An Ethical Will -- 3/26/48

During the Middle Ages it was the custom for dying fathers to leave their children not only a will disposing of the physical assets of the parent but also something called an ethical will in which the parent offered to his offspring some advice with regard to their future behavior and some thoughts about life in general...

My heart skipped a beat when I read the opening lines of this 1948 sermon—my father’s farewell remarks to Tree of Life Congregation of Columbia, South Carolina before departing to his next pulpit in Lexington, Kentucky. It has only been a few years since I, myself, wrote an ethical will which I shared with my family, a few friends, and essentially the rest of the entire world after posting it to my website.[i] The concept of an ethical will had never been discussed when I was young, so I was delighted to learn that my father not only knew of my recent discovery, but more importantly had written this sermon to be his own ethical will. While I look at the entire archives of his sermons as his ethical, spiritual and intellectual legacy, this sermon stands out in this regard.

The thesis herein is what it takes to be a “good Jew.” There is something about my father’s use of the terms “good Jew,” “real Jew,” and “loyal Jew” which may seem a bit jarring in an age of ecumenicism and political correctness. Nonetheless, the message is a cogent one. How many people these days would even pose the question, “What does it take to be a good Jew?”  Sidney Ballon’s answer was profound in 1948, and remains so.

After describing the traits of a good Jew, he closes with what he refers to as “a word of caution of a personal nature.” This stirring conclusion in many ways could have been his epitaph—his ethical will condensed into two words—“Carry on.”

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My Dear Friends:

During the Middle Ages it was the custom for dying fathers to leave their children not only a will disposing of the physical assets of the parent but also something called an ethical will in which the parent offered to his offspring some advice with regard to their future behavior and some thoughts about life in general, and there have been preserved for us a number of such documents with very fine and profound material dealing with ethical and moral questions. A departing rabbi, I believe is likewise expected to leave some profound last words, an ethical will to his congregation. I do not expect to be very profound. The mood of last night’s delightful get-together with its pleasant and light touch is still with me and it would be difficult to get profound even if I were able. But if they will not be profound last words, they unfortunately must at least be last words, and they should be somewhat serious words because the task in which we have been cooperating these past few years is a serious task and the situation which confronts Jewish life today is a serious one. 

I thought back over the few years since I first came here and thought of what I had to say that first time that I spoke to you and I found that my message then was on how to draw comfort and how to face the world in the midst of the serious problems confronting the Jew in that time. It was 1939, just before the war in Europe, and the crescendo of hate and fury against our people was mounting. Today my friends after having fought a war, a second war to preserve the world and save human decency it is saddening to note that Jewish troubles are not over, that war has served only to put six million Jews out of their misery, and it has taken from us the sanguine pre-war hopes for redemption and salvation. The struggle is on, and although there was a faint gleam in the sky, the dawn has not yet come. These critical times make it all the more difficult for a rabbi to prescribe for his people, for even the rabbi of today is troubled and faced with uncertainties before the difficulties of the moment.

But there are one or two traits of Jewish character that I think of that I would call to your attention on such an occasion as this, traits that I believe mark the good Jew today without regard to the particular brand of Judaism he espouses or the particular solution he may have in mind for Jewish problems and [these should not be controversial in nature.] And so I say to you that to be a good Jew in these days our first consideration must be to have a love of fellow Jews. I came across a new poem recently written by Rabbi Louis Newman[ii] of New York that I think expresses this perfectly and I read it to you. It is entitled, “When I Shall Die,” and he says:

When I shall die, may I win praise or blame

As one who little prized an honored name

For deed he wrought within the marketplace

Which pleased the fancies of the populace.

But I demand that men shall give me due

As one who loved his anguished fellow-Jew

Who tilled a plot of scorned forsaken earth

And helped it give eternal harvest birth.

As one who loved his anguished fellow-Jew—this is one of the prime requisites today of the real Jew. No man today can call himself a loyal Jew unless he feels and feels deeply the plight of his co-religionists abroad, unless he has been shaken and quivers within himself at the fate of world Jewry these past few years and at the gigantic hoax and betrayal that have been perpetrated upon Israel at present. He who does not respond to the plea of the hour whether it be through the United Jewish Appeal or some other way of indicating one's sympathy and indignation has ice water in his veins and not Jewish blood.

And a second trait of Jewish character that comes to my mind is this—and I hope that I can make it understood because I’m afraid that it is more of an emotional feeling rather than a clearly defined trait of character. The good Jew and the loyal Jew should have a sense of identification with the sweep of Jewish history as it has traversed the centuries. The good Jew does not conceive of himself as an isolated individual living in the twentieth century and confining his interests to this particular period of world history. The good Jew feels strongly his roots in dim antiquity. He cherishes deeply his ancestry going back to the days of Abraham, and there is pictured vividly in his mind the story of his people as they came into and departed from Egypt, as they went into the land of Canaan and gave birth to the ideals of the western world, and as they studied and taught and suffered and hoped through the many centuries in many lands down to this very day. He feels this as a part of his personal experience. He is entranced by the destiny of Israel and feels himself as a part of that destiny. And he looks not only at the past but ahead into the dim future, and although darkness prevails at the moment, he is confident and he is essentially an optimist as to the outcome. With all his heart and soul he believes that they that sow in tears shall reap in joy,[iii] that sorrow shall be turned into gladness and mourning into a good day as the Book of Esther[iv] has it.

And thirdly we here in this country, if we are good and loyal Jews, need a sense of obligation for American Jewry as a whole. We need an appreciation of the destiny of the Jews in this country. If we are aware of Jewish history we know that there has been one center after another in the lands of dispersion which have nourished and maintained the Jewish faith. We have had Babylon and North Africa, and Spain and Poland, and others, and each in its turn on the stage of history has played a heroic role in the life of our people and been the center of culture and faith. It is now American Jewry that must carry the torch and that must accept the responsibility. We are now numerically the strongest and financially the soundest and have a great role to play in the history of the Jew even with a Jewish center in Palestine, and the loyal American Jew senses the challenge. He supports those institutions of learning which nurture Judaism, he sustains the Synagogue which is the dynamo of Jewish life. There is a tendency today amongst American Jews to give their devotion and their dollars chiefly to those causes which deal with relief and with defense and to disregard to a large degree those causes which speak of the more intangible values of culture and religion. We dare not forsake these, however, for if we have a Jewish heart we must surely know that without the preservation of our culture and our faith we shall soon lose the incentive to do other things as well. It is not only physical life that must be our interest but our spiritual life as well, and American Jewry caries the greatest responsibility in this regard.

These are some of the chief qualities of the good Jew, things which we feel intuitively, things which are difficult to describe, but which must be carefully nurtured and developed within our hearts if Jewish life is to be meaningful and strong. And as I leave these thoughts with you I should like to add a word of caution of a more personal nature. I should like to refer to a number of remarks I have heard from good people who are my friends and who think they pay me a great compliment by these remarks, but who actually leave me somewhat saddened by them. On several occasions I have heard the remark that now that I am leaving they would not have such great responsibilities to the Synagogue, because they really had either joined or contributed or were active out of a sense of friendship for the rabbi personally. Now with a new rabbi they would have no reason to continue to the same extent, or to any extent, their association with the Synagogue. 

My friend I appreciate the friendship and I cherish it, but if all that I have been able to leave with you is a sense of personal friendship, then I have failed. Because my ministry has sought to instill in you and in all this community the qualities and feelings that I have already described to you. And if I had succeeded in this, then it would make no difference who stood in this pulpit. You would know that such a great work is above any one personality, and that such a great work must be carried on regardless of personalities. And if there is any one word which I would make my last it is the prayer that you would not let that which we have so carefully built up together slide back. Maintain your ground here and go on further. A new man will give you new insights. You will have fresh incentive and fresh inspiration. Build your new Temple and fill it with your prayers and with your love. And carry on for your sake and for your children’s sake and for the sake of all Israel. I would hate to think that I have given to you these years of activity only to have these efforts go to waste. And you will be paying me much more of a tribute by carrying on your efforts than by informing me that after all it was only for me. Carry on I say to you as my parting wish. Carry on. Remembering always that—

It is a tree of life to them that lay hold of it.

