Episode #5 - Rabbis and The Key To Unity

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There Are All Kinds Of Rabbis

• • Chabad Rabbis
  • Denominational Rabbis
  • People Working Regular Jobs Rabbis
  • Female Rabbis
  • Idiot Rabbis
• The New "No-Religion" Religion
  • Nothing Good Comes From No-Religion
  • Divisiveness Gaining Steam Around The World
  • Unity Is The Cure
  • How To Achieve It
  • The Key To Unity

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Michael@Jew2u.com

Transcript

Jew2u Podcast: Non-Religious Seeking A Return to Judaism? Start Here!

Episode #5: Rabbis and The Key To Unity

• There Are All Kinds Of Rabbis
  • Chabad Rabbis
  • Denominational Rabbis
  • People Working Regular Jobs Rabbis
  • Female Rabbis
  • Idiot Rabbis
• The New No-Religion Religion
  • Nothing Good Comes From No-Religion
  • Divisiveness Gaining Steam Around The World
  • Unity Is The Cure
  • How To Achieve It
  • The Key To Unity

There are all kinds of Rabbis. Just remember, they are human just like you. There are good ones and bad ones. But even the bad ones can be trusted, but for the occasional exception. But there will never be the kind of continuing systemic rot that the Catholic church went through with many of their clergy taking advantage of choir boys.

Many Rabbis have chosen a completely different lifestyle than you. Everything they do is religiously oriented so they are constantly dealing with right and wrong, big and small. Friday night they are not frequenting bars and restaurants, but instead going to or leading Shabbat services. Same thing all day Saturday ending in a Saturday night dinner. They are not at the beach or playing softball. They observe all the prescribed holidays and extra pieces of those holidays that you will probably never hear of. But that's them, not you.

The point is that they are connecting with Hashem all the time. The best Rabbis are hired by the best congregations. Their life is set. Some Rabbis do synagogue work for a while, quit to work regular jobs, and then return to synagogue work. But when they are doing regular jobs they are still Hashem centered. I know some Rabbis who are doctors, lawyers, and money managers but the Rabbis I want to talk about now are the ones you are likely to meet.

The smartest ones, in my experience, come through Chabad. I've told you about Chabad in previous podcasts. Bookmark their website at Chabad.org as they can answer any question on Judaism you may have. That's C-H-A-B-A-D dot ORG not dot com. After Rabbinical training the Chabad community is the most rigorous place to live in. So are most other orthodox community. But Chabad is located in small towns and big cities alike and the Rabbis congregants come and go all the time so these Rabbis are very versed in handling all levels of Jewish observance in their practice. 

All Chabads have Jewish learning classes in English but be warned that their services are mostly in Hebrew and last more than two hours, sometimes three. A beginner, a Jewbie, will probably be turned off to that but their classes are very good. They will stretch you but not break you. The Chabad Rabbis that I know all are able to read a room well so if they sense they are burning circuits they turn the volume down a bit and if they see the challenge is not there they turn the volume up.

Other Rabbis connected to Temples usually serve at the pleasure of Boards of Directors and that can be extremely challenging in itself, but if they are popular amongst the congregants they probably have a job for life and that's a good thing. 

Rabbis gain and maintain their popularity through their connection with the congregation. I've found that those Rabbis who constantly find interesting topics and/or stories to tell is the best way to enhance this connection. A Rabbi who doesn't take a straight path to his point, or who gets lost in tangents, may be clear to himself but has lost his congregation.

Recently I went to a service that I hadn't attended in maybe 5 years. I had seen the Rabbi a couple of times prior and he was a stout gentleman, energetic, funny, engaging, and clear with his sermons. This time I saw him he had gained a lot of weight, was moving slowly, and his sermon was short and dull. Maybe it was a bad night or maybe it was a bit of burnout but it seemed a lot like he was just going through the motions. Remember, Rabbis are human just like you and me. When you find one you like, regardless of the denomination, stick with him. If not, move on.

Many Reform synagogues have female Rabbis. This might appeal to you and if it does, go for it. I've been to several services led by female Rabbis and found them to be extremely competant in the way they run the service, say the prayers in Hebrew, and lead the congregation. There is a female edge to every one I've attended. In my opinion female Rabbis tend to urge the congregation forward in a nurturing kind of way. “C'mon it's beautiful, follow me....” By the way, if you are a single male, female led services are packed with female congregants.

There is nothing wrong with this female delivery. It's aromatic. It's just a flavor you either enjoy, or it doesn't matter much to you. Male Rabbis are more masculine in their approach and objective in their style, more like “Here it is. Take it or leave it. Your choice. Here we go.” 

And then there are the Idiot Rabbis, the ones that bring politics into their surmons.A Rabbi is a Rabbi because of his theological training. People come to the synagogue for theology. And there is plenty of theology, especially in Judaism, to transfer to the congregation without getting political. 

There are many in the congregation, myself included, that studied Political Science as a major. I know more in this realm than most Rabbis. Every time I’ve heard a Rabbi go political it has always been at an incredibly unsophisticated level. So my respect for that particular Rabbi immediately drops. This is not a good thing. 

If you are a professional hockey player, don’t try to play professional football. It doesn’t work. Both are tough contact sports. But you’ll get crushed no matter how big and tough you think you are because they just don’t translate seamlessly. Rabbis similarly get crushed every time they dabble in politics. 

It never occurs to an Idiot Rabbi that there are many in the congregation who don’t share their political viewpoints no matter how moral or ethical the Rabbi thinks they are. They are the ones who are squirming in their seats wondering how to invisibly get up and leave while the Rabbi weaves viewpoints he thinks are profound. 

