Remembrance and Renewal: Honoring Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph.D., ��”l

Resolve to Act

Rabbi Aaron Panken, Ph.D., z"l called us to lead with courage and creativity. As we remember his mission and message, we honor his legacy not just in words, but in the work we carry forward.

“We are a people of action and courage, of innovation and and fearlessness, of adaptation and endless creativity.”

Rabbi Aaron Panken, Ph.D., z"l

“Our celebration comes, this year, amidst a particularly challenging and painful world, one that in many respects transcends anything I have seen in my lifetime. We now live in a world in which truth is distorted, basic institutions of American life like the press, the courts, the electoral system, the FBI, the beautiful mosaic of immigration that made this country what it is, the dignity and value of public leadership and civil service, egalitarianism and a woman’s right to choose, and so many others, are threatened in ways we simply could not have imagined a few years ago. We see countries long civilized and democratic reverting to policies of nationalism and tactics of scapegoating reminiscent of our darkest times. We labor under the challenges of privacy and the ability for noxious leaders to spread their message ever more broadly and more efficiently through warped use of social media, cynical and often violent supremacist protests, and through the abhorrent targeting of innocent immigrants as vicious criminals.

“But here’s the thing: the Jewish people, and our religious friends of other faiths, have seen this before, and we have lived through it, and thrived and built again and again and again. We are not a people of whiners, of those who say “this is the end and there is nothing we can do about it.” We are a people of action and courage, of innovation and and fearlessness, of adaptation and endless creativity.”

Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph.D., z”l
May 3, 2018

Reflections

In 1939 The pioneer, paratrooper and poet, Hanna Szenes came to Israel from Hungary to live a life of meaning and freedom, she was 18. She was murdered in 1944 in her birth-land, when she returned to Europe to try and save Jews from the clutches of the Nazis.

Her poems-prayers encapsulate the fierce Jewish spirit, saturated with hope, resilience and faith, the same spirit our teacher, Rabbi Panken, was known for.

One of these poems was written when she was walking on the shore of her kibbutz, Sdot Yam. It became an anthem, sang and prayed in Israel during difficult times. Its words fit well now as they did when it was composed. We often sing it during the protest activities these days:

אלי שלא ייגמר לעולם
החול והים
רשרוש של המים
ברק השמים
תפילת האדם

My God, I pray that these things never end
The sand and the sea,
the rush of the waters,
The crash of the heavens,
T’filat Ha-Adam, the human prayer.

When we worked on the compilation of the Israeli Reform siddur, a project that Aaron followed and cherished, we decided to use the final words of the poem, T’filalt Ha-Adam (The Human Prayer) as its title.

Rabbi Dalia Marx, Ph.D.
Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph.D., Professor of Liturgy and Midrash

Aaron saw the world not only as it was, but as it could be—more just, more inclusive, more compassionate. He believed deeply in a Judaism that welcomed all and called each of us to act with courage and conscience. In 2018, he spoke of a world that felt fragile, urging us to hold fast to hope and to one another. Today, that call echoes even louder. We miss his wisdom, his laughter, the light in his eyes as he warmly saw each of us. He challenged us to lead with love. And now, we carry that challenge forward in his name.

Lisa Messinger
Wife of Rabbi Aaron Panken, Ph.D., ��”l

“Like Reform Judaism, the “institutions of American life” to which Rabbi Panken refers were built on ancient ideals, revitalized by the Enlightenment. Today, they face rising threats amid a new Romantic era, where emotional appeals to self-interest—personal and national—drift away �ڰ��ǳ� c��ǳ��󳾲�, b��Բ�, ��Ի� �岹’a��: wisdom, insight, and knowledge, praised in our fourth daily prayer. By drawing on our tradition as a resilient people, we reaffirm its rational core. And thus we see that our interests—as Americans, Israelis, or Jews—must never be ends in themselves, but always pursued in service to, and bounded by, the very justice they are intended to realize.”

Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D.
President of 51��

We “have seen this before” indeed. And each time, the pressure to acquiesce, to succumb, to stand down, is greater. Yet, as Leo Baeck wrote in his, The Essence of Judaism, first published in 1905, “The Jewish right to existence was dependent upon the Jews retaining their peculiarity, and upon their remaining different from the world around.” Translating the very same parasha Aaron invoked in his graduation address, Leviticus’ Holiness Code, Baeck understood “holiness” in moral and spiritual terms: “You shall be different, for I the Lord your God am different….” Despite the pressure to fit in, to conform, to be Jewish in these times, and perhaps any time, requires, yes, “innovation and fearlessness…adaptation and endless creativity,” but it also stick-to-itiveness and gumption, commitment and fidelity. Let “everything spiritual and everything moral become a protest, a feeling of being different,” Baeck wrote in his day, and so it shall be for us as well.

Rabbi Joseph A. Skloot, Ph.D.
Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Modern Jewish Intellectual History
Associate Director, Tisch Rabbinical Fellowship

In Genesis 41:32, as Joseph concludes his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream, he explains, “As for Pharaoh having had the same dream twice, it means that the matter has been determined by God and God will soon carry it out.” Put differently, when a person sees the same thing twice, they should take it seriously!

Rabbi Panken’s words, offered seven years ago, could have been written yesterday. We are living in a time of famine, a famine worse than that portended by Pharaoh’s dreams. We face a famine marked not by a dearth of food, but by a dearth of compassion, of decency, and of concern for those who are most vulnerable. In times like these, Rabbi Panken reminds us, we are called upon to act.

Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, Ph.D.
Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph.D., Professor of Rabbinics 

“Yes, we mourned, but then we built…” Reflected in the refrain that runs throughout Rabbi Aaron’s Panken’s 2018 graduation address is a definitively Jewish message about resilience rooted in our most ancient biblical texts. Psalm 30:6 reminds us that no matter how dark the night, dawn always appears the next day: even when one lies down to bed weeping, glad song comes in the morning (יָלִין בֶּכִי וְלַבֹּקֶר רִנָּה). Psalm 126:5 echoes that message, reaffirming that those who sow in tears—somehow, eventually—will reap in glad song (הַזֹּרְעִים בְּדִמְעָה בְּרִנָּה יִקְצֹרוּ).

Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D.
Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost 

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