And all the supporters thereof are happy.[v]

And may God bless you in your endeavors. Amen.

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[i] http://yeshaya.net/

[ii] Louis Israel Newman (1893-1972) was the rabbi of Temple Rodef Shalom in New York City from 1930 until retirement. Newman was also a poet and a playwright, creating numerous plays and cantatas.

[iii] Psalm 126:5

[iv] Esther 9:22

[v] Proverbs 3:18 One can only imagine the quiet glee with which Sidney Ballon crafted this not too subtle reminder to the members of Tree of Life Congregation of their continuing obligation to be "supporters thereof."

The War and You -- 12/12/1941

This sermon was delivered at an historic moment—the first Shabbat evening service after Japan’s brutal attack on Pearl Harbor and the declarations of war. When confronted by the harsh reality of defending the world from totalitarianism Ballon could easily have dismissed all of his youthful idealism and the pacifism he espoused from his student pulpit in the 1930’s[i]. Instead he carefully wove a multifaceted message, railing against those whose political and economic policies after the first world war led to this conflagration, while rallying his congregants in an hour of confusion and despair to face the challenges ahead.

It remains for us but to keep our morale high, to keep our faith in our way of life, to keep our nerve in the face of the blistering mad men who already see the handwriting on the wall.

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Since last we met for Sabbath worship, a great shock has come to our nation. As a result of a sudden and treacherous attack by the navy of Japan, as a result of the declaration of war upon us by Germany and Italy, our government has been left with no choice but to declare war in return and to throw itself fully and actively into the world struggle which began a little over two years ago. We had felt for a long time that at some future date we, too, might find ourselves in the war. We had been preparing for such an emergency. We had already been accustomed to see the sight of large numbers of men in uniform, and yet the blow, when it did come, came at such an unexpected moment and was delivered with such fury and effectiveness, that Americans, in spite of all preparation, were left stunned and unbelieving.

The involvement at last of the United States brings a few troubled thoughts to our mind. We cannot help but think of the vain labor of all the peace organizations that were active in the twenties and the early thirties. We cannot help but remember the peace pledges that many of us signed as idealistic students in those days. We think of the ministers, such as Stephen Wise[ii] and John Haynes Holmes[iii] who rose in their pulpits and condemned themselves for supporting the last war and who promised never to lend their pulpits to the support of another. We remember the idealistic propaganda that laboring people all over could easily stop war by refusing to produce the materials of war. We remember the statements that war could be brought to an end easily by the simple refusal of men to refuse to bear arms. We think also of how religious institutions were condemned because they gave their blessing to those who fought. We think of these things of the past and sigh in the face of the realities of the present. We especially, who are faced with the responsibility of leading men from the pulpit, and who have so frequently spoken of the ugliness of war, we are especially disturbed by these thoughts. What will those men say who promised never to support another war? What will happen to the pledges of yesterday? What choice do we have today? The jingoists, and those who cried preparedness and opposed disarmaments will now cry, I told you so. Are they right and all the others wrong? Are idealists all fools?

In spite of these troublesome thoughts, the fact remains that no one can withdraw from the struggle. The war is upon us and it must be supported to the full regardless of our dreams of peace in the past. It is idle to think back over our futile efforts to have peace but this does not mean that the jingoists who cried for more armaments were right. Not at all. The roots of this war go back to our economic and political actions after the last, and those who opposed disarmament and international cooperation are among those responsible. Regardless, however, of our lack of foresight in the past, we must face the realities of the present. We know that when a patient does not follow the proper diet, he is subject to disease, but when the disease comes, if we are interested in the life of the patient we must fight it at once, and if a major bloodletting operation is necessary, we have no choice. We can only hope that when the patient recovers the lesson will not have been lost upon him and that he will not be so careless with himself in the future. We know now that the wrong political diet brought on the present calamity, it could have been prevented in the beginning, but now the situation being what it is regretfully but full heartedly we must proceed with the operation which alone can save the patient, and we can only hope that the patient will not listen to the “I told you so’s” of those who helped mislead him in the first place.

When the news of the war first came to us, it was quite natural for us to become quite emotional and upset. We would scarcely have been human if it had been otherwise, but now that we have had time to absorb the shock there are several things that we should tell ourselves. First, we must realize that we cannot continue in the same confused state of mind as we found ourselves in at the beginning. In time of emergency there is no place for hysterical emotion. The most elementary course in first-aid will teach us that when an emergency occurs the person who gives way to weeping and wailing is of no use whatsoever and is in the way. Cool deliberate thinking is required. This does not mean we are to be indifferent to what goes on, but it means that our senses are to be organized for effective response to the demands of the situation. Insofar as possible and consistent with the emergency, our personal and community life must continue in a normal manner. For example, we in Columbia,[iv] like any other community, have our organizations and we make plans for their activities. We should not permit ourselves to become so upset emotionally as to hinder or suspend the normal functioning of these organizations or to drop all plans for the future because of fear due to the war. To refuse to carry on is to play into the hands of the enemy. It means we are frightened and confused. It means we are filled with a spirit of defeatism, and this to the enemy is worth more than his planes and his bombs. Above all we must not become demoralized and panicky.

The description of Congress that came over the radio during the broadcasts dealing with the various declarations of war was impressive. Monday when Roosevelt spoke[v], Congress was excited. A constant hum of noise could be heard throughout the gathering until the president actually began speaking and when he finished there was an almost hysterical applause. On Thursday, however, Congress was calm. The first flush of excitement had passed. Congress was down to business in a serious calm manner. We must take our cue from the National legislature. Or outbursts of emotion must yield to quiet reason.

To continue to function in a normal manner, however does not mean to overlook that we are actually in a state of emergency. We cannot hope to remain completely unaffected by the situation. The need for defense will cause the government to call upon us all in one way or another. And even if we do not find ourselves actually in the armed forces, there will be things for us to do. War in these days is not for armies and navies alone. Total war involves the whole population, and there will no doubt be something for all of us to do. As the organization of defense proceeds there will undoubtedly be more and more calls for service. Thus far the radio constantly reminds us to buy defense bonds. Calls have been sent out for women to report to the filter centers. There is the Red Cross, the Volunteer Bureau of the Defense Recreation Committee, the U.S.O. centers which need civilian help in carrying on their important task of helping morale. It is time to think of what we are going to do with ourselves. It’s time to cut out the extravagances and indulgences to which we have been accustomed. We have to learn to do with less and not complain. We have to learn to conserve our energies and to stop wasting time. Idle pleasures must give way to more purposeful activity. There is a death struggle before us, and everyone must lend a hand.

