"Rogue Elements" & Lech Lecha
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By Rabbi Joey, from his blog Gal Aynai: http://www.galaynai.com/
Donald Trump has suggested that “rogue elements” have claimed the life of a Saudi journalist – he wants his cake and to eat it too. Consistent with his life’s trajectory, he’d like to sustain the profits that the kingdom bestows upon his own beneficiaries, while releasing some minimal steam. Money is everything, even more important than a dissident human being, who wrote about the excesses of the autocrat MBS. Even though a few of the president’s Republican enablers are howling that there should be limits to our indulgences, should any of us be surprised about venality emanating from the White House?
Rogue elements? Come on. The president of the United States routinely demeans women, foments racist torment, assails the press.
The Torah describes, in this week’s portion Lech Lecha, a counterpoint in human affairs, when it comes to nation-building. There’s Abraham, who goes forth and is told “to be a blessing” to others. He didn’t say much, but his ears perked up and he pounded the pavement. And there’s his nephew Lot, who splits off in the direction of Sodom. Eventually, as the angels move in to save him, he stalls before making the decision to leave.
The Midrash Tanchuma tells us about the allure of that place: Lot saw the people there doing reprehensible stuff and he resolved to emulate their model. On the threshold of destruction, he stuck to denying the facts at hand; and instead of leaving the city quickly, according to a rabbinic legend, he held out, transfixed by his vast treasure at risk of being lost.
Why do some prominent figures remain invested in their own narrow self-interests, while others will stay focused on a broader timeline and real human goals? What guarantees that they will become more accountable?
The historian Jill Lepore writes about an “epistemological abyss” in her ambitious volume, These Truths: A History of the United States. In what amounts to a breathtaking account of American democracy, its ups and downs, she chronicles the asymmetrical relationship between the parties in power and the people who clamor to grasp the issues and positions that will influence their wellbeing. The former want to shape opinion and the latter aspire to know the truth.
They can’t know it by watching Fox News.
It’s tragic, in her view, but understandable, that we arrived in the 1990s at the point that “the conservative media establishment, founded on the idea that the existing media establishment was biased, had built into its foundation a rejection of the idea that truth could come from weighing different points of view.”
She explains the antecedents: The founders disdained too much democracy, for fear that large numbers of relatively uneducated people would inevitably lead to anarchy and corruption, or have their interests coopted by forces concerned for their own gain.
“Whenever therefore an apparent interest or common passion unites a majority what is to restrain them from unjust violations of the rights and interests of the minority, or of individuals?” she quotes James Madison. Or, on the other hand, there’s the populist Mary E. Lease, who in the Gilded Age lambasted the capitalists who “subverted the will of the people.”
And in 1922, Walter Lippmann warned that, in Lepore’s words, “mass democracy can’t work, because the new tools of mass persuasion – especially mass advertising – meant that a tiny minority could very easily persuade the majority to believe whatever it wished them to believe.” He witnessed the rise of radio and TV, their revolutionary influences – but the implications of the news networks being able to circumvent the FCC’s fairness doctrine had yet to take full effect.
The term masses had itself all but replaced the people in the first half of the last century, in a manner reminiscent of God’s promise to Abraham that his offspring would be as many as the stars in the sky. However, a later psalmist would amend this by saying that God, at least, makes it a point to call each tiny light individually by name.
When we read the opening chapters of the patriarchal narrative in Genesis, it’s easy to overlook the tension at play from the beginning. There’s the steadfast hope for justice, exemplified by Abraham, and the nihilism of Lot. The twin poles are inherent in the people’s story down through the days of the Davidic dynasty – and without the prophetic voice of reason and clarity, there would be no hope emanating from the pages of the Bible.
And here it is we find ourselves today, with leadership in a quandary about an inconvenient murder and a rich patron state. Will the truth be dressed up or brushed aside?
While the cacophony on cable news and in the streets at Proud Boys’ rallies unnerves us, we must remember that what made Abraham great was the question he posed to God – will the judge of all the earth not make justice happen?
