The story is told of a kid who walked up to my father's business with puppies on a leash.

"You wanna by a poodle?" he asked.

"Nah," we said, "but how did you find polka dot poodles?"

"Those aren't polka dots," he said.  "That's Miss Clairol.  I put spots on them so the lady I ripped them off of wouldn't catch me."

I know this story because I am the one he was offering the poodles to.

This story came to mind this week as I read the invitation to attend a "Read with the Rabbi" session at my synagogue in suburban Detroit. 

Putting God Second by Rabbi Donniel Hartman
with Rabbi Aaron Starr
Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. 

Come early for Minyan at 5:30 p.m., join Rabbi Aaron Starr at 6:00 p.m. for this literary discussion, then everyone is welcome to remain for sips, sweets and our Berman Night of Learning featuring Nira Lev.

In Putting God Second, Rabbi Donniel Hartman tackles one of modern life's most urgent and vexing questions: Why are the great monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) chronically unable to fulfill their own self-professed goal of creating individuals infused with moral sensitivity and societies governed by the highest ethical standards?

Entitled "Putting God Second," it's being called to discuss the 2016 book of that name by Rabbi Donniel Hartman, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.  The book is being discussed in the wake of our rabbi's month-long stay at the institute in Israel this summer.

The publisher's notes ask, "Why have the monotheistic religions failed to produce societies that fail to live up to their ethical ideas?"  A Google preview is here.

The book's publishers apparently believe that America is a flawed society.  I don't.

The author's bio describes Donniel Hartman as a Modern Orthodox rabbi, holder of a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with rabbinic ordination from the Shalom Hartman Institute.

At my own (Conservative) shul, the senior rabbi contended (on Shavuot) that there is no covenant between The Holy One and the Jewish people.  Shavuot is the holiday that commemorates receipt of that covenant, our Torah.  A discussion of it including a video is here.

The thinking among some on the Left seems to be that Judaism, and perhaps all religions, is best seen as an association positioned to advance social justice.  And to elect leftist politicians.

Where I part company with the "social justice" crowd is on how good this country has been, for me and mine, and for the multitudes who have come here.  My mother died recently; after modest beginnings, she left seven grandchildren, including two medical doctors, one Ph.D., one biomedical/chemical engineer, one photographer, and more.

Unlike the two rabbis, I see a divine presence in the development of this nation.  "We hold these truths to be self-evident — that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights," the very first founding document states.  That's right.

Last week's Torah portion included the Sh'ma Yisrael, Judaism's most important prayer, one that was uttered over the centuries by those who were put to death for their Jewish beliefs.  It begins, "Here, O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is one."

It continues with a directive: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your might."

How is it possible to love with all our heart and all our soul and all our might, while putting the Lord of Hosts second?  It isn't.

I didn't buy the polka-dotted puppies, and I'm not buying this, either.