KOL NIDRE NIGHT 5770

SERMON – KOL NIDRE NIGHT 5770

Three weeks ago, amidst a busy Labor Day Weekend, I went to see Quentin Tarantino's latest movie, Inglorious Basterds, with my daughter Jennie.

The movie is a violent satirical spoof that follows the exploits of Jews who take it upon themselves to seek revenge against the Nazis during World War II and help bring about the end of the war. These include a band of American and former German Jews who are recruited to a special army unit whose object it is to kill Nazis behind enemy lines, as well as a young woman, Shoshana, who as a girl witnessed her entire family gunned down in cold blood by the Nazis and seeks to repay them in kind.

True to Tarantino's style the film is extremely violent. It portrays Jews as just as ruthless as the Nazis, even scalping their victims and carving swastikas into their foreheads. Visiting in Israel, Tarantino described the movie as every Jew's fantasy. I am not sure we would agree. While his intent seems to have been to give the Nazis their due, many Jews myself included, worry that the fictional portrayal blurs the line between perpetrator and victim and thus undermines people's understandings of the true evil horror that the holocaust was.

The truth is, almost against my will, I did feel some sense of satisfaction at seeing these fictional Nazis suffer at the hands of Jews. I am not sure I am proud of that. But much more importantly, those moments of vindication, that sense of final justice, was painfully short lived. You see, for me, each moment of vindication was followed by the realization that this was only a fantasy and that in reality six million of my people are dead, their entire culture eviscerated- and 11 million non- Jews- and tens of millions of war casualties - are all dead.

There is no joy in that reality, There is nothing to feel vindicated about. There is no justice. So all those good feelings engendered by the film, whether appropriate or not, are hollow and short lived. As I watched the film, again and again I found myself drifting back to the same thought: If only instead of finding illusory comfort in a fictional revenge for the destruction of my people... if only instead the world had raised its hand to stop that destruction before it happened.

We could have. It's not that we did not know what was happening. I do not have to detail to this congregation the evidence that mounted showing that Hitler was laying plans to systematically eradicate the Jews. Nor do I need to prove to you that the US and its allies were keenly aware of Hitler's empirical aspirations from the beginning. Or that the US refused to bomb the tracks to Auschwitz even though its bombers took pictures of those tracks as they flew right over them. Those facts are well documented. The pages of the New York Times and other American press documented Germany 's need for lebensraum, the violence of Kristalnacht, the rounding up of the Jews, Concentration camps and the Final Solution. We could have stepped in sooner. But we did not.

And now sixty years and six million lives later I find myself sitting in a movie theater watching what was meant by its creator as a kind of catharsis and instead it invokes in me a tremendous sense of fear.

Yes fear. In the end this is the emotion I feel most during the film. Not fear of the Nazis. Rather I feel fear that once again the Jewish people and the free world face a serious threat and once again the world will fail to act until it is too late.

This week Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, spoke to the UN General Assembly to spew the most vile anti Semitic lies. Days before he had again repeated his denial of the Holocaust. Now standing before the UN he expanded on that lie: "In Palestine , 60 years of carnage and invasion is still ongoing at the hands of some criminal and occupying Zionists" who are "displacing, detaining, and killing the true owners of that land."

He went on to describe the cabal of world Zionists - Jews who control everything from the economy to politics. In the spirit of the most egregious Nazi propaganda the president of Iran essentially laid out his case for the justification of the destruction of a parasite race that is infesting humanity.

The next day, Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, took the podium. Addressing the world's leaders he held up the minutes of the Wanasee Conference at which the Final Solution was created and asked, is this a lie? He also held up the blueprints to Buchenwald and asked if the numbers tattooed on survivors arms was a lie. Scolding world leaders he asked, have you no shame?

