The Original Rabbi Stephen Wise - Lessons on the Art of Public Speaking

The art of speaking

Rabbi Stephen Wise – March 15 2014 – 13 Adar 2

On March 17, 1874 a young Stephen Wise was born in Budapest, Hungary, delightfully coinciding with St. Patricks Day.  His father Aaron Weisz was a Rabbi, as was his grandfather Joseph Weisz, famed for his legendary gifts of prophecy, orthodox piety and political liberalism.  This was the legacy that seemed to transfer down through the generations and imbedded itself in the future Rabbi Stephen Wise, having his named changed to the simpler spelling upon the family’s arrival in American in 1875, a year after his birth.  Stephen’s father Aaron served as Rabbi of Temple Rodeph Sholom on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and this certainly inspired young Stephen to follow in the family footsteps, because from his earliest youth he was determined to find a career in the ministry. 

As this is the week that celebrates the birthdays of both Stephen S. Wise from March 1874 and Stephen A. Wise, the current rabbi born in March 1974, I wanted to take a look at some of the things that made the original Rabbi Wise such a unique leader, specifically his speaking eloquence and passion for social justice.  I believe there is a lot we can learn from his life and his advice that speaks to use today.

In reading further into his background and personal letters, I believe what made Rabbi Stephen S. Wise stand out was his art of public speaking.  At the height of his influence as Rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free synagogue in NYC that he founded, his sermons were so popular they were often delivered at Carnegie Hall and would be carried live on radio for the whole country to hear.  At the height of his popularity, letters addressed to “the rabbi” would arrive at his door. 

Stephen Wise devotes one chapter of his autobiography to the Art of Speaking.  He gives three pointers:  1. Have something to say.  2. Believe in what you are going to say.  3. Say it clearly and without fear. 

The first one reminds us that before you know how to say something properly, you need to have message you want to communicate.  And where will you find what you want to say; at home, or from school/university.  From reading books and newspapers, even online news sources.  Wise says don’t read just to find quotations, but rather to get more information and to make you think.  Wise said, “I attach great importance to reading…for the sake of self-enrichment” (p.121).  Wise then recommends, once you have something to say, begin and when you finished, stop.  This is important, to not linger at either end but say your piece and be done. 

In regards to the second point, nothing is as important in public speaking as to believe in what you want to say.  This might seem simple, but be sure to think about what you are saying and how to say it, but deep down you had surely be passionate about the subject and that you personally believe in the point you are making.  If you talk about belief in God, you need to believe in God, its not enough to simply bring information for others.  As Wise wrote, “Often among listeners they might be saying to themselves, “did he mean that?”  “Is he sincere?”.  If doubts arise, the speaker is lost.  Noise and vehemence, far from proving and achieving sincerity, are ordinarily accepted as disproof thereof”. (p.122)

Finally making his third point, Wise says, to speak without fear.  Be yourself and don’t imitate anyone else.  Wise often came across people trying to imitate him and would warn them, “one if me is quite enough, perhaps too many.  Be yourself”. 

There is a great Talmudic story about being yourself,  that perhaps Rabbi Wise drew upon when he gave this advice.

Once there was a rabbi named Zusya who loved God with all his heart and soul, and who treated all God’s creatures with respect and kindness. Rabbi Zusya studied Torah, kept Shabbat, visited the sick, and praised God for all the goodness in the world. Though he was not a rich man, Zusya gave generously to those in need. Students came from far and near, hoping to learn from this gentle and wise rabbi. Zusya often told his students, “Listen to the still, small voice inside you. Your neshamah will tell you how you must live and what you must do.”

Each day Rabbi Zusya”s students came to the House of Study, called the Bet Midrash, eager to learn what they could from him. One day, Zusya did not appear at the usual hour. His students waited all morning and through the afternoon. But Zusya did not come. By evening his students realized that something terrible must have happened. So they all rushed to Zusya’s house. The students knocked on the door. No one answered. They knocked more loudly and peered through the frost-covered windows. Finally, they heard a weak voice say, “Shalom aleichem, peace be with you. Come in.” The students entered Rabbi Zusya’s house. In the far corner of the room they saw the old rabbi lying huddled in bed, too ill to get up and greet them.

