Biography
Margaret Moers Wenig is Rabbi of Beth Am, The People's Temple, in New York City, and Instructor in Homiletics at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Margaret is one of America's outstanding preachers. She has taught workshops for Christian clergy and is a frequent guest preacher and lecturer to audiences across the country. Her sermons are widely published in journals and anthologies and she has written the first text book for the teaching of homiletics in a modern rabbinical seminary. [Biographical information is correct as of the broadcast date noted above.]

"A Shoot Shall Sprout from the Stump " 
I am a Jew. But for many years I have been a guest at Advent services. Every year I am moved, but also disturbed. Let me tell you why.

The answer lies in the following story, a true story, a story which begins in Buchenwald. Buchenwald was a concentration camp for so called "political prisoners." Austrian Jews transferred from Dachau, Jews rounded up in mass arrests on Kristallnacht, Polish, Russian, Hungarian Jews whom the Nazis evacuated from other camps as the Soviet army approached. In the 8 years the camp operated it held 238,380 prisoners of whom "only" 56,549 died.

On April 11, 1945, American troops arrived to liberate the camp. From Buchenwald the inmates were transferred to DP camps. In one DP camp a small group of Buchenwald survivors dreamed of settling in Palestine and establishing a kibbutz. Just 3 years later, on June 20, 1948, during a short cease fire in the War of Independence, the kibbutz was founded.

Today it flourishes with intensive farming, three industries, and the birth of a third generation. The name of the kibbutz? Netzer—twig or shoot. "A shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, a twig—netzer—shall sprout from his stock." Kibbutz Netzer: a green shoot sprouting from the stump of a grand old tree.

This story comes to my mind every year when I listen to my Christian colleagues and friends singing "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel." This story comes to my mind every year when I hear Isaiah's promise of restoration to Israel, "A shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, a twig shall sprout from his stock," used to suggest that that restoration awaits the advent of Jesus.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel;
that mourns in lonely exile here,
until the son of God appear.

You see, to Jews, Isaiah's promise of redemption speaks not only of the advent of the messiah at the end of time but also of our recurring experience of redemption through time. We believe that Isaiah's promise has already been fulfilled time and again whenever our people have been felled and new shoots have miraculously appeared.

At the time of Cyrus our exiles were restored to Jerusalem (as Isaiah prophesied). After the Romans exiled us from Jerusalem once again seeds of Jewish life were carried by the wind and academies of Jewish learning sprouted in new towns. After our equally devastating expulsion from Spain in 1492, 150,000 Jews planted new roots in Amsterdam, Constantinople Cairo and the Americas. And today, but 50 years after Hitler attempted to make all of Europe Judenrein, tiny shoots of European Jewish life push through the rubble towards the sun.

"O come, O come, Emmanuel, ransom captive Israel?"

Jews are not awaiting the advent of a savior to ransom us, God taught us long ago to ransom our captives ourselves. According to the Talmud (BB8b), Pidyon shevuyim, the ransoming of captives, is a commandment of paramount importance. In the Middle Ages Jews had many opportunities to fulfill it but never in the numbers we have known in our era: 50,000 Jews rescued from Yemen between 1948 and 1949; 120,000 Jews from Iraq, two years later; 14,000 Jews from Ethiopia in 1984 ransomed for 35 million dollars.

A shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, a twig shall sprout from his stock. The rebirth of the Jewish people like the rebirth of the church in ex-Soviet lands is a testimony to human will but also a testimony to God's will. God's will for all people. For the wolf does not yet lie down with the lamb nor is it yet safe for a baby to play over a viper's hole or even in a city park. People still die of poverty and plague and the earth is filled with violence as water covers the sea.

So we are all waiting and working for the advent of justice and peace. We try to heal the sick and free the captive. But when we fail, when, because of our hard hearts or despite our best efforts, lofty old trees and promising young ones are ruthlessly hacked away with iron then, God does not wish to give death the last word. God does not wish despair to overwhelm humankind.

