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RESPONSIBILITY
Confirmation Sermon, 23rd April 1966
We have been witnessing, and participating in, a solemn ceremony
and a colourful Spectacle.
It has been, I hope, a deeply moving
eXperience, even if a slightly terrifying one, for the confirmees.
It has been, I am sure, a happy experience fbr their families and
friends, and for the entire congregation: one which we shall long
remember with a glow of satisfaction.
But what precisély does it mean?
The answer is contained in a
single word, and that word is responsibility.
When we are very young we have no sense of responsibility.
first act of a new—born baby is to cry.
thing.
It wants to be fed br comforted.
The
It‘cries because it wants some—
From its point of view the
outside world, represented at first only by the mother, is there t6
safisfy its needs, and for no other purpose.
A baby, in other words,
is entirely self-centred.
But as we grow up we realise that the outside world does not consist
It also includes a father, and brothers and sisters,
only of the mother.
gnd other people.
And we soon discover that they are not there only to
attend to our whims.
They are individuals in their own right, wiyh their
SWn needs and desires and preoccupations.
They do not only respond to
our demands: they also make demands upon us.
They expect us to do things
for them; to behave in certain ways and not to behave in certain other
ways.
And if we want to get along with them we must learn to co-operate.
Life is no longer merely
giving.
a matter of receiving: it is
also a matter of
And so a sense of responsibility begins to develop in us.
LEC)BAECHZCCLLEGE
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At first it is limited to our immediate family.
the circle Widens.
But all the time
Soon it includes friends'and playmates and neigh—
bours; then the school community; then perhaps the youth group or the
sports club; and then society as a whole.
Now we recognise our
responsibilities as citizens of our country: to obey its laws and
to contribute to its welfare.
Of course some people never get that far.
Some peoplé remain
throughout their lives like a baby crying for its milk: self-centred.
They expect the world to give them everything they want, but they do
not feei any reciprocal obligations.
They always take but never give.
They become a burden to others, a misery to themselves, and are likely
to end up in the magistrates' courts convicted of anti—social behaviour.
But even if we are not like that, even if we recognise and fulfil
the legitimate and reasonable demands which are made upon us from day
to day by our fellow—men and by society, even then we have not acquired
a sense of responsibility in the fu11est meaning of the term.
For we
are still living only in the present; in a time—span bounded by yester—
day and tomorrow.
But to become truly mature and wise is to realise,thét there is a
past beyond our own birth and a future beyond our own death.
It is
to think of ourselves as members of a generation which is but one Of
many generations; as actors in a drama — the drama of human history —
which extends backwards and forwards for thousands of years.
It is
to have g sense of historic responsibility. It is to realise that we
are here, not merely to enjoy ourselves and to behaQe decently so that
others may also énjoy themselves, but to live our lives in such a way
that through us the purpose of human history may be advanced.
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Once we attain this awareness, once we experience this awakening,
then we understand that we have a need greater than food and drink,
‘éreater than security and pleasure, greater than educational success
and professional skill.
Our greatest neéd is to have a vision of the
meaning of life and the purpose of history, a set of ideals, a system
of values, so that we may know how to make the best use of our lives.
Our greatest need is to have an ideology, a philosophy, 3 religion.
As Jews We have inherited just that.
In a way it has been thrust
upon us by our parents and teachers, so that we might say that it has
chosen us.
And yet it would also be true to say that we have chosen it.
We have studied it; we have, to some extent, compared it with other
ideologies, and we have not found it wanting.
On the contrary, it has
increasingly commended itself to us, so that we are willing to affirm
the accident of our birth and upbringing, to say Yes to our past, to
appropriate our heritage, to choose Judaism,as our philosophy and our
way of life.
We are ready to say zeh e11 v‘anvehu, emmhgx avi va'arom'men'
g3, "This is my God and I will glorify him; my father's God and I will
exalt him" (Exodus 15:2).
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We have chosen Judaism because we have studied its past and found it
worthy of our loyalty.
us in the present.
We have chosen Judabsm also because it can help
The phrase in the 78th Psalm that God “appointed a
law in Israel" - v'torah gag b'zisrael — can also be interpreted, as the
Midrash points out, to mean thatdthe Torah is a balm in Israel:
Judaism
is good for us; it is a tonic which promotes our spiritual gealth; it can
help us, here and now, to live worthily and well.
