Rabbi delivers anti worker pro employer sermon to honor Labor Day

[ikojo]

One of my friends said it was a good thing I did not go to services yesterday. Seems that in honor of Labor Day the rabbi emiritus (retired rabbi) delivered a sermon on the state of work in America in 2003.

Among the things he said caused a decline in workers attitude toward work are:
--the corrupting influence of government and unions
--the fact that there is a restaurant called TGI Fridays but none called TGI Mondays or Too bad it's Friday

This is a guy who probably has never had a boss (other than a synagogue board which must be worse in many, many ways) in his life. He knows only a life of good pay and good benefits.

I told my friend that had I been there every curl on my head would have straightened! I did go to Havdalah services last night (this marks the end of the Sabbath) and there is no sermon at this service. My friend, L, was talking with a couple who was at the morning service and S's husband was relating how the rabbi's sermon sickened him because his grandfather had been a union organizer and he knew why unions were needed then as well as now.

Trouble is that following the sermon too many people in this very well heeled congregation applauded. When I told L that it was due to the fact that most of the people there were probably not workers but employers or professionals she agreed with me. He was speaking to an upper middle class audience who worries little about making it day to day as a worker whose job is disposable.

BTW, this is not a Reform (more liberal Jewish) congregation but a Conservative (I guess in more ways than one obviously) congregation. It is one step below orthodox in terms of observance level.


:mad: :mad: :mad: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Shalom

Sometimes it's nice to have a service where there's no sermon. As a minister myself, I know there is a great temptation to put one's ego into the service that is there to glorify the One. What is sad is when some congregants believe that whatever the rabbi, priest, or minister says comes from God, and that ain't necessarily so.

[ikojo]

3. I agree Aye! Last year a rabbi at a different Conservative

Jewish congregation used the High Holidays as the time to deliver a pro Bush war on Iraq sermon, complete with the lies about WMDs and even said that to refrain from attacking Iraq and Saddam Hussein at this time was akin to Neville Chamberlain appeasing Hitler during WWII!

Having heard that sermon caused me to shy away from that congregation (and I was going to services almost every night to help make a minyan for nightly prayer services). After that I could not bring myself to go.

When you say that too many people take the rabbi's or minister's sermons as coming from G-d you are so right. When a sermon such as the call to arms is delivered during the High Holidays it serves to set the political tone of the congregation. A rabbi will have no larger audience than what is present on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that is for sure. It is just too bad some don't use that time to challenge people's assumptions. After all the High Holidays are supposed to be about searching inward and seeing where change needs to be made.

[stickdog]

2. In related news, Bush just renamed the holiday to

"Cheap Labor Day."

[cherryperry]

4. This is why I have problems with so-called organized religion!

I KNOW there are many pro-labor Rabbis, but I don't wish to subject myself to organized religion where you have to sift through the bunch, and naturally this includes ALL organized religion, to find what I need. If you insist on continuing as a member of one, however, why not supplement yourself with other resources, maybe even take the time to fine a better Rabbi as well.

Certainly you are aware of the over-representation of Jews in social and civil rights and labor issues, correct? Why not seek those organizations out for sustenance as well? Please allow me to offer you an interesting website to take a look at: http://www.shalomctr.org/; there are many others, however. Also, do you read Tikkun magazine? It's quite secular, however, the originator who is the editor now, is Rabbi Michael Lerner!

All the best to you, my friend.

:hi: :loveya:

:kick:

[Darranar]

5. Tikkun magazine?

It's a great magazine. Very left-wing, very secular.

Ikojo: I woundn't worry about it. I know a very conservative Jew who is, put simly, a dedicated freeper. They exist in every religion, and there are many rabbis who are like that as well.

[ikojo]

6. I am on Rabbi Waskow's e mail list

and read Tikkun occasionally. It's good but too often seems to be a magazine dedicated to showcasing Michael Lerner. He spoke here about ten years ago and when I asked about having people who were working-class write for Tikkun he seemed to become discombobulated. I got the impression thaqt he could not fathom having someone other than an academic or other professional write for his magazine.

There is an excellent liberal congregation in town but I prefer the more traditional services. Regularly the assistant rabbi at the liberal congregation challenges the members to see beyond their station in life. Heck at Yom Kippur services a couple of years ago this same rabbi spoke of wealth distribution!

[bleedingheart]

7. Its an unfortunate sign of the times

If I recall properly there were many rabbis, priests and ministers who aided in the organization of unions...it was all so logical.

When your parish is poor, downtrodden and unable to make ends meet it makes perfect sense to lobby for their betterment because it would help the church as well...

However so much time has passed that a lot of people have forgotten the past...

I do know that the Union Council here in Pittsburgh has assign a labor chaplain who is a catholic priest and I know that he has spoken about a number of other ministers and rabbis who are still involved in the labor movement because they haven't forgotten.

Here is a link that goes to show how influential rabbis were in the labor movement and how they helped push for the Weekend - a big labor victory celebrated by all of us today..

http://www.ajhs.org/publications/chapters/chapter.cfm?documentID=299

"As early as 1910, Rabbi Drachman had argued that the solution to the Shabbat problem was for both Saturday and Sunday to be observed as days of rest by both Jews and Christians. Labor unions in which Jews were heavily represented, such as the New York Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, had already been advocating for a 40-hour, 5-day work week. They did so on economic, not religious, grounds. In the mid-1920s, when the rabbis joined the union leaders to promote Saturday as a day of rest, they finally made some headway"


Here is one site about the catholic pushed labor movement

http://www.pernet.net/~sinclair/laborpriests.htm

[Liberator_Rev]

8. Shades of "Hitler's Pope"

There's no guarantee that clerics will be on the side of justice and mercy. They SHOULD BE, but sometimes they stray and must be judged and/or converted when they do. See http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/RCscandal.


at http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org .

See what Christ might say about the "Christian Coalition" & "Religious Right" imposters.

[cherryperry]

9. Hey, Rev;

I love that site!

Thanks for posting it...I was so worried about anti-Semitic crap popping up that I did neglect Christians.

Don't forget Liberation Catholicism especially utilized in Central and South America - God Bless Oscar Romero and all he did, all he stood for!

[Deja Q]

10. When I'm insulted, why can't I insult back just to show them how it hurts?

Sounds like a gaggle of elitist repukes, that's for sure. (hey, they'd call us "liberal elitists" in return, which is odd since none of us here are that audacious or arrogant nor do our actions confirm us as being that way...)

And using "TGI Fridays" as an excuse to poke fun? That's just silly.

I HOPE that jerk gets into a position where he'd become grateful of unions and government. Ditto for that barbaric congregation who applauded that trash.

[cherryperry]

11. So, who said you couldn't? eom