Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for joining me. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from
Congregation withth Israel in Houston. In the Talmud, which is
post Biblical and contains what we might call case law,
the debates that rabbis had about particular issues in the
Torah that related not only to ritual items which we
(00:22):
would imagine they would take up, but also and mostly
about ethical issues about how we live with each other,
how we deal with each other when different circumstances arise,
between neighbors, between businesses along the way, and so the
Talmud is a dense volume of all of these conversations,
(00:43):
edited debates, and some conclusions. But in the Talmud, when
the rabbis didn't know how to settle the law or
the matter for the community, they said often say or
the maid, go and learn effect they said, go and
see what the people are doing, and that'll be the law.
(01:06):
It isn't always that simple, but very often it was
a way to find out how people were resolving their
own issues, arriving at their own peaceful conclusions, and needed
someone to codify the law so that not only in
the present, but in the future it would continue to
maintain and hold the community together. The result was another
(01:29):
Hebrew term called minhag hamakom. It means the custom of
the place. It's a familiar term and we still use
it today. In Greater Houston, or Greater New York, Greater
Los Angeles, or in a large community where you might
also live, there are many synagogues that exist, large and small,
(01:53):
old and new, representing nearly every Jewish stream. Any jew
visitor is welcome to attend a synagogue, especially for Sabbath worship.
But the question often asked just before entering for those
who know, is what is the minhague hamakomb or simply
(02:14):
what's the minhog here? And if you don't know the word,
it would occur to most people entering a place that
might be new to them to say, what's the custom?
What do I do here? It's the same thing. It's
a Jewish way of asking about the customs that bind
the congregation as a community in that particular place. And yes,
(02:37):
even between synagogues across town, there can be different customs
from place to place. For example, do men and women
sit together or separately? Are their prayer shawls available? Do
we dovin? That is, do we pray as Orthodox or
non Orthodox? Choose do we sit or stand during certain
(02:59):
particular their prayers? Where there are options between synagogues, do
we use the Sephardic or Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation? There are
two ways to pronounce certain Hebrew words? And what do
you serve at the onik Shabbab? What kind of food
or pastry or desserts are available to those who worship
(03:20):
and then gather after the service ends. The last question,
of course, is optional, but the other questions might be
answered differently at each synagogue. Now, there's nothing wrong about
any of the answers, and no reason to be critical
as long as they meet the needs of the people
in that particular place. There are some who say, I'll
(03:41):
never observe or pray in that synagogue, only the one
that I go to on a regular basis. But there's
nothing wrong with what other people do in the synagogue
they call home. It just meets their needs and not
your own. But we can respect what happens because all
of it is connected to the same Torah, the ten Commandments,
(04:02):
and on the Bema, on the worship space in the synagogue,
there's always an air tamida and eternal light and there's
always a place where worship is held, including having a menorah,
a seven brand candelabra, which is described in the Torah
and has always represented in a Jewish worship space. They
(04:23):
are all the essential elements for a sacred worship space,
and what happens there is sacred and holy, but still
a little different from what you might do in your
own synagogue at home. If we extend the concept, and
our identity is also bound to customs where we live,
in the city we call home, in the state which
(04:45):
is ours, and as Americans for Ustonians, Texans and Americans,
there is something that binds us together. We live freely
but bound to customs and norms that make us many
peoples of one nation, such minhagime. Such customs enable us
to find our place where reliable rules of civility, dignity,
(05:08):
and humanity are honored. If they're not honored, then our
system breaks down. Then we fear anyone who is in
part of our faith community is a stranger in our
neighborhood or who holds an opposing opinion. To avoid fear,
we have to rely on customs and norms and bind
us as a civil people. We see it happen in
(05:31):
our house of worship. We see it happen in our home,
and I hope we also see it happen in our neighborhood,
but not always beyond it. At one time, America was
called the Great Melting Pot because America appeared to blend
everything into one stew. But it was a mistake. It
(05:51):
was a misnomer because America never lost its multicultural or
pluralistic textures. It never happened on its own, and it
couldn't be legislated away. There are houses of worship and
areas of cities that are unique to an ethnic or
cultural group. It's true in my hometown of Houston. It
(06:13):
might be true where you live, too, where there are
special areas of the city dedicated and devoted to certain
ethnic and cultural expertise and special feelings, flavors, and events.
