Categories
Baseball Ethics Yom Kippur

Can Ryan Braun Do Teshuvah (Repentance)?

An interview with the Detroit Tigers’ new manager Brad Ausmus about his Jewish heritage spread out over a half page in yesterday’s Detroit Free Press. The interview was an excerpt from the new book by Larry Ruttman, “American Jews and America’s Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball”. Ruttman’s interview concludes with a prediction that Ausmus will one day become a manager of a Major League Baseball team and of course that prediction came true earlier this month when the Detroit Tigers announced his hiring.

In the two weeks since that announcement many people in Detroit — and outside of Detroit — have asked my opinion about the Jewishness of Brad Ausmus. That’s an easy answer, I explain, because his mother is Jewish and therefore he’s Jewish. However, that doesn’t seem to be enough for many people. They seem to be troubled by the fact that Ausmus isn’t the ideal Jewish character for Jewish baseball fans to be excited about. Growing up with a Protestant father, having a Christmas tree in the house each year, and never becoming a bar mitzvah bothers many who want to be excited about this new Jewish manager (it should be noted that Ausmus isn’t the only Jewish manager currently in Major League Baseball since Bob Melvin, the manager of the Oakland A’s, also has a Jewish mother and coincidentally was also a catcher at one point for the Detroit Tigers).

Brad Ausmus - Israel

Ausmus has been very candid about his Jewish background and like Ryan Braun he acknowledges that Judaism didn’t feature very prominently in his upbringing. In fact, both Ausmus and Braun fall very neatly into the category of Jewish American that many were surprised about in the recent Pew Research Center study. I have cynically explained to people that having Jewish baseball players in the Major Leagues and Jewish managers are statistical anomalies. After all, make up a very small percent of the U.S. population and when you factor in that many professional baseball players aren’t from the U.S., the chances of a Jewish professional player are very small. Therefore, we don’t have the luxury of choosing the type of Jewish player.

Yes, it would be easier to feel Jewish pride over a Jewish baseball player who plays like Hank Greenberg, refuses to play on Yom Kippur, attends a synagogue, practices a virtuous life off the field, and donates a portion of his salary to Israel and local Jewish causes. However, we have to take what we get. And that is why we should feel proud that Ausmus (and Bob Melvin) is a manager. He’s honest about who he is as it relates to his Jewish heritage, explaining, “I was not brought up in any religion, I wasn’t bar mitzvahed. I married a Catholic girl and have two daughters. Other than the holidays we spent with my grandparents, there really wasn’t much Jewish religion or Catholic-based religion in the household. I think my mom enjoyed Christmas more than anyone, because she didn’t have it as a kid growing up.”

Categories
Holidays Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur 2013 – 5 Things You Should Know

Here is my “5 Things You Should Know About Yom Kippur” article, originally published in the AOL/HuffingtonPost Patch.com in 2011:

Here are five things you should know about Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement holiday that begins on Friday evening and concludes 25 hours later on Saturday night.

Calendar
Yom Kippur is the most solemn and holiest day on the Jewish calendar. It is also known as the “Sabbath of Sabbaths” because of its magnitude. In fact, it is such an important holiday that it can even occur on the Jewish Sabbath (as it does this year), making it the only time that fasting is allowed on the Sabbath. This Day of Atonement occurs on the tenth day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, rounding out the Days of Awe from Rosh Hashanah. Due to its popularity, you’ll notice local synagogue parking lots at full capacity on Yom Kippur, although many observant members of the Jewish faith do not drive on this day and therefore walk to and from the synagogue instead. Several school districts do not hold classes on Yom Kippur, but this year’s occurrence on a Saturday does not make that necessary.

Categories
Holidays Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur

Rosh Hashanah 2013 – 5 Things You Should Know

Here is my “5 Things You Should Know About Rosh Hashanah” article, originally published in the AOL/HuffingtonPost Patch.com in 2011:

The Jewish New Year celebration, Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew, meaning “the head of the year”) begins this week on Wednesday evening and lasts until Friday. Here are five things that everyone should know about the holiday.

