A keen observer of religious life in America, he once summed up the inconsistencies of Judaism in America by describing a sign he had seen on a store window: "Closed Thursday and Friday for
Rosh Hashanah – open Saturday." A passionate speaker, Halpern was also a staunch advocate of civility in both private and public discourse. In 1968, when then New York Mayor
John Lindsay was "booed and jeered" during a synagog meeting on school decentralization in New York City, Halpern took the microphone to challenge the conduct of the congregation: "I say this with a great deal of sadness in my heart. As Jews, you have no right to be in this synagogue acting the way you are acting," he said, continuing: This is the spot on which for close to 40 years I preached to my people to be respectful and understanding. Is this the exemplification of the Jewish faith? I understand rebellion: Jews were leaders in every revolution all over the world. But there is one thing about being rebellious and being a dissenter. One can be a rebel with good manners and that is all I'm asking you.
Civil rights A strong supporter of equal rights, he opened the 56th annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly during his time as president of the organization, by calling for more involvement on the part of all rabbis in the fight for civil rights for "negroes" in America. He was a fervent spokesman for Israel, sharply criticizing Jewish organizations which lacked the courage (in his words) to take a stand for the new
State of Israel. For example, referring to the
American Council for Judaism, he called them "terrified Jews who are attempting to convince the American people that a love for Israel is tantamount to disloyalty to our country." Halpern declared that the rally would voice "the common determination of Brooklyn Zionists to fight the [British] delaying tactics now being pursued to block the granting of 100,000 certificates of immigration, recommended by the Anglo-American Committee on Palestine."
The New York Times reported that many of the participants in the meeting openly wept, and that Halpern's words added to the "emotional intensity" of the group. Chairing a 1959 dinner to honor departing Israeli Ambassador
Abba Eban, Halpern called for a greater awareness of
Hebrew language and culture "to achieve a closer relationship between Israeli and
American Jews."
Family strength Halpern gained notoriety for his 1957 sermon that declared that "the American father is a moron," speaking on the need for stronger parental leadership in American families to ward off the "dire consequences" we would face without it. In the sermon, reprinted in
The New York Times, Halpern went on to clarify that the image of the modern father as a "moron" came from "television and comics," while the same media portrayed fathers in earlier times as tyrants. In 1956, at the annual gathering of the Rabbinical Assembly, he said, "I know this, that all religion and all life comes down to this – to the effort of the human soul to break through the barriers of loneliness and to make some contact with another seeking soul or to that which all souls seek, namely, God. Therefore, I think we can dedicate ourselves and devote ourselves to assisting and aiding and comforting one another." After a presentation to members of the group by Rabbi Morris Adler of Detroit, Michigan, in which Adler took a strong stand against "any religious intrusions upon public education," Halpern personally supported this position, adding that it was a "long-established policy" of the organization.
Faith and hope Throughout his career, Halpern was known for his ability to identify and confront problems – but to fight the tendency to despair, preaching the need to keep faith, and keep hope, even in humanity itself. Among his most notable sermons, quoted in
The New York Times, was his call to look at leaders and heroes from all religions and cultures—individuals like Jesus, Confucius, Gandhi, and Albert Schweitzer—as a means to keep faith in humanity itself: "There is too much a tendency in our day to condemn humanity, or large sections of it. We condemn all nations or groups of citizens within nations. But, like Abraham of old, we must plead for sinful cities with the thought that every group, every city, every nation does contain some righteous people. It is for these righteous people, if for no one else, that the world is worth saving." His talks often focused on the challenge of looking ahead, not back, linking the ideas of courage and faith: I love to play with words and look at them closely. I wonder if it has ever occurred to you to examine the word,
life, l-i-f-e? In the middle of every life is an "if," i-f, and therefore a great many things can be. There is no point in thinking in terms of what might have been. One has to have faith, one has to have courage, and faith and courage go together, because you cannot have courage without faith. On the other hand, faith leads to courage. ==Honors and memorials==