“Rabbi Zusya!” his students cried. “What has happened? How can we help you?”

“There is nothing you can do,” answered Zusya.  “I’m dying and I am very frightened.”

“Why are you afraid?” the youngest student asked. “Didn’t you teach us that all living things die?”

“Of course, every living thing must die some day,” said the Rabbi. The young student tried to comfort Rabbi Zusya saying, “Then why are you afraid? You have led such a good life. You have believed in God with a faith as strong as Abraham’s. and you have followed the
commandments as carefully as Moses.”

“Thank you. But this is not why I am afraid,” explained the rabbi. “For if God should ask me why I did not act like Abraham, I can say that I was not Abraham. And if God asks me why I did not act like Rebecca or Moses, I can also say that I was not Moses.” Then the rabbi said, “But if God should ask me to account for the times when I did not act like Zusya, what shall I say then?” because I know that is what they will ask of me.

The students were silent, for they understood Zusya’s final lesson. To do your best is to be yourself, to hear and follow the still, small  voice of your own neshamah.

Now even if you have something to say, and believe in it without fear, but what if you really can’t say it well.  Some might say, “Rabbi Wise, but I have a poor voice”.  Rabbi Wise counselled them, better a poor voice with something to say than the oft fatal gift of mellifluousness.  A voice of honey is not substitute for the salt of thought. 

Perhaps the best example of a handicapped speaker was our greatest teacher of all, Moshe Rabbeinu.  He knew he was hard of speech and explained to God that he could not face Pharaoh alone and speak of behalf of the Jewish people.  He was scared, Pharaoh wouldn’t listen to him, the Jewish people wouldn’t listen to him.  But Moses went, with Aaron by his side, and learned to believe in what he spoke and trust in God.  Together these elements made Moses perhaps the greatest speaker ever as from that moment on, God’s words all came through Moses, the next three books of Torah are spoke by Moses.  He is considered our greatest teacher, from such humble beginnings, never to let his claim of difficult speech prevent him from leading the Jewish people to freedom. 

As Wise writes (p.123) anyone handicapped by an unpleasant or ineffective manner of speech can choose to make that handicap good by wide reading, deep study, clear thinking and brave speaking. To speak with a sense of respect for the subject, the audience and himself. 

Rabbi Wise writes that one of the most effective speakers he ever heard was the first president of the state of Israel, Chaim Weitzman.  His voice was often hoarse and throated and unpleasant to listen to.  He had no grace nor manner of speaking, spoke slowly and awkwardly.  Yet he would make his point deliberately, with scientific precision and sequence, always mastering his theme, rarely deflecting from his goals.  Through supports and hecklers he always made his point.  How?  He knows his case, he makes the best possible use of folk lore and folk manner, with nothing to commend him save his intellectual weight and his command of the cause. 

These lessons on the art of speaking might not seem so revolutionary or profound but they are lessons I take to heart each time I am preparing to speak in public.  Rabbi Stephen Wise was quite modest in writing this chapter, because many of his contemporaries would name him as the person to whom they would describe as giving the great speeches.  We still study his words at seminary today.  But Wise was also modest in avoiding giving advice about content.  Rabbi Wise is know for his willingness to speak out about subject that were often controversial, to his synagogue community, to him personally and to the Jewish community as a whole, but that never prevented him from speaking on them.  At one point in building his synagogue, he had a great amount of pledges towards a new building fund.  Many of the pledges came from wealthy members, who owned business, usually without unions.  At the same time Wise would stand at the pulpit and decry these sweatshops and demand worker rights and unions.  The individuals with wealth withdrew their money in protest, but Wise would not stand down, even as the fundraising plan collapsed.  He stood by his values.  Wise was also one of the first to follow in the steps of Theodore Herzl calling for a Jewish homeland in Israel.  This again went against the grain as most rabbinic leaders in America were hesitant to support a Jewish homeland, when life for Jews in American was prosperous and full of freedom and opportunity.  Why would they jeopardize their position by actively calling for Jews to leave and form this new homeland.  Wise was not fearful of a backlash against him personally or the community at large and continued to push for Zionism, even forming the first American Jewish Zionist organization.  Wise was also quick to fight for Jews who were suffering through the Holocaust.  He was able to get information to the President about the Jewish plight.  There are many who felt Wise did not do enough or put lives in danger, but Wise stood by his beliefs to do what he could.  I even have a copy of the telegram sent to his attention that he passed on to President Roosevelt.

