Author Archives: Rabbi Brant Rosen

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About Rabbi Brant Rosen

I'm a rabbi, blogger, and activist with a special interest in Israel/Palestine justice work.

Monotheism and its Discontents: A Sermon for Erev Rosh Hashanah 5773

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From my Erev Rosh Hashanah sermon last Sunday:

Isn’t it profoundly presumptuous to say our God is the only God?  I think we can all agree that right and wrong that should apply to everyone, without exceptions, but whose right and whose wrong are we talking about?  Why should our faith system – or any faith system – get to determine the will of this universal moral authority?  It’s all well and good to affirm that we all serve one universal God, but history is replete with examples of heinous acts committed by people of faith who believed the rest of the world should do their God’s bidding.

Click below to read the entire sermon:

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On a New Year of Healing, Hope and Transformation

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From my Erev Rosh Hashanah sermon five years ago:

Yes, our actions do make a difference. Every opening of a door, every act of peacemaking, every move we make to heal the world around us has the potential to create a sacred transformation. They can make a difference in ways we can see readily and in ways we will never truly know.

And lest I forget one more crucial point: such actions have the potential to transform our own lives as well. Isn’t that what this time is year all about in the end? That we need not surrender to the complex, often painful external events that too often enter our lives. That no matter what, we can start anew, that our actions do make a difference. I have said it before and I will it argue to anyone willing to listen: if our spiritual tradition stands for anything, it stands for the eternal possibilities of healing, of hope, of transformation. No matter what may happen in the world around us, we are not simply bystanders bearing witness to eternal cycles of occurrence and recurrence. We can break these cycles, we can re-chart our courses, in a myriad of small and not so small ways. And if we ever have any doubts about this, we gather and affirm this truth together every single new year.

And here we are. Another new year has arrived. Another door has opened before us. The gates have opened wide. Let’s join hands, step forward, and walk through them together.

Sending blessings for a New Year of healing, hope and transformation…

know with whom you stand

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“Crowd at Coney Island” Weegee, 1940

you stand here this day all of
you before me your tribal heads
your elders your officials your wives your
husbands your children your friends
enemies jewish christian muslim hindu
buddhist taoist jain believers
doubters deniers blessed cursed
wounded wandering howling breaking
into song crying out in pain seeking
finding losing winning falling all
who know the struggle all who limp
their way into the water all of
you stand together on this day to
enter into a covenant
with the lord
your god

(Deuteronomy 29:9-14)

Must Listen for High Holidays: Galeet Darsahsti

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Check out the latest musical offering of Persian Jewish singer Galeet Dardashti – a taste of her new live performance, Monajat.

From her website:

Monajat is inspired by the poetic prayers of Selihot, recited during the month preceding Jewish New Year. It is a time-specific concert and program that takes place during a period of deep reflection and spiritual preparation. In the project, she re-imagines the Selihot ritual in collaboration with an acclaimed ensemble of musicians, an electronic soundscape, and dynamic live video art. Monajat is a Persian word meaning an intimate dialogue with the Divine. Using Persian melodies and Hebrew texts, the work pays homage to her grandfather (Yona Dardashti, the most renowned singer of Persian classical music in Iran in his day). She performs some of the Persian piyutim (liturgical songs) traditionally chanted as part of the Selihot service, as well as other liturgical and non-liturgical Hebrew and Persian poetry set to new music. Through electronics, she defies time and performs with her grandfather.

Dardashti’s Persian-Jewish musical hybrid is nothing short of sublime. If you’re tempted by this preview, check out her album “The Naming,” in which sets her unique musical sights on stories of Biblical women.

promised land

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beware lest you hold onto the land
so tightly that it hardens and
you find you are worshiping an idol
of stone
then you must go forth and
wander among the peoples
of the earth
make your way from one end
of the universe to the other
maybe then will understand
no matter where your footsteps may lead
wherever your eyes may seek me
wherever your spirit pines for me
there you will find
your promised
land

(Deuteronomy 28:58-68)

the wayward and defiant son

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if you have a wayward and defiant son who
does not heed or obey
take hold of him and bring him out to the
town elders and say to them
our son is disloyal and disobedient
thereupon they will tear down your darkest
desires your illusions of power your
desperate fantasy of control
thus will you sweep out the fears you’ve
wielded like weapons against
your child before he
was ever even
born

(Deuteronomy 21:18-21)

All are Welcome Here

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Occupy Wall St. Kol Nidre 2011 (photo by David A.M. Wilensky)

Some more of my new liturgy for the High Holidays. This one is an introduction to Kol Nidre:

Time now to summon the truth
that lies in the space between
our most exalted selves and
our darkest inclinations.

Time now to give each another permission
to open wide our hearts
and enter this most holy of holy places.
To bare our pain,
admit promises unkept, vows broken
and faith betrayed.

Within this sacred space in between
all are welcome:
the proud and the shamed,
those who fought their way
to the front of the line
and those left behind;
the joyful souls that sing out praises
and the wounded hearts that cry out
their pain.

Yes, you are welcome here.
In the space between the brightest day
and the darkest night
there is room
for all.

battle ready

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when you see your enemies in
the dark of night when you
close your eyes and see their
horses and chariots at every
turn you must do battle
with your fears let not your
courage falter
face down your panic and
dread
for it is the lord
your god that struggles with
you be strong and never forget
this is only the way
you can do the work
of peace

(Deuteronomy 20:1-4)

who shall live and who shall die

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I see you standing there alone

eyes searching through the blankness
of a year stretching limitlessly on like a
book waiting to be written.

Don’t bother glancing behind.
Don’t pretend you’re unaware
that in a year’s time
a world can be shattered
or born anew.

Just gaze forward
and we’ll ask the questions together:
Will it be a year of curse
or a year of blessing?
Of wounding or
of healing?

Throw open your hands and
let your hopes and fears fly out
past the blank pages
of a year yet to be.
Dare to believe that we will all
be written for blessing in
the Book of Sweet, Sweet Life.

Now close your eyes and we’ll send off
this one audacious prayer:
May the new year bless us
with health, wholeness,
and peace.