ETERNAL ONE guards the loyal, and more than requites him who acts arrogantly. 25Be strong and of good courage, all you who wait for the ETERNAL ONE.

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c) On this Shabbat, there are tens of thousands of members of the Ukrainian Jewish community seeking refuge in synagogues, Hillel’s, Moishe Houses, and other locations. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish and fighting alongside his people.

This is a prayer for peace by Rabbi Natan Sternhartz (Ukraine, 1780-1844), a student of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. A 200 year-old prayer that is entirely relevant today. It was translated by Rabbi Oren Hayon.

May it be Your will, Adonai our God and God of our ancestors, that war and bloodshed should vanish from the earth, and we may know a great and wondrous peace, so that “nation will not lift up sword against nation, nor will they study war any more.” [Isaiah 2:4] May all the inhabitants of the earth come to recognize and know the truth that we were not brought into the world for the sake of war and discord, not for the sake of hatred or jealousy or bloodshed, but that we were brought into the world that we might know You and your endless blessings. May the scriptural promise come to pass: “I will grant peace to the world that you may settle there, and none will make you afraid; I will spare the land from vicious beasts and the sword will never again pass through your territory.” [Lev. 26:6] And let us say: Amen.

In the first two Portions of the Torah, humanity is given the responsibility to take care of the creatures of the earth.  In Genesis, Adam and Eve are named caretakers for the animals in the Garden of Eden and then beyond. (In Genesis 1:28 the instruction is to “fill, master and rule.”  In Genesis 2:15 it is to “till and tend.”  Both imply power over the animals and creatures but later Midrash points out that if you spoil what you rule, then it is gone and you are lost.)

Ten generations later Noah comes forward, righteous in his generation, walking with G!d.  Central to the instructions to build an ark, G!d tells Noah to take animals of all species, to safe guard them from the coming flood. Midrashim abound about the care that Noah and his family offer the animals who float along with them. “Our masters said: During the twelve months Noah spent on the ark, he did not saver the taste of sleep – neither he nor his children, neither by day nor by night, occupied as he was with feeding the creatures that were with him.” (Book of Legends page 28 #131)

As the High Holy Days pass, and we celebrate Sukkot, we are entering a new season outside.  (In some places it is Fall or Autumn, in Israel it’s the Rainy season, here it is “maybe a little less hot”.) This is a time of appreciating our harvest and considering what we need to do to get through the colder and darker time of year that approaches with the Winter solstice.   Connecting the season and its shift in weather and light to the stories we are telling from the Torah at this time of year, is a vital part of our turning outward with energy and inspiration of the High Holy Days. After reflecting on our past year with acts of apology, forgiveness and atonement, we are challenged to think like Adam and Eve, like Noah and his family and consider what we are called to do to care for the creatures of the earth.  Are we maintaining the commandments and covenants that G!d made with humanity and have been passed to us? Are we following the model of our ancient ancestors to be responsible as guardians and stewards for the animals who share this planet with us?More

The phrase “Social Distancing” has now entered our vocabulary.  Each day brings new instructions on quarantining ourselves, limiting the scope of our activities or distancing ourselves from human contact in the midst of the Covid19 epidemic.  Social distancing impacts our body and spirit.  Humans are social creatures.  How can we draw on the strength of community in this time of need when we are being instructed (please follow those instructions!) to move and stay far apart?

In early March we read from Parshat Ki Tissa (EXODUS 30:11) which includes making donations to ward off plagues and hand washing to stay holy, I shared three texts that challenge us to think about how we are reacting individually and as a community in this time of social distancing.

Some rabbinical thoughts from DavidWolpe:       https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2009/02/in-a-place-where-there-are-no-men/9587/

In the Mishna, Hillel declares, “In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man.” This is usually taken to mean that when other people are acting in an indifferent or cowardly fashion, one should stand up and be a mature, courageous human being. But it could also mean that one should act as a mensch — a decent person — when there are no others around, in a place where there literally are no men. G-d may be always watching, but many of us care less for G-d’s good opinion than for that of our neighbors. So we may have to fall back on the old standby — strength of character, the kind of rock solid soul that would lead one to be heroic, even alone, on a desert island.

Social Distancing demands that we stand alone. Rabbi Wolpe’s response to the words of Hillel from the Mishna ring so true to me.   The further we stand apart, the more we have to work at being menschen.   We have to work to bring the best of our humanity forward.  If we are physically isolated, we need to remember not to let that drain us, but rather empower us to reach out to create a spiritual and virtual, caring community.   One prayer from the Siddur Lev Shalom gave body to the image in my mind and the impulse in my heart.

In the beginning

In the beginning G-d created the heavens that actually are not

(they are infinite, unbound and undefinable)

and the earth that wants to touch them.

In the beginning G-d created threads stretching between them –

between heavens that are not

and the earth that cries out for help.

And G-d created humans, for each person is a prayer and a thread touching what is not

with a tender and delicate touch.

[ Rivka Miriam (translated by David C Jacobson page 153 of Siddur Lev Shalem)

Our grip and ability to connect may be tenuous, but if we make the effort, if we throw out lifelines and calls of caring, it will draw people together and give us strength as we face this incredible challenge.  We have the thread and the prayer, and that is powerful.   We know that these connections are not one sided.  As we reach out, we create networks of spiritual and social energy that sustain and energize, pushing back against the anxiety, fear and exhaustion of this unparalleled reality.  We must make sure, with all our heart, our soul and might, not to let social distancing become social isolation.   We have to pull together in very different ways as the world cracks around us.  We might have to stay in our homes and not come to Temple Beth Shalom, but we can still create a House of Shalom – wholeness, harmony and peace.

Rabbi Michael Birnholz