There is much to learn from Rabbi Wise, from his advice on the art of speaking to his ability to put his money where his mouth is and speak truth to power.  Wise had great oratorical skills and used them to express strong opinions on the controversial topics of his age.  I am very honoured to carry on his name and take his advice in speaking passionately and without fear about modern issues today.  May we all have that courage and strength to speak to what we believe in with passion and excellence.  Shabbat Shalom.

 

Whats Jewish about the Olympics

What’s Jewish about the Olympics?

Rabbi Stephen Wise – March 1 2014 – 29 Adar 1 – Pekudai

 

Sidney Crosby and PK Subban each had exactly zero goals as Team Canada approached the Gold Medal game vs Sweden.  There was much talk about why the best player in the world had not scored and why the NHL’s best defenseman from the previous year was not even being dressed for the game.  The prevailing wisdom was that when Team Canada puts together a hockey team, its not about individuals, its about the team.  And that is not just for hockey, its for the entire Canadian contingent at the Olympics.  When any athlete competed to the best of their abilities, it was the team that succeeded.  When a Canadian received a medal, it was tallied towards the Team Canada total.  There of course were wonderful stories of athletes succeeding beyond expectation and others unable to fulfill their dreams.  When snowboarder Spencer Obrien failed to finish in the top 3 spots of her discipline, she broke down in tears in an interview saying “I'm really disappointed and really sad that I let Canada down”.  Hold your head up high Spencer, you didn’t let Canada down, but you did realize that we work together as a team, its not about individual achievement, its an overall effort by multiple people to achieve a goal.  Indeed in the gold medal hockey game, Crosby played as well as he had all tournament and in one defining play, was backchecking when he stripped the puck from a Swedish player, raced across the ice, past 3 players, deked out the goalie and scored putting Canada ahead comfortable 2-0 on route to a 3-0 final score gold medal.  And it was PK Subban who stood in line to receive the very same medal Crosby did.  How poetic that the two are side by side with medals around the necks and huge smiles on their faces for the Gold Medal team photo.

 

Olympic fever has slowly started to dissipate this week  across Canada and as we move past these extraordinary games, though I feel this cold weather has given us fever’s of another variety.  But its fitting to look back at the games on this Shabbat from a Jewish perspective to examine if there is anything that connects to our faith.  This weeks portion is Pekudai which accounts the records of all that had been built in regards to the Holy tabernacle – the Mishkan – which would be filled with God’s presence.  The holy priest would be adorned with Gold, a testament to this medal holding the properties of the most valuable material, fitting for the top Olympic performers.  And just as the verses make an accounting of all the precious metals used, so too do the Olympics finish with an accounting of all metals won – from gold to bronze.  

But as we delve more deeply in the Jewish connection to the Olympics, we would be mistaken to see Jews in sports as a high value.  In ancient times, while we were busy attending to worship in our holy temple, it was the Greeks who valued sport and the human body and began the Olympic games, in honour of their Gods.  In this way the Olympics are tribute to idols, completely foreign in every way to our worship of the one true god – unseen, unchallenged, omnipotent.  We Jews had our heads in the books while the Greeks used the Olympics to highlight natural human movement and the shape of muscles and the body. It was as much a religious festival as an athletic event with sacrifices to Zeus.  When the Maccabees defeated the Greeks and rededicated our Temple, it was a pushback not just on our political freedom but to eliminate cultural assimilation into the new Greek ideas, game, foods and dress. 

