Welcome to Temple Beth Ami
Welcome To Temple Beth Ami
  • Home Page
  • About Us
    • Clergy and Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • Membership
    • Policies and Inclusion
    • Contact Us
    • Rentals
    • History
    • Czech Scrolls at Temple Beth Ami
    • Events
    • Judaica Shop
  • Jewish Life
    • Shabbat
      • Shabbat Sermons
    • Holidays and Festivals
    • Lifecycle
      • Bereavement
      • Birth
      • B’nei Mitzvah
      • Confirmation and Graduation
      • Marriage
      • TBA Cares
    • Israel
      • Israel Resources and Facts
    • Torah Blog
  • Education
    • Gan Ami (Early Childhood)
    • Machane TBA (Religious School)
    • Summer Programs
      • Gan Ami Summer Program (Age 2 – Pre-K)
      • Kayitz (K – 7th Grade)
    • Adult Education
    • Resources for Having Difficult Conversations with Children
  • Get Involved
    • TBA Tribune
    • Monthly Calendar of Events
      • April 2025
      • May 2025
    • Social Action
      • Tikkun Olam (Community Service)
      • Community of Action (Social Justice)
    • Social Groups
    • Jewish Book Council and Book Events
    • TBA TV
    • Member Support
  • Donate
  • Contact Us
  • Members
    • ShulCloud
    • Financial Assistance
    • B’nei Mitzvah Preparation
    • Judaica Shop
    • Events

Events Calendar

« May 2025 » loading...
S M T W T F S
27
28
29
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

Shemot - 5780 (I am a Jew)

Exodus 1:1 – 6:1

“And these are the names [Shemot] of the sons of Jacob who came to Egypt with Jacob, each man with his household they came.” [Ex. 1:1]

The book of Exodus, which details the enslavement and eventual redemption of our people, begins with our names. Egypt, like Nazi Germany, attempted a Holocaust against our people. Pharaoh commanded the Hebrew midwives (who thankfully resisted) to kill all newborn baby boys, which would effectively destroy the Jewish people in one generation. However, unlike what happened to us under the Nazi oppression, where Jews in the death camps were tattooed with numbers meant to deny them any humanity, in Egypt we kept our names. A name is a powerful thing. It identifies us, and when we attach ourselves to a family or people, it connects us with their history and values. Thus, the history of our enslavement and our miraculous redemption begins with our names, so that we can remember who we really are.

As anti-Semitism rears its ugly head in the world today, as some would try to portray us in ways that take away our humanity and attempt to hijack the meaning of our tradition, we can respond by refusing to accept such nonsense. We have names, and we have families, and we are part of a people with a noble religious tradition and inspiring values.

With this in mind, I would like to share two expressions of what it means to be a Jew, one from France in the early 20th Century and the second from Brooklyn, just a few weeks ago. The first was written by the French playwright and philosopher Edmund Fleg. He was a proud Frenchman, a recipient of the War Cross and eventually an officer in the Foreign Legion. He was also an ardent Zionist. In the 1920’s, according to legend, he was offered a prestigious position to teach Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris. However, the offer came with a stipulation: he would have to convert out of Judaism. In 1928, he published his rejection of this requirement with his response, Porquoi Je Suis Juife (Why I am a Jew). What follows is an adaptation of his powerful statement from the Reform movement prayer book Mishkan Tefillah (pg. 203):

I am a Jew because the faith of Israel demands no abdication of my mind.

I am a Jew because the faith of Israel requires all the devotion of my heart.

I am a Jew because in every place where suffering weeps, the Jew weeps.

I am a Jew because at every time when despair cries out, the Jew hopes.

I am a Jew because the word of Israel is the oldest and the newest.

I am a Jew because Israel’s promise is the universal promise.

I am a Jew because for Israel, the world is not completed; we are completing it.

I am a Jews because for Israel, humanity is not created; we are creating it.

I am a Jew because Israel places humanity and its unity above the nations and above Israel itself.

I am a Jew because, above humanity, image of the divine Unity, Israel places the unity which is divine.

New York Times columnist Bari Weiss spoke these next words at the “No Hate, No Fear” solidarity march in Brooklyn on January 5. May we be inspired by both her words and his to stay true to who we are, and proudly proclaim our names as part of Am Yisrael (the people of Israel):

My name is Bari Weiss.

