How will you remember 2010? It’s usually hard to remember one year from another- the effect of time seems to be to melt all of our memories together into that jumbled recollection that leaves us saying “I remember that but I’m not sure when it happened.” I don’t think any of us will be saying that about 2010! It has been a year to remember – economic crisis that touched everyone, continued polarization of our citizens- politics, policies, and division have taken their tolls on our land. It has been a tough year for everyone- we are more uncertain than ever about what the future will bring. I am not claiming that it has been a year without any good news at all but I think this year will stay in our memories as a time when we said to each other “things can only get better.”
I hope that those words will be the most enduring memory of 2010. It has been a year in which many of us, our families, and our friends have faced real problems and challenges The Jewish community has faced a hard year also- downsizing has become the key phrase in all of our institutions. That will have an impact of Jewish life for years to come. Many of our memories of 2010 may be things that we wish we could forget! That seems like a very sad statement to make but if you are like me you are ready to say goodbye to 2010 with a heartfelt “good riddance.”
As a Jew I am constantly amazed by the history of our people. No matter what history has tossed in our way, we are the people that declared “it can only get better” over and over. We have never given up or given in… the future has always held opportunity to make things better. I wish we had some magic way of sharing that optimism and hope with our fellow Americans. That fact is that, as bad as this past year has been for many of us, we have seen people respond in very heroic ways. Even in these tough times people continue to help each other. In this age of “less is more” and “no frills” we have been reawakened to the values that are most important. That is a very good sign. The lessons that we have learned have been very bitter but we have come out on the other side with a renewed sense of what really matters.
I will be very happy to welcome the new year as a new chance to make things better- to see people struggle less, to worry less, to get back to living with joy. I don’t know how quickly that can happen but I do know that if we reflect on what we have learned in 2010 we can welcome the future rather than dread it.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
The Genie is Out of the Bottle
Most of us don’t really understand how the internet works. How is it that your kids or grandchildren can send you pictures or letters from anywhere in the world and (like magic) you see them on your screen! Does it work like TV? Well, maybe like a car- I don’t really know how it works either but when I turn the key it takes me where I’m going. For all of us who don’t really understand how those things work one thing is certain- the internet does work and it is a Genie that will never go back in the bottle! Yes, the internet does great things for us- human beings have never had access to so much information before. The only thing I worry about is how long it will take us to understand the difference between information and wisdom.
The flurry of stories about Wiki leaks is multiplying faster than I can read them. The details are pretty simple although the issues are much more complex. Does anyone have the right to steal secrets and then publish them? What pertains to governments also pertains to people. If we assert that the internet should not be censored then there is really nothing you can do if I decide to uncover and make public anything I want, like your credit card numbers or your social security number or anything else I choose.
Mr. Assange (the Wiki leaks guy) thinks he is doing the world a favor by revealing America’s “dirty little secrets.” In truth he is committing a crime against every American citizen (which, I believe, is closer to his intent.)His intentions have become even clearer as he states his threats against us- should he be arrested or killed there will be a flood of information that will be released. This is his “insurance policy.”
Does the age of the Internet mean that cyber-spying or cyber-terrorism should go unpunished and unanswered for the sake of “freedom-of-information?” I think not. We are now engaged in a war of wills- who will submit first? Those who have acted against Wiki leaks have seen their own websites attacked (MasterCard, PayPal.) Threats have been made to insure that these cyber-pirates stay in business. In one sense we are powerless- the internet has a life of its own somewhere out there in the flow of electric information- but behind that borderless flow of information are real people who choose to act as they do and should be held responsible. The Genie is out of the bottle but maybe a jail cell would be just the right size!
Most of us don’t really understand how the internet works. How is it that your kids or grandchildren can send you pictures or letters from anywhere in the world and (like magic) you see them on your screen! Does it work like TV? Well, maybe like a car- I don’t really know how it works either but when I turn the key it takes me where I’m going. For all of us who don’t really understand how those things work one thing is certain- the internet does work and it is a Genie that will never go back in the bottle! Yes, the internet does great things for us- human beings have never had access to so much information before. The only thing I worry about is how long it will take us to understand the difference between information and wisdom.
The flurry of stories about Wiki leaks is multiplying faster than I can read them. The details are pretty simple although the issues are much more complex. Does anyone have the right to steal secrets and then publish them? What pertains to governments also pertains to people. If we assert that the internet should not be censored then there is really nothing you can do if I decide to uncover and make public anything I want, like your credit card numbers or your social security number or anything else I choose.
Mr. Assange (the Wiki leaks guy) thinks he is doing the world a favor by revealing America’s “dirty little secrets.” In truth he is committing a crime against every American citizen (which, I believe, is closer to his intent.)His intentions have become even clearer as he states his threats against us- should he be arrested or killed there will be a flood of information that will be released. This is his “insurance policy.”
