"Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
The Weekly Sedra – Mishpotim – Church and State
When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas State Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
“Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!“
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest.
However, during the 6 short weeks that followed, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively.
The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea. Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, ‘The Rest of the Story,’ and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.
Should a Jew in Israel be free to pray?
What a ridiculous question you might think. After all, if a Jew is not permitted to pray in his own homeland – under his own sovereign rule – where then might he be expected to enjoy this freedom?
Besides, wasn’t the long awaited return to our ancient homeland intended, first and foremost, to grant us the inalienable right to be who we are and worship as we believe – free of the religious intolerance and oppression inherent to the Diaspora? While one might have truly expected for this to be the case, it is apparently not quite as simple.
According to recent news reports, students at the Ohel Shem public high school in Ramat Gan claim that the administration is preventing them from praying on school grounds during breaks.
The students, who allegedly have been holding afternoon prayer services in empty classrooms and other non-disruptive areas during their free time, have been banned from doing so. They have been advised of the school’s policy that bars offenders from necessary exams and are even liable to face expulsion. Holding prayers on school grounds is a ”provocation,“ argue school officials.
The Israel Policy Center (IPC), a public policy institute based in Jerusalem, has joined the simmering dispute on behalf of the students.
IPC Attorney, Itzhak Bam, is said to have sent letters to the mayor of Ramat Gan and the school principal demanding that high-school students wishing to pray on campus during recess be allowed to do so, or the IPC will seek relief from the courts.
”This regulation violates basic democratic rights. Who would have imagined that it would be in the modern state of Israel that such rules against Jewish freedom of worship would be imposed?“ said Dr. Yitzhak Klein, Director of the IPC.
The IPC lawyer letters, addressed to Mayor Tzvi Bar and Ohel Shem Principal Adam Koenigsberg, emphasized that ”Freedom of religion is a basic right in Israel.“
”There is no legislation that limits the freedom of religion of students in non-religious public schools,“ states Attorney Bam. ”It is precisely on ‘public school grounds’ – which is an arm of the state and the Education Ministry – that the religious freedom of students must not be restricted beyond what is necessary for the sake of discipline,“ argues Bam. (Israel National News 16 Shevat 5768, January 28, 2008)
How does Judaism view the issue of Church and State?
The highlight of last week’s Torah portion was the dramatic revelation at Sinai and the transmission of the Ten Commandments – the most lofty and spiritual experience in the history of mankind. Our portion – Mishpatim – which opens with the statement: ”And these are the ordinances,“ talks about far more subdued day-to-day social laws.
Rashi comments that the juxtaposition of this portion – which deals primarily with civil and tort law – and the Ten Commandments discussed last week, teaches us that just as the Ten Commandments originated at Sinai and are thus, obviously, imbued with G-dly sanctity and holiness, so too are the seemingly mundane civil laws – discussed in this week’s portion. They too are from Sinai and are permeated with the selfsame Divine spirit and eminence.
This classic Rashi, note the commentaries, contains profound insight into Judaism’s perspective of the role of religion in Jewish life. Some people are inclined to banish religion to the most spiritual and holy spheres of existence – in both time and place – they perceive no use for it in the regular and mundane realm.
In other words, they observe everyday life – including civil behavior and the basic rules of morality – as a part of a secular or human system that is not necessarily (or necessarily not) spiritual or G-dly. Religion, in their mind, should be confined to a few designated moments and places. Outside of its limited domain religion is obstructive, intrusive and even embarrassing.
Not true, says Rashi: ”Just as those [the Ten Commandments] were from Sinai, so are these.“ We don’t live a dual existence. Our life is not 90% secular and 10% spiritual, or 30/70, or even 90% spiritual. Even the seemingly mundane elements of life are imbued with G-dly origins and purpose. G-d is certainly not confined to the four walls of the Synagogue.
Our courtrooms are as much a sanctuary as are our temples. We serve G-d when we interact in the marketplace no less than when we rest on the Shabbos. In Judaism there is nothing mundane about the ordinary and nothing ordinary about the mundane.
Indeed, our basic laws of morality and even civility are the product of a higher spiritual existence. From where else do such rules stem? Has there ever been a society that has lost its spirituality and maintained its civility?
No, my dear brothers in the Holy Land, you’ve got it all wrong. The prayer of Jewish youth during school break is not a ”Provocation“ – a crime that needs to be eradicated – it is an admirable and holy expression. Most of all it is a G-dly act – also known as a ”Mitzvah.” It is what Jews do.
While Israel is not a theocracy and so called secularists enjoy the freedom to live the lives they choose for themselves, they must learn to respect the choice of fellow Jews who wish to follow the path of Torah and Jewish tradition – to be proud Jews.
In learning to tolerate and respect their religious brethren (at least as much as they do their fellow Arabs) these Israelis will not only foster a more peaceful and united society, they may actually, themselves, come to respect and appreciate their beautiful heritage and true identity – their delicate Jewish soul.
The author welcomes your comments and feedback: rabbi@chabadjacksonville.org
Nemo
There doesn’t seem to be a connection between the the explanation about civil law being holy and the argument for Israeli school children praying. This piece is very fragmented and incomplete.
Additionally, perhaps in the “Jewish State” you may argue that there should not be a separation of church and state, but this is troubling if Rabbi Kahanov would have us infer that it applies universally. It is precisely this separation that can make democracies tolerant of religion.
Me
Kol HaKavod to the Goy who got up and said these wonderful words!
stunned
Great article! Obviously, the left-wing lunatics in Israel have got it backwards yet again. I wonder what the reaction would have been had the students wanted to start a poker game! As I read this with incredulity, I couldn’t help but marvel that the Nazis tried to ban religion…OUR religion. And now Jews are doing the same? It beggars belief, doesn’t it!
Curious
Thank you Rabbi Kahanov for another great piece.
This article is stimulating and thought provoking.
I’m curious as to the Rebbe’s position on Church and State
Pierre Aronnax
To Nemo:
1. The connection is in these sentences:
“Even the seemingly mundane elements of life are imbued with G-dly origins and purpose. G-d is certainly not confined to the four walls of the Synagogue.”
So in other words, it shouldn’t be the case that the Israeli (or any other) public schools are “religion-free” zones.
2. Fine, perhaps it’s true that in a public school (in Israel or elsewhere) the school authorities – who represent the state – shouldn’t be requiring the children to pray. But how is a student-led prayer, such as in Ramat Gan, a violation of the separation of church and state? It’s not in any way a government “establishment of religion,” but a private affair.