They draw us together because we look forward to sharing
and learning from each other. Today, that's a virtue in
(06:34):
most cities where diversity is clear, certainly in a city
like Houston, which is already one of the most diverse
cities in America. One sociologist said that by twenty fifty,
the entire country will look like Houston, looks today, and
as a long time Ustonian, I can tell you that
it's a wonderful city to live in, and the diversity
(06:56):
and the cultural pluralism that we enjoy is a part
or the rich experience that we all share. I might
pray in my own house of worship that I eat
and play and participate in a community that is very
diverse and very welcome. The strength of our country isn't
in the past, where homogeneity was the hope of a
(07:19):
pot that stowed for hours. The strength of our country
is reflected in what we the people are doing. We're living, working, playing, worshiping,
and loving together in ways that highlight the desire of
human beings to find the humanity that our creator created
in all of us. To do anything less doesn't honor
(07:41):
the one God in whose image we are all created
for good and for blessings. It begins in each of us.
So let's ask how do we demonstrate our own humanity?
How do we identify humanity and others? Are we civil
about differences we observe? Do we honor those differences as
(08:06):
God's creative works instead of as narrow human judgments. The
hard work isn't in finding differences. We're very good at that,
too good at that. The hard work is identifying them
as God's handiwork. I, for one, am not qualified to
pass judgment on God's handiwork. Are you? I doubt it?
(08:32):
So I would urge us to agree to see in
others what we can and ascribe to God's mystery and
awe what we cannot easily understand. My point is that
when we look around and see someone who is just
like us, it's so easy to feel at ease with
(08:54):
expectations and anticipation of the kind of experience we might
enjoy with that person, and says nothing about God's creative
acts because it's so familiar to us. But when we
see someone who is different, who looks different, who acts different,
who believes different, who worships differently than we do, very
(09:15):
often we're triggered to think that person is fearful, that
person is dangerous to me, that person is different than
I am. But the truth is that that person is
created in God's image too, and the awe and wonder
of God's creation is something that we need to come
to understand by asking that person, conversing with that individual,
(09:38):
and learning more about that person to understand that that
person has many desires and expectations that we do too,
for ourselves and for our family. But it is not
for us, as human beings, limited as we are, to
deny what God has created, or to say, in essence,
(09:58):
God mistake, How did it happen? God? Who are we
to stand in God's presence and be suddenly such narrow,
judgmental human beings. It's really awesome to see the variety
of God's creative works and to find that together and
not a part, we can accomplish so many amazing things.
(10:22):
And that's why the idea of America being a melting
pot that blended all the flavors and textures together into
just a soupy mix in which nothing could be tasted
separately and nothing ever tasted good enough was not the
way that our country was described, not how we wanted
to be portrayed, So we need to find another way.
(10:47):
What sociologist did was to transform the word melting pot
into cultural pluralism, just another fancy word. But I would say,
as a rabbi is a theologian, that we need to
be more of God's presence in our life by seeing
around us many things that God created in nature. The
rabbis of the Tumult even said, though the gnat and
(11:08):
the mosquito seem like odd creations on God's part, as
annoying as those two creatures can be, there is some
place for them in the world too. And it doesn't
mean that we can swat at them or destroy them
before they destroy us. But nevertheless, there's mystery and awe
(11:28):
and all that God created, but all the more so
for human beings that surround us. I know that sometimes
we raise children who are not as bright as others,
who struggle physically, mentally, emotionally. Does it mean that they
don't deserve to be loved? It isn't that God gave
us them only because God counted us to love them more.
(11:52):
But it is what it is. They are the product
of our relationships. They are part of God's creative acts.