No, Mr. Prime Minister, they have no shame. The world leaders were silent during your speech, applauding only once, when you mentioned Israel desiring to see a Palestinian state, and then offering polite applause at the end. There was no indication of support for your statement that we are not foreign invaders, that Israel is our historic ancestral homeland. No acknowledgement when you pointed out that in eight years of rockets not one UN resolution condemned them as war crimes. No recognition that the use of human shields by Palestinians was also a war crime. No applause when you described the extraordinary steps Israel took to minimize loss of civilian life in Operation Cast Lead. Silence as you reminded them that the UN itself had authorized the creation of Israel and that for over six decades the Arabs have rejected it. Deafening silence as you called upon the Palestinians to do take the most basic and necessary step - the one at the core of the conflict -- recognizing Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State. Silence.

Mr. Netanyahu warned those assembled: "Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews. You're wrong.

History has shown us time and again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many others."

Netanyahu's words took me back to the words of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. In 1938 he warned the west that it was not just the Jews stood in mortal peril: "The democracies may yet conclude that they will either stay the power of Nazism and Fascism or be destroyed."

That same year, Pastor Reinhold Niebuhr said: "Nazi tyranny never could have reached such proportions as to be able to place the whole of Europe under its ban, if sentimental illusions about the character of the evil which Europe was facing had not been combined with less noble motives for tolerating Nazi aggression...." He warned that failure to resist Nazi tyranny meant assisting in its triumph.

Sixty years later the world seems once again much too ready to tolerate aggression against the Jews, assuming that it somehow will escape the Jews' fate. There is a limited window in which the world can act, and that window is rapidly closing. But it is not too late. The world must stand up to Ahmadinejad and Iran and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Why am I talking about this on Kol Nidre night? Because, my friends, my heart is heavy. My heart is heavy because I fear that the west does not take the Iranian threat seriously enough. And my heart is heavy because I fear that we do not take the Iranian threat seriously enough. My heart is heavy because I fear being in another movie theater in 20 or 30 years, seeking solace in films about the end of the Jewish state, mourning the tragic death of another six million of our people. We have suffered too many catastrophes over the centuries. The history books are littered with the persecution of the Jews. And I am afraid we are about to enter a new and terrible chapter. But now is a time for action. The rabbis taught that we violate Shabbat to save a life. Rashi explains that we violate one shabbat in order to be able to observe many more future Shabbatot. In the same spirit, I put aside momentarily the usual themes of Yom Kippur, so that we can do what is necessary to ensure Israel observes Yom Kippur for many years yet to come.

Iranian nuclear weapons pose a real and genuine threat to the State of Israel. One nuclear weapon would be sufficient to destroy the entire country. But even if that weapon is never fired, the shadow of such a nuclear weapon would embolden terrorists while tying Israel 's hands when it comes to deterrence. That long shadow would also chase away international business, undermine the economy and lead to mass emigration. The threat is not just to Israel . a nuclear Iran would dominate the region and quickly set its sites on the west.

It does not have to be so. That is the lesson of these High Holidays: that our destiny is in our own hands. That is ultimately the meaning of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer that is so central to this season. We sing "on Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed..." but in the paragraph before we read regarding the decree v'chotam yad adam bo - that our destiny is sealed by the hand of mankind. Nothing in life or in history is inevitable.

The West could have stopped the Holocaust. It is too late for that. We have the ability to stop Iran . We must do so before it is too late again. French President Sarkozy has called for a December deadline to any talks. Important legislation called the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act is working its way through Congress. It calls for crippling sanctions that would make it illegal for any company to sell refined petroleum or refining equipment to Iran . 40% of Iran 's refined petroleum is imported, so this would hit them very hard. The Act also makes it illegal for American ports to dock any ship that docks in Iran , illegal for to do business with any company that insures their ships, and illegal for American banks to pass a single dollar through their system that originates or ends up in Iran . These sanctions have the ability to create the unrest and dissatisfaction in Iran that can help fuel the opposition and force the government to choose between its diabolical plans and the ability to stay in power. Only such a choice can bring an end to Iran 's nuclear weapons program.