 

For most of Jewish life from ancient times to the 20^th century, we placed much more value on literacy than sports, as most famously joked about in the movie airplane when a passenger asks the stewardess for some light reading she says “I have this 1 page leaflet- famous Jewish sports legends”. Other than stoning, it would be hard to find a Jewish sport in the Bible or any Talmudic source.  Jews have however in the 20^th century and beyond embraced sports and certainly in each professional league in every era we can often find one Jewish athlete we can rally around such as boxer Barney Ross, baseball players Hank Greenberg or Sandy Koufax, ice skating champions Sasha Cohen, and more.   Our children would probably value sport over religious school these days, though it does warm my heart when a child makes the effort to come to religious school in their soccer uniform to learn some Hebrew before heading off to the pitch.

But I also think there are values in the Olympics that are in line with Jewish values. 

1.      Healthy bodies.  Athletes are very careful about what they eat, and how they exercise and stay healthy.  These are lesson for all of us, perhaps not to compete at an Olympic level but to make healthy eating choices and regular exercise to avoid disease, maintain energy and mental acuity and live longer more productive lives. Jews too value health and nutrition.  In ancient times we had rules about food, including never eating an animal we found dead or had disease, we had to kill it properly and humanely, thereby only eating proper meat.  We also ritually washed our hands before each meal. There is a wonderful new book out by the Reform Rabbis called “the Sacred Table: creating a Jewish food ethic” with essays about Jewish dietary practices.  A lot of it focuses on healthy eating and the spirituality of food.  Amy recently gave talk about it after her research.  As Jews we know that taking care of our body is important, not just to ourselves but to God, who created us, made us in Gods image and breathed life into us.  It is therefore our responsibility to take care of this vessel and keep it healthy throughout our lives. 

2.      Team work.  As I alluded to in the beginning, the word Team in Team Canada is first because every athlete understands what it means to be part of a team.  Even in individual races on the skating rink or snow slopes, the athletes are collectively part of a team.  They train together, travel together, get coached together and compete together. A win for a Canadian athlete is a win for the team.   In the team sports of course its even more crucial to work together.  The lead curler who seems to be throwing rocks on an empty sheet of ice is setting up shots for the skip to take home the points.  The bobsledders who push the sled at the top give it that edge of time so the driver can steer through the rest of the course for victory.  In Judaism we always stress our collective identity.  In this week’s portion, each Israelite gave something towards the building of the mishkan, whatever they were able, and then it was up to Bezalel the master artist to gather the materials and create the sanctuary.  Our synagogue is made up a team of individuals who each bring their own strengths and gifts to make this shul work as a whole.  Some are great cooks providing communal meals, some serve on boards to set guidelines and fiscal responsibility, some attend worship and education regularly keeping our spirituality high, some work behind the scenes raising money or preparing the kitchen or making phone calls.  Collectively as a team we make this shul great, and only working together do we succeed. 

3.      Practice makes perfect.  In Olympic sports the athletes trains for years and years to compete in the moment.  Practicing is the only way to achieve excellence, and even then it might not be enough because some of the sports are so detail oriented.  The racing events such as luge, skeleton, skiing and skating – often come down to 1/100^th of second to mark the difference between a winner and 10^th place.  It’s incredible how close the athletes are in skill when such tiny measurements of time can determine victory.  In Judaism too the details are important.  God does not just say build me a mishkan.  There are a dozen chapters with exact instructions as to how to build it, what dimensions and what materials.  Listen to the details on just the breast piece of the outfit for the high priest

“on the breast piece they made braided chains or corded gold, they made two frames and two rings of gold, and fastened them at the end.  They attached them to the inner edge which faced the ephod, the rings were fastened to the front, low on the shoulder pieces close to the seam but above the decorative band, and held in place by a cod of blue from its ring to the rings of the ephod…..”

