Thursday, August 20, 2009

Paranoia: Helpful or Harmful?

Today I made my yearly trek to temple to turn in my High Holidays seat registration. I needed seats for myself and Rob's mom, who's coming into town as a guest at temple. Each year, entrance to the building during the holidays requires your temple ID or valid photo ID and your ticket, which is collected at the door. I'm not sure if I just haven't noticed in the past because I've never had a guest before or if it's new policy, but Rob's mom had to send a copy of her driver's license with a current address, where they'd send her the ticket. Without this, no ticket. In fact, without knowing me, she couldn't have attended services for so-called security reasons. Visitors must know a temple member in good standing to attend.

My temple employs at least two full-time security guards at all times and locks all outside doors during the day, except the main entrance to the day school. Doors are locked from the inside too, so you can only come in and out one door. This, in tandem with heightened holiday security, makes me wonder: Is all this worry helpful or harmful to the Jewish community?

I estimate that approximately 50 percent of all Friday night sermons at which I was in attendance have dealt with the idea that a sudden, dangerous rise in Antisemitism is imminent. Thousands of years of history do support this view. Among the list of things listed that could make Antisemitism spike: not attending temple regularly, not making at least one visit to Israel, not enrolling your child in religious school, and caring too much about what you're wearing to holiday services. While I don't underestimate the importance of any of these issues, I highly doubt any of these things will lead to a rise in Antisemitism. On the contrary, I think discrimination will most likely arise due to political fluctuations. Additionally, I don't doubt the importance for my rabbi to create a culture of fear in order to persuade his members to be "good Jews;" it's essential to the survival of the Jewish people; however, I'm not sure that living in fear is good for our health, spirituality, or peace of mind.

While I'm glad our parking passes are indistinguishable as temple parking passes (they contain no Jewish insignia) every time I see a white supremacist or skinhead from rural Nevada at the casinos, I also noticed driving home today that a modern orthodox congregation down the road is welcoming anyone to High Holiday services. This synagogue does not have gates surrounding it, nor does it employ 24/7 security, as far as I know. Clearly, my temple is doing things differently than other synagogues around us. I wonder what fills in the space during sermons where we talk about fear and protecting ourselves. What are we missing that could help our faith and identities grow?

I'm not sure what my views on this issue are exactly; I can understand the merits of both sides. All I know is that this issue deserves more debate and consideration than we're giving it.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Things I Wish I Was Good At

1. singing
2. photography
3. thinking of interesting things to say to fill in gaps in conversation
4. pool
5. kickball
6. good-byes
7. staying in touch
8. admitting when I've acted wrongly
9. physics
10. running
11. withholding tears
12. making eggs sunny-side up
13. conjugating verbs in Spanish
14. not scratching bug bites
15. sleeping on planes, trains, and automobiles
16. playing guitar
17. painting