Rabbi Jason Miller blows the shofar (ram’s horn) which is used on Rosh Hashanah

Popularity
On the Jewish calendar, this holiday is one of the big ones. Even members of the Jewish faith who aren’t regular synagogue attendees make a point of attending services on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which occurs 10 days later. You’ll notice local synagogue parking lots are overflowing on these days. For some, Rosh Hashanah services are an opportunity for spiritual renewal and introspection. For others, this is a time to visit with friends and enjoy time with family

Categories
Calendar Hanukkah Jewish Calendar Jewish Calendar 2013 Luach Passover Rosh Hashanah When is Hanukkah 2013 Yom Kippur

Early Hanukkah in 2013: Jewish Calendar Fun

Whenever I’m asked if the Jewish holidays are coming early or late this year, I promptly answer that they’ll be coming on time. And that’s partially true. Rosh Hashanah will always arrive on the first day of the Jewish month of Tishrei just as Hanukkah will always begin on the 25th of Kislev. But the Jewish holidays will be coming early this year and already people are realizing that the first night of Hanukkah 2013 takes place on Wednesday, November 27, 2013, which will actually be the night before Thanksgiving. And that’s unusual.

The Jewish Calendar

The Jewish calendar situation this year is unique. In fact, it has not occurred since 1899 and will only occur once more. Ever. And that won’t be until the year 2089.

The Jewish holidays must occur in their appointed season according to the Torah. To ensure this, there is a leap year that adds an extra month (Adar II) to the Jewish calendar to adjust for the differential between the Jewish calendar’s lunar cycle and the Gregorian (secular) calendar’s 365 day solar cycle. This year, we will see the earliest that Jewish holidays can fall beginning with Purim on Feb 24, 2013 (a Jewish holiday that usually occurs in March). Later on this year, just as students are returning to school following Labor Day we will observe Rosh Hashanah starting on the evening of September 4. We’ll also celebrate the majority of the festival of Sukkot before the Fall equinox even takes place even though Sukkot is an autumnal holiday (the law states this is acceptable so long as the final day of the holiday, Hoshanah Rabbah, occurs after the Fall equinox). Of course, what most people are talking about is the idea of lighting the first candle of Hanukkah the day before we put the Thanksgiving turkeys in the oven.

I find this whole thing fascinating. Especially as this might be the only time in my life that I see the holidays falling this extremely early. I’ve always been intrigued with the Jewish calendar. My first real introduction to the intricacies of the “luach hashanah” was in 1996 when Rabbi Moshe Tutnauer was serving as an interim rabbi in Metro Detroit. In his small office at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan he had dozens of instant lessons posted to the wall. As a seasoned interim rabbi these instant lessons came in handy.

Rabbi Moshe Tutnauer

When I went to Rabbi Tutnauer’s office one day ready to learn whatever he would teach me, he suggested we study the Jewish calendar. His lesson included the four different new years in the Jewish tradition as spelled out in the mishna as well as the way the calendar was fixed so that festivals like Passover occurred only in their appointed season. He also taught me the helpful mnemonic of lo adu rosh, which reminds us that Rosh Hashanah can never fall on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. The reason the calendar is fixed that way is so that Yom Kippur can never be on a Friday, Sunday or Tuesday. (A full-day fast that close to Shabbat would be too big of a challenge and if Yom Kippur fell on a Tuesday, then Hoshanah Rabbah would be on Shabbat, and we could not beat the willow branches.) Rabbi Tutnauer’s lesson proved helpful a few years later when I found myself already versed in the logistical ins and outs of the Jewish calendar when studying Tractate Rosh Hashanah in a Talmud class in rabbinical school.

Several years ago David Letterman quipped in a Late Show monologue, “Happy Rosh Hashanah, it’s the Jewish new year and the year is 5768. I, uh, it’s funny I’m still writing 5767 on my checks.” Well, unlike Dave, most of us use the Gregorian calendar in our everyday lives, but as Jews we must be attuned to the Jewish calendar as well. It is the rhythm of our Jewish lives. Perhaps this year’s anomaly in the Jewish calendar will cause people to learn more about the lunar calendar that governs the Jewish year.

(c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller
Categories
Bernie Madoff Celebrities Celebs Delmon Young Detroit Tigers JTA Michigan Rep. Lisa Brown Repentance Sheldon Adelson Sorry Yom Kippur

Top Yom Kippur Apologies of the Year

Yom Kippur begins on Tuesday evening next week and it will mark the 5,773rd year (give or take) that Jews will reflect on their misgivings and seek to be better in the coming year. It’s also an ideal day for apologizing for wrongdoing.

I love the list that JTA compiled of the top apologies of the year. They might not have all been heartfelt or sincere, but they were interesting nevertheless.

