Who is Wise? - Sabbatical Report

Eizeh hu chacham? Halomeid mikol haadam.
Who is wise?  The one who learns from all people. - Ben Zoma, Pirke Avot 4:1

I was asked last month to share with the congregation some of the things that I have learned on the second month of my non-consecutive six-month sabbatical - which took place this past December-January.  In thinking back, I was reminded by the quote from Ben Zoma, above.  Because I did not want to leave my family, one of the ways I learned was by taking advantage of many different distance learning opportunities.  I was able to hear speakers brought together by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Jewish National Fund and GreenFaith, and the American Jewish Archives.

As part of a series on the development of the rabbinate, I studied with my former professor, Dr. Lewis Barth, a professor of Midrash at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles.  Looking at some of the miracle worker stories of the Mishnaic rabbis, Dr. Barth showed the similarities with early Christian monks.  His theory was that as the rabbi came to prominence in post-Temple Judaism (taking over from prophet and priest), followers needed to believe that rabbis had special powers, and perhaps so did the rabbis themselves.  Dr. Barth did not, however, teach us how to perform any of the wonders mentioned in the texts.

As part of a series co-sponsored by GreenFaith (the faith-based environmental group that the Temple has worked with often in the past) and the Jewish National Fund, Rabbi Lawrence Troster and Reverend Fletcher Harper (who was a guest on our bimah) shared how to increase environmental activism in the synagogue and how to give effective sermons on the environment.

In addition to the formal lectures, I took up a study of Jewish graphic novels.  Contacting various scholars in the field, I found that there is neither complete agreement on what is a graphic novel, nor what is a Jewish graphic novel. For example, a book composed of the collected one-page, non-connected reflections may be Jewish, but are they a graphic novel of a type of memoir?  To be Jewish, must a graphic novel have a Jewish author?  Have at least one Jewish character?  Must the main character perform Jewish acts, or be self-aware of their Judaism?  The range of Jewish novels available is growing every day - from the French artist Joann Sfar’s fantastical tales of his father’s Sephardic roots (The Rabbi’s Cat) or his mother’s Ashkenazic (Klezmer: Tales of the Wild East) to classics like Wil Eisner’s New York series, to the recent award-winning, Hereville, the story of an 11-year old Orthodox girl who fights trolls.  Some novels, such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus deal with the Holocaust through the eyes of the child of survivors imagining the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats.  Some are more direct memoirs of survivors.  There are novels that analyze the American Jewish experience - through a travelling novelty Jewish barnstorming baseball team (The Mighty Golems), two novels about Jewish gangsters (Brownsville and Jew Gangster), and a novel about a non-Jewish con-man who ends up becoming the rabbi that he pretends to be (The Big Kahn).  I would argue that just as authors such as Malamud, Roth, and Ozick helped to propel the conversation about what it means to be an American Jew, so modern Jewish graphic novelists are continuing that dialogue. I discovered a wonderful book by Sarah Glidden entitled “How to Understand Israel in 360 Days or Less”, about her journey from suspicion to confusion on a BirthRight Israel trip.  I now send it as a gift to children in our congregation who are about to travel with BirthRight, to give them a chance to start thinking about some of the challenges that we face in identifying with Israel.  I hope to construct a website with reviews of each of these novels, as well as helpful tips in studying or teaching them.

For many members of the congregation, this column is not the first time that you are hearing some of these references.  I have found opportunities in sermons, classes, and conversations to share what I have learned - and to learn from others.  Sabbatical or no - the words of Ben Zoma are still important - to be wise, we must listen to learn from others.