This was no infant’s wail, a wish to be mollified. His spare words represent as adamant a demand as there has ever been to move the forces of what’s right in the world toward getting the work done. There’s no democracy without our resolving to speak up and stand up for it. Sodom self-destructs, but the long-term interests of democracy require that we grab the reins of good government. And that we make every effort to discover the truth, explain it thoroughly and patiently, and, like Abraham, speak less and be good listeners along the way.
Oct. 10 Community Email
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Kabbalat Shabbat on Oct. 12
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LAST DAY TO RSVP FOR KABBALAT SHABBAT DINNER THIS SUNDAY AT MIDNIGHT Sunday is the last day to RSVP for next Friday's Kabbalat dinner. RSVP HERE! The vegetarian dinner begins at 6:30 pm, with dairy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free options. All are invited to bring wine or juice to celebrate Shabbat, and childcare is available for kids ages 2 to 8. Cost adjustments are available by calling 503-248-4662. Please consider signing up in advance to be a volunteer on Friday night. We need door greeters and people to set up or clean up. See volunteer spots here. Heads up! In the spirit of our participatory community, we will all begin busing our own tables before the service begins! The service begins at 7:30 pm and all are welcome, so if you don't attend the dinner, please join us for the service! Rabbi Benjamin and our musicians will be leading a celebration of Shabbat with our community. Join us!
Havurah Shalom is a vibrant, egalitarian, and diverse Jewish Reconstructionist community. Steeped in Jewish values, Havurah promotes spirituality, learning, and acts of social responsibility. Find our calendar and learn more at www.havurahshalom.org. 825 NW 18th Ave, Portland, OR 97209 503-248-4662 |
Oct. 3 Community Email
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Sept. 26 Community Email
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Sept. 20 Community Email
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Tashlich at Willamette Park
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Join us at noon today, Sunday, Sept. 16, for a potluck lunch at Willamette Park, followed by music, a Tashlich service, and a Tikkun Olam fair.
Whatever your age and stage in this journey of life, Tashlich is for YOU. Young and older adults, parents of young and older children, empty nesters and alter rockers, you are all welcome and invited to come to Tashlich. Enjoy the music, singing, engaging service, casting off ritual at the river, and Tikkun Olam fair.
We’ll begin at noon with a vegetarian (and kosher fish) potluck lunch, followed by a musical Tashlich service and walk to the river. (Last names A-J bring salads, appetizers, fruit and drinks, K-Z bring main dishes.) Dessert will be provided by Havurah back at the tables after the Tashlich ritual.
A Tikkun Olam fair, sponsored by the Tikkun Olam Committee, will feature table displays of projects that people can get involved with in the new year. Co-leaders Cassandra Sagan and Jared Goodman will be joined by musicians Jacob Mandelsberg, Tanja Lux, Larry Reichman, Aaron Pearlman, and Steven Sandberg-Lewis to lead us in an interactive and welcoming service for all ages.
Sept. 12 Community Email
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L'Shana Tova
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On behalf of the Steering Committee and Havurah staff, we wish you and your loved ones a sweet year of peace, joy, happiness and good health. May we encounter each other and ourselves with inspiration, kindness and peace. L'Shana Tova Tikatevu V'taihatem. (May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.) Ken Lerner & Julia Lager-Mesulam
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Sept. 5 Community Email
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Faith Leaders Arrested During ICE Protest
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Excerpt From OregonLive:
Federal officers on Thursday arrested nearly two dozen Oregon faith leaders during the latest demonstration waged by a religious coalition opposed to the Trump administration's immigration policies.
All told, law enforcement officials handcuffed, zip-tied and jailed 21 clergy and one photographer affiliated with the group, which had blocked the driveway and front gate of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Southwest Portland, according to organizers and federal authorities.
They included religious leaders from Portland, Bend, Woodburn and other cities, and represented an array of Christian and Jewish traditions.
Read the full story about Rabbi Benjamin, Rabbi Joey, and the other faith leaders arrested for protesting on Thursday here on OregonLive.
Aug. 29 Community Email
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Let Our People Go!
