I gave a talk at a local synagogue on textual activism; ways of using our Torah to support civic engagement. Afterward, I received a critique. I can sermonize all I want, but wasn’t it more important to be acting instead – even on Shabbat? So I have had to consider the role of prayer and study in relation to mobilizing for change. Having found inspiration in Torah, I understand the need for both, understanding Torah to operate like a navigation system to keep me on the right path.

In Parshat Eikev Moses redresses the people for being stiff-necked, for their fecklessness, and for their infidelity to God. The prescription for a better future is to love God, obey the rules, exhibit gratitude and open your hearts. “Israel, what does the LORD your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the LORD your God, to walk only in His paths, to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and soul, . . .” This admonition contains elements of both internal processes and demonstrable actions.

The impulse to act can be rooted in a religious commitment that reaches out from heart and soul.  Accordingly, my desire to change the world begins with a change in me. The Jewish guidance system I attempt to follow is living a life that emulates God. The first steps along the path are for me to work on my heart-centered God connection through reverence and love. Only then will my demonstrable service likely have the proper focus and intention and energy. The journey to freedom, human rights, and economic opportunity, begin as an internal passage.

The moral compass by which we operate cannot set true north by personal calibration. Rather, our direction must align with values suitable to all our pursuits for a better world.

Back to synagogue. Two weeks after I spoke, I returned to hear Rabbi Michael Pollack speak to the congregation. He employed the priestly blessing image of God’s face turning toward us. In the light of God’s countenance, we also turn and direct our faces to God. This for me is the crux of textual activism. There is a mutuality of operation when we receive this world as God’s looking toward us and we endeavor to care for the world with that appreciation. In this way, we remember to love others as we are loved by God. And we act in service of God employing the unselfish passion of heart and soul.

Ultimately, the strength and resilience needed to bring about appropriate change in a time of contentiousness will best come when we begin with an internal process. The fuel for the journey might be our love for God and all that God has created. The best navigation system is our Jewish values. Reminders of the love and values are found in the Torah we absorb each week. In this way, we must begin with our Jewish texts to send us on the right path to improving this world.  Both teaching Torah and advocating for change go hand in hand.

Rabbi Evan J. Krame

Memories may light the corners of Barbra’s mind, but they often darken our own psyche. Resilience is found in your ability to understand memory as a particular tool that can be employed to bring understanding, comfort or inspiration.

The way we remember our lives is shaped by both the context in which events occurred and the later circumstances in which those same events are recalled. When you think of a challenging episode in your life, you can discover new perspective with the leverage of time and maturity and faith.

In the opening of Deuteronomy, Moses begins by revisiting the past 40 years of arduous desert travel. The memory Moses shares does not exactly line up with the facts described in earlier books of Torah.  An empathetic reader might understand that Moses is recalling the past through a lens of grief.  After all, he is being denied access to the Promised Land and his leadership is ending.

Moses may be reinventing the past to self-soothe, as his disappointment is crushing. With great devotion to God and the Children of Israel, Moses is also in a process of “revisioning” so that he can reconcile with the past and find the inspiration to urge the people forward. As his speech progresses he comes to terms with his fate and urges the people to be obedient and love God.

It’s certainly common today to hear about individuals “rewriting history.” Whether we are critical or cynical, distorting facts is a dangerous endeavor, especially when used for self-aggrandizement. But there’s another kind of history rewrite that is an exploration of psyche and soul. Psychologist Leon Seltzer describes this as “revisiting the past to correct (or “revision”) the unfavorable conclusions you came to about yourself.”

The “revisioning” concept began with psychologist James Hillman in the 1950s who taught that the tool of revisioning the past can be used to positive effect. Rather than get trapped in an old paradigm of guilt, shame, or pain, we can revision our past to interpret our lives anew. After all, if maturing brings the benefits of enhanced perspective, the way we can understand events in our lives now should be far more cognitively astute than when we were younger.

The effect of divorce on children is a good example. Psychologists often warn that we must assure the child that the separation of parents is not their fault. If the child moves forward in life with a sense of guilt because they are implicated in their parents divorce, then his or her adulthood will be guided by a misperception of self, not being good enough, feeling shameful or unforgiveable. Revisioning would bring awareness, understanding and healing.

Another example comes from the movie “Good Will Hunting.” Late in the film, Matt Damon, as the genius cum janitor, has a break-through with his therapist, played by Robin Williams.  The key phrase prompting Damon’s character is Williams saying repeatedly, “it’s not your fault.” The therapist encourages the patient to revision the past with new understanding and to confront the negative emotions carried forward into adulthood.

As we mature, we have the opportunity to engage in a life review. Doing so we can assert our adult prerogative to revision the events that shaped our identity.  In reviewing the past we can discover where self-defeating or self-invalidating beliefs originated.  With mature cognition and awareness, we can modify those feelings that have influenced our behaviors and kept burning fires of conflict.

There is a spiritual component to revisioning. Even as the psyche is disturbed the soul remains pure. By revisioning our history, we clear away the scar tissue of psyche enabling the soul to emerge brighter. As Moses revisioned the past, he revealed and activated a soul that could then guide the people toward God with great love.

If you have been hard on yourself, consider revisioning your past to bring new understanding to the events that bruised your psyche. Releasing some of the pain can open pathways for your soul to better guide you.

Regarding your past differently–that is, revisioning it–enables you to make peace with it. Accepting what can never be changed helps you exonerate yourself (and everybody else) for whatever went wrong in the past. Revisioning times gone by offers an ideal opportunity to activate your resilience and your soul.

R’ Evan Krame

Counting the people of the tribes of Israel is a recurring event of the Book of Numbers, so I thought I’d do a little modern counting of my own.