In this task we shall be strengthened by the knowledge that what we are struggling to protect is a precious heritage and is worth the effort. On Dec 15th, next Monday we celebrate in this country the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. This bill of rights for a century and a half has been the foundation and guarantee of American democracy. It has secured for every American freedom of conscience and religion. It has secured freedom of speech and of the press and of assembly. It has secured the citizens of this country against unreasonable demands by the government. It has guaranteed to all fair treatment before the Law. It was proclaimed guard the dignity of every human being and to recognize his value. It was the official proclamation that government exists for the sake of the people, to protect their well-being and their interests. In the governments of our enemies such a bill of rights is meaningless. To them human life is valueless. People exist only to do the bidding of the state. The whim of the state is law and against the people have no recourse. They hate freedom. And their ambition is only to enslave the world and make themselves its master. Hitler, in speaking to the Reichstag this week when he made his declaration of war against the United States, said that this struggle will determine history for centuries to come. This is perhaps the only truth he has ever spoken. History will be determined for centuries to come. This struggle will determine whether man will have a chance to continue to develop his democratic institutions, to continue the type of government which cherishes a Bill of Rights, or must submit as slaves to a master state and the rule of brute force. Lincoln once said the union could not exist half free and half slave. The same is true of the world today. It is either Hitler’s way or ours. There is no compromise. And if it is his way that wins out, the law of the jungle will be the only law and everything that gives life dignity and beauty will be destroyed.

Fortunately though the situation is serious, it is not hopeless. We have the resources to win. We may accept the word of our president that the outcome is not in doubt. The blow against us is but the desperate struggle of a cornered rat, and though it may take time to kill the rat, his fate is sealed. It remains for us but to keep our morale high, to keep our faith in our way of life, to keep our nerve in the face of the blistering mad men who already see the handwriting on the wall.

The prayer of the chaplain in Congress yesterday was a beautiful thing. It was stirring, inspiring and full of faith. In it he quoted the psalmist who said, “Though weeping may tarry for the night, joy cometh in the morning.”[vi] Let us gird ourselves to endure the weeping of the night but let us look forward hopefully, optimistically, and with faith to the joy that will come with the morning.

Amen

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[i] See Shall We Fight Again? -- 11/13/36 http://harav-shimon.blogspot.com/2012/01/shall-we-fight-again-111336.html

[ii] Stephen Samuel Wise (born Weisz, 1874 –1949) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American Reform rabbi and Zionist leader.

[iii] John Haynes Holmes (1879–1964) was a prominent Unitarian minister and pacifist, noted for his anti-war activism.

[iv] This sermon was delivered at Tree of Life Congregation in Columbia, South Carolina,

[v] Monday, December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered an address to a Joint Session of Congress in which he famously described the previous day as "a date which will live in infamy".

[vi] Psalm 30:5

Thou Shalt Tell -- 4/17/59

The rabbis of the shtetl used to give but two sermons a year. One of these was on the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur—Shabbat Teshuva—the Sabbath of Return. The other was on the Shabbat preceding Passover—Shabbat Hagadol—the Big Sabbath. It might have seemed big because the rabbi would give lengthy detailed instructions on Passover observance. Rabbi Sidney Ballon—a modern suburban American rabbi—delivered a sermon virtually every week. I’m not sure whether it was he or another rabbi who once told me that rabbis tend to have only five sermons anyway—meaning that there are only a handful of topics on which they preach repeatedly, in one form or another, throughout their careers in the pulpit. 

One of Rabbi Ballon’s most frequented topics was that of the failure of many modern Jews to be knowledgeable of their heritage, and to demonstrate genuine concern and involvement in Jewish life. The theme of apathy and ignorance underlies a vast number his sermons. Based on the Biblical injunction to teach our children the story of our redemption from slavery at the Passover seder each year, this Shabbat Hagadol sermon focuses more on the positive aspect of these themes by emphasizing the need for education in and commitment to living a full Jewish life—not only for our children’s sake, but for ourselves as well.

If Jewish life is to continue meaningfully we shall have to overcome this tendency to live our Judaism by proxy and restore our individual selves to the center of Jewish living.

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Tonight in Jewish tradition is one of the most important Sabbath Eves of the year. It is the Sabbath before Passover and is known as Shabbos Hagadol, the Great Sabbath. On this Sabbath all good Jews looked forward to the holiday to come and the rabbis reminded their people of the proper manner of observance and the meaning of the festival. Of course, we hardly need to be reminded of the basic significance of Passover. Its main theme is fundamental in Jewish thinking. Passover brings us a glorious story of a people’s march to freedom, of the birth of a nation, and this episode, with the preceding centuries of slavery, is the sharpest memory that Jews have preserved from the past. Over and over again the Bible refers to it, and because of this experience Jews are urged to treasure freedom and to oppose oppression not only for themselves but for everyone.

But there are also other implications of the festival that can be found, certain minor themes which form the background for the major one. And one of these is the reminder of the role of the individual in keeping and transmitting our faith. In the Passover story in the Book of Exodus we read,

V’higadta l’vanecha—thou shalt tell thy son in that day saying: It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.[i]

Here is a commandment [that places the emphasis on][ii] the individual Jew to tell his offspring the story of the Jewish past, and not only that but a reminder that what happened to the Jewish people collectively must also be considered as something done for each and every Jew personally. There is a personal involvement reflected in both the responsibility for transmitting the story of the Passover and in our concept of its significance. The Jew is not told to send his child to school for Jewish information; he is not to send his child to the priest or to the temple for instruction. Thou shalt tell him. And this does not just mean a responsibility for telling or giving information. Transmission of our Jewish heritage is more than a telling. It is a living. It is setting an example. It is the creating of a home with Jewish atmosphere and Jewish feeling. This is the primary means we have of influencing our children.

To bear this out we have but to note that the most important aspect of Passover observance is the Seder[iii], a home ceremony which is celebrated in intimate family surroundings—a ceremony which creates a special Jewish atmosphere in the home—a ceremony which emphasizes the role of the parents and encourages the child to ask questions so that the father may the better be able to instruct. To be sure this is a ceremony for the first nights of Passover only. We do not duplicate the procedure on any other occasion of the year, but its spirit is one which is basic to Jewish life at all times. Where is the child to get his Judaism? In the religious school? Of course, we must send children to school. In the temple?  Of course, we must train children in the art of worship and teach them to bow before the Almighty. But most important of all, the child must get his Judaism in the home. Thou shalt tell thy children. The power of home example determines more often than not whether a child will be responsive to temple and school. The attitude of the home will determine whether or not the child will take his temple and school seriously. The kind of Judaism that is practiced in the home determines the importance of Jewish attitudes and Jewish practices in the mind of the child. We see this all the time in our own school. Where parental attitudes are positive toward Judaism our children are susceptible to what we try to give them, and where we have problems with the children the likelihood is the parental attitudes are negative.[iv]

This personal involvement, however, is not merely a matter of influencing children. It is important for our own personal religious development and satisfaction—that a Jew functions best and assumes his Jewish responsibilities best when he feels himself personally involved in the Jewish story. The Haggada[v] for Seder tells us that each Jew must feel as if he himself had come forth out of Egypt. In the story of the four sons[vi], as a matter of fact, that son who does not feel personally concerned with the proceedings is called a rasha, a wicked one, and he is told that if he had been in Egypt he would not have been considered worthy of being redeemed. The Jewish story is not to be considered dry history out of the past. It is to be considered the story of our personal family tree. It is not just the collective ancestry of the Jewish people that was redeemed from Egypt, but our grandfathers, our fathers, even us, ourselves. This is the ideal Jewish attitude. And when we have such a close personal involvement with our tradition, then we are much more apt to exert ourselves with our Jewish responsibilities for the present. A man can sympathize with the needs of other families but he usually exerts greater effort and is ready to sacrifice for his own. We need, therefore, not just a warm feeling in our hearts for the collective entity of which we are a part—the Jewish people. We need a sense of family belongingness, of personal involvement in all that the Jewish people have accomplished or hope to accomplish in the present. We cannot say the Jewish people are the people of the book and shirk our own responsibility for studying that book. We cannot say the synagogue is important as a house of worship and then withdraw ourselves personally from participating in that worship. We cannot say the Jewish people need Israel or must maintain philanthropies and Jewish institutions, and forget our own personal responsibility for what the Jewish people must accomplish. We, the individuals, are the Jewish people. The Jewish people as a whole cannot accomplish more than any of its individuals is willing to do.