But we have chosen Judaism also for the sake of the future, for the
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sake of posterity.‘
For”we see'in'i§ a“benef;cent“inf1uence; a‘redemptive
force which makes for enlightenment, justice, brotherhood and peace in the
life of mankind.
And therefore, in throwing im our lot with Judaism, we
are not merely discharging an obligation of 19ya1ty to our forefathers;
'nob are we
merely acquiring an asset for ourselves; but we are actually
making a contribution — the best contribution we can make — to the future
well—being of humanity.
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There is a rather nice story about the American writer DonuMarquis,
author of Archy and Mehitabel.
Once a friend of his, to whom he had
made a somewhat insulting remark, said to him: "Do you realise, sir, that
you are vblifying one who is descended from royalty?
and by the way, who
are 125 descended from?"' To which Don Marquis repliéd: "I am not a
descendent: I am an ancestor!"
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Of course we are both.
As Jews we are descendants of prophets and
priests and rabbis, and we may well be proud of our descent.
lalso ancestors, ancestors of generations tq come.
history, but we are also makers of history,
But we are
We are products of
We are each one of us a link
in the shalshelet hakabbalah, the chain of tradition, which stretches
from the distant past into the distant future; and every Jew should
consider himself as if he Were the gglg link, as if the whole fumure
of Judaism depended on him and on him alone.
[Epd
this is not just rhetoric. 'Let us do a little down;to—earth
arithmetic.
There are 19 confirmees today.
In course of time they may
have 38 children, 76 grandchildren, 15£Hgégndchildren, Eeé~gneaiagneaeu
children, and so forth.
Such a thought may help to impress on us the
magnitude of the responsibility which rests upon us.
What we do with
our lives will have far—reaching consequences fnr centuries tb comei]
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Therefore a great responsibility devolves successively upon every
generation of Jews; but it addresses itself to the present generation,
.
the generation represented by the confirmees, with special urgency.
For we live in an age of the most incredible scientific and technological
progress, an age in which the fantasies of Jules Verne are rapidly
becoming every—day facts. But it is also an age of continuing war and
strife and starvation and cruéfity and crime, an age which has witnessed
some of the most appalling outbreaks of barbarism in all of recorded
Clearly, therefore, our moral progresé has not kept pace
with our scientific progress. It 15 laggifig far, far behind. Scientifically we are university graduates; morally we are still in the kinder—
histbry.
The closing of this gap is mankind's greatest need, indeed
the very condition of its survival. The world's one imperative need
is not chiefly for more technological progress, but for more moral
garten.
progress: for a stronger sense of justice, humaneneSS and brotherliness.
Compared with that, nothing else matters.
The world, therefore; needs
the influence of Judaism more urgently than at any time in the past.
And yet, just at this time of particular need, the custodians of
Judaism are particularly weak and enfeebled and ineffectgag.
The Jewish
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community today is, by and large, divided, confused, apathetic, lethargic,
self—indulgent and materialistic. And therefore it is not sufficient that
you, the confirmees, should follow in the footsteps of your elders. It is
vital that you should do batten: “slur task is not merely to perpetuate
Judaism, but to strengthen it. You must take your cue from the 78th
Psalm: "That which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us,
we will not hide from their children...that they might not be as their
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fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation."
To neglect Judaism
is to condemn it to a speedy death; to be half—hearted about it is
to let it die a slow and lingering death; only if you gihe it your
whole—hearted lo§alty will it live to redeem the World.
This, then, is the responsibility which you are assuming today.
The actdal obligations which it involves you have been studying and
They are summed upfin the Ten Commandments.
They are summed up in the injunction, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour
discussing for the past year.
as thyself."
for
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They are summed up in the eihortation, "Ye shall be holy,
the Lord your God am holy."
There are many such summaries.
me, in conclusion, give you two more.
Let
Rabbi Mattuck, the first Minister
of this Synagogue, once said: "A good Jew is he in whom being a Jew is
a constant influence for good."] And another rabbi, many centuries ago,
gave this advice, that every Jew should so conduct himself that his
children will be proud to say elohez 21;, "the God of my father."
May these ideals guide you in all the years to come, for your own
good, for the good of the House of Israel, and for the good of mankind.
Amen.