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To my dear friends in Havurah:
Not out of joy or exhilaration, Rabbi Benjamin and I will stand in protest this Thursday at our local ICE headquarters at 4310 SW Macadam. We will join other faith leaders in our community in demanding that this branch of Homeland Security “let our people go.”
Now we know a bit about Pharaoh. We’re hardly newcomers to that confrontation. Magic did nothing: our success had more to do with moral clarity and being in the right. And yet, what’s striking in this week’s portion is that the Torah replays it, in reverse, a recurring nightmare, a curse. In Kee Tavo, we are given a dire warning, a prediction of what is bound to happen, should the people reject what the Torah teaches with regard to safeguarding a just society:
“You will become a consternation, a proverb, a pithy saying,” it says. (Deut. 28:37)
The commentator Mizrachi stipulates that we become a cause for the consternation of others. In other words, our example leaves the broader world in disrepair, in disgust, without the psychic wherewithal to move forward. Another later verse states the reason for this desperation: that the “ship” we steer will circle back to Egypt. (Deut. 28:68)
The nautical reference is obscure, but what comes to mind is a slave-ship, the degradation of human beings, the refusal to welcome neighbors as prospective citizens. There’s the hint of an enclosed world, an ark – life at risk. And I’m also thinking about my grandmother, who at the age of 11 left Vilna behind and was tricked onto a boat in Riga and crossed an ocean by herself – to join her father (my great grandfather) who had abandoned his wife to come here to America.
There are many stories like this one. For every immigrant, fleeing harsh and even dangerous conditions at home, there’s the breakage, the hardship of sustaining a connection with one’s loved ones, and with one’s past and future. There’s the emergency, the packing up and compressing of all that’s been owned, there’s the placing of one’s possibilities in the hands of others. There’s the smuggling of human lives, the stash houses, the sweltering hot trailers, the lack of oxygen.
But what makes the situation worse, devastatingly so, is when a society like ours makes it legal and acceptable to shun those who have escaped Pharaoh. Around the world, racists look up and say to themselves if it’s permissible here, it’s a plausible option to put up walls and close gates everywhere. It’s becomes okay for these unlucky ones to drown, to have their little ones taken away. And within our own culture of border control and customs enforcement, on the heels of 9/11, a significant segment of our voters have gradually given their thumbs-up to criminalizing those who seek asylum. All this, despite treaties to which we are signatories that honor the credible fears of these people, the most vulnerable ones.
ICE, on the one hand, is a recent iteration of enforcement – given its mission to keep people out after the events of September 2001. (Its antecedent INS was nowhere near as well-funded, nor as focused on the mechanisms of state terror.) What’s much worse is the detention and enforcement industry that has sprung up, with a multi-billion dollar momentum of its own. The stakeholders and fear-mongers have a good deal to gain from it all, as should have been expected. And they are ideologically committed to their program.
All of this is new, but it has act
ually happened many times before. There was an expurgation of history and culture during the conquest of Native Americans. There was slavery and the Black Codes which kept African Americans working for former slave-owners and restricted their mobility. There was the Ku Klux Klan, which was populated by some of the most venerable leaders throughout our country, including former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. There was the internment of Japanese Americans, shamefully perpetrated by FDR’s administration and household names like Earl Warren, who at the time was California’s attorney general and a leading supporter of rounding this ethnic group up. He and others looked the other way, while vultures looted property of the deportees and our armed services put people who loved this country and whose kids fought for what America represented behind layers of barbed wire in a desert. Within the last couple of years, of course, there have been Trump’s infamous attempts at travel bans targeting Muslims.
The point is that we should not be allowing this to go on – least of all, as Jews who can sniff the stench of Nazi Germany, where we too were deported and shut away and condemned to a terrible fate out of sight, out of mind. And yet we realize that, while we were on the margins, others knew what was happening to us. They abetted it, they enabled a regime to propagate its annihilatory hatred– so we today dare not stand by idly, when the undocumented are rounded up outside schools or on the sidewalks of the Washington County Courthouse. The ICE agents in unmarked cars brazenly swoop in and remove them. They terrorize people who aspire to be citizens of this country, taxpayers, and they incarcerate them at Sheridan – a place where hardened criminals dwell.