Does the age of the Internet mean that cyber-spying or cyber-terrorism should go unpunished and unanswered for the sake of “freedom-of-information?” I think not. We are now engaged in a war of wills- who will submit first? Those who have acted against Wiki leaks have seen their own websites attacked (MasterCard, PayPal.) Threats have been made to insure that these cyber-pirates stay in business. In one sense we are powerless- the internet has a life of its own somewhere out there in the flow of electric information- but behind that borderless flow of information are real people who choose to act as they do and should be held responsible. The Genie is out of the bottle but maybe a jail cell would be just the right size!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Don’t Underestimate the Power of One Candle
As we gather throughout the nights of Hanukkah one ritual draws our attention: the lighting of the Hanukiyah, the Hanukkah menorah. Each night we add a candle until we reach the last night and have all eight candles burning. In essence each day of the festival is represented by one candle, a rather meager representative by today’s standards!
Have you ever seen one of those space photos taken of the earth at night? What we see is an entire planet that seems aglow by electricity. Major urban areas can be identified by the big “blob” of light that can be seen even from space. In this age in which our planet is aglow with artificial light it might seem that one small candle doesn’t really mean much. Perhaps it doesn’t if the only measure we use is the amount of light that is added to the darkness of a winter night. In fact that one small candle adds much to the winter night – it adds the light of community. A sense of community in numbers- that one light that I burn adds to the light that you kindle. Then we can multiply that by the number of Jewish homes in which small solitary candles begin to add up to a massive number- candles are lit across the globe. No, you might not be able to see them from space ,but you can certainly see them as you pass proud Jewish homes in which a great miracle is being recalled and celebrated.
More importantly I think we might underestimate how important one candle can be if we failed to consider the impact of this very easy ritual. Our people have a long history, one that has defied the normal expectations of historians and the common life cycles of nations. Through the millennia nations have come and gone, empires have been won and lost; wars have brought destruction to cultures and entire peoples. Yet, through it all, our people survived. The occasion of Hanukkah begs that we ask the question. An often quoted verse is “Not by power, but by the spirit.” Those few words say volumes about our people and even more about the significance of “one little candle.” We have survived because of the power of our rituals. We have survived because of those special acts that unite us as a people, unite us as a community, and unite us to a past that we never experienced directly but is a part of our “sacred present.” It is the power of this very “small” ritual that ties us to the past and the future.
Often the word “ritual” is considered to be something bad- an empty act that is simply done because someone said you have to do it. Rituals are considered just empty actions but they are not- they are the symbolic actions that focus our minds and bodies on spiritual truths. Lighting one candle may shed a tiny bit of light but that same candle can light the spirit of an entire people.
As we gather throughout the nights of Hanukkah one ritual draws our attention: the lighting of the Hanukiyah, the Hanukkah menorah. Each night we add a candle until we reach the last night and have all eight candles burning. In essence each day of the festival is represented by one candle, a rather meager representative by today’s standards!
Have you ever seen one of those space photos taken of the earth at night? What we see is an entire planet that seems aglow by electricity. Major urban areas can be identified by the big “blob” of light that can be seen even from space. In this age in which our planet is aglow with artificial light it might seem that one small candle doesn’t really mean much. Perhaps it doesn’t if the only measure we use is the amount of light that is added to the darkness of a winter night. In fact that one small candle adds much to the winter night – it adds the light of community. A sense of community in numbers- that one light that I burn adds to the light that you kindle. Then we can multiply that by the number of Jewish homes in which small solitary candles begin to add up to a massive number- candles are lit across the globe. No, you might not be able to see them from space ,but you can certainly see them as you pass proud Jewish homes in which a great miracle is being recalled and celebrated.
More importantly I think we might underestimate how important one candle can be if we failed to consider the impact of this very easy ritual. Our people have a long history, one that has defied the normal expectations of historians and the common life cycles of nations. Through the millennia nations have come and gone, empires have been won and lost; wars have brought destruction to cultures and entire peoples. Yet, through it all, our people survived. The occasion of Hanukkah begs that we ask the question. An often quoted verse is “Not by power, but by the spirit.” Those few words say volumes about our people and even more about the significance of “one little candle.” We have survived because of the power of our rituals. We have survived because of those special acts that unite us as a people, unite us as a community, and unite us to a past that we never experienced directly but is a part of our “sacred present.” It is the power of this very “small” ritual that ties us to the past and the future.
Often the word “ritual” is considered to be something bad- an empty act that is simply done because someone said you have to do it. Rituals are considered just empty actions but they are not- they are the symbolic actions that focus our minds and bodies on spiritual truths. Lighting one candle may shed a tiny bit of light but that same candle can light the spirit of an entire people.
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