WE GET WHAT WE DESERVE

What's the matter with our political system? Do we really deserve this political melodrama. Do we deserve this cast of so-called leaders? Is this how we want to begin the twenty first century?

Shouldn't you and I own up to it all? What's wrong with us?  What do we think is happening? Who's in charge? What's important? Is it important to me? To you? To us? To humanity? To the future? To the Planet? Who is paying attention?

Here we totter on the edge of indecision. It is all much too close. We are too stable, too narcotized, too complacent, too happy, some might say, to be offered choice. The candidates, the issues, the spin doctors, the media, the interests, the parties, the poles, the election, the voters, all hover over the same middle.

The choices have narrowed down.  Has it all been set up for us? We are presented with such a paltry pallet of limited options. We are presented with such a mediocre political drama. What's the difference? How can we make a difference?

It's as if we've signaled that we don't want creative, aware, intelligent, multi-talented, attractive, charismatic people to lead us. As if we've signaled that we don't want issues addressed that are planetary or critical in scope and importance.

Two look-alike actors, of ordinary talent, with glaring imperfections, both raised in wealthy, politically active families, discuss, in a genteel fashion, arcane tax, social-security and educational issues, differing by very small percentage points on each. This is passed off as the process for selecting the most powerful man on earth

Look, we all want to be as free as possible from interference with our lives, but our government is our communal representation. It represents us on the world stage and it represents us to ourselves. We are, whether we like it or not, the lead actor on the world stage. We are its only super-power and leadership is our resultant responsibility. To ourselves, government is the embodiment of our ideals and our priorities as a culture. We invent ourselves through our government.

It is our good fortune that our form of governing leaves us a considerable amount of freedom. We ordinarily go about our business un-threatened and un-encumbered by government's minions. And no political party wants to change that.

But there are pressing issues for the planet, humanity, our country, and us, the people, from whom all powers flow. We, the United States, are going to lead the world into this next century. Future historians will note our helmsmanship, and right now our steering mechanism is stuttering, unable to chart a meaningful course.

We drift, diverting ourselves with our economic success, while the swift currents of science, technology, medicine, information, drug policy, corporate growth and power, wealth distribution, ethnic violence, population growth, religious fanaticism and ecological change, carry us into the future.

We need these issues discussed, defined, and creatively wrestled with. We need to establish our real priorities. We need the best minds of our nation, if not of the planet, brought in. We need a vision worth moving toward. We need compassionate strategies for getting there. We need yardsticks by which to gage our progress.

We need to manage our affairs as citizens, as a nation, as humanity's voice, as custodians of a living planet. We are, again, whether we like it or not, in it together, and we are in charge. We are, in no uncertain terms, responsible for the outcome.

That's why we have democracy, that's why we have the vote. Implied is that we believe we are up to that responsibility. I don't think the powers-that-be believe it. And they're not getting any weaker, or smarter, or longer seeing. And the problems are not getting any smaller, or farther away, or simpler.... while we count the chads.

LOGO OF NEW THOUGHT CENTER OF HAWAII
This logo represents most of humanity's wisdom traditions: The Cross for Christianity; The Star of David for Judaism; The Yin-Yang for Buddhism; The Ohm for Hinduism; The Crescent Moon for Islam: The Palms for Indigenous Peoples beliefs; The Infinity sign for Science; The Five Pointed Star for the Democracies.

MY MYTHOLOGICAL JOURNEY

I am a mythological creature.
    The only one of my kind.
This reality's most complex,
    Creative and conscious being.
I was born helpless, unmarked, infantile,
    Aware of only my self.
And now, 62 years later
    I am master of my surroundings,
        With a lifetime of memories,
            In loving relationship,
                Dancing on a cosmic stage,
And still taking it all in.

No mythological character
    Has gone through more,
Has had as detailed
    And as many adventures,
Has fought as many demons,
    Has been saved by as many angels.
No God or Goddess has cried as hard,
    Screamed as loudly,
        Longed as desperately,
            Loved as deeply and laughed as much.
No hero has created and destroyed so many
    Images, understandings, and worldviews.

These mythologies we read about
    Are all composed of words
        While I am the real thing.
I am the thing these myths point to.
I am that unique star
    Shooting across the heavens.
I am that precious soul yearning to be free.
I am a universe in the making.
I am a cosmic dream.
I am host to the world,
I am its open hearted lover.
    I am

Day after day I create
    My mythological being.
This is my chance,
    My opportunity to do it,
        To be it, to become it.
This is my chance to immerse myself in life,
    To abandon narrow boundaries,
        To cry humanity's tears,
            To nurture the wordless witness,
                To surrender to a greater power,
                    To trip lightly
This is my chance
    To smile at the passing scene,
        To laugh effortlessly.

