Lesson 1 - B'Nei Mitzvah

The Shape of Our Identity

Psalm 137 TLV

By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our harps. For there our captors demanded songs and our tormentors asked for joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” How can we sing a song of Adonai in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I cease to remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, Adonai, the children of Edom, what they said on the day Jerusalem fell: “Strip her, strip her to her very foundation!” O daughter of Babylon, the devastated one, happy is the one who repays you as you have paid us. Happy is the one who seizes your little ones and dashes them upon the rock.

By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our harps. For there our captors demanded songs and our tormentors asked for joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” How can we sing a song of Adonai in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I cease to remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, Adonai, the children of Edom, what they said on the day Jerusalem fell: “Strip her, strip her to her very foundation!” -

Matisyahu - Jerusalem (Out Of Darkness Comes Light)

Jerusalem, if I forget you, Fire not gonna come from me tongue. Jerusalem, if I forget you, Let my right hand forget what it's supposed to do.

In the ancient days, we will return with no delay Picking up the bounty and the spoils on our way We've been traveling from state to state And them don't understand what they say 3, 000 years with no place to be And they want me to give up my milk and honey Don't you see, it's not about the land or the sea Not the country but the dwelling of his majesty

Jerusalem, if I forget you, Fire not gonna come from me tongue. Jerusalem, if I forget you, Let my right hand forget what it's supposed to do.

Rebuild the temple and the crown of glory Years gone by, about sixty Burn in the oven in this century And the gas tried to choke, but it couldn't choke me I will not lie down, I will not fall asleep They come overseas, yes they're trying to be free Erase the demons out of our memory Change your name and your identity Afraid of the truth and our dark history Why is everybody always chasing we Cut off the roots of your family tree Don't you know that's not the way to be

Jerusalem, if I forget you, Fire not gonna come from me tongue. Jerusalem, if I forget you, Let my right hand forget what it's supposed to do.

Caught up in these ways, and the worlds gone craze Don't you know it's just a phase Case of the Simon says If I forget the truth then my words won't penetrate Babylon burning in the place, can't see through the haze Chop down all of them dirty ways, That's the price that you pay for selling lies to the youth No way, not OK, oh no way, not ok, hey Ain't no one gonna break my stride Ain't no one gonna pull me down Oh no, I got to keep on moving Stay alive

Jerusalem, if I forget you, Fire not gonna come from me tongue. Jerusalem, if I forget you, Let my right hand forget what it's supposed to do.

The Shape of Our Identity

Memory

Family

Covenant

Israel

Hebrew

Memory

Jewish people have more than a history, Jewish people have memory.

The Hebrew Bible is better than a written history, it is a living memory.

◦While history is about what happened in the past, memory is about how that past drives our present and our future.

While history is about what happened in the past, memory is about how that past drives our present and our future.

◦If history is prose, memory is poetry.

If history is prose, memory is poetry.

Family

Jews are one big family, tied together by a common past and a shared future. And how do we know that? Because the Torah refers to Jewish people as “Bnei Yisrael” – “The children of Israel”, highlighting family origins.

And, just like in any family, the inevitable fights and differences of opinion are balanced by a sense of closeness, mutual responsibility and belonging. You may be able to choose your friends, but your family is what you are born into, or what you are adopted into. And once you are adopted, you are a full member of the tribe.

And, just like in any family, the inevitable fights and differences of opinion are balanced by a sense of closeness, mutual responsibility and belonging.

You may be able to choose your friends, but your family is what you are born into, or what you are adopted into. And once you are adopted, you are a full member of the tribe.

Covenant

Jewish people and Jewish identity have been defined by God through Covenants.

There is debate about the total number of covenants in the Bible; however, the covenants that God made with the Jewish people are very well established: Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New Covenant.

◦There is debate about the total number of covenants in the Bible; however, the covenants that God made with the Jewish people are very well established: Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New Covenant.

And what do these covenants establish? They establish Land, Descendants, and Blessing from God and they require us to make three commitments; to recognize ONE God and His Messiah; to make the world a better place for all people; and to use certain rituals to define and shape Jewish time and space.

◦And what do these covenants establish? They establish Land, Descendants, and Blessing from God and they require us to make three commitments; to recognize one God and His Messiah; to make the world a better place for all people; and to use certain rituals to define and shape Jewish time and space.

The covenants that were established are a tie that binds all of the Jewish community together.

◦The covenants that were established are a tie that binds all of the Jewish community together.

Israel

All of the Land of Israel is the warehouse of Jewish memory .Because you can’t be a Jew today without a tie to the Land of Israel. This is where the memory of the Jewish people resides.

There are many reasons why the State of Israel is important. One is this: only sixty years ago, the noun that most frequently went with the adjective Jewish, was ‘refugee.’ Jewish refugee. The greatness of the State of Israel, irrespective of the mess we are in, is that it has removed the phrase Jewish refugee from the language of the world. This is important to every Jew.

◦There are many reasons why the State of Israel is important. One is this: only sixty years ago, the noun that most frequently went with the adjective Jewish, was ‘refugee.’ Jewish refugee. The greatness of the State of Israel, irrespective of the mess we are in, is that it has removed the phrase Jewish refugee from the language of the world. This is important to every Jew.

◦You don’t come to Israel just to take a tour of another country. You come to Eretz Yisrael to tour your soul, and you come to meet the place that turned your family from being a family of refugees into a family that will never again have a refugee.

You don’t come to Israel just to take a tour of another country. You come to Eretz Yisrael to tour your soul, and you come to meet the place that turned your family from being a family of refugees into a family that will never again have a refugee.

Hebrew

The language of the Jewish People is Hebrew, because language is the way that every group transmits its culture and ideas to the next generation.

And the Hebrew language contains Jewish values and beliefs that teach and sustain.

Do Jews “fall in love”? No, we believe that we ‘rise in love’ and so we use the word ‘lehitahev’, which reflects mutuality and relationship.

And we know that the past and the future are connected, so the word for ‘before’, ‘kedem’, and ‘forward’, ‘kadima’, come from the same root. And these are just two examples of many.

“I tell the truth in Messiah—I do not lie, my conscience assuring me in the Ruach ha-Kodesh— that my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart unending. For I would pray that I myself were cursed, banished from Messiah for the sake of my people—my own flesh and blood, who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Torah and the Temple service and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs—and from them, according to the flesh, the Messiah, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.” (, TLV)