It's our duty to love them as God loves them,
and to do less that only offers less love but
less honor do God. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation
(12:13):
Beth Israel in Houston, and to listen again or to
share this message, please find it at my podcast called
Heart to Heart with Rabbi David Lyon at Sunday ninety
nine dot com on the iHeartRadio app. The people around
us deserve to be allowed to blossom in all the
ways that brings Awe and God to God and then
(12:36):
maybe one day even to us. But because we are
so prone to be critical and to be hateful, and
sometimes in context where it's permitted and encouraged, we need
to resist that terrible temptation and to remember that we
too are created in God's image and there's nothing completely
(12:57):
perfect about us, not completely perfect about me. So if
we lean in and make an effort to see the
humanity and other people, because they too are created in
God's image, they deserve love and honor. But if you
can't do it, remember that above all, God deserves honor
(13:18):
for all the work that God makes happen in this
world and leaves in our hands to do something positive with.
If we can bring ourselves around to appreciate what we
need to do to honor God, then I believe the
rest will fall into place. We will honor our family,
our neighbors, our LGBTQ plus family, friends and colleagues, and
(13:43):
appreciate that the blessing of God's creations is found in
a variety of forms and modes and models. And that
is beyond our ability to praise God, and certainly our
ability to appreciate and comprehend all of God's mysterious ways.
But if we are people of faith, we can lean
(14:05):
in and make an effort to do better, and in
the min hug the custom of the place where we arrive.
Let's be sure that we're respectful of those places, to
find out how to behave, how to be welcome as
visitors in those places, and perhaps even one day to
be a familiar friend among others who were at first
(14:26):
just strangers. As the week unfolds and as time goes on,
let's incorporate this lesson among many others, and remember that
the God is God of all children, and no matter
how we arrive at or pray to God, one God
is a beautiful creator of a beautiful world that we
are still cultivating and creating in our own hands, but
(14:48):
always for the sake of something better, something good, and
something that brings all of us love and greater peace.
Thank you for joining me today. I look forward to
being with you again next time.
Thank you for joining me. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from
Congregation withth Israel in Houston. In the Talmud, which is
post Biblical and contains what we might call case law,
the debates that rabbis had about particular issues in the
Torah that related not only to ritual items which we
(00:22):
would imagine they would take up, but also and mostly
about ethical issues about how we live with each other,
how we deal with each other when different circumstances arise,
between neighbors, between businesses along the way, and so the
Talmud is a dense volume of all of these conversations,
(00:43):
edited debates, and some conclusions. But in the Talmud, when
the rabbis didn't know how to settle the law or
the matter for the community, they said often say or
the maid, go and learn effect they said, go and
see what the people are doing, and that'll be the law.
(01:06):
It isn't always that simple, but very often it was
a way to find out how people were resolving their
own issues, arriving at their own peaceful conclusions, and needed
someone to codify the law so that not only in
the present, but in the future it would continue to
maintain and hold the community together. The result was another
(01:29):
Hebrew term called minhag hamakom. It means the custom of
the place. It's a familiar term and we still use
it today. In Greater Houston, or Greater New York, Greater
Los Angeles, or in a large community where you might
also live, there are many synagogues that exist, large and small,
(01:53):
old and new, representing nearly every Jewish stream. Any jew
visitor is welcome to attend a synagogue, especially for Sabbath worship.
But the question often asked just before entering for those
who know, is what is the minhague hamakomb or simply
(02:14):
what's the minhog here? And if you don't know the word,
it would occur to most people entering a place that
might be new to them to say, what's the custom?