I am that being that creates the world
    Each morning
And dampens the fire of the sun
    Each evening.
I have been there and done that
    And will be somewhere else
        Doing something new
            In the days and years to come.
I carry this body with me
    Across the surface of our spinning sphere.
I see from behind my eyes,
    And hear with my ears,
Every conceivable conjunction
    Of matter and spirit,
        Of energy and intent,
            Of mind and heart.
I am still looking and listening,
    Still learning and growing,
        Still building and playing,
I am still solid and changing,
    Still grounded and flying,
        Still sober and enchanted.
I am truly a mythological journey.
 

Morty Breier, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

WHAT MAKES A JEW?
Dovarim Deuteronomy 11:26 - 16:17
Midrash given by Morty Breier at Kona Beth Shalom Services, 8/26/00

What makes a Jew? I've taken a number of quotes from this weeks Torah portion and used them to try and define what I mean when I say I am a Jew. I hope these thoughts have meaning for you too.

1. Taking the Torah as the word of God

All this word which I command you, that ye shall observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

2. Obeying the commandments and the mitzvahs

Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if ye shall harken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command you this day; and the curse, if ye shall not harken unto the Lord thy God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods.

I'm taking paragraphs one and two together. Let's start with some statistical breakdown of the Jewish people. Only about eight percent of Jews are Orthodox, i.e. taking the torah as the word of God and fully observant of the 613 mitzvahs. Fifty percent are secular, with almost no religious affiliation. Most of the remaining Jews are Reform. We Jews have already spoken... if you look up Jew in the dictionary, you will see a picture of me... of you, of a non-observant Jew.

Most of us American Jews agree that we are part of a civilization in which the higher humanistic ideals of the western Wisdom Traditions, Judaism and Christianity, have been developed into codes of ethics, virtues, values and laws. Most of us try to honor these in our daily lives. Is this taking torah as the word of God? Is this Obeying the commandments and the mitzvahs? A great majority of us have said yes by the way we conduct our lives, I amongst them.

Does my Jewishness help me out? Probably more my parent's Jewishness. They, although athiests, instilled a moral fiber in me that had a distincly Jewish flavor. It didn't take a belief in God's authorship of Torah or in observing the mitzvahs. I hope I've instilled that same moral fiber in my children. But many non-Jews can claim a very similar moral fiber with identical lineage, father to son to child.

On the other hand, we accept the word of our civilization's findings in cosmology and the biological sciences as a true description of the physical world and its history, turning away from the Torah's simplistic pronouncements. Is this the curse of not harkening unto the Lord our God? We don't think so. And God doesn't think so either otherwise He wouldn't have allowed us to reap the technological rewards that these sciences have brought us. To be blessed with long and plentiful lives certainly doesn't seem like a curse to me.

I reject the idea that to be a Jew I must believe in God's authorship of the Torah, that it is therefore unchangeable and that its instructions are to be literally followed. So do ninety-two percent of us. Jews overwhelmingly, in other words, reject these fundamentalist notions, and do not, on average, suffer God's wrath thereby.

3. Loving God with all my heart and with all my soul

For the Lord your God putteth you to proof, to know whether ye do love your God with all your heart and with all your soul. After the Lord your God shall ye walk, and Him shall ye fear, and His commandments shall ye keep, and unto His voice shall ye hearken, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave.

Do I love God when I love life? Do I walk with God when I protest injustice and demand a fair distribution of resources? Do I fear Him when I humble myself, I act kindly and respect all of my fellow men and women? Do I hearken to His voice, serve and cleave to Him when I am present from moment to moment to His wondrous reality? Are these Jewish traits or are they human traits? Do orthodox Jews do more of the above than I do? Than good Christians do?

I am a living being, a human being. I am an American. I am a Jew. And I'm a New Yorker by birth and a Hawaiian Islander by choice. Do I love God with all my heart and all my soul? Only sometimes, to be truthful. When I do love Him it is all the things I am that loves Him, not only my being Jewish. Maybe my being Jewish gives that love a certain flavor, but so would being Armenian or being Italian.

And another aspect of this "loving your God" mandate. Is the key wording here "your God"?... does this mean Israel's God?... does it mean a universal God?... or does it mean my personal God? Because it is "your God" and humanity, the "your" part, whether Israel or civilization or me, changes over time, does the concept of God to which I am asked to cleave also change over time? Must it remain the domain of black hats, payes, and gaberdine suits? Must it be a strictly Jewish God who speaks Hebrew, argues with His people, and is one of the bearded old-timers?