18.  White supremacists killed 18 people in 2017, twice the number killed by Muslim extremists, in the United States.

19.  Every day, 19 children are shot by guns in the United States.  That’s over 1,300 each year, and roughly 26,000 killed between 1999 and 2017.

27. At least 27 transgender people were fatally shot or killed by other violent means in 2017.

1,147.  Of the 1,147 people killed by police in 2017, less than 1/3 were suspected of a violent crime and 25% were African American – a percentage twice that of the general population.

1,986.  There were 1,986 anti-Semitic incidents reported across the United States in 2017, an  increase of 60% over the prior year.

2,342. Since early May at least 2,342 children have been separated from their parents at the U.S. border.

3,000. In the 500 days since he took the oath of office, President Trump has made more than 3,000 false or misleading claims, such as stating 34 times that a border wall will end drug trafficking into this country even though the DEA says that is not correct.

3,500. Some 3,500 sex trafficking cases were reported in the U.S. in 2017 alone, with a specific concentration in and around Atlanta, Georgia.

68,000.  According to the World Health Organization, 68,000 women die annually from unsafe abortions worldwide.

80,000.  80,000 U.S. children are sexually abused each year – and that’s only the number reported.

5.7 million.  Approximately 5.7 million adults are living with Alzheimer’s disease, with an average lifetime cost of $341,840.

41 million. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics for 2017, 41 million people in the United States live in food-insecure households, 13 million of whom are children.

As we move forward through the history of our era, take these numbers forward with you. Make this your Torah for the week. What is God asking of us? Who will lead us out of the wilderness of abuse, hunger, hatred and violence? Who will take us to the promised United States of America that calls itself a nation striving for freedom, liberty and peace? Start with whatever you can do.

R’ Evan J. Krame

Bitching is easy. Holy bitching is another matter.

Easy bitching is what our Torah ancestors did after 39 years in the desert – and who could blame them? Having buried beloved leaders Miriam and Aaron, the people called Israel were miserable: 39 years on the move, in the wilderness, eating manna. It is human nature to notice frustrations and start complaining.

Letting off steam and expressing discontent can be healthy and cleansing. Expressing discontent that commits us and others to concrete actions for betterment is how all social reform movements begin. But complaining without end, without gratitude and without action can undermine community and disrupt society – and there’s nothing holy about that.

Our Torah ancestors complained without end and without gratitude. Simply put, they bitched – and not for the first time. The bitching that Numbers chapter 21 describes isn’t the first time that the people bemoan their fate, blaming God and Moses.

But this time, God conjured a way to tame the people’s fury: snakes. The snakes came biting and the people ran to Moses for relief. God told Moses to create a serpent figure and fix it to a pole. Anyone bitten by a snake could run to view the snake on a stick and they wouldn’t die.  (If the image sounds familiar, look at the emblem for the American Medical Association.)

The scene sounds crazy, but the symbolism is poignant. The consequence of disruptive behavior was a snake bite, and the remedy was to look at a copper snake. The snake is the animal that deceived Eve and Adam in Eden.  The snake’s sharp tongue prompted dissatisfaction, disobedience and expulsion. So too here: endless ungrateful bitching was poised to deny our ancestors the promised land.

The snake story’s resilience lesson is a bit of spiritual homeopathy: the “cure” lay within the “illness” itself. Bitching was poisonous, and only seeing the poison for what it was could lead to healing.

The next time you feel the impulse to complain, ask if what’s arising is a healthy steam-letting, a constructive criticism, a call to action or just bitching. All are human, but not all are holy – and not all are pathways to resilience.

R’ Evan J. Krame & R’ David Evan Markus

Part of a yearlong series about resilience in Jewish spiritual life.

Have you ever imagined yourself with a different name? My grandmother wanted to shed her Yiddish name and be known as Shirley, an American sounding first name. For similar reasons my father changed his surname from Kramowitz to Krame. Their motivations reflected the values of assimilation. Yet, name changing is also deeply rooted in Jewish tradition. And with the proper intention, a name change can transform us. From Torah this week we learn that resetting a person’s name can not only elevate a person’s soul but is a marker of greatness.

In parshat Sh’lach, Moses “names” Hosea ben Nun to lead a band of scouts into the land of Canaan. All of those who are familiar with the text know that the spies will return with a false report, afraid of the people they encountered and lacking in faith that they can conquer the land. Theirs’ is a sinfulness that damns the people to wander for 38 more years. But Hosea ben Nun is not among those sinful scouts. Just a few verses earlier, Moses had changed Hosea’s name to Yehoshua (Joshua) by adding a yud. The yud added represents God, just as yud is the first letter of God’s name. With that reminder, Joshua is sent on the scouting mission. By taking God into the name, Joshua is sanctified and guided in his service as a leader. And he is made more resilient.

Not every name is easily upgraded with the addition of the “yud” of the Divine name. But each of us has the opportunity to incorporate Godliness into our lives if we consider our names to designate us as representatives of God. Perhaps that is an insight as to why the protection of a name is so important in our tradition. We are taught to value names. Names are a portal to righteousness. We do not take God’s name in vain and we do not slander the name of our peers. We learn at Pirke Avot 4:17 “Rabbi Shimon said, there are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of kingship. And the crown of a good name is superior to them all.”

And for those who would take on leadership roles, their name or title can serve as a powerful reminder to know before Whom they stand and Whom they serve. Whether leaders are named or elected, how would it be if each considered their oath of office as if spiritually incorporating a “yud” into their name?

A name change might not be sufficient for those who are power hungry or lead without skill. But for the true public servant, the lesson we learn from Joshua and the scouts is that we need leaders who operate from faith and not fear, from the pursuit of Godliness and not greed. Perhaps there would be far better Government if our leaders had names that reminded them that their service was named by God.

R’ Evan J. Krame