It might be half the congregation, or more, or less. Whatever the amount the Rabbi has totally turned them away from you as a deliverer of uplifting thought, morals, and ethics, and you probably have not changed their mind anyway. If it continues into other weekly sermons, they will no longer turn out and will leave permanently, sometimes not so gracefully. 

So, stick to what you know. Stick to what you were trained in. Your training makes you the smartest man in the room by keeping your sermons within your theological discipline. People come to Temple to hear what the Torah teaches, not what’s on the New York Times opinion page. Give the people what they can’t get elsewhere. Don’t be an Idiot Rabbi! 

Rabbis should deliver information, encouragement, and inspiration. Jews do good things because Jews do good things. That's who Jews are, that's who Jews have always been, and that's what Jew will continue to be. Congregants need Rabbis to show them the way, now, in the current times. Doing that, does Hashems work and brings Him down into the physical world. I'm not sure if all Rabbis are doing that but those that do are the most successful.

So now YOU, as the beginning Jew moving from the secular to the religious need to know that becoming more Jewish does NOT mean becoming obviously devout or praying three times a day. If you do, more power to you! Piety is not the goal here. Moving on the Jewish spectrum from nothing to something is the goal. 

Adding good things to your life is the aim and you don’t have to give anything up. Negative things and negative people will simply molt away. Just by doing a few “Jewish things” will cause a change that will roll over your entire being. You’ll see things differently. You’ll dream differently. No one even has to know the changes you’ve made to your lifestyle. You can do it in private or in public, doesn't matter. Just do it, a little bit at a time.

The Torah teaches that man was created to rule over Nature. If you don’t, Nature will rule over you. It further teaches that most people on Earth were created to conquer Nature, build things, and create civilizations. But Jews, specifically, were created to bring values and ethics into this world of civilizations. 

Enter the 10 Commandments. They used to be located in every courtroom and classroom in America. Recently they’ve been assaulted and are gradually being removed. Is this a good thing? I don't think so. 

Didn’t this Judeo/Christian ethic unleash the most powerful culture ever seen in human history? Didn’t this ethical standard bring the outlawing of slavery where slavery existed in every single country since the beginning of time? Slavery still exists on planet Earth. Where? Where the Judeo/Christian ethical standards are vacant. 

Up until 150 years ago religion was always observed on Earth in one form or another. Before Judaism there was Paganism where all forms of Nature were idolized and prayed to. After Judaism, Christianity, Islamism, and all the Asian religions were observed. Now, for the first time ever in the world, the religion of No-Religion is taking hold and it’s not a good thing. It's where you are now, locked in the belief that people today are the most intelligent in world and as so you'll figure it out no matter the ptoblem. But actually that perspective ends up dealing death and destruction. 

No-Religion has brought the massacre of millions of people through socialism and communism. No-Religion brought about the Holocaust. And No-Religion is bringing about drug abuse, abortion, and sexual deviancy. These things do not elevate our civilization or bring Hashem down into the world. 

For most people only the help of a higher being conquers drug and alcohol addiction. Human sacrifice, known today as abortion, is quite difficult if you believe in a higher power, quite easy if you don’t. And without God all forms of sexual deviancy as permanent lifestyles are quite a lot of fun. 

So if you were born a Jew, a “Yid,” you can’t help but see this decline and feel the impulse to do more than just “build on Nature” like most people. Your inner impulse wants to bring order and ethical behavior amongst your fellow man: Peace, Love, Good Will, and Understanding. 

Now you get what Judaism was created to achieve and you have been given the “gift” of having a mother and father who gave birth to you to carry on this tradition. Currently you are wasting and ignoring that gift. It's like having a winning lottery ticket and never cashing it in. Just a touch of Jewish ritual will change that. 

Where do you want to contribute to society? As a member of the new No-Religion brigade bringing anything and everything into the world that has historically created mass murder and mayhem? Or would you rather be a member of a small group tasked with elevating and enhancing life on Earth. 

It’s an order or chaos, “constraint” or “no constraint” issue. Little children hate constraint. Mature adults understand the benefits of rules and laws. Up until now you’ve picked the childlike position living a life created within “your own” constraints, “my heart will tell me” (maybe), based on nothing. But Judaism offers constraints that have brought nuance to ethical behavior for over 3,000 years. These restraints have observably uplifted and enhanced human relations for millennia. 

Joining the Jew team elevates you and everyone around you. If you remain uncommitted it allows the No-Religion crowd, the crowd that thinks they are the smartest ones ever to exist, to advance their cosmology into the world and then you end up wallowing in their mess. It’s time to stop impotent activities and start doing just a little bit of Jewish ritual. Goodness will then begin to wash over you. It gains momentum by itself and it will change your life for the better. 

This brings me to my last point. We now live in an extremely divisive culture, brought on by this no-religion cosmology. It exists all around the world in every country. It's quite obvious that Unity in spite of all political positions can cure a lot of this divisiveness. And there is a key to Unity. The key is Control of Anger. 

Take all the political unrest in Israel. Add control of anger and people can still argue in a civilzed way their various positions. If one side loses control and starts screaming they become bullies. Their arguments don't convince their targets so they get mad. If both sides lose their anger control then war and destruction ensues.

Take a Trumper vs a Never Trumper within a marriage. If one side or both sides lose control there is no Unity. Both end up mad and frustrated. But by controlling their anger a husband and wife will be leaving room to respect each other and live by the higher principles of Judaism. In this situation a lack of anger control will leave a marriage, and also a dating situation, in shambles. 

Control of anger is the key to Unity at home and around the world.

See you next Monday! Shalom.