With a few exceptions,  all memorable, I have not attended religious services even on, as today, Rosh Ha-shana. I do not fast on Yom Kippur. I have allowed others to convince me that I am less than a good Jew for those reasons. But, those people are wrong, I have come to believe. My Jewishness is an important part of who I am, and its teachings are part of what has called me into public service and how I see the world.

My faith is my own business, and not something to diary about. It is not my intent to proselytize, nor to preach. Not everyone sees the world as I do, and I do expect that anyone should, but one of my obligations as an American, as a Jew and as a human being, is to promote the well being of those who need our help. I am not perfect, and do not do as much as I could, but I try and that, it seems to me, at least, makes me as observant a Jew as the person who attends every service, or just those on the High Holy Days. With a few exceptions, all memorable, I have not attended religious services even on, as today, Rosh Ha-shana. I do not fast on Yom Kippur. I have allowed others to convince me that I am less than a good Jew for those reasons. But, those people are wrong, I have come to believe. My Jewishness is an important part of who I am, and its teachings are part of what has called me into public service and how I see the world. My faith is my own business, and not something to diary about. It is not my intent to proselytize, nor to preach. Not everyone sees the world as I do, and I do expect that anyone should, but one of my obligations as an American, as a Jew and as a human being, is to promote the well being of those who need our help. I am not perfect, and do not do as much as I could, but I try and that, it seems to me, at least, makes me as observant a Jew as the person who attends every service, or just those on the High Holy Days.


I do not need lectures from the self-appointed guardians of "family values" about what is right and what is wrong. Just as I feel no imperative to convert others to my faith, my belief in religious teachings does not require that I want a government which determines who can marry the person they love, or one which proscribes when a woman can terminate a pregnancy in its earliest stages, or even a government that gets to determine for the rest of us when life begins. Those who claim to speak for God ought to have to prove it, but they cannot--that is what faith is, as opposed to science. Faith is based on those things that cannot be proven, but which a person simply believes. For one person to require others to share those beliefs is wrong--deeply wrong.

Today, I "attended" a service for the New Year by watching a webcast from the most beautiful synagogue I have ever seen, and one where I have been physically present from time to time, most significantly on the Rosh Ha-shanah which almost immediately followed the September 11 we will all remember for the rest of our lives. It was a tearfully memorable event that day, ending with "America the Beautiful." It was memorable again today, and included a sermon which many things which are important to me, one of which being the absolutely Jewish imperative to help to provide health care to all who need it as well as affirming our obligations to one another as a community and as a nation.

I have thought about God and religion more this year than any since I turned 13. Some of that was occasioned by Regina Spektor's lyrics, mainly those of a song called "Laughing With" about which I have already written. But she has also written about a person who "stumbled into faith and thought/ God, this is all there is" and others who demand that one either "believe" or "eat dirt" and that "believers" can spit on the graves of those who don't.

And of the many divisions in our country, this seems to be one of them. There are people marching in Washington today, proclaiming themselves to be the guardians of "values" but I wonder where those "values" come from and on what they are based. Is there a religion or faith that preaches that people should be denied medical assistance except that paid for by a company which makes money and had ballparks named after it? What religious teaching says that a person who is "an illegal immigrant" should not be entitled to benefit from a government health insurance program? The teachings I grew up with, and the one that Catholics (as far as I know, maybe Protestants, too) are, to the contrary, to welcome the stranger in our midst. I heard that repeated again this morning and am reminded that my "values" and just not the same ones as those being celebrated in Washington's streets today.

Those who advocate from a pulpit that the President become a victim of rage, or those who justify the level of vitriol and anger as a reasonable "modern-day political rebellion" or refuse to condemn "violence against the government" on the ground that "fear of loss of control of their own government" or a loss of "confidence" which raises a "question of whether or not we're legitimately thinking about the American people and their long-term best interests" cannot possibly be speaking of any religious based imperative. Can they?

The always outstanding Rachel Maddow saved me two diaries this week, first by recalling the history of rabid opposition to Democratic Presidents dating at least back to the infamous race-baiting anti-Semite Father Coughlin attacking President Roosevelt in the 1930s. A day or so later she explained the dangers we face by the language used and tone of those opposing the President. I have expressed my own views on this general subject ad nauseum and won't repeat them here, except to add that Sen Goldwater's famous line about "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" being the earliest incarnation of this destructive "value" which I can personally recall, and that these are the kind of things worth considering during this important week.

I accept, as we all must, the pluralism of our country and the fact that a portion of our country tried to separate from us almost 140 years ago, and were returned under our Constitution and laws by force of arms. Whether that was an appropriate exercise of military might or not, the requirement that others share my views is an abomination. At the same time, I refuse to allow other people to impose their beliefs, or their faith, on me. And those who put forward their political opinions as being based on religion ought to explain that or be labeled as frauds.

I will spend the week as my own faith dictates and consider my own place in all of this and try to do better in all the ways I have failed in the year gone by. Whether you do that or not is your call, of course, but we all have a collective responsibility to listen to one another, to respect the views of those with whom we disagree, but to make certain that we insure that all who live in our midst have the same opportunity for decent medical care as their need requires.

L'shana tova.