A mathematician, two musicians, and a rabbi walk into a ... (Graduation 2017)

My precious students*: Earlier this week, I was reading my notes from your first day of school at JCHS when I encouraged you to avoid the kinds of intellectual blindness and emotional deafness that reflect a fixed way of experiencing the world. 

Also, I encouraged you to seek out classmates who are profoundly different than you are -- so you might learn from and be inspired by those differences. And to discover that one other person at JCHS who has exactly what you are lacking and to discover that one other person at JCHS who needs exactly what only you can share. As we heard from your classmates this afternoon, you have actively embraced each of these. 

In a moment I will share my gift for your graduation -- a mash-up mixed from one mathematician, two musicians, and a rabbi. But just a few more thoughts about your first day of high school. 

Hold Your Head Up: Winners or Losers (Bamidbar 5777)

Hold Your Head Up 1972 hit by rock band Argent

When I was in law school an apocryphal story was going around about winners and losers. The story was about a murder trial: A man was charged with murdering his neighbor. 

But it was a very circumstantial case. There were no witnesses to a killing. They found no body. There was just an apartment building filled with tenants who overheard two of their neighbors constantly fighting. One night, after a really loud argument, one of the quarreling neighbors disappeared. The victim just disappeared; never heard from again. Everyone assumed the worst.

The surviving neighbor was tried for murder. At trial, his attorney focused on showing reasonable doubt. She argued he could not be convicted on such flimsy evidence. In her closing argument, the defendant's lawyer looked up at the jury

Its a Hammer of Justice, Its a Bell of Freedom (American Jewish Heritage Month 2017) (Behar-Bechukotai 5777)

Cesar Chavez receives replica Liberty Bell from UAW,1970

Fifty years ago this summer, Cesar Chavez, as leader of the United Farm Workers, launched a nationwide boycott of California table grapes in support of farm-worker rights. His boycott brought attention to the plight of farm workers and his life's work liberated thousands of workers from inhumane wages and working conditions.

One of the most potent symbols of liberty in the United States is the Liberty Bell. When the bell was cast about 250 years ago, words from this week's Torah portion were put on the bell, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto the inhabitants thereof.” (Leviticus 25:10) It seems fitting to call out the bell's links to Torah during American Jewish Heritage Month. 

Season of Senioritis: Don't Let the Light Go Out (Emor 5777)

Toward the end of each school year, there are moments when the excitement, energy, and (even) inspiration with which the year started seems to fade. Every grade has its own version of senioritis. At those moments it is important to remember that we each are responsible for the daily inspiration needed to keep being motivated. No single event or moment from August is sufficient to keep us motivated through an entire year.

Eldridge Stree Synagogue, New York

This week’s Torah portion, which includes a feature of every Jewish sanctuary, the ner tamid (a so-called “eternal light”), teaches a powerful lesson about continually encouraging motivation.

And so does an Ethiopian folktale about an elderly king worried about which of this three children would succeed him. Each child had unique traits. The oldest was strong. The middle child was clever. The youngest had insight. The king loved them all equally and tremendously.

Four Questions of Freedom (Tzav and Pesach 5777)

Circa 1950 Flyer Against Jewish Support for Civil Rights

One of the most prominent features of Pesach - our annual rehearsal of ancient liberation - are the Four Questions. As we seem to have become obsessed with strangers in our midst - those who look or act or think different from us - I propose four additional questions.

These additional Four Questions are inspired by an attack on Jews nearly 60 years ago. It is not the attack itself that inspires me. Rather it was the reaction of 'strangers.'

The attack occurred nearly 60 years ago when an Atlanta synagogue was firebombed. Fifty sticks of dynamite causing nearly $1.5 million in damage (in today's dollars) just a few hours before the building was filled with students.

The firebombing was a reaction to local Jewish support for desegregation and advancing civil rights for blacks. Jewish pursuit of social justice for strangers is the modern expression of a biblical imperative to elevate our treatment of strangers. Shortly after our ancient ancestors are liberated from Egypt, they are exhorted "not [to] wrong or oppress a stranger, for we were strangers [ourselves] in the land of Egypt." (Exodus 22:20.) No other exhortation is repeated so often.

A caller claimed responsibility for the 1958 bombing; he threatened, "this is the last empty building we will bomb . . . Negroes and Jews are hereby declared aliens.” The next day, editor Ralph McGill, of the Atlanta Constitution, wisely observed, "You do not preach and encourage hatred for the Negro and hope to restrict it to that field. It is an old, old story. It is one repeated over and over again in history. When the wolves of hate are loosed on one people, then no one is safe."

A Time For Taking Off Masks (Purim and Ki Tissa 5777)

Between Mardi Gras (or Shrove Tuesday) and Purim, this is a season for masks. Wearing masks is associated with these days as a way of bringing history to life, temporarily adopting a new personality, hiding, or, even, subverting reality.

We often wear masks to make fun of ourselves or others. And not just by wearing them. For instance, “Why does Batman wear a mask but Superman doesn’t?” “Because the citizens of Gotham City are much smarter than those in Metropolis.”

But this is really a season for profound messages about masks. Even the Torah portion this week, which coincides with Purim, ends with Moses putting on and

The ‘Other’: A Framework for Learning, Questioning, and Acting

Two fathers (one Muslim, one Jewish) and their children protesting
immigration and refugee executive order in Chicago
on Jan 30, 2017 (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)

Here is the message I shared today with the Jewish Community High School of the Bay (JCHS) : 

The diversity of the JCHS school community is powerful. We come from different parts of the world and grew up in different types of families. We represent a broad range of economic circumstances and hold different perspectives about politics, society, and even Judaism.

For example, nearly 40% of JCHS student homes include an adult born outside of the United States. In Jewish terms, some of us identify most with Mizrachi heritage and others with Ashkenazi culture. Some with Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, or Reform, and others with secular expressions of Jewish life.

One thread that links all these differences is the Jewish core idea of being different, being the other. Torah refers to the first Jew, Abraham, as ha’ivri --