Thursday, May 31, 2001

Shabbat-O-Gram for May 31, 2001

Shabbat Shalom!


JUST THE FACTS

Scholar-in-Residence Shabbat with Egon Mayer
Who is Egon Mayer?  Find out at 
http://www.egonmayer.com, then find out more at
http://www.joi.org/

Friday Night:

Candle lighting: 
8:03 PM

Torah Portion: Naso

Kabbalat Shabbat: 7:00, outdoors weather permitting, otherwise in the downstairs lobby.
We welcome the J.C.C. Young Couples Group to our service, and thank them for their donation toward Friday night’s Oneg Shabbat. 

NO TOT SHABBAT THIS WEEK.  TOT SHABBAT WILL BE HELD NEXT WEEK AT 7:15

At 8:00, Dr. Mayer will speak on the topic: “Tevyeh’s Lament: What’s Love Got to Do With It -- How Modernity Broke Tradition in the Lives of the Jewish People.” We will have concurrent programming for children with Nurit Avigdor during the time of the lecture.

Shabbat Morning:
Services
: 9:15 - Pesukey d’Zimra -- introductory Psalms; 9:30  Shacharit.  Family (congregant-led) Service
Children’s Services: 10:30

During the main service, Dr. Mayer will speak on the topic, “A Sermon on the Future of Welcoming and Reconciliation -- Ready or Not: Thinking Beyond Minority Status.” Lunch and questions following the service

Saturday evening: Dessert-Havdalah evening of discussion at the home of congregants Milton and Norma Mann, with limited space available (RSVP to our education office or reply via e-mail to me). Topic: “The Demographic Revolutions of America’s Jews: Major trends that are transforming the prospects of the Jewish future in Modern American society.”  There is still limited space available! Call now!

Sunday morning, June 3 at 9:30 AM: brunch for the leadership of the congregation (board, ritual committee, board of education, sisterhood, men’s club leadership, and anyone else who is interested), following morning minyan (minyan at 9:00, brunch at 9:30). "Developing Strategies for Outreach.”  RSVP to Roberta Aronovitch if you are coming to this, or reply via e-mail to me).


THIS WEEK, OUR TORAH BYTE AND WEB JOURNEY ARE BEING COMBINED INTO ONE. 
WHY? 

SO YOU’LL READ IT!


TORAH BYTE AND WEB JOURNEY:

ISRAEL’S GREATEST GENERATION (AND WHY I’M GOING TO THE SOLIDARITY RALLY)

It was fitting that the film “Pearl Harbor” opened last weekend, on the festival of Shavuot, as Jews everywhere were singing “Torah Torah Torah.”

But seriously, ever since Spielberg’s  “Saving Private Ryan” and Tom Brokaw’s book, “The Greatest Generation” came out a few years ago, there has been an obsession among aging boomers and X’ers to learn more about the heroism of our parents and grandparents.   We who have never had to lay our lives on the line for God and country are mesmerized at the thought that so many did that voluntarily. 

In this week’s portion, the concept of the Nazerite (found in our portion) gives us some clues as to the essence of heroism.  A Nazerite vowed to give up certain things to live in a state of holiness: alcohol, proximity to a dead person (except close relatives) and cutting the hair.  The most famous Nazerite was Samson, the subject of this week’s Haftarah, who did OK until it came to the hair thing.  Each of these self-imposed prohibitions likely was connected to ancient cultic practices that might sway one from the path of disciplined holiness.  The key is discipline and self control, something that was also the key to Samson’s tragic undoing: He had none.  And for a Jew, self-discipline is the key to heroism.  “Who is a hero?” asks the sage Ben Zoma in the tractate Avot “The one who conquers his passions.” 

So we must ask whether our obsession with the previous generation has less to do with their valor in war than with the fact that they possessed a degree of self discipline far greater than our own.  They survived on small rations of butter, painted-on nylons and blacked out shorelines, while we can’t bear to live without instantly gratifying every whim. 

