Rabbi Marc E. Berkson – Shabbat Shuvah — 5766

OCTOBER SURPRISE
Shabbat Shuvah — 5766

Arthur Waskow, renewal rabbi, coordinator of The Shalom Center in Philadelphia, and of the more thoughtful voices on the left wing of Jewish religious life today, has, for almost a year, been talking about “God’s October Surprise.” Well, surprise, we are now in the midst of it. And the surprise? That as we Jews celebrate all the festival days of the month of Tishrei—Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simhat Torah—Muslims are observing all the rituals, particularly that of fasting, of the month of Ramadan. During these same days, the Catholic Church will observe October 4 as the Saint’s Day for Francis of Assisi and many Protestant denominations will observe October 2 as Worldwide Communion Sunday. In so doing, he and many other Christian and another Muslim organizations are calling for October 13 to be a Fast Day of Reflection, Repentance, and Renewal with a special interest to “end the war [in Iraq] and feed the poor.”

Tishrei and Ramadan concurrently should come as no surprise. We, both of us, Jews and Muslims, function on a lunar calendar. Such is not surprising. Torah, in its first words, teaches us that the day begins in the evening—you remember the words—“Vayehi erev, vayehi voker, yom ehad (sheini, etc). And it was evening, and it was morning, a first (or second, etc.) day.” We also know, as an agricultural people, that one could watch the moon live, if you will. The moon would begin as a tiny sliver; it would then wax to its fullest and then begin to wane until it would disappear. The difference between the Jewish and the Muslim calendars? We intercalate. In other words, we have to adjust the calendar now and then so that our festivals do not lose their seasonal connections. Imagine, celebrating Sukkot in January! Thus, since the moon rotates around the earth approximately every 29½ days, giving us a year of 354 days, we have to add a leap month every now and then in a 19-year cycle. That is why Rosh Hashanah was “so late” this year. But Muslim observances do not have the same need for intercalation. Ramadan was the month in which the Koran was set down. Just as we prepare for the giving on Torah on Shavuot, Muslims prepare for the setting down of Koran by fasting during the days of Ramadan. And, for the next two years, Tishrei and Ramandan will match. And then we Jews come to a leap year.

Now add to this confluence the dates of October 2 and 4. The Presbyterian Church of the United States began an observance called Worldwide Communion Sunday on the first Sunday in October in 1936. Seeking to bring all Christians together in the community of Jesus as the Christ, many other Protestant denominations have added this observance to their calendars. And the Catholic Church has designated October 2 as the Saint’s Day of Francis of Assisi, lover of all of God’s creatures and one whose own self-denial brought forth his love of all humankind.

Waskow has creatively suggested the image of “The Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah” as the image we should all strive for, a tent open to all by the ones we Jews and Christians and Muslims see as the parents of our faith communities. Just as Abraham, Ibrihim, opened his tent in the wilderness to all, so should we be open to all who thirst and hunger for justice and peace. The October surprise has forced me to reconsider, once again, the interfaith work in which I engage. Note that the word is interfaith—not ecumenical, which refers to work between Christian churches—but interfaith. And that work has changed dramatically over the years. I have found it far more rewarding on the local level. The joint and profound sharing which has taken place over the last four years between our congregation and St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church and Memorial Lutheran Church and Hill Point Church has been stunning in its subject matter and moving in its honesty. The changes in the Catholic Church since Nostre Atate, whose 40th anniversary we celebrate this year, and the impact on Catholic-Jewish relations, have been monumental. But I have grown increasingly distant from what we used to label the mainstream Christian denominations, from the Presbyterians to the Congregationalists to even the Episcopalians on the national level. The way we have come to understand Israel—and the unremitting push for divestiture from Israel on their parts, particularly now the Presbyterian Church USA, have put such distance in our relationship that I wonder what can bring us back together.

Conversely, I have marveled at the commitment of many of the Evangelical Protestant churches to Israel—and of some of them to interfaith dialogue. In the midst of the Intifada, they were the ones traveling to Israel to be of assistance and of help. We have much to learn from Yechiel Eckstein, founder and director of the International Federation of Christians and Jews. He began a dialogue long before we even considered one possible. Yet I cannot help but wonder if Israel remains a means for many of these evangelicals, a means to a very different world. And I wonder what other areas we share in common as we struggle to dialogue.

And we can no longer utilize Will Herberg’s book Protestant—Catholic—Jew as the America which once existed. The Judeo-Christian ethos surely must encompass Islam. And I struggle to dialogue with Islam. In fact, Judaism and Islam share so much more in common than we do with Christianity. Yet Islam is new to these American shores—and Israel again presents serious challenges to the dialogue. Still, I remain guided by these words from Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, “Christianity and Islam will have to reject their own claims to supersede Judaism. And we Jews will, more clearly than ever, recognize these religions as outgrowths of the original covenant.”

Yet the American tapestry continues to change. Waskow points out that October 13 is Vijayadashami for Hindus and is included in a period of reflection called Vassa for Buddhists. The conversation must now include these faith communities—yet how bring them in under the Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah. Can we truly worship together, for example, at a Thanksgiving service? Or does the Thanksgiving service simply become show-and-tell, i.e., this is what the Jews do and this is what the Buddhists do?

I only pose questions for you tonight. For October surprise or not, my fast on October 13 will be what, for me, as a Jew, it is supposed to be–my Yom Kippur fast. Among the sins for which I will be seeking forgiveness will be those of omission, those when opportunities presented themselves for interfaith understanding and I, I did not respond. May the new year bring us all closer together and closer to God.