It is one of the problems of our time that Jewish loyalties and obligations are thought of in a collective sense, and we seem to forget the significance of the individual. Collectively we create synagogues and schools and are proud of Jewish causes and institutions, but personally we permit ourselves to be assimilated into the manner of the environment and homes are losing their Jewish stamp, our pattern of life is losing its Jewish flavor, and we think our Jewish institutions—religious, charitable, and Israel—can run without us. We want the synagogue to observe the Sabbath and the home is entirely wochidig[vii]. We want prayer in the synagogue, but the home is never humble and thankful. We want to teach Jewish ideals to our children, but in the home and marketplace it is what is practical and what is pleasurable that is most often followed.

Judaism was not meant to be compartmentalized. There is no such thing as a Jewish way to be followed in the synagogue and the school and a different standard for the home and the world at large. Everything we do is to have a background of Jewish meaningfulness, a unity of spirit.

Passover, through the Seder and its ritual, dramatizes the need for a personal Judaism as well as a group loyalty—the importance of a sense of personal involvement and commitment, a readiness to give to Jewish living and thinking a high priority in the scheme of things and not to make them secondary to convenience or conformity to the standards of the crowd.

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan[viii] once pointed out that in former years each Jewish home hired a Shabbos goy[ix] who was supposed to be helpful around the house so that the family might keep the Sabbath without violation. Now he says, Jews hire rabbis who are supposed to keep the Sabbath for them so that families can break it without being troubled. If Jewish life is to continue meaningfully we shall have to overcome this tendency to live our Judaism by proxy and restore our individual selves to the center of Jewish living.

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[i] Exodus 13:8

[ii] Ballon typically typed every word of his sermons, double-spaced, allowing for insertions and corrections in the spaces between lines of text. Regrettably, some of his insertions are hand written and undecipherable, or on occasion the sense of the edit is clear even if the complete text has not been entered. In these cases I provide brackets to indicate that I have had to exercise some editorial judgment to make the language flow as it might have as he spoke the words from the pulpit.

[iii] The Passover Seder ("order, arrangement") is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The Seder is a ritual performed by a community or by multiple generations of a family, involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.

[iv] There were notable exceptions to this rule. It no doubt was a source of much frustration that Ballon’s two sons were often among the worst offenders when it came to religious school diligence and cooperation. Fortunately he did see the day when his first born, Rabbi Jeffrey Ballon ז״ל, became an ordained rabbi. I can only hope that he had the vision to foresee the day when I too would find deep meaning in so many of his words, and the heritage he so fervently tried to impart.

[v] The Haggada(h) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder.

[vi] The traditional Haggadah speaks of "four sons"—one who is wise, one who is wicked, one who is simple, and one who does not know to ask. Each of these sons phrases his question about the seder in a different way. The Haggadah recommends answering each son according to his question, using one of three verses in the Torah that refer to this exchange.

[vii] A simple translation from the Yiddish is "weekday" meaning, in this context, that Shabbat is no different than any other day of the week. Thanks to Cantor Murray Simon who, as a student at the Hebrew Union College cantorial program, was a student-cantor at Nassau Community Temple, and a close lifelong friend of the Ballons.

[viii] Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (1881-1983), was a rabbi, essayist and Jewish educator and the co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism.

[ix] A Shabbos goy, (Yiddish) is a non-Jewish individual who regularly assists a Jewish individual or organization by performing certain acts on the Sabbath which are forbidden to Jews within Jewish law. The phrase is a combination of the word "Shabbos" meaning the Sabbath, and "Goy", which literally means "a nation" but colloquially and practically means a "non-Jew."

Remember Amalek! -- 3/8/63

In recent years, the term ”evildoers” was used by George W, Bush to rouse the passions of the American people to wage war in the Middle East. It almost gave confronting evil a bad name. Consequently, with Bush’s jingoism still ringing in our ears, it may be jarring to hear Rabbi Sidney Ballon’s use of the word “evildoer” in the following pre-Purim sermon. In Jewish history, however, genuinely evil Hamans and Hitlers have too often conspired against the Jewish people. Remembering these perpetrators, and combating evil is an essential component of Jewish life in all ages. In this sermon, delivered during the relatively benign era of the early 1960s, the ”evildoer” in question is a Biblical character by the name of Amalek. Ballon asserts that it is not for the sake of blind vengeance that we are commanded to remember his name.

...the pleas to “Remember Amalek” can have a very positive meaning for us. It is a command not to hate the enemy more, but to remember the evil of prejudice and oppression which he fosters and to fight this evil with all our strength in whatever form it appears.... it is a plea for a greater sense of personal responsibility in the building of a better world....

When it comes to "rebbitzens" Jean H. Ballon broke the mold. Always her own woman, and a virtuosa in the kitchen. In the holiday spirit, from the Nassau Community Temple Sisterhood Cookbook that she edited, here is her recipe for the best hamantash you will ever nosh!

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Tonight is the Sabbath before Purim, and it is traditionally given the special name of Shabbos Zachor, which we usually interpret as Sabbath of Remembrance. This title comes to it because it has been customary in congregations other than Reform to read on this Sabbath not only the regular Torah portion of the week, but also an additional paragraph out of the book of Deuteronomy, which begins with the word Zachor and which reads according to the new Torah translation, “remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt--how undeterred by the fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore, when the Lord grants safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget.”[i]

We read this passage just before Purim because the villain Haman[ii] has always been associated with Amalek. In the Book of Esther, Haman is called as Agagite, and Agag was the King of the Amalekites, therefore, Haman and Amalek were considered somehow to be related, and both of these names became equally symbolic of all enemies of the Jewish people.

As we think of this passage, however, which tells us to remember what Amalek has done, two questions come to mind. First of all we wonder at the contrast between the spirit of these words and the spirit with which we deal with Haman on the day of Purim. Purim is such an easy going holiday, a day of merriment and joy. We hardly take Haman very seriously, and we laugh at him and all that he stands for. But when we speak of Amalek, it seems to be in a rather vindictive tone and totally without humor. This is not at all in keeping with the spirit of Purim. And so we may question why our tradition called for us to go out of our way and engage in this extra reading from another section of the Bible in connection with Purim, when its spirit is so different.

And secondly we may well ask why we read this passage when it differs not merely from the spirit of Purim, but also seems to be at odds with the spirit of Judaism in general. The bible speaks so often of love and forgiveness and mercy. It tells us not to seek vengeance and to love they neighbor as thyself. The rabbis speak of the children of Israel as merciful children of merciful fathers. There seems to be a striking conflict between this ideal and the injunction to remember what our enemy has done to us in the past and never to forget.

And yet the idea of remembering the Amaleks and Hamans of history can be justified. And we might note first of all, even though we remember, we Jews do not have to defend ourselves against any charge of being vengeful or vindictive. The antagonism of the Jew through the centuries against those who oppressed him found its release for the most part in a harmless Purim spiel[iii]. We speak gleefully about hanging Haman and we stomp when his name is mentioned as we read the Megilla[iv], but that is the end of the matter. We have talked about our hates, but it has ended with the talk. On Passover, also, for example, the traditional Haggadah, when the door is opened for Elijah, implores God to pour out his wrath upon the nations who oppose Him, but the emotion dissipates itself with the utterance. I am reminded of the childish refrain, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Jews have generally called names but have not thrown sticks and stones and so have not caused harm.

Recently, Jews may seem to have taken vengeance of a sort when Eichmann[v] was put on trial and condemned. But of we examine this matter carefully we see that what was done to him was not done in blind anger or in a vengeful spirit, but rather in accordance with the due process of law as it might concern any other criminal who had to be called to account for his violence against society. The long suffering patience of the Jew stands in sharp contrast to the hateful and vengeful spirit of his persecutors and the Jew need not feel squeamish about his own feelings and reactions.

