You Can’t Pray For Comedy Like This
For those of you who don’t know, today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It’s a day for rest, reflection and sitting through hours on end of services. As boring as that can be, it’s also a nice break from the perils of everyday life. After a week of Cameragate, you’d have to imagine that Bob Kraft was looking for that type of escape when he strolled into his Newton temple late this morning. But thanks to a faux-pas from a rabbi who’s apparently had her head stuck in a giant blintz for the last week, no such luck.
I go to the same temple as Kraft, so I’m pleased to report that he did an outstanding job chanting a lengthy haftorah portion (a selection from the prophets) before the congregation today, but things got a little bumpy at the end of the service when our rabbi rose to deliver the sermon.
Her main trope was that people should act as as though God is always watching them. Not a bad lesson, except that in making her point she must have made an endless number of references to acting like you’re being videotaped. This was awkward.
Somewhere in the middle of the sermon, she somehow managed to stumble onto a story about Cal Ripken, Jr. and what a positive role model he is (why she referenced Cal Ripken of all people, I have no idea–this sermon was all over the place). Her basic point was that Ripken always knew he was being recorded on the field, so he behaved accordingly. This was especially significant, she said, in this modern age where “sports scandal” is so prevalent.
This was really awkward.
The guy sitting next to my dad leaned over and whispered, “Does she even know Bob Kraft goes to this Temple?” and a hefty portion of the congregation craned their necks over to Kraft’s pew toward the front. To his credit, he didn’t have any sort of discernible reaction. But, about five seconds after that sermon mercifully ended, he was up and out of there. In fairness, it was toward the end of the service and plenty of other people were leaving too, but trust me, there was no hesitation in his step.
As a side note, the rabbi made the point that in this era of cell phone cameras, bloggers and YouTube, you might as well act as if God’s always watching you, because anything foolish or embarrassing you do could easily be recorded and end up on the internet for all to see.
Ironic, huh?
September 14th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Jason, I was there as well. I was quite upset. what seemed to me an endless discussion on Michelle’s part of sports and ethics really disrupted my entire experience of the Service. Are you forwarding this to Wes?? Or to Michelle? I thought that it was incredibly insensitive, and I was very uncomfortable. My husband cut her a break in thinking that maybe she didn’t know, but is this possible??
September 14th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
The more important question here is why the rabbi of your congregation is a woman. There’s no way a male rabbi would have not known about the sensitive situation Mr. Kraft is in. This is just another example of what happens when a woman does a MAN’s job.
September 15th, 2007 at 9:47 am
What? I don’t understand what the rabbi’s gender has to do with whether this was or wasn’t an appropriate topic to bring up in the sermon.
September 15th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
“Saul” is a girl’s name.
September 15th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Shame, for your remarks on Friday about the sermon given by our rabbi. With knowledge of this holiday, Rosh Hashanah, being one of reflection on the past year, you made clearly inappropriate remarks. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year is a holiday when one rejoices in the new year but also reflects on one’s deeds and behavior over the past year. That sermon was a most appropriate one for every one of the hundreds of people who heard it in the congregation. We have people in every endeavor of occupation, and it pertained to every person there. Certainly, no one person is ever singled out. As I am sure you are aware, a sermon is composed with thought and care some time before it is given, it is not an extemporaneous speech, although it usually touches on current and important issues. The fact that it was given by a woman, who is equally as learned as any of her counterparts, should be of no concern to anyone. I think you belittled yourself in personalizing this ethical sermon and interpreting it as pointed to one individual.
