Shofar (TBE Newsletter)

The Shofar, Temple Beth El’s monthly publication, keeps community and temple members up to date on what’s going on. Take a look at this month’s Shofar to see what’s coming up or browse through the archives to see all that we’ve done!

November 2024 – Shofar (pdf)

Our duty, informed by the longstanding ancestral tradition of civic engagement in America, is to work toward creating a better world for all. Our values inform our decision-making, and it is not only our right but our imperative to use the power of the ballot box to set change in motion that will strengthen our society and make it more just and more sacred. So many partisans have confused, either intentionally or unintentionally, this duty with a false assertion that one should never mix religion and politics; this is utter nonsense and contradicts our religious obligation to fulfill our religious commitments. Of course, some would say that “the devil is in the details.”

Maimonides preached a worldview that suggests that the middle pathway is almost always right and that the extremes of philosophical positions tend to negate the validity of the calculus that others hold sacred. Applied to today’s political back-and-forth, Democrats are not always right and neither are Republicans, and the opposite can also be said: Democrats are not always wrong and neither are Republicans. Some might conclude from this that voting is futile; Jews have always disagreed with that assessment.

Voting is embodying one’s deepest felt beliefs and applying them to the vision of justice that we hold sacred. Almost always, I have bent toward one party’s political worldview that the majority of Jews have supported for over a century, even though I have found plenty of imperfections in both parties. Our tradition of “two Jews, three opinions” celebrates our capacity to be independent thinkers, discerning and embodying our Jewish values as we understand them. You must vote, and you must vote your conscience, not based on blind loyalty to one party but rather on a commitment to Tikkun Olam and the vision of the Prophets.

There’s much more on the ballot than a Jib-Jab between Harris and Trump, Vance and Walz (yes, that was alphabetical, so as not to offend anyone). Anyone who knows me knows who I support for President (and one candidate has a picture with my name in it, from a march in 2018), and I bring my lifetime of commitment to the Jewish people and a universal vision of justice–economic and social justice–to bear on this choice, as imperfect as I think this candidate is. I will not tell you how to vote; while I have freedom of the pulpit and fully reserve my right to do so, the Jewish people need unity now more than ever in my lifetime in a world more hostile to us than ever in the past 55 years of my life, so I will only tell you that I believe that this election will make or break so many lives worldwide, that to not vote is a dereliction of duty to Tikkun Olam.

My positions on the Ballot Measures are available for anyone who wants them. Just email me and I can send them to you. As a 501(c)3, while we cannot endorse candidates, we CAN, and I believe SHOULD, take positions on initiatives that relate to our core values. Nevertheless, my positions are mine alone, not those of TBE, unless the board confirms these positions.

In my previous life, I ran an economic justice organization. Policies that will impact the working poor–food, money, housing, benefits–must be considered through the lens of Jewish values. Notions of Tzedakah and a Prophetic vision of justice make our people great, generous, dedicated to an equitable future for our planet. I hope you will take the time and show your commitment to your civic duty, and VOTE!

I conclude with a prayer for voting, written by my esteemed colleague, Rabbi David Seidenberg (Hebrew here):

May You give a listening heart
    to whomever we elect
    and may it be good in Your eyes
    to raise for us a good government
    to bring healing, justice and peace
    to all living in this land
    and to all the world, and upon Jerusalem,
    a government that will honor the image of God
    in all humanity and in Creation,
    for rulership is Yours.

Just as I have participated (or: will participate) in the election
    so may I merit to do good works
    and to repair the world through all my efforts,
    and through the act of… [fill in your pledge]
    which I pledge to do
    on behalf of all living creatures,
    in remembrance of the covenant of Noah’s waters,
    to protect and to not destroy
    the earth and her plenitude.

Give to all the peoples of this land
    the strength and will to pursue righteousness
    and to seek peace as unified force
    to uproot racism and violence
    and to make healing, good life and peace flourish
    here and throughout the world
    and fulfill for us the verse (Ps. 90:17):

“May the pleasure of Adonai our God
be upon us, and establish
the work of our hands for us,
and make the work of our hands endure.”

Blessings,

Rabbi Jonathan Klein

SHOFAR ARCHIVES