Remembering Amalek and all that he symbolizes, therefore, is not for the purpose of obtaining vengeance or of seeking retaliation. It serves rather several other purposes of a positive nature, which make it advisable to say, Remember!”

We remember Amalek not merely because he was an evildoer who did harm to the Jewish people but because he has become the personification of evil itself. Likewise, Haman is not merely the foolish prime minister who managed to get himself hanged, but he has become for us the very symbol of evil in general, of evil which can possibly occur again and again, and to remember this evil is to be on guard against it. Our rabbis said that one should not hate evildoers, but should be constantly on guard against and actively in combat with evil itself. To hate evil is a principle of Judaism.

Many people asked during the days of the Eichmann trial, if we may refer to it again, “Why have this trial”--and thus reawaken all those horrible memories which are so disturbing particularly to those people who had personal memories of the concentration camps. “Better,” they said, “that we should forget and let the memory of this bitterness die out.” But it was important, both for us and all the world, not to forget in the hope that this will prevent a recurrence. If we keep this memory alive, and remind the world what compromise with dictatorship can lead to, perhaps it will prevent the kind of drift that made Hitlerism possible and make people a bit more zealous in the defense and preservation of freedom. President Adenour, a few days ago, made the statement that the German people are not to be held responsible for what happened to the six million. It is only the Hitler leadership that is to be blamed. We cannot blame him for saying this. The guilt of the German people is so monstrous it cannot be endured. It must be rationalized and excused if they are to live with themselves. But we must remember. A people who could tolerate such leadership and provide the grounds upon which it grew is suspect. Today Germany is perhaps the most prosperous nation in Western Europe.  What will she do with this prosperity? Will it lead again to arrogance and destruction? We need to remember and we need to be on guard.

There is another virtue to remembering. Jewish life comes easy today, for us, at least, n America. And consequently we hold in light esteem the heritage that is ours. But we need to remember the great cost of preserving this heritage in the past, the sacrifice that was required, the courage and faith that had to be displayed. When we realize the cost of something, we are more likely to treat it with respect and to be reluctant to let it slip easily away. When we realize the odds against which Jews had to combat, perhaps we can better appreciate the wonder that is involved in Jewish survival.

According to all normal patterns of history, the Jew should long ago have disappeared. By some act of Divine providence he continues to play a significant role on the stage of history, but if we were to repress the memories of an Amalek or of a Haman, of a Titus[vi] or a Torquemada[vii], of a Hitler or an Eichmann, or a host of others who have sought to destroy us we could not fully understand how phenomenal it is that the Jew persists. And it is the awareness of this mystery of Israel that serves as much as anything else to cement a bond among the Jewish people throughout the world.

What has happened in Israel recently tends to bear this out. In Israel, since he establishment of the state, there has been a tendency to ignore in education the history of our people between the time when the Jews were dispersed by the Romans and the time when the Jews have returned to he land. As a result there has been a lack of identification on the part of Israelis with other Jews outside of Israel, and a feeling of estrangement has been setting in. Ben Gurion[viii] has noticed this and has been disturbed by it.  He has decreed that schools now have content which he calls Jewish consciousness.  He wants Israelis to remember what has happened to Jews in all times and all places, because he knows that to forget would sever the ties that exist among us. To forget would mean failure to understand even how the State of Israel cam to be, failure to comprehend the historical and idealistic forces that contributed to it, the very miracle of its existence. The same thought applies to us. The struggles of the past must be remembered if we are to value our heritage, to preserve our identity, and to maintain our sense of unity with all of Jewry throughout the world. And finally, when we remember Amalek and what he stands for, we are individually more likely to remember the needs of those who have suffered because of the modern Amaleks and Hamans. We will remember our obligation to help. This very weekend has been designated by the New York Board of Rabbis as the occasion for recalling that the United Jewish Appeal is observing its twenty-fifth anniversary as the relief organization of American Jewry. Over these years the UJA has compiled a remarkable record of providing rescue and relief and rehabilitation for over three million Jews all over the world, but unless we remember, the strength of this work may be weakened. The history of he UJA shows that it is only at a time of actual dramatic crisis that the response to its call is at its best. At moments such as the present, the needs of the UJA are still tremendous as it tries to cope with continued immigration to Israel, refugees from North Africa, particularly in France, unrest in South America and problems elsewhere, but the sense of urgency that comes in moments of acute crisis is not present and so the Appeal suffers. We, therefore, need to remember what our enemies have done to us, whether Amalek or Hitler or the lesser adversaries of the present moment in order that we may be reminded of our ever present obligation to response to the needs of our fellow Jews, who are still in distress.

Thus the pleas to “Remember Amalek” can have a very positive meaning for us. It is a command not to hate the enemy more, but to remember the evil of prejudice and oppression which he fosters and to fight this evil with all our strength in whatever form it appears. It is a call to remember the difficult days of our people, to sense the wonder of Jewish survival and to cherish what has been so miraculously preserved. It is an admonition to remember those who have suffered at the hands of Amalek and to ease their pain. When we hear the word, “Remember” it is a plea for a greater sense of personal responsibility in the building of a better world, in creating a stronger Jewish life, in providing for our fellow Jews who are uprooted. May we dedicate ourselves to this effort with vision, and may we be rewarded with the strengthening of freedom and peace for all our own people and all the world.

Amen.

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[i] Deuteronomy 25:17-19

[ii] Haman, also known as Haman the Agagite, or Haman the evil, is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who, according to Old Testament tradition, was a 5th Century BCE noble and vizier of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haman_%28Bible%29

[iii] A Purim Spiel, or Purimshpil, meaning a Purim play—shpil means 'game' or '(stage) play' in Yiddish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim_spiel

[iv] A scroll of the Book of Esther, read on the festival of Purim

[v] Adolf Otto Eichmann, 1906-1962) was a German Nazi and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust. After the war, he fled to Argentina until he was captured and taken to Israel to face trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was found guilty and executed by hanging in 1962.

[vi] Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, 39-81, was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. Earlier in his career he was in charge of the military operation against the Jews in Judaea. Infamously brutal toward the vanquished Jews, his most notorious act was to have the Great Temple of Jerusalem destroyed in 70 CE.

[vii] Tomás de Torquemada, 1420-1498, a fifteenth century Spanish Dominican friar, first Grand Inquisitor in Spain's movement to restore Christianity among its populace in the late fifteenth century. He is notorious for his zealous campaign against the crypto-Jews and crypto-Muslims of Spain.

[viii] David Ben-Gurion, 1886-1973) was a founder and the first Prime Minister of Israel until 1963.

Israel's Secret Weapon -- Purim 3/8/44

Purim[i]seems to be a relatively frivolous holiday—a day of masquerading and imbibing. This sermon from 1944 begins with that very point as it then demonstrates the very serious messages found even in this day of rejoicing. To that end this is the first of two Purim sermons that I am posting, this one just before the holiday that occurs this year on March 7.

The “secret weapon” referred to in the title is the spiritual strength of the Jewish people. Ballon attributes the miraculous survival of the Jews against all oppressors to this spiritual underpinning. In the midst of World War II, and as an Army-Air Force Chaplain, he draws on inspirational words from Army orientation guidelines. He applies these concepts to Jews, then expresses concern that the eroding spirituality among modern Jews may become their eventual undoing.

The complexities of modern life, the great changes in the world of thought and science, have put our spiritual steel to a great test.

This is a theme he returns to repeatedly throughout his decades in the pulpit. The remedy, he suggests here, comes from greater knowledge of the history of our people, our ideals, our friends and our enemies. With this knowledge Jews will be able to emulate Mordecai, the hero of the Purim story.