September 15th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Jason, too bad you misunderstand this important holiday. Rosh Hashanah is not a time out. It serves exactly to give you the chance to evaluate whether your life measures up to a whatever ideal you determine to be your benchmark. A good thing for all of us to do, whether we’re a snarky blogger invading one’s spiritual space or someone who presides over a multi-million dollar sports empire that has some ethical challenges. Because we ALL have areas in which we could do better. That’s the purpose of Rosh Hashanah. Maybe it would help this year to take some of the adult education classes…
September 15th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
How very sad that you did not pay attention to the point of the sermon: that we are all being watched and our actions matter. This was a wonderful, well-thought out sermon, obviously written over time, which resonated with many people who heard it. People read into sermons what they want to hear. As a mother, I sat there thinking of the teens and young adults who spend hours on the internet, dangerously divulging their secrets. You obviously had other thoughts. Your reaction is both distasteful and self-serving, and your destructive words have caused great distress to these two individuals, and to our community. And sadly, the Boston Globe picked up on it, the harm from which you should feel responsible. Normally, I would excuse your indescretion as youthful arrogance…but you knew exactly what you were doing, posting this on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest days of the year. One of the strong tenets of Judaism is not to embarrass someone in public. You have done this - to Mr. Kraft, a prominent and immensely philanthropic person in our community, and to our Rabbi, who deserves respect for her knowledge, teaching and position. You have subjected both members of our congregation to ridicule. Above all, you have embarrassed and lessened yourself in precisely the way the Rabbi admonished us to resist. You will now be known by your actions. You have made an error in judgement that is terribly unfortunate for you. I hope that you will offer a public apology to the people hurt by your words and take your posting down.
September 15th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Jason: It’s more like it was your head that was stuck in that giant blintz during the entire sermon. Obviously you were unable to follow a well-thought-out and actually quite compelling speech by the rabbi. Your quote says a lot: “[W]hy she referenced Cal Ripken of all people, I have no idea–-this sermon was all over the place.” Had you possessed the attention span of a pre-schooler, you might have understood her reference to Cal Ripken–as I think even the youngest in attendance did: that big leaguers are role models. Period. Not too hard to grasp that one. But I suppose when your goal is to look for an angle for your blog, then paying attention to the substance of a sermon on one of the holiest days of the Jewish year is not your biggest priority. I don’t know you or whether you’re a member of the congregation. Maybe you were in town to do your once-a-year “I’m a Jew” temple visit in order to sit through, as you call it, boring “hours on end of services.” Or maybe you’re a passive-aggressive congregant. Either way, shame on you.
September 15th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Jason: Shame on you and shame on the Globe for reprinting your dreck. Lucky for you, Yom Kippur is next week.
September 15th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Jason, your posting is a disgrace to the entire community. You must feel really special that your verminous drivel was picked up by the Boston Globe. But you only succeeded in underscoring the rabbi\’s point: be careful with your words and actions, because in this day and age, your most careless, ignorant, and insensitive comments just might be memorialized forever in someone\’s blog. If you are capable of genuine repentance, which certainly appears unlikely, you may, one day, come to regret the fact that your cretinous commentary remains available to anyone capable of using the internet, no matter how badly you feel about it. Ironic, huh?
September 16th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Dreck is dreck…
September 17th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Such is America that taboo breaking is done for sport and amusement. One would like to believe that sanctuary still holds some meaning, that going into a house of worship retains some private spiritual succor in a busy public world. Discussing the sermon is one thing. People do it all time. Saying you don’t like the rabbi’s sermon is as old as Sinai (do priests get the same at Easter?). But using the sermon to needle an individual in the pews violates something, a large number of somethings, first of course being a violation of the spirit of membership, that our blogger used his connection to the synagogue as a way of needling another member. Have we learned now that we can’t relax in our own house of worship? Does this mean that a sense of community is gone, that instead of gathering together and taking strength from community, we must now distrust, fear the other fellow? From all walks of life gather the Jews on RH. We come for a few hours of spiritual renewal, a couple of quiet hours before God and gathering with family. Meanwhile, it seems, others are thinking up columns and blog entries.
God, community, privacy, sanctuary, tradition, family, a moment of peace, a chance for reflection. These are good and valued qualities. It is disheartening when someone who sits in the pews doesn’t get that. It is, of course, worse when those who don’t get it abuse those who do.