Of course, Detroit’s own Delmon Young made the list after apologizing for his anti-Semitic rant outside the Detroit Tigers’ Manhattan hotel this past spring. I think we’re still waiting for apologies from Michigan Speaker of the House Jase Bolger for banning Rep. Lisa Brown from speaking on the floor of the Michigan House for using the word “vagina” a few months ago. And an apology might be appropriate from the owner of a clothing store in India that goes by the name “Hitler”.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.)

U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.)

For skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee during a congressional visit to Israel.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

 The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

For circulating unsubstantiated claims about casino magnate and Republican Party donor Sheldon Adelson.

Peter Madoff

Peter Madoff, brother of Bernie Madoff

For helping deceive investors in his brother Bernie’s Ponzi scheme.

Yeshivah College of Melbourne, Australia

Yeshivah College of Melbourne, Australia

For not doing enough to stop sexual abuse in its midst.

Detroit Tigers outfielder and DH Delmon Young

 Detroit Tigers outfielder Delmon Young

For launching into an anti-Semitic tirade at a New York hotel.

Nancy Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure

 Nancy Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure

For initially suspending funding for Planned Parenthood.

Andrew Adler, former owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times

 Andrew Adler, former owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times

For an opinion column in which he counted President Obama’s assassination as among Israel’s options in heading off a nuclear Iran.

The East End Madrassah, a Toronto Islamic school

The East End Madrassah, a Toronto Islamic school

For teaching students about “crafty” and “treacherous” Jews.

Tehmina Adaya, owner of the Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica, Calif.

Tehmina Adaya, owner of the Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica, Calif.

For not being quicker to address charges that her hotel had discriminated against pro-Israel activists.

Texas state Rep. Larry Taylor

 Tehmina Adaya, owner of the Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica, Calif.

For saying “don’t try to Jew them down” during a public hearing.

Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone

Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone

For being disparaging in a meeting with Jews.

Wodka Vodka

Wodka Vodka

For putting up billboards with the slogan “Christmas Quality, Hanukkah Pricing.”

(c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller
Categories
Judaism and Technology Miami Rosh Hashanah Synagogues Technology Texting Twitter Yom Kippur

Texting Teshuva in Shul: Tech Savvy or Tacky?

There was undoubtedly more texting in shul this Rosh Hashanah than in past years. In most liberal congregations texting was likely done as discreetly as possible; often with a cellphone hidden low in one’s lap. In some congregations the texting may have been done more overtly outside in the synagogue lobby or perhaps outside the synagogue building. The younger generation is much more cavalier about using cellphones in the service on one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.

But as NY Times Miami bureau chief Lizette Alvarez wrote in a recent article (For Young Jews, a Service Says, ‘Please, Do Text’), in some congregations texting was a rabbinically sanctioned activity on Rosh Hashanah. Some rabbis, as Alvarez reports, integrated texting into the service. In many congregations this new form of interaction during services was a first.

Alvarez explains that in a Miami Beach Reform congregation, congregants looked up at a big white screen and read the directions: “Pray. Write. Text.” For 90 minutes the participants in the pews used their texting thumbs to send out regrets, goals, musings and blissful thoughts for the rest of the congregation to see.

The rabbi, Amy Morrison, encouraged her parishioners rather than scolding them for texting. She said, “Take those phones out” and asked them what they needed to let go of to be “fully present?”

“For young Jews in America, we are a demographic different from our parents and our grandparents,” said Rabbi Jessica Zimmerman, the director of congregational engagement for Synagogue 3000, an organization that seeks to re-energize synagogue life and re-engage young professionals. “We’re more educated, we move many more times and live further away from our family of origin, and we are single much longer, for years after college, which was never the case before.”

Rabbi Morrison explained the idea to encourage texting during the High Holy Day services at her shul: “For my generation, the generation that the service is for, prayer is not something you can find in your own life until someone helps you wrestle with it… So, I recommended texting.”

The young rabbi grew up in a Conservative synagogue, where the rabbi would have scoffed at the notion of a texting during Rosh Hashanah service. “Services there aren’t as thought-provoking or honest or sharing, which is what I liked here,” she explained about the synagogue of her childhood.

While progressive congregations like Morrison’s will continue to experiment with pushing the envelope and using new technology like texting and tweeting during the services, many other congregation will continue to lean toward formal decorum arguing that sending text messages on one’s phone for the congregation to see detracts from the respect the synagogue, Torah and services demand.