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“Purim iz kein Yomtov”[ii] has long been a familiar byword among Jews. And indeed, when we think of the deeply religious nature which characterizes most of the other red-letter days of our religious calendar, Purim does seem to be rather insignificant by comparison. Not only is it officially a minor holiday, but the manner in which we observe it, likewise, seems to fall short of the dignity of other occasions. The merrymaking and masquerading of Purim contrast sharply with the solemnity of Rosh Hashanah or even the dignified joy of Succos, and unlike the stirring religious messages which permeate the Scriptural readings of other festivals, the story of the Megillah contains not even a single reference to the God of Israel. It is quite surprising, therefore, to find that the rabbis, notwithstanding all these shortcomings, should have made the statement that Purim is as great a day as that upon which the Torah was given at Sinai. It is again surprising to find the opinion that even though it is conceivable that all the words of the prophets and the Holy Writings might sometime be lost and forgotten, the book of Esther would alone, nevertheless, still be remembered and the observance of Purim never be discontinued. In spite of all, Purim does seem to be a Yomtov, and an important one at that.

The paradox of Purim extends even into its very significance as a holiday. For in spite of the fact that it is a day of merrymaking and that the rabbis on this one day of the year jokingly permit us to imbibe so freely of strong drink that we would not even realize the error of “Cursed be Mordecai and blessed be Haman”—in spite of this Purim is essentially the symbol of Jewish dignity. Indeed, it is precisely because of this carefree spirit that Purim symbolizes for us the dignified self-assurance with which the Jew faced the vicissitudes of history and the dignified pride with which he stood up to the trials which beset him so many times in so many places.

The Purim story itself tells us of the dignity with which Mordecai reacted to the accusations of Haman. “There is a certain people, “ said Haman, “scattered abroad and dispersed among the people of Thy kingdom and their laws are diverse from those of every people, neither they keep the king’s laws.” When Mordecai hears this however, he does not seek to ingratiate himself with Haman nor to persuade him that after all the Jew is not “diverse” from other peoples. He does not in panic dissipate his energies in proving that he was as good a Persian as the rest of them and that Jews do not break “the king’s laws.” He rather counsels Esther to go boldly before the king and to confront him straightforwardly with the problem of her people. And when Esther is at first hesitant, Mordecai demonstrates his faith in the staying powers of his people, when he says, “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise from another place.” Never for a moment does he doubt that the Jewish people will weather the storm.

When in succeeding generations the Jews commemorated these events of Purim, they recalled not only Haman of Persia, but all other tyrants like him, who had ever wanted to destroy the Jew. The fact that they could laugh and make merry in spite of these sorrowful memories was but the reflection of the same strength of character displayed by Mordecai, the same dignity and self-assurance, the same faith and optimism. It was the best proof, to use a word that sums up all these qualities, of their high morale, despite the ill fortune which dogged them.

It is not mere rhetoric to say that it was just this high morale which has been the “secret weapon” of Jewish survival. Recognition of the importance of the mental and spiritual factor for survival in times of crisis comes from a variety of sources. In wards where men lie critically ill and hover between life and death, some men live, physicians will tell you, because they have the will to live and are not afraid; others die, because they show no spiritual life or death is frequently determined by the morale of the patient himself.

Military leaders, also, ancient and modern, enemy and our own, have many times paid tribute to the importance of morale in achieving victory in battle. Caesar would personally lecture to his troops for the purpose of bolstering morale. In a German training manual of the present war we read that, “Ultimate success depends not on equipment, but the spirit in which we enter battle.” Napoleon the Great maintained that, “The spiritual is to the material in battle as three is to one.”

That this applies to the Jew also was recognized long ago by our rabbis. The Midrash, in commenting on the Book of Esther, pictures the wicked of the Bible as each in succession trying to outdo the others in his scheming against Israel. Each looks down upon his predecessors because of their failure to prevail. Esau looks down upon Cain, and goes him one better. Pharaoh belittles Esau and outdoes him in cruelty. Haman the arch tyrant looks down even upon Pharaoh. “I will not do as he has done,” says Haman, “but I will crush them and kill them and destroy them.” And we can imagine the rabbis of old chuckling to themselves at the utter ineffectiveness of any of the machinations of our oppressors. “But,” the rabbis added significantly, “someday in the future God will say, ‘Fools were all these ancients; they did not realize that Israel has a protector in heaven. I will not do as they have done. First I will contend with their protector, and then I will contend with Israel.’” Thus reads the Midrash, as though to say, “To destroy Israel you must first undermine his spiritual foundation. No tyrant can contend successfully with Israel regardless of his severity, if that spiritual foundation remains unweakened.” That is the secret of Israel’s survival. Take away his faith and his morale and only then will he be in mortal danger.

Today, as we are confronted by the greatest crisis of all our history induced by enemies who may with justifiable impudence look down even upon Haman, the maintenance of our spiritual armor remains our basic asset in assuring survival. It is not as easy, unfortunately, for us as it was for our forefathers to keep our spiritual arsenal stocked. The complexities of modern life, the great changes in the world of thought and science, have put our spiritual steel to a great test. Our task is much more difficult. Our approach must be different. But the test can be met.

What must we do to build present day Jewish morale? We may well take our cue from our fighting forces. Recognizing the importance of the problem, the United States Army seeks in many ways to boost the morale of its fighting men. One of its outstanding techniques is to be found in its orientation department. This department by means of lectures and discussions attempts to acquaint the soldier with the issues involved in the current world struggle, to demonstrate to him the worthwhileness of our effort, and to build in him the will to carry on. The four points which are emphasized in this program can effectively serve as the pattern for building Jewish morale as well. These four points, which are hammered home to the soldier, exhort him first: “Have pride in your outfit.” Second: “Know what you are fighting for.” Third: “Know your enemy.” Fourth: “Know your allies.”

As Jews, too, we need first to all to learn to have “pride in outfit,” pride in ourselves as members of the Jewish people. All too many of us in the present almost wince at the mention of the word Jew, as though it were some term of reproach. All too many of us suffer an inferiority complex and feel that it is a handicap to live as a Jew. All too many hear the accusations of the enemy poured forth so venomously, and in confusion are inclined to accept the enemy’s evaluation of the Jew as at least a partial truth. Many of us heatedly proclaim our Jewish pride in the face of insult, but so often this belligerent reaction is but a psychological compensation for the doubt and apprehension with which we are normally filled. The basic reason for this is sheer ignorance of Jewish history and Jewish existence. If Jewish history did not provide us with such an inspiring epic of the past, if there were no Jewish pioneers in Palestine to thrill us with their glorious achievements in the present, if the Jewish people had not made such great contributions to civilization, there might be reason for such embarrassment. As it is, however, only abysmal ignorance can prevent us from having pride in our outfit, and the attainment of Jewish knowledge is the major objective in regaining that pride.

As Jews, too, we need to know why we fight. What is it that Judaism wants of us? What is the sense of continuing as Jews? This point ties in closely with the first. The knowledge of our past would also provide us with an understanding of our hopes for the future. The lessons of our great teachers would provide us with the signposts that we so desperately need. The rabbis said that Amos summarized Judaism very competently when he preached, “Let justice well up as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.” Hillel also put it concisely, when he said that the essence of Judaism is, “Do not unto others what you would not have then do to you. The rest is commentary.” This combination of social and personal ethics is the fundamental purpose of Jewish striving. We should become more familiar with its broader details and learn some of its commentary. We should seek to understand some of its practical implications for the social struggles of the present and its significance in moulding the world of the future. We would then feel that as part of the Jewish people and the heirs to a great heritage we have a definite contribution to make to the present world scene, that our survival fills a need and a purpose, and is not the meaningless caprice of fate.