And so God shows us that from the stumps of many a fallen tree, tiny green shoots sprout with new life.

Rabbi Wenig's sermon originally appeared in the National Bulletin on Liturgy, Volume 29, Number 46,
Copyright & copy; Concacan Inc., 1996. All rights reserved.
Used with permission of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ottawa.

Interview with Margaret Moers Wening
Interviewed by Lydia Talbot

Lydia Talbot: Margaret, your message was compelling and instructive. Many Christians would appreciate your insight as a Jew responding to Advent because they would say they could not understand Jesus without the Old Testament, and so the concept of the kingdom of God is familiar to many in the Christian community. Tell us how you might expand the meaning of the Song, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" in a wider sense to embrace contemporary issues.

Margaret Moers Wenig: That's a wonderful idea, Lydia. I would start by taking the name Israel out of that first verse, because it's confusing and can lead people to think that Israel, the name of the Jewish people, is mourning and in lonely exile awaiting the Son of God. So I would start by taking the name Israel out and then I think it would be wonderful to expand the category of those who are awaiting a radical change in our world, which probably includes all of us.

Talbot: Of course, at the time of the Nativity, the birth of Christ, Israel was held captive by the Roman Empire, so "ransom captive Israel" meant from the oppressor, from the oppressiveness of the King Herods of the world. If you were to replace the word "Israel," could you imagine that song as an assurance, as a promise in the sense of ransoming the captive United States from racism, bigotry, sexism, violent crime, or homophobia?

Wenig: Yes, it's a wonderful idea. It's a wonderful idea. I don't have a word to come up with on the spot, but it would be a wonderful idea to expand the category of the captive.

Talbot: Captive. Freedom from oppression. You have written extensively, Margaret, on the subject of Judaism's embrace of the gay and lesbian community. How would you relate your understanding of redemption that you have described to that issue of inclusiveness?

Wenig: Well, I believe that every human being is created in the image of God and that includes lesbians and gay men and bisexuals and any other human being you would throw into that category. Once we recognize that each of us is created in God's image, it makes it much more difficult to exclude, to discriminate against, to oppress, or even to physically harm.

Talbot: Say more about that. The issue of inclusiveness is a thorny one among faith communities, not only in Judaism, but also Christianity, Islam, you name it.

Wenig: This is a big topic, Lydia. Do you really want to deal with this is in this short amount of time?

Talbot: But you are committed to the notion of empowerment and as a Jew looking at the issue of empowerment in our culture...

Wenig: I believe that the texts in Leviticus that are used to exclude or oppose homosexuality have been misread. At the time those texts were written, the notion of sexual orientation did not exist and perhaps those texts are referring to behavior out of the context of an ongoing, loving, committed relationship. The authors of those texts could not have conceived of a gay marriage, for example, and therefore could not have prohibited it. They could not prohibit what they could not conceive of, so we need to rethink what it is the Bible has to teach us about committed gay and lesbian relationships, and we are going to have to find our sources from verses other than those in Leviticus.

Talbot: There are those who would celebrate the richness of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The two traditions are filled with so much rich tradition. As you look around your circle of ecumenical relationships, how would you summarize the best of the two traditions?

Wenig: I think both traditions are looking for a better world and see human beings as having some responsibility to help bring about that better world. I would say that's the best in both traditions.

Talbot: Back to Isaiah and the biblical mandate for the reduction of human suffering. Is it at the heart of both traditions?

Wenig: It is. My only quibble with the use of the Isaiah passage in Advent worship is that people might think that the only root to the kingdom of God is through the Son of God and that, I think, is a mistake. I think other roots to the kingdom of God must be honored as faithful.

Talbot: There are many theologians who would say that the most accepted understanding of the kingdom of God is that it is already but hasn't yet come. Thank you so much for your insights, Rabbi Wenig.

Wenig: You're welcome.