4. Believing I am part of a chosen priestly nation

For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be His own treasure out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth

This is a hard one. We don't seem to shake this one easily, secular, reform or orthodox. Some say it is the reason for our survival over the millennia, the reason we stayed, and still stay, apart. I honor our long tested ability to remain a unique people. I am glad to be part of that ancient lineage.

But I am disturbed by the hubris involved. And the world doesn't forgive us this chutzpah either. It has been the cause of a lot of Jewish problems and sufferings. Others find us clannish and stiff-necked and overly pride-full. We are viewed with suspicion as though our rules apply only within our clan and not outside it. And, my experience shows, for the black hats this is often the truth. Even now it haunts our thinking and actions vis a viz the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Does my Lord choose me and your Lord choose you and their Lord choose them? Surely someone else's Lord wouldn't choose us. Are each of us chosen by the Lord my God? Are the Armenians chosen to be His treasure by the Lord their God? Or is there ONE God for all to be called His or Her treasure? Is not the treasure of God humanity itself? Maybe even life itself. Do we Jews have the right to call Him our God?

It is said that maturity comes when we stop thinking of ourselves as the center of the universe. We start this process by recognizing that each of us is the center of his or her universe. Having realized this we go on to seeing each other as the same sparks of God that we are. We are all sparks of God, our God's unique and holy treasures. Does this make Jews less chosen or does it elevate everyone into the fold of chosen-ness. I want to celebrate my belonging to the great family of Man, the great family of life, the great family of being. As Karen says "Thank you God for having made me!"

I am priestly when I am full of God, when I am grateful for His gifts, when I honor His creations, when I help His story unfold. We are each priestly and chosen when we are in that state of mind. Being Jewish doesn't automatically put me there. Most of us, whether Jew or otherwise, most of the time, are not there. Some of us, whether Jew or otherwise, some of the time, are there and when we are we deserve to be called chosen. I don't deserve the title otherwise.

5. Celebrating history and tradition with other Jews

Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy God; for in the month of Abib the Lord thy god brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

6. Having a heritage to uphold

If there be among you a needy man, one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates, in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy brother.

7. Being born of a Jewish mother

one of thy brethren

I'm taking these last three paragraphs together. The first reminds me of Barry's description of a Jewish Holiday: They tried to Kill us. Hashem saved us. Let's Eat. Yes, to be a Jew is to think back on a long eventful history with great causes both to celebrate and mourn. Yes, to be a Jew is to be a long term survivor, attached to a root that has served us through feast and famine, fortune and calamity, brilliance and darkness. Yes, to be a Jew, is to belong to people who have honored thoughtfulness, learning and justice, who have been at the forefront of social change, who have practiced Tikkun Olem. If pride weren't a sin and didn't come before the fall, I would be proud to be a Jew.

To be a Jew is to learn to laugh at yourself, better, to love to laugh at yourself. Is this the antidote to the sinfulness of pride? I hope so, because we are good at this. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves, to prevent our difficulties from burying us. And, of course, having Jewish mothers, without a sense of humor, we might otherwise be overwhelmed by guilt.

I've always thought that saying something funny, making someone laugh, is the highest form of discourse, trumps all other exchanges, and would interrupt any serious conversation for the sake of a piece of humor. And we Jews are a good audience for this Jewish shtick, this kibitzing, this good natured cheppering, this non-stop shpeil of a tumler ... there are so many Yiddish words to describe it.

To be a Jew is to love to eat, better yet, to talk and eat, often at the same time. And, of course, to have an opinion, "Opinions are welcomed." We love food and we love words, especially when they express our opinions, and we love people, so gathering for the sake of being with other Jews, expressing opinions and eating good food is a principal activity amongst Jews.

The town Rabbi was approached by two contingents from the congregation. The first said "Rabbi, isn't it the tradition to stand while reciting the Sh'mah." "No" says the Rabbi. "Then it's the tradition to sit while reciting the Sh'mah" said the other. "No" said the Rabbi. "But if you don't tell us which is right we'll argue forever" they both said. "That's the tradition" exclaimed the Rabbi.

It starts at the family level and goes on to the neighborhood and sometimes develops into a full fledged political agenda. Food is important. Words and opinions are important. Sharing food and words with others is important. I'm a Jew, so I like these priorities. I am happy when I'm with others who also like these priorities. That's why I'm here. It's a family thing.

So, who do we have coming for the High Holidays?.....
Have you heard the latest towel joke?....
Tell me about your trip?....
What do you think of Nader?....
When are we going to eat?....

Morty Breier

AND THE KIDS ARE DOING FINE....
 