As Jews, too, we need to know our enemies. Why is it that so many of our people today fear anti-Semitism and desire sincerely to combat it, and nevertheless play into the very hands of those who foster it. Why is it that so many Jews are afraid to fight openly and insist on blinking their eyes at events which hurt us? Why are we so smugly satisfied with halfway measures of anti-defamation, when it is only the triumph over reaction in the economic and political arena that can bring us complete victory over our enemies? It is time to stop being fearful of self-expression and to speak up forthrightly. When the basic rights of any human being are threatened then there is also a threat to the Jew. In every force of reaction, which threatens whatever group or race or creed, there lies the modern Haman who must be resisted and vanquished.

And finally, as Jews, too, we need to know our allies. If we have mastered the preceding task of knowing our enemies, we shall be in better position also to know our allies. It goes without saying that the obvious good-will agencies, which set out to better the relationship between the Jew and his neighbor, are our allies. But we must realize further that all forces which fight the elements of reaction are thereby also automatically our allies. The distinguishing marks of reaction are opposition to the attempts of the common man to attain a measure of security in his life, claims of racial superiority, suppression of the rights of the many in favor of political and economic domination by a chosen few. Those, therefore, who strive to protect the rights and dignity of the common man, who fight racial and religious discrimination, who stand up against the all-consuming greed of economic monopoly and power, those who fight any or all of these harbingers of fascism, they, too, are our allies and should be treated accordingly.

That is the program. That is the stimulant we need for the strengthening of Jewish morale. We must acquire the knowledge that brings us pride in the achievements of our people. We must understand to what end we fight for Jewish survival. We must recognize clearly the enemy who would destroy us. We must know those who are actively fighting beside us. Then the spirit displayed by our father is their celebration of Purim will be strong within us. We will then no longer question whether or why we should survive as Jews. We will have developed a sense of purpose, self-respect, self-assurance. We will live our lives as Jews with pride and with dignity. Our spiritual armor will be strong, and with our “secret weapon,” our impregnable morale, functioning to perfection, the future of our people will be assured. Am Yisroel chai. The people of Israel will continue to live.

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[i] Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the 5^th Century Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus who planned to kill the Jews. The plans were foiled by Mordecai and his niece, Queen Esther. The story is recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther, often referred to as the Megillah.

[ii] Translation from the Yiddish: “Purim is no holiday.”

In Search of a Home -- 10/20/39

Rabbi Sidney Ballon, Tree of Life Congregation, Columbia SC, circa 1939

The following is among the first sermons Rabbi Sidney Ballon delivered at his first full-time pulpit, Tree of Life Congregation[i] in Columbia, South Carolina, where he served as spiritual leader from 1939 to 1948. 

In this sermon Ballon reveals his desire to remain optimistic about the fate of European Jewish refugees even as he expresses certain fears. He also expresses his admiration for President Roosevelt’s humanitarian stance, although many historians would argue that Roosevelt’s actions ultimately belie that conclusion. Remarkably Ballon makes about as strong a case for a new Jewish homeland in Alaska as he does for Palestine. Perhaps the most chilling aspect of this sermon is the mere fact that in 1939, without the hindsight that history provides us today, Ballon was left to contemplate how refugees would be handled regardless of which side would be victorious in the war. 

...and even if Hitler is victorious, there still will have to be some settlement of the problem....

Chilling indeed, to be living with the prospect of a Hitler victory!

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This week in Washington, President Roosevelt has furnished us with additional evidence, if such be necessary, of his broad humanitarian spirit. For at the call of the President there is now in session at the nation’s capitol the meeting of the intergovernmental committee on refugees. This meeting had been planned for some time and is indeed the outgrowth of another such gathering[ii], also initiated by the president, at Evian, France about fifteen months ago. But due to the war conditions now prevailing, it was considered possible that the great powers in their preoccupation with the tasks of war, would abandon their attempts to deal with the problems of the refugee and concentrate their energies solely on fighting the enemy, but Roosevelt persisted in his original purpose of holding such a meeting, and as a result, the committee, which is representative of thirty-two nations now in session and is searching for new homes for Europe’s afflicted wanderers.

The thought of such a gathering fills us at the same time both with hope and with despair. When we think of thirty-two nations consulting together at the call of the President of the United States, we feel that as last the conscience of the world is at work and something will be done. Out of such deliberations surely some plan will be evolved which will bring relief. But, on the one hand, when we think of the problem itself, when we think of how much more acute the situation becomes day by day, how little the last conference accomplished, we begin to fear that the task is an impossible one. It is no longer a problem of caring for a few political refugees who must be transported from one place of danger to another of safety; it is rather the problem of a whole world in upheaval, and can no longer be dealt with as if it were an isolated matter.

Just a few months ago the task was the comparatively simple one of resettling from two to three hundred thousand unfortunate people, who were for the most part young and healthy, who could go out to a new land and work, reestablish themselves and make a contribution to the welfare of the country which adopted them. But since the outbreak of the war, the number of the afflicted has been increased to millions, and the question of emigration has become a secondary aspect of the refugee problem and the situation is further complicated by the necessity of providing hundreds of thousands—old and young, strong and weak—with their daily bread. Ironically enough, in a certain sense the cruelties of the war have lessened rather than increased the immediate difficulties of the refugee committee.

Previously the major problem was emigration from German territories, how to evacuate as quickly as possible the thousands who found life under Nazi domination intolerable. As German aggression advanced the problem naturally became ever greater and the number to be helped increased. But now for the present at least the committee will find it impossible even to try to help most of those who are suffering under German rule as well as those Jews who are now in any other part of what was formerly Polish territory. For Hitler, now that the war is on, is unwilling to let Jews leave, while, of course Stalin never has permitted anyone, Jew or non-Jew to leave Russian soil. Hitler must conserve his manpower for the struggle which is coming, and Jewish labor, formerly despised, is now a welcome addition to his ranks, and so in Germany today, in the manner of Pharaoh of old Jews are enslaved by the government. The able bodied, condemned to work in the war industries plants, while the remainder given all manner of other shameful tasks to perform. Stalin will, of course, now subject his new people to the process of communist enlightenment, and God help those who fail to enlighten quickly enough in accordance with communist principle. And so that much of the committee’s problem is solved. There is no need at present for new homes for Polish and German Jews who are still in their native lands because it is now impossible for them to leave their old ones.

But in spite of these hundreds of thousands who are hopelessly trapped for the time being, and for whom nothing can be done, there are nevertheless many thousands who have escaped to Romania, Hungary, and the Baltic regions. There are still many thousands who are wandering about in Western countries both those in war countries and in neutral ones, who have only temporary visas and who have not yet found a permanent home. These people are in need of immediate relief and for them the governments of the world must act quickly.

But what can they do and to what lands can they look for help? Throughout the civilized world, in spite of expressions of sympathy, governments have, because of their own internal problems, raised their restrictions on immigration higher and higher, and as the problem grows greater, the world seems to grow smaller, and the prospects for immigration diminish. It is for this reason that so many wild and undeveloped lands have been suggested as cities of refuge, and we have been hearing of Ceylon, and Tanganyika, and Rhodesia, and Madagascar and other such places suggested as the solution to the problem, but before any large scale immigration to these places could be hoped for, millions of dollars would have to be spend and years of labor put in, until these wastelands were sufficiently developed. Unfortunately, most of those who need these places cannot wait so long. By the time all the necessary experiments were made and surveys conducted, the problem would solve itself in quite another way. There would not be many left to immigrate.