September 17th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Oh come on. It is funny. I am sure she didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable, she was delivering her message to all in her congregation and his personal foibles got caught up in the details - that is what humor is.
as for “privacy in the spiritual sector”..the blogger didnt expose a previously unknown scandal to the world; nor did he “embarass Mr Kraft in public”…Mr Kraft did that all by himself.
Does Kraft deserve a ‘pass’ on accountability?
September 17th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
The blogger did not embarrass Bob Kraft - the rabbi did that all by herself. And the blogger didn’t embarrass the rabbi - she did that all by herself, too. After years of her silly sermons where she tries to find spiritual messages to share with the congregation in tales of her daughter’s poop-filled diapers, and all the other stories of her kids, her mother-in-law, her cooking, her…. on an on…. she is clearly beyond feeling embarrassment. This is not the first time she stumbled into inflaming the sensitivities of the community. Maybe next sermon she can talk about harming people through acts that are intentional vs reckless vs simpleminded and uninformed. That would make for a good Yom Kippur sermon, as long as she doesn’t include more stories about her kids.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Uh, I’d like to hear “Bob” try to deliver a sermon. Actually, no I wouldn’t. G’mar Chatima Tova and May Gd have mercy on your souls.
September 17th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
“You have done this - to Mr. Kraft, a prominent and immensely philanthropic person in our community, and to our Rabbi, who deserves respect for her knowledge, teaching and position.”
Enough from the shoot the messenger party.
BTW. Watch out for out of area metaphors. A knowledgeable sports fan would have picked a different subject for a sermon, and would not have used Cal Ripken Jr. as an example.
September 18th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Of course Bob Kraft and the rest of the team leadership don’t deserve a pass on accountability. Such accountability is found in the public media, sports bars, any number of Sunday afternoon family rooms and within the offices of the NFL commissioner or whatever rules enforcing office the NFL has. Gossiping about a sermon is not accountability. One flatters oneself to imagine it is so. A sermon that might have resonated with the Krafts assuredly resonated with many others in that synagogue that day. It’s just that they have the luxury to reflect on the words the next morning over coffee while Bob Kraft does not. Should he get a pass on a private spiritual life? Such a thing may seem silly to many reading this and, not knowing the man, I have no idea what he thinks about his inner spiritual life. But, I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt that he has one and if that is so, he ought to be allowed to develop it as much as any other person. Just seems fair.
September 18th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
So how much did this Rabbi just cost her shul in a reduced Yom Kippur Appeal from Bob Kraft?
September 18th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Were we in the same service? I heard in our Rabbi’s sermon nothing more than an admonition to realize that, in general, someone is always watching us (whether it is our children, someone in the checkout line, or an eBay seller who wants good feedback or, and here’s something to think about on one of the Holiest Days of the year — God); faith-based or not, her entire sermon can be summed up in one sentence about how to live, “Act as if someone is always watching, even if no one is.” Her sermon was well-constructed and pulled in different examples so that all kinds of people could relate to it (even those among us who have never seen a youtube video or bought or sold something on eBay, have no doubt waited in line to buy something).
The shame to me, Mr. Schwartz? At the ripe age of 22 (oh, yeah, along the lines of someone is watching you, I Googled you), with the proud distinction of graduating from one of the most prestigious universities in the country, in a highly regarded program, having landed what I imagine is a dream job for you, you start the New Year by showing a side of you that is, at best, self-serving, and, at worst, just plain mean.
What was your motive? Did you somehow consider this posting to be career-making? Something from which you could gain some notoriety? Or, were you taking this time of reflection about the kind of life you want to live to comment, ridicule, and embarrass?
