Our Bar and Bat Mitzvah learning programme at EHRS is based on a very well know saying in Pirke Avot, the saying of the sages 1:2, said by a Rabbi called Simon the Just: Al Shloshah Devarim ha Olam Omed: Civilisation is based on three things on Torah, Avodah and Gemilut Chasadim.
So our three initial terms of the Bnei Mitzvah programme are Torah – learning all about the whole contents of the Torah and not just your own portion and the other sources of Jewish learning over the millennia, Avodah – learning about Jewish worship, services in any kind of Synagogue, how they work and how to lead them, and finally, Gemilut Chasadim – learning how to be a good Jewish mensch, a young adult who makes a contribution to the world in terms of looking after yourself, looking after your Jewish community and looking after the wider community. If you come to the Shabbat service on the evening of July 5th you will be able to hear the projects in each of these three areas that our young people have created.
Why three principles? Maybe it’s because of this piece of furniture which dates back in its design thousands of years. [Shows three legged stool]. A big heavy human being can sit on this stool securely if it has three legs – but if I took any one away what would happen? [stool falls over!]. If you know your ancient rhetoric you may call the breathtakingly common meme of a list of three words hendiatris. We do it all the time – sun, sea and ….sand; friends, Romans….countrymen; wine, women and …..song.
But for us as Jews I think that it is more about the support given by a three legged stool. Civilisation is sound if there is indeed learning (so we don’t think we already know everything), worship (so we don’t see ourselves as the be all and end all), and acts of loving kindness (so that we experience our purpose as what we do for other). Torah, Avodah, Gemilut Chasadim.
Rabbi Golan ben Chorin, the newest Rabbi of the UK Reform movement now serving Alyth synagogue, teaches that a sound relationship with Israel also stands on three legs. One leg is our Biblical Imperative – that we experienced today in our Torah and Haftarah portion – that our founding story and founding peoplehood as am yisrael is based originally in the Land of Israel. The second leg is our Historical Experience, that we have undoubtedly known persecution, living in danger and existential uncertainty constantly through the history of there having been a Jewish people. It has meant that in a world of nation states the Jews need a state of their own just as all other peoples do.
Even this does not mean complete undoubted safety as October 7th and tomorrow’s march in London showing our support for the families of the hostages kidnapped into Gaza will show. But it does mean that there is now thank God a place on earth in the State of Israel where a Jew can find refuge and good life whatever the vagaries of the diaspora countries. Those two legs: the biblical imperative and the Jewish historical experience are not enough. With just those Israel, like our stool, falls over. This to me is the mistake of the far right wing mentality that some have in Israel.
Rabbi Golan identifies a third indispensable leg. This is the Prophetic Tradition. That Israel can only be stable with values, self-criticism and hard work to keep restoring the country to the best in Jewish regard for the stranger, the poor and the dispossessed. Whenever it strays from the prophetic principles so clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence, Israel is in danger of falling over. Jeremiah, a great example of a prophet of Israel, said as much in his Haftarah today – Israel must not be like a bush in the desert which can be pushed over by the wind because it is not soundly planted on Jewish principles. Rather Israel must be like a tree by the waters, which even in drought, can always drink deeply from the well of the best of our traditions. Indeed the 1948 Declaration of Israel’s Independence itself says that the principles of the state will be those envisioned by the Prophets of the Bible.
And what are they, those traditions that we need to support Israel living by?
Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel tells us at the end of the first chapter of Pirke Avot – two millennia ago. He taught that the world is established by three principles, al shloshah devarim haolam kayam – by Emet – truth, by Din – justice and by Shalom – peace. And so if the world is established by these three principles then how much more so Israel.
We know that the first casualty of war is truth (this goes back to the Roman scholar Aeschulus!). Finding out the truth in this war between Israel and Hamas has been deeply challenging and will continue to be – but we do need to investigate what has happened, what has been justified and what has not.
We know that before this war the pursuit of justice in Israel was under challenge, hence the weekly demonstrations that were taking place in defence of democracy and the Supreme Court. And we know that for a war to be just it must be carried out on both sides with as little damage to the lives of civilians as possible. Hamas deliberately targeted civilians on October 7th , continuing to hold many hostage, and the government of Israel has a lot to do to assure the world that the tens of thousands of Gazan casualties include as few civilians as possible, however difficult it has been to target Hamas fighters.
And Shalom – peace – that has to be the aim. Every part of our Avodah, our holy service ends with a heartfelt prayer for peace – not a heartfelt prayer for vanquishing of enemies. Take any one of the truth, justice or peace away and we do again risk Israel falling. Our historical experience tells us we cannot let that happen. We need Israel, and Israel needs us.
How does this play out in a congregation like EHRS? There is one more three legged stool – and one which again we cannot wish were two or one legged. There are those of our members who feel that we should only be interested in the situation of Israelis and our brothers and sisters who live there at this time. There are those of our members who are deeply disturbed and concerned for the undoubted suffering in Gaza and feel that only this is now the moral imperative, to stop the suffering. And there are those who are with Israel’s people and also live with compassion for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. All three sustain our engagement with Israel at this time and we are not a true congregation without all of these ways of thinking.
Please excuse a last bit of hendiatris : Judaism can cope with more than one principle, more than one way of thinking, more than one course of action. It is in the argument, the debate, the learning that we grow towards the right thing to do. We stand together on the solidity of our reliance on God, who guarantees our values, Torah, which guides us to know where we come from and to where we are trying to get to, and Israel which is both our people and our foothold in this world.