I am a proud American. I am a proud New Yorker. And I am a proud Jew.

I am not a Jew because people hate my religion, my people, and my civilization.

Not for a single moment does Jew-hatred, like the kind we are seeing in this city, make me a Jew.

I am a Jew because of the audacity and the iconoclasm of Abraham, the first Jew of all. The whole world was awash in idols and he stood alone to proclaim the truth: There is one God.

I am a Jew because my ancestors were slaves. And I am a Jew because the story of their Exodus from Egypt, their liberation from slavery, is a story that changed human consciousness forever.

I am a Jew because our God commands us to never oppress the stranger.

I am Jew because Ruth, the first convert to Judaism, told her mother-in-law Naomi, “your people will be my people and your god will be my god,” reminding us of the centrality of the Jewish people to Judaism.

I am a Jew because of Queen Esther, who understood that she had attained her royal position in order to save her people from destruction.

I am a Jew because the Maccabees were the original resistance. Because they modeled for us — and for all peoples — how to resist the temptation of self-erasure.

I am a Jew because when Rabbi Akiva was being tortured to death by the Romans he laughed. He laughed and he told his students that he could finally fulfill the commandment to love God with all of his being.

I am a Jew because even after the heart of Judaism and Jewish sovereignty were destroyed my people refused to accept the logic of history and disappear. And I am a Jew because some of our greatest renewals took place in exile.

I am a Jew because my people has been targeted and despised and murdered by the Nazis and Soviets.

I am a Jew because evil hates my people.

I am a Jew because because my people managed to turn destruction into redemption by returning to their land after 2,000 years.

I am a Jew because our Founders saw themselves as new Israelites.

I am a Jew because the biblical words on the liberty bell — proclaim liberty throughout the land! — rang out from the righteous mouths of this country’s abolitionists as they fought for universal freedom in this New Jerusalem.

I am a Jew because it was Emma Lazarus who etched the biblical injunction to welcome the stranger onto the consciousness of America when she wrote the words: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

I am a Jew because of the martyred of Tree of Life and Chabad of Poway and Jersey City. And I am a Jew because of the courage of those who fought back in Monsey and who then, immediately after the attack, gathered together to sing. And I am Jew because my brothers and sisters in Crown Heights and Boro Park and Williamsburg who refuse to hide their Judaism.

I am a Jew because of students across this country who refuse to be smeared and denigrated because of who they are, who are standing up against humiliation, pressure and abuse to affirm the justness of Zionism.

I am a Jew because my brothers and sisters in England and France are battling the anti-Semitism of populist thugs and the anti-Semitism of politicians in parliament.

I am a Jew because I refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. I am a Jew because I have no patience for leaders who speak boldly while failing to take the actions necessary to protect our community. Or for partisan hacks that claim anti-Semitism is the exclusive domain of their political opponents. Or for leaders who believe they can fight Jew-hatred while making political alliances with anti-Semites.

I am a Jew because I refuse to lie.

I am a Jew because Jews are of every color and class and politics and language. And I am a Jew because hatred of us has no color or class or politics or language.

I am a Jew because Jews do not cause Jew hatred. Ever.

Today, as in so many times in history, there are many forces in the world insisting that Jews must disappear or die. Some say it bluntly. Some cloak it in the language of progress.

But I am a Jew because of I know that there is force far greater than that. And that is the force of who we are and the force of our world-changing ideas.

The Jewish people were not put on Earth to be anti-anti-Semites. We were put on Earth to be Jews.

We are the people whose God never slumbers or sleeps, and so neither can we.

We are the lamp-lighters.

We are the ever-dying people that refuses to die.