What do I do here? It's the same thing. It's
a Jewish way of asking about the customs that bind
the congregation as a community in that particular place. And yes,
(02:37):
even between synagogues across town, there can be different customs
from place to place. For example, do men and women
sit together or separately? Are their prayer shawls available? Do
we dovin? That is, do we pray as Orthodox or
non Orthodox? Choose do we sit or stand during certain
(02:59):
particular their prayers? Where there are options between synagogues, do
we use the Sephardic or Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation? There are
two ways to pronounce certain Hebrew words? And what do
you serve at the onik Shabbab? What kind of food
or pastry or desserts are available to those who worship
(03:20):
and then gather after the service ends. The last question,
of course, is optional, but the other questions might be
answered differently at each synagogue. Now, there's nothing wrong about
any of the answers, and no reason to be critical
as long as they meet the needs of the people
in that particular place. There are some who say, I'll
(03:41):
never observe or pray in that synagogue, only the one
that I go to on a regular basis. But there's
nothing wrong with what other people do in the synagogue
they call home. It just meets their needs and not
your own. But we can respect what happens because all
of it is connected to the same Torah, the ten Commandments,
(04:02):
and on the Bema, on the worship space in the synagogue,
there's always an air tamida and eternal light and there's
always a place where worship is held, including having a menorah,
a seven brand candelabra, which is described in the Torah
and has always represented in a Jewish worship space. They
(04:23):
are all the essential elements for a sacred worship space,
and what happens there is sacred and holy, but still
a little different from what you might do in your
own synagogue at home. If we extend the concept, and
our identity is also bound to customs where we live,
in the city we call home, in the state which
(04:45):
is ours, and as Americans for Ustonians, Texans and Americans,
there is something that binds us together. We live freely
but bound to customs and norms that make us many
peoples of one nation, such minhagime. Such customs enable us
to find our place where reliable rules of civility, dignity,
(05:08):
and humanity are honored. If they're not honored, then our
system breaks down. Then we fear anyone who is in
part of our faith community is a stranger in our
neighborhood or who holds an opposing opinion. To avoid fear,
we have to rely on customs and norms and bind
us as a civil people. We see it happen in
(05:31):
our house of worship. We see it happen in our home,
and I hope we also see it happen in our neighborhood,
but not always beyond it. At one time, America was
called the Great Melting Pot because America appeared to blend
everything into one stew. But it was a mistake. It
(05:51):
was a misnomer because America never lost its multicultural or
pluralistic textures. It never happened on its own, and it
couldn't be legislated away. There are houses of worship and
areas of cities that are unique to an ethnic or
cultural group. It's true in my hometown of Houston. It
(06:13):
might be true where you live, too, where there are
special areas of the city dedicated and devoted to certain
ethnic and cultural expertise and special feelings, flavors, and events.
They draw us together because we look forward to sharing
and learning from each other. Today, that's a virtue in
(06:34):
most cities where diversity is clear, certainly in a city
like Houston, which is already one of the most diverse
cities in America. One sociologist said that by twenty fifty,
the entire country will look like Houston, looks today, and
as a long time Ustonian, I can tell you that
it's a wonderful city to live in, and the diversity
(06:56):
and the cultural pluralism that we enjoy is a part
or the rich experience that we all share. I might
pray in my own house of worship that I eat
and play and participate in a community that is very
diverse and very welcome. The strength of our country isn't
in the past, where homogeneity was the hope of a
(07:19):
pot that stowed for hours. The strength of our country
is reflected in what we the people are doing. We're living, working, playing, worshiping,
and loving together in ways that highlight the desire of
human beings to find the humanity that our creator created
in all of us. To do anything less doesn't honor
(07:41):
the one God in whose image we are all created
for good and for blessings. It begins in each of us.
So let's ask how do we demonstrate our own humanity?
How do we identify humanity and others? Are we civil
about differences we observe? Do we honor those differences as
(08:06):
God's creative works instead of as narrow human judgments. The
hard work isn't in finding differences. We're very good at that,
too good at that. The hard work is identifying them
as God's handiwork. I, for one, am not qualified to
pass judgment on God's handiwork. Are you? I doubt it?
