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October 8, 1999/28 Tishri 5760, Vol. 52, No.6
Millennial Shabbat
Serious Jews will be in shul when 2000 arrives
RABBI BONNIE KOPPELL
Special to Jewish News
Two years ago, Jews in South Florida agonized over what one rabbi described as "Great American Pastime vs. Great Jewish Fasttime," as the Florida Marlins faced off with the Atlanta Braves on Yom Kippur.
Apparently the Miami Herald referred to the dilemma as "How to resolve a basic conflict between two of the world's great religions," to which the rabbi retorted, "Except baseball isn't a religion and Judaism is no longer great." Ouch!
I disagree with him on the subject of Judaism's greatness, but he does offer food for thought.
Rabbi Rami Shapiro was probably right when he noted in connection with the South Florida conflict that "baseball is the bigger draw for most people than is Judaism."
"Not only," he writes, "is (Judaism) a minority faith among Americans, it is a minority concern among Jews."
Hence the dilemma. Jews committed to Judaism may be sad that they cannot make the game, but they experience no dilemma, they make no real choice. They go to shul. But most Jews aren't committed to Judaism.
For that reason I am concerned about whether we will have a minyan here on Friday night, Dec. 31, when we usher in the new millennium. In our consumer-oriented society, we tend to view the synagogue as an option which exists to serve our needs, not as the foundation of our community which we have an obligation to support.
Back in South Florida, one Conservative rabbi expressed compassion for his congregants, forced to choose between two things they love. But, as anyone in a successful marriage will tell you, marriage is a commitment which one honors even when one does not feel especially loving.
Our commitment to Jewish life should be equally as profound. Sometimes we may love being Jewish, sometimes we may find it burdensome. It doesn't really matter. First comes our readiness to stand up and be counted as Jews. Once we have made that commitment, we honor that commitment even when we don't "feel" like it.
It has been noted for many generations that "It's hard to be a Jew." Judaism has rules for every aspect of our lives, many of them quite inconvenient and decidedly not fun. If you accept the notion that we, as a people, established a covenant with God in which our part of the bargain is that we strive to live lives of holiness, then you struggle to take Jewish tradition seriously and incorporate it into your daily life.
This doesn't mean that we all need to become Orthodox in our Jewish practice in order to demonstrate that we are serious Jews. It does mean that we need to challenge ourselves to really examine our lives in order to determine whether we are serving the Jewish ideal.
"So in a sense," writes Shapiro, referring again to the Florida Marlins/Yom Kippur dilemma, "the playoff games offer us a new definition of who is a Jew."
The new definition is: A Jew is a person who chooses to go to shul rather than to a baseball game on Yom Kippur, not necessarily because he or she wants to, but because he or she has to.
Or, as I might frame it for our purposes, the Jew is one who chooses to celebrate Shabbat even when it coincides with New Year's Eve.
"Serious Jews," it has been said, "must make serious choices. And sometimes those choices call for personal sacrifice." Dec. 31, 1999, will be a test. You will vote with your feet. All those in favor of Shabbat, so signify by appearing in shul, or observing Shabbat at home surrounded by family and loved ones. All those who support secular values over Jewish commitment will make a different choice.
Rabbi Bonnie Koppell is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Sholom in Mesa. This article was excerpted from Koppel's high holiday sermon. It is available at www.uscj.org/pacsw/mesatbs.
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