One congregant at Morrison’s Reform temple enjoyed the texting aspect of the services. She recalled, “I paid attention the whole time; that’s a problem with me, tuning it out.”

We shall see if the communal texting culture catches on in more synagogues or if rabbis will continue to ask congregants to remember to turn off their cellphones. As text messaging becomes even more popular and and a reflexive act for the younger generation, it is possible that a texting congregation during High Holy Day services will become less of an oddity.

Tech savvy or tacky? Which will win out?

Cross-posted to the Jewish Techs blog at The Jewish Week.

(c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller
Categories
Baseball Gabe Kapler Hank Greenberg Jason Marquis Kevin Youkilis Major League Baseball Sandy Koufax Scott Feldman Shawn Green Yom Kippur

White Sox Move Yom Kippur Game for Fans, Youkilis

As an avid Detroit Tigers fan it’s difficult to root for Kevin Youkilis and the Chicago White Sox. However, the team’s recent decision to reschedule an upcoming night game to earlier that afternoon out of respect for Yom Kippur is worthy of praise.

I’ve written numerous times on this blog about Jewish Major League Baseball players whose decisions of whether or not to play on Yom Kippur (known as “the Sandy Koufax question”) become fodder for debate and discussion. Kevin Youkilis explained his feelings on playing on the Jewish day of atonement in a recent article in Yahoo! Sports after his team rearranged its schedule to accommodate Jewish fans as well as their star third baseman.

“You have to stick with your beliefs,” Youkilis said. “You can’t worry about people who aren’t influential in your life who say things or tell you you’re wrong. I know Shawn Green had a tough time with it. It just depends upon the community. In Boston they probably don’t even care. They’d want you to play.”

The White Sox did something earlier this week that many baseball teams had previously claimed was impossible based on the rigidity of Major League Baseball over its schedule. (The Yankees and Red Sox moved a game from evening to afternoon to accommodate the Jewish fans of both teams in 2009.) The White Sox changed the start time for its game on Tuesday, September 25 game against the Cleveland Indians from 7:10 to 1:10, citing courtesy for the team’s Jewish fans who will observe Yom Kippur beginning at nightfall. Even if the stated reason was for the fans, the team’s decision was a relief to Youkilis who no longer had to make the difficult decision on whether he would play that night. Last year, Youkilis responded to “the Sandy Koufax question” in the Jewish Journal by saying that there are “plenty of people with strong feelings on each side. It wouldn’t be an easy choice.”

It seems like Jewish baseball players face the Yom Kippur dilemma each year, but it’s only the more popular players in predominantly Jewish cities who are discussed. In recent years in addition to Youkilis, Ryan Braun (who’s father is Jewish and is known as the “Hebrew Hammer”), Gabe Kapler and Shawn Green have responded to the Yom Kippur question by sitting out games in some years and playing in other years. Yom Kippur doesn’t pose the same dilemma to Jewish pitchers like Scott Feldman of the Texas Rangers or Jason Marquis of the San Diego Padres who can be rescheduled in the starting rotation or simply not used in relief during that particular game.

Interestingly, this dilemma for baseball players has been named “The Sandy Koufax question” after Koufax sat the first game of the World Series in 1965. However, Koufax pitched in the second game instead so it wasn’t the same sacrifice as Hank Greenberg who refused to play baseball on Yom Kippur in 1934, even though the Detroit Tigers were in the middle of a pennant race.

A funny story is often told about that Dodgers World Series game which had Don Drysdale pitching in Game 1 in place of Koufax. Drysdale gave up seven runs in 2 2/3 innings and when the manager came to pull him from the game, Drysdale deadpanned, “I bet right now you wish I was Jewish, too!” Koufax went on to lose Game 2.

Some baseball players view the decision to play or not on Yom Kippur to be a personal choice, but not everyone agrees. In an article in the Forward a couple years ago Hank Greenberg’s granddaughter Melanie (Former MLB Deputy Commissioner Steve Greenberg’s daughter) wrote, “Heavy though the burden may be, I believe that Jewish players share the same obligation as my grandfather — to serve as representatives for their people. Admittedly, he lived in different times. Jewish athletes, however, still have the ability to affect their communities.”

At least this year the White Sox helped their star out and he didn’t have to make a decision. Youkilis has said that he will fast and attend synagogue this Yom Kippur.

