Standing in the Breach: Preaching During Crisis – Sunday, July 14 – Hartman Day 5
The typical day at Hartman begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 9:00 p.m. It looks like this:
8:30 – 12:30 – Plenary Sessions – a combination of lecture and hevruta (text study with a partner)
12:30 – 1:30 – Lunch
1:30 – 5:00 – One-off talks, e.g. book talks, meditation, practical rabbinics
5:00 – 6:30 – Evening Elective
6:30 – 7:30 – Dinner
7:30 – 9:00 – Evening Program (e.g. panel discussion)
In addition to lunch and dinner, there are two ½ hour breaks throughout the day. The breaks could be, but are not, “down time.” Each break is a deep conversation with an old or new friend. The days are full and powerful. I recommend you consider attending a similar Hartman program for lay people, Community Leadership Program, with the same Plenary Sessions.
Today, Elana Stein Hain taught “Standing in the Breach: Preaching During Crisis,” which could be extrapolated to being a friend in a time of crisis. We examined three types of responses through primary texts and actual sermons from the past four centuries.
- Empathy
- Taking responsibility, i.e. What can I learn from this? What are the mistakes that I don’t want to repeat?
- Hope, offering a vision or perspective beyond the moment of crisis.
One sermon by Rabbi Leo Franklin in 1918, who had been a pacifist with regards to the United States entering World War I, expresses one prominent perspective regarding today’s war with Hamas/Iran. Franklin argues passionately against a “momentary cessation of hostilities with a regime that does not yet understand the iniquity of its philosophy.” Such a temporary rest will “bring upon our heads … the hatred of those future generation whose security would be implied by our cowardice.” Challenging. More broadly, in times of crisis we need to offer a vision for transformative change.
Later during the one-off talks I attended a wonderful and effective meditation workshop with my friend, Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels, Founder & Spiritual Director of Or HaLev. My evening elective which will continue through Wednesday was a conversation with Yossi Klein Halevi about an upcoming book presently titled, “The Wisdom of Survival: How the Jews Overcame the Holocaust and What That Matters Now.”
Later that evening after an evening program, “The Future of American Liberal Zionism,” I joined communal singing, the opening program in a “Week of Goodness,” organized by the parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Here a cross-section of society gathered to be held and to hold each other and to hold the hostages through Hebrew song.
Communal sing at The First Station in Jerusalem
I concluded the night by trying to watch the final of the European Championship at a packed outdoor bar. However, their internet and electricity failed, and I watched the match back in my hotel room.
The outdoor bar scene for the European Championship before internet and electricity failed