What does it say about us if we accept this demonization of people fleeing danger? What does it mean that respected elected officials can make statements reminiscent of Pharaoh’s callous refusals to pay attention to suffering – if we fail to speak out here in Portland?
What does it say for our polity that the US Attorney for Oregon conflates lack of documentation with a surge in crime – a “reasoned” argument that gets taken seriously by many in our community?
Acts of magic won’t defeat Measure 105 this November. It’s a cynical attempt to revoke our state’s sanctuary law, which prohibits the use of state and local law enforcement resources to apprehend people whose only crime is being undocumented. We’ll need to bring out the vote against it.
The recalcification of hearts may be systematic, but we can call it out.
Yes, Rabbi Benjamin and I will be protesting ICE, but in our appeal to “let our people go,” don’t think that we’ll limit our opposition to the detention of immigrants in Sheridan or NORCOR, a four-county jail in The Dalles; or that our resistance will narrowly focus on Jeff Sessions’ Zero Tolerance program and its despicable foregone separation of parents and children.
No, we’ll join other people of faith who worry about what’s happening, in terms of it being a benchmark, a green light – a signal of a broader societal regression, a failure to learn from the past.
The Torah forbids us from becoming “a consternation, a proverb, a pithy saying.” When the world looks at how America abuses people in flight, a message gets broadcasted. It’s communicable – this wholesale inhumanity. If the world succumbs to the idiom of racism, of hate, of xenophobia . . . we will all end up in the same boat back to Egypt.
We won’t have it. “Let my people go.” Our vision of an inclusive society is steadfast. Enough of this accursed business, this greedy enterprise of fear and intimidation and walls. It’s the hour to say “No” to Pharaoh, welcome to all who want to live a good life together.
- Rabbi Joey
Photos are of a recent IMIrJ protest and of a mural at Alabama's Talladega College painted by Harlem Renaissance artist Hale Woodruff. The painting is part of a series of murals depicting the 1839 mutiny by slaves on the Spanish ship La Amistad.
Aug. 22 Community Email
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Aug 15 Community Email
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Aug 8 Community Email
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Aug 1 Community Email
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July 25 Community Email
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Tisha B'Av Saturday & Sunday
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Tisha B’Av Ritual: A Lament for Immigrant Detention and Family Separation, Saturday, July 21, 8:30 pm, ICE Building, 4310 SW Macadam Ave
Led by Rabbi Ariel Stone, Rabbi Debra Kolodny, Rabbinic Intern Davina Bookbinder, and Rabbi Benjamin Barnett. As Jewish tradition tells it, on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av (Tisha B’Av) our People suffered the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, as well as several other catastrophes. Jews gather each year on this day to commemorate these tragedies, chanting the book of Lamentations and singing mournful yet beautiful melodies. In response to the catastrophes being perpetrated right now upon thousands of individuals and families entering our country, we will gather in front of ICE headquarters for prayer, reflection, and ritual, opening our hearts to this current destruction, and turning our spirits toward insuring safety and dignity for all who enter this land. Please note: SW Bancroft is closed by DHS at Macadam, so the easiest way to the site is to enter the south waterfront from the north end, off Naito.
Tisha B’Av: Drawing Strength Amidst Tragedy and Suffering, Sunday, July 22, 10:00-11:30 am, Havurah Shalom
As tradition tells it, on the ninth day of Av the Jewish People suffered the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, as well as several other catastrophes. Jews gather each year to commemorate those tragedies. In response to our troubled times, in addition to the traditional rituals this year we will make room to voice concern and even despair, drawing strength from each other and our tradition. Through ritual, reflection, and listening, we will open our hearts to today’s destructions, and turn ourselves toward working for healing and security for all beings.
July 18 Community Email
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Fri, May 2 2025
4 Iyyar 5785
Need Help? If you are a Havurah member in need of help, log in to find resources here.