(c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller
Categories
9/11 Moshe Tutnauer Peter O'Rourke Rosh Hashanah September 11 Unetane Tokef West Bloomfield Yom Kippur

Officer Patrick O’Rourke – Who Shall Live? Who Shall Die?

Wow! It’s been 11 years since that horrific, horrific day. On that early Tuesday morning in September 2001, cantors around the world were already rehearsing their rendition of the U’netane Tokef prayer in preparation for the upcoming High Holy Days.

All shall pass before You like members of the flock. Like a shepherd pasturing his flock, making sheep pass under his staff, so shall You cause to pass, count, calculate, and consider the soul of all the living; and You shall apportion the fixed needs of all Your creatures and inscribe their verdict. On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire…

“Who shall live and who shall die? Who before his time?” Those words were echoing in my head yesterday morning as I read the news alert that West Bloomfield Police Officer Patrick O’Rourke had been shot dead by Ricky Coley, a man who barricaded himself in his West Bloomfield home (and later committed suicide). Officer O’Rourke was only 39-years-old and left behind his wife and four young children. His colleagues in the West Bloomfield Police called him “the most-liked person in this building.”

I’m aware that police officers get shot and killed in the line of duty and they go into the force knowing that is a reality. But it’s never happened here in West Bloomfield. I grew up here. I work here. This occurred less than four miles from my home. Tragic just doesn’t seem like a strong enough word for this.

To honor the memory of Officer O’Rourke and to remember those who perished on 9/11 in New York City, Washington D.C., and on United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania I offer this beautiful and moving U’netane Tokef inspired poem written by my late teacher Rabbi Moshe Tutnauer, of blessed memory:

I used to think that the U’netaneh Tokef was written
either by someone old, pondering imminent death,
or by someone who had endured plagues and earthquakes.

And then I watched a plane carrying human beings
Being crashed into a building full of other human beings
And as I saw the ball of fire, and the people jumping, and the smoke,
I began to ponder those awesome words:
         Who will live and who will die
         Who in due time and who all too suddenly
         Who by fire, and who by water
         Who by the sword, and who by wild beasts (humans!)
         Who by starvation, and who by dehydration
         Who by suffocation, and by hurtling objects

I knew that even the angels were confounded
No still small voice could be heard
Only the deafening sound
of fuel exploding,
of buildings imploding,
of humans screaming

So scholars may argue whether U’netaneh Tokef
Was written in the 5th or 10th century
But I know that it was really written last week.

Now the original author had faith –
Perhaps the decree’s bitterness
May be sweetened
By turning into oneself and examining one’s deeds
By turning to God and seeking Divine inspiration
By turning to others and acting justly toward them.

May each of us
Find the way
To cleanse our souls of bitterness
To raise our spirits to Godliness
To open our hands to righteousness

Touch the ones you love
Hear the Shofar’s voice
Taste the apples and honey
And try to make this a sweeter year.

May the memory of Officer Peter O’Rourke be a blessing to his family and may we continue to pray for the souls of the 2,977 victims of the 9/11 attack.

(c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller
Categories
Book Review Books High Holy Days Inspirational Mitch Albom Rosh Hashanah Spirituality The Timekeeper Time Yom Kippur

We All Try to Beat Time – Mitch Albom’s "The Time Keeper" (Review)

“Tuedays With Morrie” Author Reminds Us To Live Life and Worry Less About Keeping Time

I have a feeling that author Mitch Albom timed the release of his new book, “The Time Keeper,” to coincide with the Jewish High Holy Days. This work of fiction forces us to consider the meaning of time and why it is not good for humans to try to control it. Albom’s message, interwoven in a beautiful story, will likely bring much food for thought to Jewish worshipers during this contemplative season, known as the Days of Awe.

Albom is a self-proclaimed secular Jew, as he articulated in both “Tuesdays With Morrie” and “Have a Little Faith”; however, he cannot hide the godliness that permeates this novel. In the acknowledgement section of his latest work Albom writes, “First, thanks to God. I do nothing without His grace.” There can be no question that “The Time Keeper” comes from a place of deep spirituality, if not an overt association with institutional religion. Issues of free will, reward and punishment, divine intervention and profound prayer inform Albom’s characters throughout.

“The Time Keeper” opens by looking at the difference between humans and animals. While animals seem to just live their lives without considering or even knowing about the concept of time, we humans are always thinking about time. From generation to generation, we count the seconds, minutes, hours, days and years of our lives. While we have no control over time, we still wish to either speed it up or slow it down. (Spoiler alert…)

During the Days of Awe, Mitch Albom will talk about “The Time Keeper” at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles where his childhood Jewish day school classmate and friend David Wolpe serves as rabbi.