Israelis often look back to the days of the pioneers, pre and post 1948, with a similar nostalgia.  The irony is, Israelis have never had to STOP sacrificing.  They seem to have gone straight from the Kibbutz watchtower of the ‘30s to the bomb shelter of the ‘60s to the sealed room of the ‘90s.  And now, they must heroically go on with daily life knowing that each time they go to the mall or shop for groceries, a loved one might never return.  And each time they send their children off to school, a foreboding hovers over that hug goodbye.  Now, with last week’s terrible wedding hall disaster, Israelis can’t even feel secure INSIDE their abodes.  It takes unbelievable heroism just to go about one’s daily lives over there, and an equally great sense of self-discipline not to give it all up and leave.   While Israelis have always faced uncertainty and danger, this might be their most difficult challenge yet.

Yet, with the type of self-discipline even a Nazerite could admire, the Israeli government has chosen for the time being to hold fire and minimize the use of force.  If the terror attacks continue, that policy will have to change and Israel will need steadfast support from American Jews and the American government.   That is why I’ll be going to New York on Sunday.

The Solidarity Rally for Israel

We are being offered an important opportunity to tell the world that Israel does not stand alone and that there is no moral equivalency between cold blooded murder and legitimate acts of self-defense.  The Solidarity Rally for Israel will be held at 11 AM on Sunday at the Israeli mission to the U.N., on 2
nd Ave between 42nd and 43rd Streets.  Over a hundred rabbis and congregations are sponsoring the rally (including ours) representing an unprecedented demonstration of unity among the branches of Judaism.  It is essential that many thousands show up; more important than any such rally since the Soviet Jewry March on Washington over a decade ago.   That’s why I’ve decided to go.  For more on why this rally is so important, see the Jewish Week’s coverage at
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mnr/html/planning/schedules/sched_form.cfm and the editorial at http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editorials.php3

It wasn’t an easy decision.  I’ll be missing part of our scholar-in-residence program that day (it will still  take place) and other important events within the congregational family.  But all I have to endure is a little inconvenience; in Israel, they are putting their lives on the line daily.  Going to New York on a pleasant Sunday in June to stand behind Israel is the very least I can do.

It’s the least you can do too. 

Since the location is easily walkable from Grand Central, I’ll be taking the train.  My online Metro North schedule (
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mnr/html/planning/schedules/sched_form.cfm) tells me that there is a 9:03 from Stamford Station arriving in New York at 10:09.  I’ll be on it.  If I am going to represent us alone, so be it.  But if Stamford Jewry fills the train, all the better.  This might be the most important political statement in support of Israel that we will be able to make in this generation.  Maybe someday we’ll be able to tell our grandchildren that this support helped pave the way to peace by showing Arafat that we are steadfast and showing President Bush that moral equivalency leads invariably to moral bankruptcy.  If we can accomplish this, we might be seen by our grandchildren as “The Greatest Generation” too.  At the very least, our brothers and sisters over there will hear us, and they, and we, will sleep better for it.

So, what are you doing this Sunday?

Nazerite on the Web

Some additional sources on the Nazerite:
http://www.judaicseminar.org/bible/Nazir_js.html (good background)
http://www.ohrnet.org/tw/5760/bamidbar/naso.htm (d’var Torah)
http://www.aishdas.org/webshas/neder/nazir/ (introduction to the Talmudic material on the Nazerite)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/5242/nazir.html (all the downloadable Talmud that’s fit to print, of you have Hebrew fonts)
http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/dafyomi2/nazir/charts.htm (helpful charts for the Talmudic material  still very technical)

Self Discipline on the Web

http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/5755/vayeshev.shtml (Chancellor Schorsch tells us why Ben Zoma never received the title “rabbi” and analyzes his quote on self-mastery in relation to the Joseph story)
http://www.bigeye.com/jj032797.htm Columnist Jeff Jacoby’s moving “Letter to My Son.”  Quotes Ben Zoma)
http://www.leadershipnow.com/disciplinequotes.html (Nice quotes on self-discipline, but where’s Ben Zoma?)
http://uahc.org/leadership/goandstudy/volume1/finance/f7.shtml (text and commentary of the full Ben Zoma quote)
http://www.heartfelt.com/Communications.html (Rabbi Michael Gold on family and sexuality: “Sexual discipline stands at the center of the Torah's vision of family life.”)
http://www.canadianparents.com/articles/feature48g.htm (“Ten Ways to Help Your Teenager Develop Self-Discipline” Helpful, especially #8, “Pick Your Battles Wisely.”)
http://www.themystic.org/discipline/ (For a mystical site, not terribly mystical)
http://www.pbs.org/adventures/Storytime/selfDisc3.htm (for kids)
http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/juice/child/week11.html (seminar on discipline in biblical child rearing)
http://www.wujs.org.il/activist/activities/sources/theology/covenant.shtml (read the end, on the connection between self-discipline and the Jewish dietary laws)


OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

More on Israel: Gilo Speaker on June 14 at 8:30, in our chapel.
If you are concerned about Israel, whether or not you can make it to the rally, do join us to hear from a rabbi who is living through the nightly gunfire aimed at his neighborhood of Gilo, on southern border of Jerusalem. We’ll be hearing from Steve Zacharow, rabbi of Kehilat Shevet Achim, a new Masorti synagogue. His lecture is entitled "Gilo Story: Life on the Frontline." That presentation might be the perfect springboard to further action on our part, something we can discuss both during and after the presentation. (BTW, the Bi-Cultural graduation that night, also taking place in our building, will be over before the lecture begins).

Send in Your Surveys! 
The arrival rate of your surveys has dropped off precipitously over the past few weeks. That means that many of you have put it aside for later or discarded it. That's bad news, because we need your input to determine our future and this is the main vehicle for the Strategic Planning Committee to determine what our congregation wants to become over the next several years. If you haven't submitted your survey, please set aside an hour to complete it. If you have misplaced it, call the office for another copy. We can't know what you expect of our Temple unless you tell us -- and this is the best time and place to do it and have your voice recognized as we set our course for the future.

2nd annual TBE Seniors Barbecue
At 5:30 on Tuesday, June 5; reservations are a must! Cost is $5 per person. Hopefully we'll have as good, if not better, a turnout as last year when about 70 people attended!

Kadima Trip to Lake Compounce
Sunday all day.  There are still spaces available!

Baruch Dayan Emet
And while we are speaking of our Youth Program, we extend our deepest sympathies to Marcie Gelb on the passing of her grandmother this week.

Pre-school Program for the Fall
This fall, we’ll be featuring Mechinah, a new Sunday morning Jewish enrichment program for pre-school students, plus other special holiday-centered activities on select Sunday afternoons.  Also, we’ll be adding one more Friday evening Tot Shabbat per month, and we’ll be enhancing our Shabbat morning program for young children, as Nurit Avigdor will now be here every week.  For registration materials and information, contact our education office (322-6901 X306).

This Shabbat-O-Gram goes out weekly to hundreds of Beth El congregants and others. Feel free to forward it to your friends, and if you know of anyone who might wish to be included, please have them e-mail me at rabbi@tbe.org . To be taken off this e-mail list, simply click on "reply" and write "please unsubscribe" in the message box.

For more information on the synagogue, check out Beth El's Web site at 
www.tbe.org. And to check out some previous spiritual cyber-journeys I have taken, see my book's site at www.thelordismyshepherd.com.


Friday, May 25, 2001

Bialik's Bird: Of Flight and Return





The Jewish Week, May 25, 2001

I’ve been thinking a lot about Bialik’s bird lately. Hayyim Nachman Bialik’s first published poem, “El ha-Tzipor” (“To the Bird”), written in 1892 in frigid Russia, was as much a part of my childhood Hebrew School curriculum as the Shema and the Ten Commandments. Here, in translation, is a selection from that 16-stanza classic of early Zionism:

“Greetings! Peace to you, returning
Lovely bird, unto my window
From a warmer clime!
How my soul for songs was yearning
When my dwelling you deserted
In the wintertime.
…Do you bring me friendly greetings
From my brothers there in Zion,
Brothers far yet near?
O the happy! O the blessed!
Do they guess what heavy sorrows
I must suffer here?
Do my brothers know and could they picture
How many rise against me,
How their hatred swells?
Singing, singing O my birdling,
Sing of the wonders of the land where
Spring forever dwells.”

Bialik was very young – just 19 – when he wrote this. The depth of his torment resembles that of the two separated young lovers of the Song of Songs, his mood swinging furiously between the extremes of youthful passion and despair. The poet, envious of the bird’s seasonal migrations to Zion, languishes in a bitter Exile.

Times have certainly changed. There is envy still, but for me it is more focused on the bard than the bird, for Bialik was able to yearn for Zion with an ardor that so few contemporary Jews express openly. I envy that passion. Meanwhile, that swelling hatred, once directed at Bialik’s generation in Russia, now is focused primarily on those very brethren in the land of Israel that the poet yearned to join.

If Bialik’s bird could talk, it would tell us that spring still forever dwells in our troubled homeland, and that we must re-intensify that yearning for Zion. Even amidst the bombs and mortar shells, the spring prevails.

And it would add something else, something Bialik could never have imagined.

From May to September, my congregation takes advantage of our synagogue’s rustic surroundings and prays outdoors when weather permits. When we do, our chanting of Lecha Dodi is augmented by a chorus of birds overhead, including those man-made ones departing from LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark, en route to Boston, Europe, and points east. And each week, like Bialik before me, I look up, marveling at what these migratory creatures might say if they could speak of their wondrous adventures.

When I was younger, I used to dream of being on those planes and flying to the most magical spots on earth, maybe even to Israel itself. In the cold northeast winters of my childhood, I imagined that each aircraft aloft, like Bialik’s bird, was most certainly headed to a place filled with palm trees, exotic music, and eternal spring – and possibly Herve Villechaize shouting out, “De plane! De plane!”

Then, one gorgeous midsummer Shabbat eve a couple of years ago, as I was finishing the silent Amida with my congregants in the synagogue garden, I looked up, fixed my gaze upon a high-flying jet and my perspective changed completely. Rather than speculating about it, I imagined a passenger on that plane looking down at us: a Jewish businessman, headed to London to close a deal, sipping his Dewars and missing his family, ungrounded, untethered to his past, and unaware that the Shabbat bride had just entered his air space.

So he looks down and sees a synagogue; he figures it’s a synagogue because there is no cross and, hey, it’s Friday night, and isn’t that when Jews pray or something? And outside on the lawn there, there’s a group of people, all ages, singing together.

He sees us swaying, in harmony with the rhythms of the week and the seasons, encircling one another while gazing both upward and eastward. He squints and sees children laughing, and thinks of his own kids, who are probably playing Nintendo at the moment, or screaming at the dog. He swallows hard, leans back in his chair, and wistfully recalls those pointless Bar Mitzvah lessons of his childhood, and a young adulthood sacrificed to the rat race, wondering how everything got so crazy.

Like Bialik, he longs for a Promised Land he never knew. He wishes, more than anything else, that he could be on the ground, with us.

This man on the plane is now a bird of pray, gazing in astonishment at the scene of serenity below. Like Bilaam, the biblical Moabite prophet (sent by not by Bialik but by Balak, the son of Tzipor, I might add), this outsider wishes so much to reject what he is looking at, but as he opens his mouth all he can do is echo the sweet song he is hearing in his mind’s ear, “How delightful are your sanctuaries, O Israel.” The bird sings.

There are Jews out there who have never heard of Hayyim Nachman Bialik, who yearn for grounding every bit as much as Bialik longed for flight. We’ve got to extend a hand and help them down from their perch. Whereas a century ago the bard was so envious of the bird, the roles have now been reversed. And where Bialik’s Zionism was rooted in the need for a Jewish refuge there, in Israel, the most Zionist thing we can do now is to make the Jewish pulse beat more vibrantly right here, and to lure back those who have long since taken flight from our synagogues and schools. They want to return -- almost as much as they need to return -- to us, and then, with our help, to Zion.

They gaze at us from far above, from first class or coach, in their offices or at home, with their perpetual jet lag and their unfulfilled lives. Wherever they are, Bialik’s new birds are listening closely for us to sing, of the wonders of the land where spring forever dwells.

Bialik’s Bird: Of Flight And Return (Jewish Week)

 

Bialik’s Bird: Of Flight And Return
joshua hammerman

I’ve been thinking a lot about Bialik’s bird lately. Hayyim Nachman Bialik’s first published poem, “El ha-Tzipor” (“To the Bird”), written in 1892 in frigid Russia, was as much a part of my childhood Hebrew school curriculum as the Shema and the Ten Commandments. Here, in translation, is a selection from that 16-stanza classic of early Zionism:

“Greetings! Peace to you, returning

Lovely bird, unto my window

From a warmer clime!

How my soul for songs was yearning

When my dwelling you deserted

In the wintertime.

… Do you bring me friendly greetings

From my brothers there in Zion,

Brothers far yet near?

O the happy! O the blessed!

Do they guess what heavy sorrows

I must suffer here?

Do my brothers know and could they picture

How many rise against me,

How their hatred swells?

Singing, singing O my birdling,

Sing of the wonders of the land where

Spring forever dwells.”

Bialik was just 19 when he wrote this. The depth of his torment resembles that of the two separated young lovers of the Song of Songs, his mood swinging furiously between the extremes of youthful passion and despair. The poet, envious of the bird’s seasonal migrations to Zion, languishes in a bitter Exile.

Times certainly have changed. There is envy still, but for me it is more focused on the bard than the bird, for Bialik was able to yearn for Zion with an ardor that so few contemporary Jews express openly. I envy that passion. Meanwhile, that swelling hatred, once directed at Bialik’s generation in Russia, now is focused primarily on those very brethren in the land of Israel that the poet yearned to join.

If Bialik’s bird could talk, it would tell us that spring still forever dwells in our troubled homeland, and that we must re-intensify that yearning for Zion. Even amid the bombs and mortar shells, the spring prevails.

And it would add something else, something Bialik could never have imagined.

From May to September, my congregation takes advantage of our synagogue’s rustic surroundings and prays outdoors when weather permits.

When we do, our chanting of Lecha Dodi is augmented by a chorus of birds overhead, including those man-made ones departing from LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark, en route to Boston, Europe and points east. And each week, like Bialik before me, I look up, marveling at what these migratory creatures might say if they could speak of their wondrous adventures.

When I was younger, I used to dream of being on those planes and flying to the most magical spots on earth, maybe even to Israel itself. In the cold northeast winters of my childhood, I imagined that each aircraft aloft, like Bialik’s bird, was most certainly headed to a place filled with palm trees, exotic music and eternal spring.

Then, one gorgeous midsummer Shabbat eve a couple of years ago, as I was finishing the silent Amidah with my congregants in the synagogue garden, I looked up, fixed my gaze upon a high-flying jet and my perspective changed completely. Rather than speculating about it, I imagined a passenger on that plane looking down at us — a Jewish businessman headed to London on business. He sees us praying and wistfully recalls those pointless bar mitzvah lessons of his childhood, and a young adulthood sacrificed to the rat race, and wonders how everything got so crazy.

Like Bialik, he longs for a Promised Land he never knew.

He wishes, more than anything else, he could be on the ground with us.

This man on the plane is now a bird of pray, gazing in astonishment at the scene of serenity below.

Like Bilaam, the biblical Moabite prophet (sent not by Bialik but by Balak, the son of Tzipor, I might add), this outsider wishes so much to reject what he is looking at, but as he opens his mouth all he can do is echo the sweet song he is hearing in his mind’s ear, “How delightful are your sanctuaries, O Israel.” The bird sings.

There are Jews out there who have never heard of Hayyim Nachman Bialik, who yearn for grounding every bit as much as Bialik longed for flight.

We’ve got to extend a hand and help them down from their perch. Whereas a century ago the bard was so envious of the bird, the roles have now been reversed.

And where Bialik’s Zionism was rooted in the need for a Jewish refuge there, in Israel, the most Zionist thing we can do now is to make the Jewish pulse beat more vibrantly right here, and to lure back those who have long since taken flight from our synagogues and schools. They want to return — almost as much as they need to return — to us, and then, with our help, to Zion.

They gaze at us from far above, from first class or coach, in their offices or at home, with their perpetual jet lag and their unfulfilled lives. Wherever they are, Bialik’s new birds are listening closely for us to sing, of the wonders of the land where spring forever dwells. n

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Conn., can be reached at rabbi@tbe.org. His new book, “thelordismyshepherd.com: Seeking God in Cyberspace” can be previewed on-line at www.thelordismyshepherd.com


Friday, May 11, 2001

Shabbat-O-Gram for May 10, 2001

Shabbat Shalom!