Havurah Updates
Upcoming Events
IP = In person only (normally at Havurah Shalom);
ZM = On Zoom/online only;
HYB = In person and online; and
ANN = In person at Havurah's Annex.
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Saturday ,
MayMay 3 , 2025(HYB) Shabbat Morning
Shabbat, May 3rd 10:00a to 12:00p
Led by community members and Rabbi Benjamin (who is on sabbatical until July 1, 2025), this service includes davening, Torah reading, and discussion. Join us afterward for a light community brunch provided by the Lunches and Noshes Committee! Free childcare is provided. For Zoom information, please email info@havurahshalom.org. -
Saturday ,
MayMay 3 , 2025(IP) Shabbat School
Shabbat, May 3rd 3:00p to 5:15p
This program gives children a foundation for lifelong Jewish learning and engagement while integrating parents and children in a caring Jewish community. -
Saturday ,
MayMay 3 , 2025Grade 6 Shabbat School Special Celebration
Shabbat, May 3rd 3:45p to 5:15p
Parents of Grade 6 students gather during Shabbat School and Havdallah to celebrate their students. -
Sunday ,
MayMay 4 , 2025(ZM) Progressive Israel Network Sessions
Sunday, May 4th 11:00a to 12:00p
Havurah Shalom is hosting a four-session series from the Progressive Israel Network. Come learn in collaboration with representatives from five to six of the participating Progressive Israel Network organizations, including T’ruah, New Jewish Narrative, Partners for Progressive Israel, New Israel Fund, J Street, and Reconstructing Judaism. All perspectives on Israel-Palestine, as well as all curious people, are welcomed and encouraged. Our guests will give presentations and take questions. You can register for all sessions, below, but it's okay if you can't attend all three sessions. (Reconstructing Judaism, the central organization of the Reconstructionist movement, of which Havurah Shalom is a part, is a member of the Progressive Israel Network.) -
Sunday ,
MayMay 4 , 2025(IP) Private Rental
Sunday, May 4th 1:00p to 4:00p
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Sunday ,
MayMay 4 , 2025(IP) Writing for Peace and Reconciliation, Within and Between Us
Sunday, May 4th 6:30p to 8:30p
Commemorate the last day of Pesach and Yitzkor in community Passover not only invites us to retell our ancient story but to look at our current reality and ask: what is our mitzrayim today? The obstacle in our personal and communal life? Where can we break through in an act of courage and compassion? April 20th & May 4th, 6:30 PM at Havurah, join Harriet Cooke for a writing/drawing group to explore this theme along with Yitzkor, the Sephirot and Counting the Omer. (It is recommended to attend either just the first session or both sessions.) -
Monday ,
MayMay 5 , 2025(IP) Jewish Ethical Responses to the Problem of Racism
Monday, May 5th 6:30p to 7:45p
We will address topics such as countering white nationalism and antisemitism, Jewish perspectives on reparations, repairing Jewish pioneer memory, and responding to racial microaggressions. Facilitated by Karen Sherman and Adela Basayne. -
Tuesday ,
MayMay 6 , 2025(IP) KS Rehearsal
Tuesday, May 6th 7:00p to 9:00p
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Wednesday ,
MayMay 7 , 2025(CANCELED) Collage Art with Jewish Symbols
Wednesday, May 7th 6:30p to 7:45p
This class has been canceled by the instructor. If you are interested in doing art at Havurah, please reach out to Adela Basayne (info@havurahshalom.org). Bring your crafts and creativity out for making collage art with Jewish symbols. We will create hamzas, stars of David, trees of life, and images for blessing the home. All ages are invited! Led by Carolina Martinez. -
Wednesday ,
MayMay 7 , 2025(IP) Hebrew as a Tool: Prayer and Torah (registration closed)
Wednesday, May 7th 7:00p to 8:15p
(This class will now be starting on January 8.) Using an in-depth, word-by-word approach, we discover literal meaning(s), ancient layers of understanding, and our own personal interpretations that stem from the nuances of the Hebrew text. Basic Hebrew decoding skills necessary.
Address: 825 NW 18th Ave, Portland OR 97209 Phone: 503-248-4662
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