(08:32):
So I would urge us to agree to see in
others what we can and ascribe to God's mystery and
awe what we cannot easily understand. My point is that
when we look around and see someone who is just
like us, it's so easy to feel at ease with
(08:54):
expectations and anticipation of the kind of experience we might
enjoy with that person, and says nothing about God's creative
acts because it's so familiar to us. But when we
see someone who is different, who looks different, who acts different,
who believes different, who worships differently than we do, very
(09:15):
often we're triggered to think that person is fearful, that
person is dangerous to me, that person is different than
I am. But the truth is that that person is
created in God's image too, and the awe and wonder
of God's creation is something that we need to come
to understand by asking that person, conversing with that individual,
(09:38):
and learning more about that person to understand that that
person has many desires and expectations that we do too,
for ourselves and for our family. But it is not
for us, as human beings, limited as we are, to
deny what God has created, or to say, in essence,
(09:58):
God mistake, How did it happen? God? Who are we
to stand in God's presence and be suddenly such narrow,
judgmental human beings. It's really awesome to see the variety
of God's creative works and to find that together and
not a part, we can accomplish so many amazing things.
(10:22):
And that's why the idea of America being a melting
pot that blended all the flavors and textures together into
just a soupy mix in which nothing could be tasted
separately and nothing ever tasted good enough was not the
way that our country was described, not how we wanted
to be portrayed, So we need to find another way.
(10:47):
What sociologist did was to transform the word melting pot
into cultural pluralism, just another fancy word. But I would say,
as a rabbi is a theologian, that we need to
be more of God's presence in our life by seeing
around us many things that God created in nature. The
rabbis of the Tumult even said, though the gnat and
(11:08):
the mosquito seem like odd creations on God's part, as
annoying as those two creatures can be, there is some
place for them in the world too. And it doesn't
mean that we can swat at them or destroy them
before they destroy us. But nevertheless, there's mystery and awe
(11:28):
and all that God created, but all the more so
for human beings that surround us. I know that sometimes
we raise children who are not as bright as others,
who struggle physically, mentally, emotionally. Does it mean that they
don't deserve to be loved? It isn't that God gave
us them only because God counted us to love them more.
(11:52):
But it is what it is. They are the product
of our relationships. They are part of God's creative acts.
It's our duty to love them as God loves them,
and to do less that only offers less love but
less honor do God. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation
(12:13):
Beth Israel in Houston, and to listen again or to
share this message, please find it at my podcast called
Heart to Heart with Rabbi David Lyon at Sunday ninety
nine dot com on the iHeartRadio app. The people around
us deserve to be allowed to blossom in all the
ways that brings Awe and God to God and then
(12:36):
maybe one day even to us. But because we are
so prone to be critical and to be hateful, and
sometimes in context where it's permitted and encouraged, we need
to resist that terrible temptation and to remember that we
too are created in God's image and there's nothing completely
(12:57):
perfect about us, not completely perfect about me. So if
we lean in and make an effort to see the
humanity and other people, because they too are created in
God's image, they deserve love and honor. But if you
can't do it, remember that above all, God deserves honor
(13:18):
for all the work that God makes happen in this
world and leaves in our hands to do something positive with.
If we can bring ourselves around to appreciate what we
need to do to honor God, then I believe the
rest will fall into place. We will honor our family,
our neighbors, our LGBTQ plus family, friends and colleagues, and
(13:43):
appreciate that the blessing of God's creations is found in
a variety of forms and modes and models. And that
is beyond our ability to praise God, and certainly our
ability to appreciate and comprehend all of God's mysterious ways.
But if we are people of faith, we can lean
(14:05):
in and make an effort to do better, and in
the min hug the custom of the place where we arrive.
Let's be sure that we're respectful of those places, to
find out how to behave, how to be welcome as
visitors in those places, and perhaps even one day to
be a familiar friend among others who were at first
(14:26):
just strangers. As the week unfolds and as time goes on,
let's incorporate this lesson among many others, and remember that
the God is God of all children, and no matter
how we arrive at or pray to God, one God
is a beautiful creator of a beautiful world that we
are still cultivating and creating in our own hands, but
(14:48):
always for the sake of something better, something good, and
something that brings all of us love and greater peace.
Thank you for joining me today. I look forward to
being with you again next time.
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