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• This E-Zine of sorts is being started with no expectations. I need not earn a living so my time is my own and I elect to play with some of that time by launching this MONTHLY MISSIVE. It is a creative act inspired by Rabbi Zalman Schechter-Shalomi, my guru once removed, who said "It's time to download our wisdom on the hard drive of humanity." He was speaking to those of us who prefer sageing to ageing.

  
  The idea is to get a bunch of hip contributors, secret sages,  to comment on the passing scene, to offer creative work and to wax philosophical about perennial issues.  The tribe's elders, and I count myself among them, need a forum and at least this is a start. To begin with, I hope that my dear friends become this E-Zine's regular contributors. The trouble is that they are, as is perfectly appropriate for this mission, iconoclasts to the core and getting them to cooperate is like hearding cats.

  And that's just the part that tries filling these electronic pages... trying to get readers is an entirely different proposition. I remember an actor telling me that it's better to be in a play with a large cast because then all the family and friends of the cast are at least sure to help fill the seats. The start of this E-Zine readership will be like that. Friends have friends and family. And who better to make contact with than our friends and family.

  Even though we now have had only three other contributors, my cousin and dear friend Marcus Uzilevsky, my old buddy, the wonderful poet Rose', and posthumously, the legendary Tony Price, the rest being my stuff, I hope these pages might inspire others to join in. I will be sending email messages to those I particularly want to contribute but everyone is welcome to try their hand. I hope to have several different views on a particular topic that needs addressing and I'll let you know each month what those topics are.

  Feel free, of course, to submit anything you want. I would like your submittal to be accompanied by your photo and an autobiographical piece. I can read attachments in Microsoft Word or in Corel WordPerfect and I prefer JPEG formatted images. My email address is morty@aloha.net. Let's see what we can do together. Remember:

  POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
  SHALOHA
  MORTY BREIER, Editor

Marcus Uzilevsky: We are proud to have as a contributor distinguished California artist and musician Marcus Uzilevsky. Talk about hip, he's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for his 1965-68 group The Third Bardo, (he jammed with Dylan in the Cafe Wah). Under his present name Uzca, he has two world music CDs Slice of Light and Gypsy Dreams, this last he calls Nouveau Klezmer. Klezmer, the Jewish music of Eastern Europe with its weeping and laughing clarinets and violins has always been in Uzca's heart and soul and his latest CD blends Gypsy guitars, African talking drums, Middle Eastern belly dancing rythms, Klezmer violin and clarinet and hypnotic vocals in his intuitive universal language. We are invited to join in the dance of life to celebrate our common humanity. As an artist Marcus is well hung in permanent collections and 50 one man shows, selling over a half million lithographs. Born in Brooklyn, migrating to California in the late sixties he is now esconsed in an old railroad building on the fringes of Marin. Uzilevsky has long been a spiritual journeyer, creating his poetry in both the visual and musical arts. The man is out there and be here to tune in on his poetic offerings..

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Rose': Rose' was born deep in the Bronx in 1934. He began crafting his poetry attending a number of colleges during the 50's. After a stint in the army he bounced around working as a lifeguard, masseur and astrology writer. He saw his heaviest combat duty teaching High School English in New York. In the early sixties he assiduously pursued Ancient Greek while dining on Mexican beaches, toping in European cafes and slumming in Moroccan dives. Between a stint of acting, including the movie "The Edge", he published a book of drawings and launched skin diving trips throughout the Yucatan and the Florida Keys. His "School of the Night" specialized in occult classes and his "Liquid Wedge Gallery" made media history with sculptor Tony Price's first "Atomic Art Show" in NYC in 1969. Struck with what he calls his "Man-o-pause", Rose' started his epic poem "The Pearl in the Crown", still a grand work in progress. He performs as a stand-up poet in salons, homes, theatres, clubs, sushi bars, on radio and television in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Santa Fe. Rose' now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Tony Price, 1937-2000: Thomas Anthony Price wa born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1937. He began his art career in the Marine Corps, painting sixty-foot murals and portraits of generals. After his stint in the marines, 1955-57, he painted and illustrated books, poetry and magazines in New York City and Mexico. Price then worked from 1962-3 as an art director and set designer in films and television for Studio 30 in New York and Brazil. In 1963 Price left for Paris and Rome to paint. His European work is held by collectors in Italy, France, Holland, Germany and Spain. In 1964 he returned to New York and began sculpting in stone, metal and electronic materials. Since his move to New Mexico in 1965, Price has worked with nuclear scrap materials exclusively from Los Alamos from which he has created icons of world religions. Tony died in early 2000 after a yearlong battle with a stroke that had left him partially paralyzed.

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