The people of Israel lives now and forever.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Recent Posts by Rabbi Pokras

July 30, 2020

Va’Etchanan – 5780

July 24, 2020

Devarim – 5780

July 17, 2020

Mattot/Masei – 5780

July 13, 2020

Pinchas – 5780

1 2 3 4›»
  • Older Posts
    July 1, 2020

    Chukkat/Balak – 5780

    June 26, 2020

    Korach – 5780

    June 19, 2020

    Shelach Lecha – 5780

    June 11, 2020

    BeHa’alotecha – 5780

    June 5, 2020

    Naso – 5780

    May 31, 2020

    Shavuot – 5780

    May 21, 2020

    BeMidbar – 5780

    May 15, 2020

    Behar/B’Chukotai – 5780

    May 8, 2020

    Emor – 5780

    May 1, 2020

    Achare Mot/Kedoshim – 5780

    April 8, 2020

    A Passover Message

    April 3, 2020

    Tzav – 5780

    March 20, 2020

    VaYak’heil/Pekudei – 5780

    March 15, 2020

    Ki Tissa – 5780 (On the COVID-19 Virus Crisis)

    March 4, 2020

    Tetzaveh – 5780

    February 26, 2020

    Terumah – 5780

    February 19, 2020

    Mishpatim – 5780

    February 12, 2020

    Yitro – 5780

    February 5, 2020

    BeShalach – 5780

    January 23, 2020

    Va’Era – 5780

    January 8, 2020

    VaYechi – 5780

    January 2, 2020

    VaYigash – 5780

    December 26, 2019

    Miketz – 5780

    December 20, 2019

    VaYeshev – 5780

    December 12, 2019

    VaYishlach – 5780

    December 4, 2019

    VaYeitze – 5780

    November 26, 2019

    Toledot – 5780

    November 20, 2019

    Chayei Sarah – 5780

    November 13, 2019

    VaYeira – 5780

    October 24, 2019

    Bereshit – 5780

    October 11, 2019

    Erev Yom Kippur Sermon 5780 – How To Build a Community that will Beat the Odds

    October 2, 2019

    Rosh HaShanah I 5780 Sermon – Truth in Teshuvah

    September 12, 2019

    Ki Tetze – 5779

    September 5, 2019

    Shoftim – 5779

    August 29, 2019

    Re’eh – 5779

    August 23, 2019

    Ekev – 5779

    August 15, 2019

    Va’Etchanan – 5779

    August 9, 2019

    Devarim (Shabbat Hazon) – 5779

    August 1, 2019

    Mattot/Masei – 5779

    July 24, 2019

    Pinchas – 5779

    July 19, 2019

    Balak – 5779

    July 5, 2019

    Korach – 5779

    June 26, 2019

    Shelach Lecha – 5779

    June 13, 2019

    Naso – 5779

    June 5, 2019

    BaMidbar – 5779

    May 29, 2019

    B’Chukkotai – 5779

    May 23, 2019

    Behar – 5779

    May 1, 2019

    Kedoshim – 5779

    April 30, 2019

    B’nei Yisrael

    April 24, 2019

    Acharei Mot – 5779

    April 17, 2019

    Pesach I – 5779

    April 9, 2019

    Metzorah – 5779

    April 4, 2019

    Tazria – 5779

    March 29, 2019

    Shemini – 5779

    March 20, 2019

    Tzav – 5779

    March 12, 2019

    VaYikra – 5779

    March 6, 2019

    Pekudei – 5779

    February 28, 2019

    Vayak’heil – 5779

    February 19, 2019

    Ki Tissa – 5779

    February 13, 2019

    Tetzaveh – 5779

    February 6, 2019

    Terumah – 5779

    January 24, 2019

    Yitro – 5779

    January 17, 2019

    BeShalach – 5779

    January 9, 2019

    Bo – 5779

    January 6, 2019

    A Few Words About Israel

    January 2, 2019

    Vaera – 5779

    December 27, 2018

    Shemot – 5779

    December 19, 2018

    VaYechi – 5779

    December 11, 2018

    VaYigash – 5779

    December 5, 2018

    Miketz – 5779

    November 28, 2018

    VaYeishev – 5779

    November 21, 2018

    VaYishlach – 5779

    November 14, 2018

    VaYeitze – 5779

    November 8, 2018

    Toldot – 5779

    October 31, 2018

    Chayei Sara – 5779

    October 25, 2018

    VaYeira – 5779

    October 19, 2018

    Lech Lecha – 5779

    October 10, 2018

    Noach – 5779

    October 3, 2018

    Bereishit – 5779

Shop and support Temple Beth Ami
Amazon Logo
Contact the Webmaster with questions or comments about this site
Temple Beth Ami, 14330 Travilah Road Rockville MD, 20850
301-340-6818