Albom has brilliantly constructed three characters who demonstrate how humans seek to control time. Creatively named Dor (Hebrew for “generation”), Albom’s first character lives 5,000 years ago and was the first human to measure time. Counting months and hours and breaths, Dor neurotically seeks to keep time while all those around him try to conquer God. It was during his generation that the Tower of Babel is constructed, a project conceived of by Dor’s best friend Nim. Dor tries to convince his childhood friend that conquering time was a more noble effort than building a corporeal structure to the sky to overtake the incorporeal, but Nim couldn’t understand that and banishes Dor to a life of exile.

When Dor’s wife falls deathly ill he runs rather than returning her from exile to get help. In his deep regret he wishes he could have stopped time. As a punishment for trying to gain human control over time he is sentenced to eternal life as Father Time in a cave where he hears the cries of all humanity throughout the generations. Their cries are about time and their desire to dominate it.

Dor wants to stop time, while Albom’s other two protagonists want it to either speed up or slow down time based on life’s circumstances. Sarah Lemon is an overweight, high school senior with low self-esteem, anxiety issues and a crush on an out-of-her-league boy. She is a bright student who gets perfect grades and has a promising future, but her teenage social struggles make her want time to end by committing suicide.

On the other side of the spectrum is billionaire hedge fund tycoon Victor Delamonte, who after a successful life and a long marriage is on dialysis to help him live but a few more months. Victor, however, will do anything to extend his life and buy himself more time on earth. He’s even willing to stop dialysis if it means having his lifeless body frozen in a Cryonics lab to return generations later when there’s a cure for his cancer and he can return to the life of wealth and luxury he has come to know. Sarah wants less time. Victor wants more time. And Dor is charged with the mission of helping them both realize that control over time is more of a curse than a blessing. As Dor himself learned, controlling time is no gift.

Rather than preach to us that we should end our futile preoccupation with time, Albom constructs a wonderful fantasy with characters both human and mythical to drive that point home. It is a skill that Albom has demonstrated before by offering wisdom through his dying professor (“Tuesdays With Morrie”) and his dying childhood rabbi (“Have a Little Faith”).

Dor delivers wise counsel after spending thousands of years in a “purgatory” of eternal life. “Everything man does today to be efficient, to fill the hour? It does not satisfy. It only makes him hungry to do more. Man wants to own his existence. But no one owns time,” Dor counsels Victor.

Albom’s Victor shows us that no matter how much money one has, it is impossible to beat time. After all, billionaires have the same 24 hours in a day that the homeless have. Victor has more wealth than he could ever spend, but he craves for an eternity. Again, the author has fun with his character’s names. Even the “Victors” have to play the cards they’re dealt and Sarah Lemon shows us that no matter how challenging life gets, you need to use the time you have to make lemonade from those “lemons.” [Note: Albom told me that he didn’t make these character associations intentionally.]

What is important is for us to make the best use of the time that we have. We are unable to stop time and we are unable to speed it up. However, we can seek to do the best we can in the amount of time we are given by God. All of us are time keepers. All around us, we have clocks and watches and calendars. Six millennia ago, Dor sought the key to keep track of time. Today, we are slaves to it. Time is kept on our wrists and computer screens, on our cell phones and on the walls of our home, but Mitch Albom teaches us that being a time keeper is not the way to live. Through Dor’s wisdom he warns, “There is a reason God limits our days … To make each one precious.” Perhaps that is the best message for the Jewish season of introspection.

(c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller
Categories
Craig Taubman Elul Humor Inspirational Jewels of Elul Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur

Craig Taubman’s Jewels of Elul

My friend Craig Taubman, a very talented musician in California, asked me to “make something funny” to promote his 8th annual “Jewels of Elul” project.

For the past eight years Craig has been collecting short stories, anecdotes and introspections from fascinating people and publishing them on his Let My People Sing website during the Jewish month of Elul. As he writes, “There is a great Jewish tradition to dedicate the 29 days in the month of Elul to study and prepare for the coming high holy days. The time is supposed to challenge us to use each day as an opportunity for growth and discovery.”

Apparently, I misunderstood Craig when he asked me because I could have sworn he said “Drools of Elul.” Kol Hakavod on this awesome project Craig! Shabbat Shalom!

(c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller