This One Made Me Smile

(From another Synagogue's TEMPLE BULLETIN)

Avoid riding in autos because they are responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents.

Get out of the house because 17% of all accidents occur in the home (that's 37% already)

Avoid walking because 14% of all accidents involve pedestrians. (now we're up to 51%)

Avoid traveling by air, trains or buses. 16% of all accidents involve these forms of transportation. (that's 67%)

Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in hospitals. Above all, avoid hospitals.

You will be pleased to note that only 1% of all deaths occur in a synagogue, and these are usually related to some previous health condition.

Therefore, logic tells us the safest place to be at any given point of time is in a synagogue.

Torah study is even safer. The number of deaths during Torah study is too small to register.

So, for safety sake, go to shul as often as possible, and attend Torah study. it could save your life.

(And you might even get some cake and a lollypop, as well!)

HAVE A GREAT AND SAFE REST OF THE SUMMER AND DON'T FORGET TO STOP BY THE TEMPLE!

Urgent Message - Please Help a Member of our Temple Family

Dear Temple Shalom Family,

Our member, Andrea L. Katz has been battling Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma, is now in need of a stem cell transplant and is looking to us for help. She has asked me to forward the following e-mail about a virtual donor drive that she and her family are conducting. Such donor drives represent the essence of our most highly held mitzvah of Pikuach Nefesh (saving a life).

Our Temple Shalom family has responded generously in our participation in such efforts in the past, as I know we will to this drive. Please take a moment to read her request below and respond if you are able.

L'Shalom,

Rabbi David C. Levy

__________________________

Dear Family and Friends,

Since being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2007 you have all asked me the same question: “How can I help?” In the past, I replied that other than your love, support, prayers and friendship there was not much you could do. Now, however, my circumstances have changed and I have a different answer to your question. You can help me – and others like me – in the most meaningful way by potentially giving the gift of life – your stem cells or bone marrow.

After relapsing in January 2009 and after receiving four different chemotherapy regimens, I am still not cancer free. I have become chemo-resistant so chemo is no longer a long-term option to keep me alive. I now need a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor (unrelated meaning not from a sibling - unfortunately my sister Vivian was not a match). If I receive such a transplant, I could actually be cured!

Being a donor has never been easier. The vast majority of donors (about 80%) donate their stem cells through a process called peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation. The process is similar to donating plasma. It is non-surgical and outpatient.

You can potentially save my life and others like me by registering online between June 8 and June 15 to become a donor in the Be The Match Registry (formerly the National Marrow Donor Registry). The first 80 people who register in this timeframe will be able to register for FREE using the promotion code below. After that, there is a processing charge of $25.

Registering to be a donor is easy and is done online. Please follow these simple directions:

1. Visit www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html
2. Enter promotion code AK01287 when prompted
3. Complete the registration questionnaire (it is a series of demographic and health questions to determine if you qualify to be in the registry – for example, you must be between the ages of 18 -60 to be in the registry).

If you qualify to be in the registry, you will receive a swabbing kit via US mail from the Be The Match Registry. All you need to do is swab your cheek with the enclosed swab and return it immediately in the postage-paid envelope. That’s it. You are then in the registry and you may be contacted in the future if you are identified as a potential match for me or someone else in need of a transplant.

IF YOU DO NOT QUALIFY BASED ON AGE OR HEALTH, OR YOU HAVE ALREADY REGISTERED, YOU CAN CONTINUE TO HELP ME AND OTHERS BY FORWARDING THIS EMAIL TO YOUR ADULT CHILDREN AND OTHER FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS. YOUNG MEN MAKE THE BEST DONORS AND ARE THEREFORE ESPECIALLY VALUABLE TO HAVE IN THE REGISTRY. THEREFORE, PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS TO FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO THEIR FRAT BROTHERS AND SORORITY SISTERS.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO OTHERS (WHICH I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE), PLEASE CONSIDER:

• CHANGING THE SUBJECT LINE OF THE EMAIL TO SOMETHING THAT WOULD BEST GET THE ATTENTION OF THE PEOPLE TO WHOM YOU ARE SENDING THE EMAIL
  
  
  
• INCLUDING AN INTRODUCTORY SENTENCE OR TWO THAT EXPLAINS YOUR CONNECTION/RELATIONSHIP TO ME

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you in advance for helping to potentially save my life or the life of someone else who is walking in my shoes.

May you be blessed with good health and a long life.

Love,

Andrea

A Very Special Sermon

At a recent Shabbat Service led by our Rosh Chodesh Study Group, past-President Marcia Geltman delivered the following sermon. I really enjoyed her words and asked for this copy so that I could share it more widely:


Ten years ago, this week’s Torah portion was chanted by my daughter, Suzanne on becoming a bat mitzvah. What a big day that was for us. She led us so beautifully in the service. Her chanting was sweet and wonderful. It was an exciting day. But after the planning, excitement, tears of joy, all parts of this wonderful milestone in her life, I realized that my daughter was growing up. Last week Suzanne graduated with her masters degree from Rutgers. Another milestone. Her life changes, but as a parent, my life changes as well.

I have always felt that you could never become comfortable at parenting. Because once you thought you had nailed down being a good parent of an infant, your child turned one and started to crawl. Takes about a year to start feeling sure about how to deal with the crawling, blocking the stairs, and trying to keep tiny little things off the floor, and then he or she begins to walk and climb and you now are moving glass vases and lamps, and as a parent you are faced with a whole new set of challenges. So you keep learning over and over again how to be a parent of a child of the next age and then the next and the next. No one ever gets good at becoming a parent because each age brings on new challenges, new dilemmas.

The parent of a young child, gets very good at telling their children what to do. What to eat, when to go to sleep, when to wear a jacket or a hat, when to do homework. And we get good at telling our children what not to do. Don’t climb onto the furniture, don’t run with scissors, don’t leave your toys lying around to trip over. After years of parenting, we get good at the telling what to do part. Then they become young adults and we have to get good at the not telling what to do part. Allowing our children to learn from their own life experiences. Learn from their own mistakes. After years and years of getting the telling what to do part down, we face a new challenge of learning to bite our tongues, learning to sit back and watch. To guide gently from afar. We hope that all the “what to dos” and “what not to dos” have stuck in their head somewhere and they will become adults of whom we are proud.

Sounds a bit like this week’s Torah portion, the Ten Commandments, when G-d is telling Moses and the Jewish people what to do and what not to do. G-d has many names, many roles, but G-d as a parent, to that I can relate. On Shavuot, G-d called the Jewish people to come to Mt Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. The rules of how we should behave. As good children, what we should do and what we should not to do. Mt. Sinai was a turning point. A milestone.

It was the time when we took on responsibility for our own actions. We needed to learn to balance between the acceptance of G-d’s omnipotence and our own personal accountability. To live believing only in an all powerful G-d without accepting personal accountability is wrong. I equate that to being a small child living under the strict guidance of its parents. Being fed or put to sleep, relying completely on the parent. If one remains at that stage, there would be no mental growth or learning or maturity.

On the other hand we know that there can not be total free will. One can not act without the knowledge of the existence of a divine being. We need to believe that there is some higher authority which demands of us that we behave in a certain way. Allowing total free would be like leaving your teenage child home alone for a week with the use of your credit card. Not good. There needs to exist the belief in a divine authority who has given us the 10 commandments, the rules to live by. And who has as a result given us the ability to make decisions, right or wrong, yet still exists and watches from a far to see how we behave. There has to be that balance. Sort of like what we do with our teenage children. We give them some freedom. But we watch, and gently guide. As good parents, we must sit back and let our children live their lives. Let them explore paths we may not have chosen for them to take, but only through this balance of freedom and guidance can they grow into responsible adults. I like to believe this is the way G-d feels about us as well.

Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah. And like many of the Jewish holidays it coincides with an agricultural event. In the case of Shavuot it coincides with the cutting of the crop. How does the agricultural midpoint of "cutting of the crop" correspond to the giving of the Torah? What is the symbolism? This division of duties – taking the Torah, taking on the responsibilities of following the ten commandments while simultaneously believing everything is from God – can be likened to the cutting of the crop . From when the seed is first planted until it is cut, it is God who is involved in its development. But the act of "cutting the grain" is a milestone because then begins man's role in processing it: threshing, sifting, grinding etc. It is man’s actions which convert it into edible food. As the crop is cut, the grain moves from G-d’s domain into the realm of human responsibility. Up until the moment that the Torah was given to the Jewish people, the world was a mirror of G-d. The people did not have a clear mission which would define them as having an independent existence.

However, once the Torah was given to the Jewish people, man was charged with a mission. He was responsible for the keeping of the Torah and enacting its moral code. It became our roll to build the world. But it is still G-d’s presence that guides us as we take on this mission.

Many of us in this sanctuary are parents of adult children. The grain has been cut and it is up to the children to make something of it. We are in the “biting our tongue” stage of parenting. We must refrain from nagging. We need to say, you are old enough to understand what is right, what is wrong. The nurturing and guiding need to take a back seat while our children go out into the world and become independent individuals. Any suggestions, if given at all must be subtle. Someone said to me recently about an adult child, no one wants to hear advice from their parents. Looking back, I probably felt that way about my parents. How difficult it must have been for all of our parents to watch as we, their children, struggled through life’s challenges.

I have a wonderful mother in law for the past 35 years. In all that time she has never once criticized me or suggested that I do something differently. When ever I have told her what I have done, she always says “that’s good”. I am sure she had her own opinions but has never shared them. How difficult it must be for her to not interfere.

Does G-d feel the same frustrations with us? After G-d spent so many years getting good at telling the Jewish people what to do and what not to do, did G-d have a difficult time letting go? Moving on to the next stage of parenting? After Mt. Sinai, was it difficult for G-d to sit back and watch? As society matures and grows, and our challenges change, do G-d’s challenges also change? Does G-d struggle at each new stage in our development as we struggle with each new stage in our children’s development?

G-d is letting us know that we need to make our own decisions, that right or wrong we have received the rules, the Ten Commandments. Is G-d’s work as an all knowing parent shrinking as we learn to become more responsible for our actions? Does G-d sit back and watch as we stumble and learn and, like a parent does worry whether we will be ok? After 30 years of parenting, I am still struggling. I certainly don’t have this parenting thing nailed down yet. I am learning how to let go. How to simply listen. How to be a sounding board while allowing my children to make their own decisions. How to sit back and watch the struggle and allow them the right and the privilege to choose their own path in life. My daughter Suzanne, is now 23. She has decided to teach in Korea for a year. This is the path she has chosen for herself. How easy would it be for me to say, you can’t go. You need to stay close where I can guide you and tell you what to eat, when to put on your coat and wear a hat. I am good at that. I am not good at saying, “How exciting, have a wonderful time”. And I wonder whether I will ever get good at this stage of parenthood. And then if I do, what challenges will the next stage bring.

As we reach life’s milestones, may we always remember to thank G-d for bringing us to this day. As parent’s of b’nai mitzvah children, as parent’s of children going off to camp, parents of children graduating from school, or parents of parents with their own children, may we take a moment to look back and thank G-d for all the parenting milestones we have achieved. And maybe when we look towards all the future challenges which lie ahead, we could just add another short prayer, asking G-d, maybe not to sit back quite so much. Maybe just a smidge more help would be appreciated.

Saperstein Comments on Doonesbury Comic

Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center comments on a recent series of Doonesbury strips in a fascinating article from Religion Dispatches: Doonesbury Comic Waxes Eloquent on the Greatness of Jesus, Slams Old Testament God

A Disturbing/Thought-Provoking Article

I found the following opinion piece in this week's Wall Street Journal and found it both disturbing and thought provoking. I'd like to hear your comments on it.

Anti-Semitism and the Economic Crisis

Many people still blame Jews for capitalism's faults.

By IRA STOLL

Walking down the street in my solidly upper-middle-class New York City neighborhood the other day was a neatly dressed man angrily cursing into his cell phone about "Jew Wall Street bankers."

I was headed in the opposite direction and didn't stop to interview him about his particular grievances, but the brief encounter crystallized for me a foreboding that the financial crisis may trigger a new outbreak of anti-Semitism.

It is a fear that is being articulated ever more widely. President Bill Clinton's secretary of labor, Robert Reich, frets on his blog, "History shows how effective demagogic ravings can be when a public is stressed economically." He warns that Jews, along with gays and blacks, could become victims of populist rage.

In the New York Jewish Week newspaper, a column by Rabbi Ronald Price of the Union for Traditional Judaism begins, "In the 1930s, as Germany's economy collapsed, the finger was pointed at the Jews and the Nazis ascended to power. The famous Dreyfus Affair, in which a Jew was falsely accused of treason in France, followed on the heels of economic turmoil."

At this juncture, the trepidation may yet seem like paranoia, or special pleading akin to the old joke about the newspaper headline, "World Ends in Nuclear Attack: Poor, Minorities Hardest Hit." Everyone is feeling the brunt of the recession; why worry about the Jews in particular? After all, Jews today have two refuges: Israel and America, a land where Jews have attained remarkable power and prosperity and have a constitutionally protected right to exercise their religion freely. In that case, why worry about potential danger to the Jews at all?

One answer is that the historical precedents are exceedingly grim. The causes of the First Crusade, in which thousands of Jews were murdered, are still being debated, but some historians link it to famine and a poor harvest in 1095. As for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, the foremost historian of its causes, Benzion Netanyahu (the father of Israel's new prime minister), writes of the desire of the persecutors "to get rid of their debts by getting rid of their creditors." More generally, he writes, "it is an iron-clad rule in the history of group relations: the majority's toleration of every minority lessens with the worsening of the majority's condition."

Lest this seem overly crude economic determinism, consider that the Jews have been victims not only of unrest prompted by economic distress but of attempts to remedy such economic distress with socialism. Take it from Friedrich Hayek, the late Nobel Prize winning Austrian economist. In "The Road to Serfdom," Hayek wrote, "In Germany and Austria the Jew had come to be regarded as the representative of Capitalism." Thus, the response in those countries, National Socialism, was an attack on both capitalism and the Jews.

There are ample indicators of current anti-Semitic attitudes. A poll conducted recently in Europe by the Anti-Defamation League found 74% of Spaniards believe Jews "have too much power in international financial markets," while 67% of Hungarians believe Jews "have too much power in the business world." Here in America, the Web site of National Journal is hosting an "expert blog" by former CIA official Michael Scheuer, now a professor at Georgetown, complaining of a "fifth column of pro-Israel U.S. citizens" who are "unquestionably enemies of America's republican experiment." And over at Yahoo! Finance, the message board discussing Goldman Sachs is rife with comments about "Jew pigs" and the "Zionist Federal Reserve."

So will the Jews come under attack? The existence of the Jewish state guarantees refuge for Jews around the world, but it carries with it its own risks. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has said that if the Jews "all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them world-wide." It's a comment all the more chilling as Nasrallah's Iranian sponsors are on the brink of making a nuclear bomb.

As for the idea that Jewish professional, political, and economic success in America is a guarantee of security, that, too, has its risks. As Yuri Sleskine recounted in his book "The Jewish Century," in 1900 Vienna more than half of the lawyers, doctors and professional journalists were Jewish, as were 70% of the members of the stock exchange. In Germany, after World War I but before the Nazis came to power, Jews served as finance minister and as foreign minister. Such achievements have a way of being fleeting.

It may yet be that the Jews escape the current economic crisis having only lost fortunes. But if not, there will have been no lack of warning about the threat. When Jews gather Wednesday night for the Passover Seder, we will recite the words from the Hagadah, the book that relays the Israelite exodus from slavery in Egypt: "In every generation they rise up against us to destroy us." This year, they will resonate all the more ominously.

Mr. Stoll is the author of "Samuel Adams: A Life" (Free Press, 2008).

A Passover Filled with Smiles, Meaning and Good Wishes

For you Facebook Fans, something to add smiles to your Pesach...

http://9a4440c5.fb.joyent.us/haggadah/ultraModern2.php


To add more meaning to your Seder, check out this link...

http://urj.org/holidays/pesach


Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy Passover!

May your Seder be filled with the joy of the season and the warm presence of family and friends.

Supplements for Your Seder's Hagaddah

I have been asked for some Passover Seder Haggadah supplements reflecting current social justice concerns. In response I am posting a "Supplement to the Four Questions" published by the American Jewish World Service and a "Prayer for those Suffering in Gaza" published by Rabbis for Human Rights. I hope you find these of interest and useful for your Seder preparations.

Please remember that I Cantor Barr and Educator Cory Hermann are available to help you as you prepare your festive home celebrations.


A Supplement for the Four Questions (from AJWS)

Mah nishtanah ha-lailah ha-zeh mi-kol ha-lailot?

Why is this night different from all other nights?

We know the traditional answers to this question: On this night, we eat matzah and bitter herbs, we dip and we recline. But this is not all, or even most, of what Passover is about. On most other nights, we allow the news of tragedy in distant places to pass us by. We succumb to compassion fatigue – aware that we cannot possibly respond to every injustice that arises around the world. On this night, we are reminded that our legacy as the descendants of slaves creates in us a different kind of responsibility – we are to protect the stranger because we were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Let us add a fifth question to this year’s seder. Let us ask ourselves, Aych nishaneh et ha-shanah ha-zot mi-kol ha-shanim? How can we make this year different from all other years?

This year, this Passover, let us recommit to that sacred responsibility to protect the stranger, particularly those vulnerable strangers in faraway places whose suffering is so often ignored. Let us infuse the rituals of the seder with action: When tasting the matzah, the bread of poverty, let us find ways to help the poor and the hungry.

• When eating the maror, let us commit to help those whose lives are embittered by disease.
• When dipping to commemorate the blood that protected our ancestors against the Angel of Death, let us pursue protection for those whose lives are threatened by violence and conflict.
• When reclining in celebration of our freedom, let us seek opportunities to help those who are oppressed.

A Prayer for those Suffering in Gaza (from RHR)

During the Seder, we remember God’s admonition to those who rejoiced at the drowning of the Egyptians after the crossing of the sea, “Do not rejoice while my children are drowning”. In that spirit, Alanna Sklover, a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, has written this prayer for those suffering in Gaza. Some may wish to add it to their Seder’s prayers for the security and future of the State of Israel.

May the Holy One who lifts up the fallen see to the safety of those children of Ishmael who are put in harm's way whether by chance or by design. May they find the shelter, food, water, and medical attention that they so desperately need, and may they, too, find peace and security in their homeland swiftly and in our days. Bless the aide workers who risk their lives daily as they strive to do your work through their hands. O God, who is slow to anger, imbue us with the ability to hear and understand multiple perspectives and see truth, even when the truth is veiled.

A Very Special Moadon Shabbat

One of the great success this year has been the renewal and reinvigoration of our Young Peoples' Shabbat Worship program through the creation of Moadon Shabbat (Shabbat Club).

Moadon Shabbat is a Saturday morning worship experience run by our 4th-7th grade students under the direction of their Adult volunteer leader, Dr. Dev Smith and her teen volunteer songleader, Molly Mazala. With Dr. Smith's guidance they have create a vibrant young people's congregation within our Temple. Under the Moadon Shabbat banner, they have created a Shabbat worship experience filled with song, prayer, Torah and joyful community.

This past Saturday morning, the Moadon Shabbat community shared the unique and very special flavor of their worship with the entire Temple Shalom family as they led us in a worship service in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Dr. Smith's Adult Bat Mitzvah. It was a truly meaningful and spiritual morning of worship, learning and celebration.

Mazal Tov to Dr. Smith and Yashir Koach to the entire Moadon Shabbat community. Thank you for sharing your special gifts with us.

Synagogue Game '09

Each year a highlight of our 7th grade Religious School program is the "Synagogue Game" which was held last Sunday.

During the Synagogue Game, our students engage in a simulation of the roles and responsibilities of the Synagogue lay leadership. Under the tutelage of a number of our board members, our students meet as members of various synagogue committees and discuss real issues facing the Synagogue. They then convene as a "Synagogue Board" to discuss their issues and solutions they have come up with to resolve them.

Not only does this game help prepare our young people for future service to their synagogues as adults, but each year their discussions often bring new ideas to the adult lay leaders of our congregation. This year was no different as evidenced by discussions among our adults afterward.

Many thanks to our adult lay leaders who volunteered their time for this very special event and to our 7th grade students for all of their great ideas!

The "Brotherhood" meets with Educator Cory Herman

Alane Lakritz with her "Religious School Committee"

Matt Goldblatt discuss the office budget with his "Administration Committee".

First Vice President Jeff Schwartz convenes the board.

Guess Who!

This mystery person was seen at Monday evening's Purim Shpiel... Can you guess who it is?

Special thanks to Cantor Barr and her entire cast for a fun and enjoyable "Spamalot" Purim Shpiel, written and directed by the Cantor (with a few surprises for the Rabbi... that will teach me to come to a rehearsal or two in the future!)

Special thanks as well to family programming for sponsoring the pre-shpiel dinner and crafts, to Cory Hermann for all her help preparing for Purim and for acting as my sidekick/straight-person, and to the Megillah Construction crew of Cory and Sean Blum for helping us effeciently blott out the name that can't be said!

Chag Purim Sameach!

Parting Scenes from Jerusalem

Before I left for the airport, I took a final stroll around Jerusalem to visit some of my old student haunts...

One Last visit to the Old City...

My alma mater...

The street I lived on...

My old apartment...

The cat who lived under my balcony (or, more probably, his/her grandchild)...


The "cat" (Jerusalem's symbol, the Lion of Judah) that awaits our return!

My Last Day in Israel - Planning Our Congregational Family Trip

This morning I woke up feeling bittersweet, sad as always to be leaving Eretz Yisrael, but looking forward to getting home to my family (a week away was starting to feel very long, even with skype to keep us connected).

This morning was spent with an "Israel Educator" and a prospective guide planning our December Congregational Family Trip to Israel. As a result of these conversations, I have many new and exciting ideas for things we might include this trip that were not a part of the last. Among the ideas we discussed were:

• Touring Old Jaffa and its colorful, outdoor mid-eastern market, Shuk Hapishpishim
  

• Learning about water resources in Israel on a bicycle tour along the Yarkon River

• Visiting with members of the Ethiopian community in Rishon Letzion

• Enjoying a very special dinner, served by deaf waiters who will teach you sign language, followed by Na Laga’at, a unique play performed by actors who are both deaf and blind

• Exploring the synagogues, courtyards, and shops of the mystical city of Tzefat

• Shabbat in Jerusalem

• Ascending Masada

• Enjoying a walk through the beautiful Ein Gedi nature reserve and stopping for a dip and mud baths at the amazing Dead Sea

• An optional visit to Petra in Jordan to explore the amazing decorated red rock formations of the ancient Nabateans featured in the 3^rd Indiana Jones Movie

The possibilities are endless; Israel offers so much! The ultimate itinerary for the trip will be based on the final make up of our group. There will be something for everyone in what will most certainly be a once in a lifetime trip filled with meaning, history, connection, spiritual energy and, most of all, fun. Please watch your e-mail for details.

Each time I leave Israel, I do so in anticipation of my next return visit. I look forward to having you with me when I next make my way to our spiritual homeland.

Branding Israel to the Outside World

CCAR Convention - Day 6

Today I was one of 10 colleagues chosen to attend a special closed seminar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (meeting in the same place that only hours later would host Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit). We had a fascinating session with two of the Foreign Ministries leading experts on advocating for Israel in the rest of the world.

Among the most fascinating findings of their recent research was their finding that 7 of 10 non-Jewish Americans strongly support Israel, but only 1 in 10 has an impression of Israel as inviting or welcoming. They shared the effort now underway to transforms peoples impression of Israel from a place of conflict to a place of creative energy, highlighting Israel's gifts in the areas of high tech, environmental efforts, the arts and recreation, in addition to the role she plays for many faiths.

The day ended with a discussion of Israel's challenges and her hopes and visions for the future. I left the sessions with a sense of renewed optimism and dedication to continued support for our homeland and the important role she plays in our lives as American Jews.

Temple Shalom's Rabbis

Among the colleagues with whom I spent time during the CCAR Convention were two of our Temple Shalom alumni who now serve as Reform Rabbis, Neil Gold and Jared Saks

Even in Israel!

Sighted sunday morning on the street's of Jerusalem... Guess which TV show is now a hit in its Israeli version!

Shabbat in Jerusalem

CCAR Convention - Day 5

Shabbat in Jerusalem. That simple phrase says it all for those who have experienced it.

Moving and meaningful worship with colleagues at Merkaz Shimshon, a beautiful facility at the headquarters of the World Union for Progressive Judaism headquarters whose broad picture windows frame a view of David's Citadel, the Temple Mount and the Old City, and a day spent with friends in study and strolling through the Old City made for a very special Shabbat.

Of special note... this was the third straight day of rain in a country that has been threatened by months of drought. Noting that our Amidah during this period includes the phrase Masheev Haruach u-Moreed Hagashem (You cause the wind to shift and the rain to fall), we began to joke that it took the prayers of 350 Reform Rabbis in Jerusalem to bring an end to the drought! Of course, I don't think our Hareidi friends would agree! :-)

Even though it rained throughout the day, nothing could dampen our spirits or dowse the sparks of the spirit inflamed by a Shabbat in Jerusalem.

Eilu V' Eilu - Partners in Study and Worship

CCAR Convention - Day 4

Today was a day devoted to study and worship. CCAR Rabbis joined with Israeli colleagues and lay people from across the Jewish spectrum in the first ever Pluralistic National Beit Midrash. As a Metrowest resident, I took great pride in the fact that our Jewish federation was one of the primary sponsors of this unique event.

After a session featuring teachers from a wide range of Israeli Jewish life, we broke up into small study groups of four (two Americans and two Israelis in each). Among my study partners was Rabbi Maya Leibovitch of Congregation Mevasseret Zion, the first Israeli- born woman to be ordained as a Rabbi. Together we explored the role that Israel and the Hebrew language play in our Jewish identities. Among our texts was a modern Israeli song whose refrain declares:

I have no other country
even if my land is aflame
Just a word in Hebrew
pierces my veins and soul

In all it was a powerful day of learning and connection.

After a brief stop at Mahane Yehuda (the Jewish outdoor market) to pick up rugellah at Marzipan Bakery as a gift for my hosts, I was on a bus making my way north to Zichron Yaacov to spend Erev Shabbat at Sulam Yaacov, Temple Shalom's sister congregation in Israel.

In a few more weeks they will be moving into their permanent home built on city donated land with a state supplied building, one of the first such non-Orthodox congregations to receive such support and recognition. This evening, I joined them in worship in their temporary quarters at the local WZO offices. It was a beautiful service which, while conducted entirely in Hebrew, would have felt comfortable to any Temple Shalom member. Filled with music by Debbie Friedman, Danny Freelander, Jeff Klepper, Beth Schafer and Craig Taubman, the service was primarily one of joyful communal singing and traditional prayers.

After services, Temple President Gideon Gerzon welcomed me into his home for a wonderful Shabbat Dinner with his family. It was perhaps one of the nicest Shabbat evenings I have ever enjoyed in Israel. Dinner lasted well into the evening, ended only by the need to make a 10 pm bus back to Jerusalem. As we wished each other L'hitraot and Shabbat Shalom, plans were made to return for another visit the next time we are in Israel and to renew the ties between our communities.

Celebrating Tel Aviv's 100th Birthday

CCAR Convention - Day 3

Today's entire program was located in Tel Aviv, Israel's first modern Jewish city. We began in groups of four or five, and were led on walking tours of various areas of the city by Tel Aviv residents. The group I was with found its way to a lovely beach front coffee shop. There our hosts shared their story of surviving the shoah, making their way to Israel, settling in Tel Aviv and, in recent years, helping to build a Reform synagogue in the city.

After our tour, we spent time at Mishkenot Ruth Daniel, a center for progressive Judaism in Jaffa. There we heard from the mayor of Tel Aviv and enjoyed seminars on such subjects as Arab-Jewish Coexistence in the city, Liberal Jewish Education in Tel Aviv schools, and an exploration of Tel Aviv/Yafo's historic marketplaces.

The highlight of the day came that evening before dinner during a visit to the Nalaga'at Deaf-Blind Theater. A performance of the play "Not by Bread Alone" by a troupe of deaf-blind actors was a moving and enlightening look into the world of ability and dis-ability. It is a theater troupe that is unique to Israel. Among the more fascinating aspects of this non-profit is that it is supported in part by proceeds from a restaurant and cafe staffed by deaf-blind waiters.

After the play we had the chance to meet personally with the actors and break bread with them. It was an unexpected and unique experience which my colleagues and I agreed would be a meaningful one to add to any of our Israel tours.

Lessons Learned Along the Yarkon

CCAR Convention - Day 2

The first full day of programming at the CCAR convention was devoted to Tikun Olam. We were offered a variety of excursions around the country devoted to some of Israel's most pressing Social Justice issues.

In the Middle East, and especially in Israel, water is among the most precious of commodities. Despite near universal recognition of this fact, the dumping of industrial and human waste into Israel's waterways is one of her most pressing environmental issues. A group of us traveled to Tel Aviv accompanied by representatives of Tzalool (clear waters) to learn first hand about this issue and their efforts to address it.

Our first stop was the Yarkon River. Until 1997, the Yarkon was primarily known for the beautiful Tel Aviv city park whose boundaries it defines. However, about 12 years ago it was the scene of a deadly tragedy that remains a black mark in Israel's collective memory. During the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games, the Australian Team was crossing a bridge leading to the stadium when it collapsed sending athletes into a Yarkon river choking with toxic pollutants. Ultimately, at least two of the four deaths among the Australian team were attributed to the waters of the Yarkon rather than the collapse itself.

Since that time, a dedicated effort to clean up the Yarkon has ensued. Starting from the site of the '97 collapse, our group went for a guided bike tour (yes, even in Israel I found a way to go biking) along the Yarkon to see the results of those efforts and learn what Israel's environmental movement is doing to ensure clean water for future generations. Through a mix of legal controls on dumping and the use of natural methods for cleansing waterways, the Yarkon is slowly coming back to life. Water fowl and aquatic animals were visible throughout our ride and we saw rowers return to a stretch of the river from which they had been formerly banned. I hope to take a future Temple Israel trip on a similar tour of education and exploration.

All is not well, however, as we soon learned. Our excursion concluded with a visit to the industrial city of Ashdod where local activists took us for a visit to the infamous Metaplex pipeline which continues to dump significant toxic waste into the Lachish river. This pollution not only threatens the country's limited water supplies, but has made a mess of local recreational areas. The people of Ashdod shared with us their efforts to replicate that which the people of Tel Aviv are now accomplishing.


After returning to Jerusalem, I had the pleasure of meeting Temple Shalom member Samara Schwartz for dinner. Samara is currently studying at Pardes, a liberal yeshiva, in their program to train Jewish educators for North America. Hearing about her experiences as a student in Israel brought back fond memories of my own student days and made for an enjoyable close to a fascinating day.

Visiting Rishon Lezion and our Ethiopian Partners

CCAR Conference - Day 1

After an uneventful flight, I touched down in Tel Aviv and made my way to the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem where the CCAR conference was taking place.

After settling in and washing up, I soon found myself on the road again. Amir Shacham, MetroWest UJA's Israel Operations Director drove my colleague, Rabbi Elyse Frishman and I to Rishon Lezion for a "pre-convention" program. We went to Rishon Lezion to see the many projects that MetroWest is supporting for the significant Ethiopian community there. In particular we wanted to here about Addis Tasfa, the Ethiopian Microloan Project of Rabbi Soffin's Jewish Helping Hands Foundation, which I spoke about over the Holy Days.

We arrived at the Community Center in Rishon where we were met by Nadav Calderone, our congregation's Rishon (Israel emmissary), who is enjoying a vacation with his family and is looking forward to returning to our community in a few days (Nadav has since returned to Israel to be with his family). Nadav grew up in Rishon Lezion, spent alot of time at the community center and had some very good friends among the Ethiopian community. I shared with him the deep connection that Temple Shalom forged with that community while they were still in Ethiopia, through the Million Quarter Project. In response, he shared some of his experiences with his Ethiopian friends who are now settled in Israel.

After a brief tour of the Community Center (where last summer the MetroWest Diller Fellows, including Temple Shalom's Marissa Goodkin, volunteered as counselors at the Day Camp), we met with representatives of Atzmaut and Addis Tasfa. Atzmaut is a highly successful program sponsored by the United Jewish Communities of Metrowest New Jersey aimed at helping Ethiopian families successfully integrate into Israeli society. Over the past five years, a portion of our federation contributions have provided Ethiopian Jewish families of Rishon L'tzion with family education and support, educational enrichment for children, community building activities and vocational training. Already more than 10% of Rishon's Ethiopian families have been impacted by this program.

In Rishon, I visited the after-school tutoring program run by Atzmaut. The very sweet young girl in the picture to the left was very excited to share with me the reading assignment she was working on with her tutor. It all felt very familiar. Except for the venue and the fact that the book was written in Hebrew, it could have been Rockaway Borough and a Temple Shalom Reads student!

The main reason for our visit was not simply to experience the successes of our community's past outreach to this community, but to learn about a new program that is in its initial stages and which will in many ways build upon that which has come before it. Over the Holy Days, I shared with you Rabbi Soffin's idea for a Micro-Loan project to help the Ethiopian Jews now that they are settled in Israel, much as our congregation's Million Quarter Project sought to help them while they were in Africa dreaming of the land in which they now live. That project is now a reality in the form of Addis Tasfa (Amharic for "A New Hope), a project of his Jewish Helping Hands foundation.

Phase 1 is already complete with the hiring of Hedvah, the program's Ethiopian Administrator (picture here with Mordechai, Atzmaut's coordinator). Phase 2 will soon begin with approximately 40 candidates engaged in an intensive four month training program of business management and planning. After the holidays, Phase 3, the awarding of the micro-loans will take place. In addition, many of the program graduates will find themselves able to get more traditional business loans and will receive support in doing so.

That this program has already been received with great appreciation and anticipation was made most clear by the attendance of the community's Kes (Rabbi) Samai (pictured) at our meeting. Addis Tasfa has the potential to make a significant difference in the life of this new immigrant community and to integrate them more fully into the life of Israeli society. Moreover, it deeply reflects our tradition's ideal that the highest forms of tzedakah are those that give another the ability to be self-supportive.

Over the Holy Days, I asked each family to consider a minimum $20 donation to this important effort. If you have not yet done so, please consider doing so now and if you are able please consider a more significant contribution to help build this community with whom we have deep and long-standing ties.

(For those who wish, I have available in my office an in-depth explanation of this project.)

Join me for the CCAR Conference in Jerusalem

I have been thinking for some time about the idea of starting a Rabbi's blog for Temple Shalom. The idea would be to offer occasional posts about what I am doing as Rabbi of Temple Shalom, things that are happening at the congregation, and ideas and perspectives that I think might be of interest.

This year's annual meeting of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) is being held in Jerusalem and, as I prepared to leave for Israel this past weekend, I thought this might be a good time to experiment with the idea of a blog for Temple Shalom. Through this medium, I hope to share my experiences in Israel with you. I will attempt to offer you a post for each day of the conference highlighting a particular program or activity in which I have participated that day.

I invite you to share your comments along the way and let me know what you think about a particular post or about the blog in general. If this "experiment" during my time in Israel is a success, I hope to continue the blog on a regular (though, certainly not daily) basis upon my return.

I hope you enjoy my postings and I look forward to your comments.