D’var Torah: Our Birthright (Mike Mendoza)

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 30 July 2018

For the last 10 days, I have had the privilege of becoming a madrich, a leader, with BirthrightUK where I guided young adults on a whistle stop tour of the Holy land. Many of the participants had never been to Israel before but what surprised me most is that many of the participants had never previously engaged with their Jewish identity what so ever.

In this week’s Torah portion, Moses make his farewell speech to the Hebrew people, after being refused entry to Israel. He ascends the mountain and sees the Promised Land from atop the borders. Moses can only scratch the surface of what the land has to offer.

So too did Birthright only scratch the surface of our relationship with the land, and state of Israel. We climbed the Golan Heights, the Ein Gedi falls, Masada, Mt. Scopus and found the world’s lowest point at the Dead Sea – ascending and descending each time with a new story of Jewish heritage and little time to process the information, before whisking off on the coach to our next destination – always left in our minds, pondering, what exactly happened here and why it affects me?

As I mentioned, most of the group had come from little cultural, religious or knowledgeable Jewish backgrounds. Many had no means by which to explain what it meant when they’d say, “I am Jewish.” Therefore, when asking why they’d come to Israel, I could only surmise that a deeply rooted flickering flame speaking out to them, had guided them toward this eternal fire – the Jewish people. I had not expected, but enjoyed, exploring the greater philosophy of our sense of identity. Moses, in his closing monologue, had predicted that the future generations would turn away from God, worship false idols and be exiled, scattering amongst the nations – but from there they will seek and return to God and the Promised land. We had “returned” so I made it my mission to have one to ones with every member of the group. Naturally, questions arose:

• What does it mean to be a Jew?
• What does the word religious mean?
• What purpose does prayer serve in the modern world?
• Why are Jews connected with Israel?
• What do these ancient texts, filled with impossibilities and contradictions, have to do with me?

It became apparent that for many, the ortho-normative perspective is certainly the norm. Many had, for years, avoided the conversation of faith and Torah due to the taboo surrounding the word “religion”. I needed to become an ambassador for Reform Judaism. An exploration of Ancient and Modern history seemed to tie all these questions together. Judaism is far more than a religion. It is a people, a culture, a nation and a way of life. We do not need to believe in the exact literal words of our ancestors, however, to deny the enduring survival of the text, it’s morals, myths and legends, well that would just be silly.

The journey itself was as Moses experienced and predicted. We began our ascent, flying into the sky and eventually over Israel, gazing out over the land to the place we long to explore. We began our physical exploration in the North, exploring Haifa, Tel Chai, the Golan and Tsfat, from where L’cha Dodi that we heard earlier tonight was created. We slowly made our way down south, rafting along the Jordan River, floating in the salty Dead Sea, into the Negev for a Bedouin experience and atop Masada for sunrise and sun salutation yoga, led by me – a truly incredible, and spiritual, experience.

This swift tour of the land and its rich stories, prepared us to enter the geographical center of the modern narrative. Tel Aviv, a modern liberal metropolis on the coast AND Jerusalem, a vibrant ancient city, finding its feet amongst a world of conflict and devout privilege. I had the opportunity to lead Kabbalat Shabbat, on a rooftop terrace, and Shacharit, for what was basically their first ever experience of prayer. It took many by surprise in the most positive way – I was thrilled to make this time of meditation and personal reflection more accessible.

It was so fitting that the day separating these two cities was Tisha B’av, where we commemorate the destruction of the 1^st and 2^nd temples, as well as several other incidents in Jewish history. There has always been an idea that the Jewish people should return to Jerusalem, to where the temple stood, and this brings many challenges for our progressive, diaspora, lives today.

Many of our own children, from the community are out in Israel’s now on Tour, also experiencing this somewhat confusing story of history and mythology, meeting others from vastly varied backgrounds of religion, faith and knowledges. I was thrilled to bump into both RSY-NETZER Tour 1 and 3 numerous times – recognizing the deeply enriching experience our young people have enjoyed right here at Alyth. Aside from these unplanned cross overs, my trip was filled with many, for lack of a better word, coincidences, leading me to question why such things seem to happen more in Israel.

I began to wonder what vision I have for Progressive Judaism in the diaspora. For that I would like to share an analogy. Israel, can be compared to the internet, with the WiFi router plugged into Jerusalem. The whole world can connect to the spiritual internet and Jewish network, but the signal is experienced greatest at the center. However, that suggests that outside of Israel our connection is weaker… Untrue! I believe that our synagogues, in the diaspora, act like signal extenders or amplifiers – like when your living room WiFi can’t reach the upstairs bedrooms and you have to add an adaptor in order to plug in and connect. We, the people, are what maintain the holy spiritual connection – it’s your choice whether to turn on your WiFi and enter the password “Judaism”.

Alyth provided me with this professional opportunity to develop my leadership skills and share the wisdom of our community. I got to experience for myself everything that Alyth has given and taught me in the 3 years I’ve been here and unearth, like the continued excavations of Jerusalem, how much more there is under the surface.

A land of milk and honey is an analogous dream, milk that is nutritious, enables growth and new life and honey, that is both sweet and sticky – binding the Jewish community together through thick and thin to create a light unto other nations.

The truth is, that like Moses, I think… in a way, we’re all standing at the edge of the border, looking out over Israel, wondering when and how our mission will become a reality – a Jewish nation, a Jewish people and a Jewish land, that every single one of us can be proud of.

Shabbat Shalom.