Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple: Upcoming Religious School Events

There is anxiety and fear tonight. As you may know the bailout vote in congress failed today. The market was down 777 points.

Although our currency may say, “in God we trust”, too often, we have put our trust in our currency, rather than in God.

In Latin the word Crederi means “to believe”. I find it so compelling that during the discussions in the last few weeks about our economic and financial crisis, we have used expressions like: the country is losing its credit worthiness, or citizens have lost their credit, or our financial institutions have abused their credit. What in fact we have been saying, if we knew this Latin derivative, is that our nation’s near economic collapse is not only one based on lack or abuse of credit, but is founded on a lack of faith. Let me put it in another way: The economic and financial crisis we are experiencing is not one that has to do only with the need for regulation and accountability, but one that has to do with the things in which we choose to put our faith.

Financial and political leaders have worshiped our monetary system as if it were a religion. It is not coincidental that much of our Talmud deals with issues of conducting one’s business honestly – after all, the temptation to focus on the profit alone is always a timeless and oh-so-human temptation. Using honest scales is certainly something we hope God will do in these days of Judgement! Shouldn’t we do the same when dealing with each other?

The systemic failure in our economy may take us into an abyss. Our personal and financial future is unknown but looking very scary. It seems that everyone will pay, even if we do not know it yet. Retirees and those about to retire will pay. Taxpayers will suffer. Home owners will suffer. Businesses will suffer. College graduates will suffer. We are all going to be poorer as a society..

Robert Reich, former secretary of labor, said that all of us need to rebuild trust. He says the main problem is the collapse of trust. If investors stop trusting promises, the markets can’t function. It turns out that many of the promises weren’t worth the paper they were written on. All it took, Secretary Reich said, were a few broken promises for the whole system to break down.

While the professionals and elected officials are trying to resolve this crisis, we need to review what has happened from a broader perspective. Essentially: In what have we put all our trust? Where have we invested, not financially, but where have we deposited our trust and hopes? And

why can a financial shakedown dislodge so many of us this deeply? We are experiencing, I believe, a question of Crederi, a question of belief. But it is not just narrowly a belief in certain financial transactions, whether they were done appropriately or not. This crisis should lead us to ask much broader questions about our beliefs.

High Holy days is a time in our calendar that we ought to take a step back and question our values and decisions. It is a time for personal introspection but it is also a time for inquiry into larger issues. Rosh HaShanah is in fact Yom arat Olam, the anniversary of the creation of the world according to our Rabbis. Our responsibilities of review and re-commitment are much larger than personal ones at this time.

We have let down future generations. We have put our energies in consumption and our entire society has been left vulnerable. I will never forget one of the first presidential reactions after 9/11. After such a huge national crisis, out current president encouraged us, to consume, to go to the movies and the malls and spend. What a huge disappointment it was to hear that piece of advice. It was an opportunity totally missed to bring our country together for a higher purpose and a common destiny. American flags that were displayed in homes, cars and businesses as an expression of solidarity, quickly disappeared, and the spirit of consumption and competition and greed returned to the marketplace as if nothing much had occurred.

The “ME First” philosophy got us into this problem. Will we finally learn enough to truly change our priorities, to sincerely and substantially mend our ways? This economic crisis is not an innocent accident. It is the fruit of a great deal of injustice. Private profit and what was good for me, was more important than the common good. Materialism was better than our society’s health. Material worth was thought to be more important than character, integrity and generosity. Jim Wallis, a leader in interfaith relations, summarized this well: “The behavior of too many on Wall Street is a violation of Biblical ethics. The teachings of Christianity, Judaism and other faiths condemn the greed, selfishness and cheating...”

If our society would aim toward the common good, businesses will have a much higher degree of social responsibility. Instead of more de-regulation we would have had more service. From our over emphasis with individual rights, we would emphasize more cooperative efforts and social accomplishments. We should not be only about prosperity and opportunity, we should be in favor of the common interest. Franklin Roosevelt, responding to a previous economic crisis said: “The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble, than mere monetary profit” Or the famous John Kennedy’s “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. At the end, it is having a particular Crederi, a particular faith in our common potential to do good and oppose cynicism.

The philosopher Plato, in antiquity, said it well: “Justice is neither the right of the strong nor the advantage of the stronger, but the right of the best and the advantage of the whole community”.

What happens when we do not act this way? Dt 24:14 You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a Jew or a non Jew.

In our own Jewish community, many of us have been quite ashamed at what occurred in the Kosher plant in Postville, Iowa. A few months ago, Agriprocessors, the largest kosher slaughterhouse in North America was raided by the government. They arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants and they also found tremendous abuses. Underage workers, sexual abuse, people forced to work under substandard conditions and of course, mistreatment of animals. The company certified Kosher meat but paid little attention to human rights abuses. Justice was nowhere to be found.

The philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel once asked the question: “Why is it only required for butcher shops to be under religious supervision? Why not insist that banks, factories and those who deal in real estate require hekshers and be operated according to religious laws? When a drop of blood is found in an egg, we abhor the idea of eating the egg, but often there is more than one drop of blood in a dollar or a lira and we fail to remind people constantly of the teachings of our tradition”.

In Dt 16 it is written: Tzedek tzedk tirdof...Justice, justice you shall pursue. It is a simple but powerful imperative taught by our Torah. Like Moses standing up to oppression, Judaism teaches us to not be indifferent or silent when injustice occurs.

Lo tuchal lehitalem, “do not remain indifferent”. When God question’s Cain saying, “Where is your brother?” Cain’s answer is Hashomer Achi Anochi? “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In the text, God does not reply. The Rabbis teach that there is no divine response because the answer is too obvious to need one. Torah is teaching us that yes, we should be responsible for what happens besides our immediate circle of family and friends. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Of course you are! As we all are.

We find ourselves in a time of instability – our economy is shaky, our nation’s future is very unclear. In great part, we find ourselves in this dilemma due to individual, self centered thirst for profit. What we can learn from these difficult times is what we need to do to improve our future and the future of our children. We must turn away from individual needs as the top priority and re-dedicate ourselves for the communal good.

So in these times of crisis, never loose your own integrity. Instead we must act in the manner of Aaron Feuerstein, the owner of a plant in Lawrence Mass., who when a fire raged through and destroyed the plant, he continued paying his employees. He was under no obligation to do so. This fire put 3,000 people out of work. When Feurstein was asked why he would jeopardize his family fortune is such a way, he answered simply. He had been taught by his parents to put people before profits, which is exactly what he did after the fire nearly destroyed the 90 year old company.

Instead of collecting his fire insurance money and selling his company to make a profit, or moving it overseas where wages are a lot less, he stayed in Lawrence, Mass. And told his workers that he would pay each of them a month’s salary of $12.50 an hour. Not only did he do this for one month but for three, costing him millions of dollars.

“When he did it the first time, I was surprised, the second time was a shock. The third...well, it was unrealistic to think he would do it again. It was the third time that brought tears to everyone’s eyes.”

After coming out of bankruptcy, Mr. Feuerstein was interviewed on 60 Minutes. He was asked, if he knew how things would have played out, would he have still done the same thing? His answer was immediate: “Yes, it was the right thing to do”. We can learn from Aaron Feurstein. Never lose your integrity, especially at a time of crisis.

We also need to remember what Maimonides taught us- our first obligation is to tend to our own families. The Talmud made it clear: Kol Israel arevim ze ba ze, All of Israel is responsible for one another. On this RH, I am asking that we should expand our concern for our own congregants that in this time of uncertainty and crisis may need our help.

I am making an appeal for help! I am asking those who are therapists or social workers to give up a few hours during this year to help congregants in need on a confidential basis, for doctors and other medical personnel to give up a few hours during this coming year to help families whose insurance has run out or have some other medical need. I am asking for lawyers to give some hours pro bono to provide legal advise to those individuals or families who may be in jeopardy of losing their homes. I am asking accountants to help with financial tax advice to those within our Temple community who are in trouble. I am asking employers to register with the Temple, offering possible employment opportunities for individuals who are unemployed and might be in danger of losing everything they have. Congregants in need of work might be matched with those who may have a job opening.

Each member who has other skills and/ or abilities should volunteer as well. We may need babysitting, tutors, drivers, food deliverers, hospital and home visitors, all types of talent will be welcome. We need to help out for we are an extended family and some of us are experiencing hard times. Whatever your talents and your profession, I would like to hear from you, so please call me. We will publish in our bulletin what services are available to be provided in a confidential manner.

“Every religious and spiritual wisdom tradition suggests that great moments of collective trauma or suffering are also invitations- not for flight (turning inwards to simply protect ourselves) or fight (blaming others)- but to honestly self-reflect, introspect and grow. Obviously, some people are guiltier than others for this economic crisis but in an interdependent reality, all are responsible... What did I do that may have contributed to where we collectively find ourselves?

And let’s stop having faith in the economy and begin to have faith in each other- trusting that the happiness that comes from greed is transient at best, while happiness that comes from giving, serving and even sacrificing for each other is far more enduring and credit worthy.

In these trying economic and financial times, we need to review, not our credit, but our Crederi, our faith. We do not need more consumption, we need more service. We need to use this RH as an opportunity to have a new faith – one based on loving-kindness , where we can feel that by extending ourselves to others who are in need, we are not being considered soft, naive or foolish.”

On this Rosh Hashanah as we stand before God and pray to be inscribed in the book of sustenance and well being, let’s remember: never give up on ethical behavior, let’s remember to believe that we were created to be an Am Kadosh, a holy people whose purpose is to bring decency and sanity to a world that is in moral disarray.

May the new year bring for each of us strength to withstand the economic uncertainties and the moral courage not to lose our spiritual compasses which have guided us and kept us safe throughout the years.