Aside from hoping that this blog is taken down, you owe Mr. Kraft, the Rabbi, and, in fact, our whole congregation, an apology. You focused on one small part of her sermon (Cal Ripkin - which for the record was toward the end of the sermon), completely missed her message, and publicized your take on it. Hardly good journalism! You left services and, with the spirit of Rosh Hashanah still in your heart, you posted this blog and then enjoyed your dinner. Very disappointing, to say the least) given the sensitive manner in which you handled the Virginia Tech tragedy earlier this year. You have the credentials to indicate that you are a smart young man. Be smart enough to admit that you were wrong and still have a lot to learn. Do what you can to make this right. Apologize and then have an easy fast; hopefully, humbler and wiser. May this be a year of health, happiness, and peace for all of us.
September 18th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
I’ve taught in many different contexts in the Jewish world, and one thing I know for sure is that what I say and what some people hear- for their own reasons- are often two different things. What’s missing from this discourse is the possibility that our blogger didn’t actually get the message or the reaction correctly- you’d have to read the sermon again, or confirm with other folks at the shul, or do some minimal fact-checking, before taking one person’s perspective (with a pretty obvious agenda to stir the pot) at face value.)
September 20th, 2007 at 1:13 am
Actually, my friend, you’ve only begun to uncover the conspiracy. On Rosh Hashana, we read the Torah portion about the binding of Isaac. And, there are at least two officials in the NFL central office named Isaac. Isn’t it obvious? God is in on the plot to embarrass Mr. Kraft in front of his congregation. Think about the public response when you break that story open in your next blog entry.
For the record, the Rabbi never actually mentioned videotape in the entire sermon. And I’ve talked to many tens of congregants who heard the same sermon that you did and not a single one drew the connection that you did between the sermon and the Patriots. Not one. Almost all of them, though, who I talked to since word got out about your blog entry, find your neck craning story to be pretty comical. Leaves me wondering what you and the guy sitting next to you have against the Patriots since you seem to have been the only ones who saw this connection.
Unlike many of the other responders here, I’m not outraged. It’s a silly blog for a silly magazine, after all. I’m just annoyed.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:41 am
Jason:
It seems that you have taken a page from the book of \”journalist\” Jayson Blair. I couldn\’t help but make this connection, as you share not only first names but also, apparently, ethical standards. You remember him – the twenty-something New York Times reporter who was fired after his extensive plagiarism and journalistic errors were finally uncovered. Of course, by the time he was fired, he had caused serious damage to the credibility of the New York Times.
Let\’s look at what you’ve done, by way of comparison. You walked into synagogue, looking for an angle for your blog. You sat through \”boring\” services for \”hours on end,\” to use your words. You then heard a compelling sermon given by a respected rabbi. This sermon was surely crafted well in advance of the news, which had only broken a few days before, that the Patriots had cheated. Rather than perusing the sports pages, the rabbi was quite likely immersed in the hard spiritual work of preparation for the High Holidays. You apparently don\’t realize this, but doing this properly does require a bit of effort. You then stated, in your fictional account, that \”she must have made an endless number of references to acting like you\’re being videotaped.\” Number of actual references to being videotaped: Zero. That\’s right, zero. Numerous people have confirmed this.
Let\’s keep going. You then said, \”The guy sitting next to my dad leaned over and whispered, \’Does she even know Bob Kraft goes to this Temple?\’ and a hefty portion of the congregation craned their necks over to Kraft\’s pew toward the front.\” Again, great fiction, but it didn\’t actually occur. I was there. Perhaps two or three people looked over. What fraction of several hundred people is two or three? You may call it hefty. The rest of us call it slander.
What was the actual message of the sermon? It was, as you noted (in a rare bit of truth that slipped into your fictionalized account), that one should always act with the highest moral standards, because as the traditional Jewish liturgy teaches us (again and again throughout those long, boring hours of services), God is always watching. It turns out that people are, too, and so we should be particularly cautious and ethical, if for no other reason than that what we do could be broadcast on the internet, from a one-sided perspective.