            When a bar or bat mitzvah student is getting ready for their coming of age ceremony, we don’t start a week before.  These children being learning Hebrew when they are in kindergarten.  A year before the big day they begin learning their portion with weekly appointments with a tutor to learn the Hebrew of their portion, prepare to read it without vowels and learn the trope marks to sign it. In addition they learn their haftarah, lead some of the prayers, do a mitzvah project and write a dvar torah.  I remind them, this will take a year of practice and there are many many details to get it right. 

Perhaps the best lesson for our student athletes that is different from the Olympics is that they don’t have to be perfect or the best.  Each child strives to their best, not in competition with any other students because our community, and god, only want to see each child achieve as best as they can do. Moreover no one can read the torah perfectly, that is why we have a gabbai who reads along with the portion and guides the torah reader as they go.  It’s a bigger mitzvah to correct the reader to make sure they are doing it right, then the mitzvah of actually chanting torah.  Its not a mistake, rather its an opportunity for the gabbai to guide towards the correct word.  In the Olympics if you fall on a qualifying run or during a big race, you are done and have finished your competition.  In Judaism you are always able to get back up and compete again.  Not just in your bar or bat mitzvah reading torah, but in every facet of life we have the built in ability to start again, teshuvah.  It was given to us at the moment we were created, the ability to get a second chance.  Whether its taking that opportunity in the moment or during our holiday of yom kippur, our tradition reminds us that we humans are not created in perfection, we all miss the mark at times, and we have the ability to start again, make changes, get back on the right path and finish the race we call life. 

4.       And finaly I want to talk about patriotism.  I felt it in my heart when I watched the Canadian team walk into the opening ceremonies, in fact I felt for each country as they walked in, in the countries colours, flying the flag, so proud to represent a common group.  It was even more special at the closing ceremonies, because no matter how each athlete did, win a medal or place in any position, they competed as a team and so team Canada walked in together.  In the sports village everyone had a similar room.  The NHL players have multimillion dollar salaries but they lived in the same rooms as the amateur athletes who might have even paid their own way to Sochi to attend, who don’t have endorsements or salaries, who might be going back to regular jobs after the Olympics as factory workers or small business owners or bank tellers. For these few weeks it was a team who put away their selfish interests and pocketbooks to live and compete together.  And when Canada actually won, again and again, in skiing or men and womens curling or men and womens hockey  - again- I had tears in my eyes as we sang the Canadian anthem together.  As Jews we can be proud that our tiny country of Israel sent Olympians, we sent 5 for the winter but often have a large presence at the summer games.  Its interesting because of those 5, none were actually born in Israel but now live there.  I often think to myself, if I was competing at an Olympic level I could actually choose to compete for Canada or by making aliyah I could just as easily compete for our Jewish homeland. Most people in the world don’t have the option to choose for which country they compete.  Now Israel could probably use more athletes but one would likely have a better chance to win with Canada.  Luckily we have the maccabee Olympic games, the one  for Jewish athletes every four years where we can cheer for everyone because everyone is a member of the tribe

 

To the question what is Jewish about the Olympics, indeed when you look closely there is a lot in common.  Our shared values of healthy eating and healthy bodies, team work, practicing to get things rights, the details are important, guidance of teachers and coaches and competing for a country or people.  Indeed our Jewish tradition ought to have a prayer for sports – for competing hard and achieving goals.  And I want to end with this which I put together from two different sources.  It’s a prayer not for someone to win a race or a game, but to compete well and at the end realize its not a blessing for the sport but rather for life. 

 

  “My you run and not grow weary.  May you be strong and walk in Gods ways.  May you mount up with wings as eagles.  May you pursue and then overtake your foes.  And may you prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.  Amen.

(taken from Psalm 18:38, Isaiah 40:31, 1 King 2:2-3, Ken Bresler from Ritual well)