The situation, however, is not altogether hopeless, and there are at least two places to which the committee should give maximum attention. The first of these and most important of these is Palestine. During the last conference at Evian it was agreed beforehand that Palestine was by no means to be considered and was not in any way to enter into the discussion. A conference on refugees, however, that refuses to take Palestine into consideration is a vain conference, because at the present time the only land which seems to be ready and willing to absorb refugees in any great number is Palestine. The population of that land today is slightly over a million, but the possibility of Palestine supporting several millions of people has long ago been shown by experts.[iii] The only bar to immigration in Palestine has been the perfidious policy of the British and the supposedly insuperable difficulties with the Arabs. Today however, the war, unfortunate in so many respects, at least has the silver lining that the British need manpower in Palestine and are now in a mood to make concessions with regard to immigration. Only a short time ago the British White Paper[iv] limited drastically all further Jewish immigration and then because of the great amount of illegal immigration which resulted, it stopped immigration altogether for a period of six months from the first of this month to next March. But although the British attitude officially remains unchanged, unofficially, illegal immigration now is being ignored, boats are allowed to land their passengers in spite of their illegal status and the British consul in Trieste is reported even to have granted visas to over three thousand people. If the intergovernmental committee can persuade Great Britain to change its policy openly and officially so that full advantage may be taken of the possibilities which Palestine offers, it will have rendered a great service to the cause. As for the trouble between the Arabs and the Jews that, too, seems now to have completely disappeared. The past month has been one of almost complete peace...[illegible]...Arabs willing to sell land.... It would seem that with Great Britain distracted by the war, the Arabs could seize the opportunity to stir up a lot of trouble and win many concessions from Great Britain to keep them quiet.  But strangely enough, they have not done so and the reason may well be that all German diplomats have had to leave English territory and all other German citizens have been interned and so that there has no longer been any one around to spread German propaganda inciting the Arabs. And similarly the Italians due to their uncertain position in the war have had to temper their propaganda activities. The present peaceful attitude may be due to these facts, and if so, they point to the possibility of lasting Arab/Jewish peace to follow. A peace of which advantage must be taken.

The second great opportunity for the committee to be of service is in Alaska. This country is not immediately prepared to do as much as Palestine, but its development could be carried on much more quickly and is a much more certain project than any of the other distant places which have been mentioned. Secretary of the Interior, Ickes, has already mentioned the possibilities of Alaska as a refuge for the oppressed[v] but as yet no action has been taken on to open its doors. The territory is equal to about one fifth of the United States in area and yet its total population is only sixty thousand. The popular impression of Alaska is that it is a land of ice and snow and that especially in the wintertime its climate is rigorous and unfavorable for large-scale settlement, but according to reports this conception of the country does it a grave injustice. The southern parts of the land we are told are actually warmer than New York and Chicago, and only three percent of the country in the extreme north is perpetually covered with ice. It’s mineral resources and agricultural and industrial possibilities have been estimated to be sufficient to maintain not a population of thousands such as is found there now but rather a total of five million[vi], if the country were to be properly developed and all its resources put to good use. The only difficulty in colonizing the country thus far has been its lack of transportation facilities. Insufficient number of railroads and highways has kept prices high and made shipment of goods difficult, but while such a handicap would be too difficult for individual settlers to surmount, if the government would launch a huge settlement project, properly financed, this small handicap would be quickly overcome, and America would not only lived up to its good name as a home for the oppressed, but would have provided itself with a new outpost for defense and a market for its goods.

President Roosevelt in his welcoming message to the committee at a White House luncheon made the statement that because some of the nations are at war they can be asked to do little more than lend their sympathy at the present time in dealing with this problem. “Upon the neutral nations,” he said, “there lies and obligation to humanity to carry on the work.” It is to be hoped that Congress will take these words to heart[vii], and at its first opportunity will as a neutral power fulfill this obligation to humanity by making the vast areas of the north available. If such a project were contemplated American Jewry would be certain to cooperate, and the necessary funds would not be lacking.

There is one more great service that the intergovernmental committee can render, and this not with the immediate present in mind but looking forward to the future, to the time which must come when the war will be ended and the problem of the refugee will have to be taken up in earnest. President Roosevelt warned the committee that when the war is over there may be, to use his own words, “not one million, but ten million or twenty million men, women, and children belonging to many races and many religions living in many countries and possibly on several continents who will enter into the wide picture of the problem of the human refugee.”[viii] And this conference can now pave the way for that future. It must prepare itself to deal with whichever side is victorious and to insist that the problem of the refugee not be pushed aside in the eagerness to conclude a peace.  If the allies win, and it seems likely at least, the committee can exert a great influence and play a great role, if it is prepared with the proper suggestions, and even if Hitler is victorious, there still will have to be some settlement of the problem and the committee must be prepared to intervene and mitigate the severity of his actions.  

Thus the refugee situation is a dark one but there is much good that the committee can do. For one hope is that it will act and not merely talk. To quote the president once more, “it is not enough to indulge in horrified humanitarianism, empty resolution, golden rhetoric and pious words. We must face it actively if the democratic principle based on respect and human dignity is to survive--if world order which rests on the security of the individual is to be restored.” May god grant these men the wisdom and the will to act in accord with these words spoken to them by the President that they may truly bring a measure of comfort to a bereaved humanity.

Amen.

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[i] Photo from In Pursuit of the Tree of Life: A history of the early Jews of Columbia, South Carolina, and the Tree of Life Congregation, Belinda and Richard Gergel, 1996. Current information on the congregation may be found at http://www.tolsc.org/

[ii] The Évian Conference was convened at the initiative of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in July 1938 to discuss the issue of increasing numbers of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Representatives from 31 countries met at Évian-les-Bains, France. With both the United States and Britain refusing to take in substantial numbers of Jews, the conference was ultimately seen as a failure by Jews and their sympathizers, with the result being that the Jews had no escape and were ultimately subject to Hitler's genocide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89vian_Conference

[iii] Various sources provide differing data on the population of Israel in 1939. According to http://www.populstat.info/Asia/israelc.htm the population of Palestine in 1939 was 1.46 million. Regardless, history has borne out the hypothesis that the land could support multiple millions of people, inasmuch as the 2010 census has the population of Israel greater than 7.5 million according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics http://www1.cbs.gov.il

[iv] The White Paper of 1939 was a policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain which proposed creating an independent Palestine governed by Palestinian Arabs and Jews in proportion to their numbers in the population by 1939. A limit of 75,000 Jewish immigrants was set for the five-year period 1940-1944, consisting of a regular yearly quota of 10,000, and a supplementary quota of 25,000, spread out over the same period, to cover refugee emergencies. After this cut-off date, further immigration would depend on the permission of the Arab majority. Restrictions were also placed on the rights of Jews to buy land from Arabs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Paper_of_1939

[v] In November 1938, two weeks after Kristallnacht, US Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes proposed the use of Alaska as a "haven for Jewish refugees from Germany and other areas in Europe where the Jews are subjected to oppressive restrictions." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slattery_Report

[vi] The population of Alaska was 710,231 according to the 2010 census http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/02000.html

[vii] Although thousands of Jews had been admitted into the United States under the combined German-Austrian quota from 1938-1941, the U.S. did not pursue an organized and specific rescue policy for Jewish victims of Nazi Germany until early 1944. Once the United States entered World War II, the State Department practiced stricter immigration policies out of fear that refugees could be blackmailed into working as agents for Germany. It was not until January 1944 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt, under pressure from officials in his own government and an American Jewish community then fully aware of the extent of mass murder, took action to rescue European Jews. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007094

[viii] The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was set up in 1943, to provide humanitarian relief to the huge numbers of potential and existing refugees in areas facing Allied liberation. UNRRA provided billions of US dollars of rehabilitation aid, and helped about 8 million refugees. This followed years of expulsions, and exterminations affecting millions more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_evacuation_and_expulsion