You then proceeded to call it \”irony\” that precisely what the rabbi warned about happened to her. Jayson (sorry, Jason), it\’s not irony when you engineer it yourself. You painted a malicious, fictionalized account of your long, boring morning with Mr. Kraft and that female rabbi (how dare they allow those females to be rabbis, or even to step out of the kitchen for a moment), and created a story where there was none. Apparently you felt that you could score points on your cheap blog by a. announcing that you attend the same synagogue as Mr. Kraft (gee whiz, look how important I am), b. showcasing that snarky blogger cynicism of yours by explaining what a drag Rosh Hashanah is (and in fact, violating the holiday by posting your nastiness on that very day), c. carrying out your vindictive agenda against this rabbi by trying to paint her as a fool, and d. violating Mr. Kraft\’s sanctuary in the process. The amazing, though totally predictable, part of this is that other blogs, and even the Boston Globe, picked your story up without an iota of critical thought or fact-checking, and just ran with it. In the end, your ugly and grossly inaccurate version of the story has dominated the accounts that one reads on the internet. Sad, but true.
Will this affect your career the way it affected Jayson Blair\’s? Who knows. But you have committed the worst sins of journalism, and of human relationship. You have cheapened our discourse and you have caused harm in the process. You have violated the synagogue and the privacy of those who worship there. You should be deeply ashamed of yourself.
If you dare to show your face at synagogue on Yom Kippur, I recommend that you have a close look at the liturgy. You might learn a thing or two about responsibility, about repentance, and about making amends. Good luck – you have an awful lot to learn.
September 20th, 2007 at 7:40 am
Zach, you’re a buffoon. Jayson Blair was fired for making up stories. Jason S wrote a true story you didn’t like. There’s no comparison.
September 20th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Dear Jason,
Just a few points…
1. As you begin your blog with the words “for those of you don’t know, today is Rosh Hashannah,” are we to assume that on this day of holy reflection and contemplation, you were writing a blog criticizing your rabbi’s sermon?
2. I also wonder how actively you participate in your synagogue. Most active Jews would probably realize, that in the weeks leading up to the holidays, yes, rabbis do feel as if our heads are stuck in a giant blintz. It’s pretty overwhelming, in fact.
3. Your rabbi makes an excellent point about our actions. If we acted in ways that reflected our desire to live up to being created in God’s image, this world would certainly be a more pleasant place to live. I can not imagine that a sermon with this point at its center could be so bad that it deserves such public criticism.
4. If I had the opportunity to preach at your synagogue, I would try to stress the point that in this day of anonymous blogging and e-mail, we tend to say things publicly with little regard for the human beings we may be hurting.
I would suggest that you have some work to do during these Yamim Noraim.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Really, so the man owns the Patriots, he should be exempt from rebuke? Why should a Rabbi, female or male waste their time following millionaires chasing balls? Kol Hakavod to the Rabbi!
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:42 am
Last night at dinner I had the opportunity to read a copy of the Rabbi’s sermon. I wanted to know the facts and here they are:
1. Videotaping was not specifically mentioned in the sermon
2. Her references to Cal Ripken were not a metaphor for the Patriots or any other sports scandal. She told a relevant story about how Mr. Ripken came to learn that as a role model he needed to be conscious of how he acted in public.
The sermon was relevant, well written and not in the least controversial.
For anyone concerned that Bob Kraft was offended, I have been told by family members who were at the Yom Kippur service that Mr. Kraft and the Rabbi greeted each other with a hug.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
The following comment was submitted to the online editor by Ellen:
I have tremendous respect for Rabbi Robinson. I find her to be a highly intelligent, thoughtful, and caring human being and I do not believe for a minute that she would deliberately deliver a sermon that she felt might hurt or offend another individual. Perhaps if the author of the original blog had an ounce of her wisdom or compassion, he would have shared his concerns with her before publishing them for the general public.