In the spirit of the Prime Minister's tone at the UN, in which he took the delegates to task for having no shame, I challenge upon all of us here tonight to consider: "Have you no comprehension of history?!"

I invite you to respond in the coming days with your show of support on this critical issue. There are a number of ways available to us to utilize our resources as Americans and as Jews to make sure that this "ball stays in the air," that our President – elected by so many in the Jewish community on like-minded values of tolerance, freedom, and safety for all – continue to make this a priority of his young Presidency.

SEE BELOW FOR ACTION STEPS

You have indulged me in my digression from the context of Yom Kippur and atonement – a digression that was not without many hours of struggle before its inception. So now, allow me to segue all of us back to where we belong on this holiest day of the young year:

A year ago, in my Kol Nidre Sermon, I expounded upon the very peculiar statement in the early rabbinic treatise the Zohar. There our sages made this odd statement about the day of Yom Kippur.

"Yom HaKippurim (The Day of Atonement) should rather be understood as Yom K'Purim-a day like Purim..."

And, I spent my allotted time teaching about that festive holiday that comes in the middle of Adar. Since then, I came across a beautiful story attributed to the great Chasidic Master, Reb Leibele Eiger (as cited by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner in his anthology of discourses delivered by Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, zt"l).

Each and every Yom Kippur evening, the community would gather at the onset of the fast and would wait for hours, until nearly midnight, until Reb Leibele would finally arrive to lead the community in the Kol Nidrei prayer. For the entire five hours that the community waited for Reb Leibele Eiger, hundreds of people joined hands and voices in song and dance!

'And what song were they singing?' Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook asked, and then answered:

"Shoshanat Yakov Tzahala V'Samecha- The rose of Jacob was cheerful and glad!"

How are we to comprehend this story, where Reb Leibele Eiger and his chasidim were singing and dancing for hours on Kol Nidrei night? Why of all songs did the chasidim choose to sing the liturgical poem of Shoshanat Yakov, which is traditionally sung on Purim?

Rabbi Yakov Moshe Charlap zt'l, in his work Mei Marom, offered a beautiful explanation of the liturgical poem of Shoshanat Yakov. Rav Charlap asks the question:

"What does it mean that the Jewish People are referred to as Shoshanat Yakov-the rose of Jacob?"

Rav Charlap offered the following profound insight to answer this very question:

A rose is a beautiful fragrant flower! But a rose only achieves its bloom and maintains its fragrance and beauty because it is connected to its stem! Without its stem, a rose simply wilts and dies! It is the stem which gives it life, allows it to bloom! And what is unique to the stem of a rose? Staggered and spread across the stem are many thorns!!!

Now we can understand why the Jewish people are called the rose of Jacob! The Jewish people gain strength from the many difficult, painful episodes in our history. When we reflect on these thorny moments of pain, mistakes and even guilt, and gain perspective and overcome these difficult episodes, we begin to be transformed, to grow more confident, to "blossom" and reach our full potential!

Perhaps, Rav Charlap's insights can now assist us in understanding our teaching from the Zohar. Why did our sages liken Yom Kippur to Purim? Perhaps Yom Kippur, as the culmination of the ten day period of communal reflection and growth actually celebrates that culmination. On Rosh Hashana, and indeed throughout the entire ten days of awe we express our guilt, remorse and regret for any mistakes and pain we may have caused to others through our actions. Perhaps what our sages and ultimately Reb Leibele Eiger and Rav Charlap can teach us about the nature of Yom Kippur, is that Yom Kippur is actually our opportunity to let go of the many thorns- of the guilt and pain, and take the perspective gained through these experiences and begin to bloom into the fragrance of potential and achievement!

My friends – both as individuals and as a community – there is no need to repeat the painful tragedies of yesteryear. While it is true that things tend to happen in cycles, we have the ability and the resources to ensure that some events NEVER recur.

May this Yom Kippur offer each and every one of us great clarity, transformation and growth, and the inspiration to truly blossom in the coming year...

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The Iranian Threat

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