JUST THE FACTS

Friday Night:
Candle lighting: 
7:43 PM
Kabbalat Shabbat (outdoors): 7:00 PM

Shabbat Morning:
Services
: 9:15 (Pesukey d’Zimra -- introductory psalms), 9:30 (Shacharit)
Children’s Services: 10:30
We celebrate as Michael Karp becomes Bar Mitzvah.  Mazal Tov to Michael and his family.

Torah Portion: Emor
This week’s Lear Torah With commentary is found at http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Emor/ltw_5761_emor.html,
by Rabbi Myer Kripke, who has Stamford connections and has often attended services here.  Ironically, if you check out the JTS d’var Torah this week, at http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/
Rabbi Matt Berkowitz informs us that the Kripke Tower (donated by the very same), was dedicated this week.  This tower, holding the priceless library collection, had been destroyed by fire in 1965.  At long last, it has been rebuilt, thanks to one of the great philanthropist rabbis of our generation (and a very sweet and gentle human being).  Berkowitz writes:

“The lamp about to be kindled atop the Kripke Tower is a precious symbol, reminding us of the biblical menorah of this week’s parashah. But more than that, let it remind us of the precious treasure of Talmud Torah that is the essence of JTS; an undertaking to which we bring the best of ourselves, a love that must continually be stoked and nourished, a light that radiates outward, as the light of the menorah, and a light that burns from generation to generation. Let JTS as a modern mishkan be a model for each of us in our own religious lives - learning with hitlahavut (fiery enthusiasm) and then turning outward to enlighten and illuminate the world in which we live.”

ISRAEL'S WAR, OUR WAR
In case you haven’t noticed, Israel is at war.  There is no such thing as a “low level war” or “tolerable casualties.”  In Judaism, one innocent life lost is an entire universe.  And in case you haven’t noticed it, we are all on the front lines of a very important theater of this war.  Our job, like that of the classical Hebrew prophet, is to convey truth to power. Essentially, that means to lobby the leaders and monitor the media, with the understanding that war is not the path that Israel has chosen, but the one that has been thrust upon us.  We can never lose sight of the ultimate goal of peace and reconciliation, but right now it seems that the only way to achieve it is for the civilized world to take a united stand against terrorism.  The U.S. has come a long way in understanding that there is no moral equivalence between the accidental death of a baby in self-defense, and the deliberate murder in cold blood of two innocent teenagers.  That’s why Arafat has not been invited to the White House.  It’s time, I believe, for the US to make even stronger statements of support for embattled Israel.  Clearly, the way of the honest, objective peace broker hasn’t worked.  The Mitchell commission almost sounded pre-historic in its attempts to show balance this week.  This is not a balanced situation.  The message that we need to convey is clear: All innocent death is equally tragic, but all who cause such death are not equally innocent. We must keep on hammering it home.  

We also need help Israel maintain the moral high ground, by encouraging Israel to treat its Arab citizens with with equality and fairness, by seeking to avoid civilian casualties whenever possible, as it has, and always to be pursuing peace.

I propose that we establish immediately within our congregation an emergency Israel Defense Committee, to help us coordinate long and short-term actions on Israel’s behalf.  And I propose that our first meeting be held on Thursday, June 14.  That evening, at 8:30 PM in our chapel, we’ll be hearing from  Steve Zacharow, rabbi of Kehilat Shevet Achim, a new Masorti synagogue in the embattled Gilo section of Jerusalem. His lecture is entitled "Gilo Story: Life on the Frontline."  That presentation might be the perfect springboard to further action on our part, something we can discuss both during and after the presentation.  (BTW, the Bi-Cultural graduation that night, also taking place in our building, will be over before the lecture begins).  Let me know if you wish to be on this emergency committee.

Some Israel-related articles worth reading this week:

On the Pope’s visit to Quneitra (and the misinformation spread re. the destruction of the town): see Smarter Times (NY Times watchdog site)at http://www.smartertimes.com/archive/2001/05/010508.html. I’ve yet to see CNN called on the carpet for it’s shoddy reporting on the matter, as seen at http://europe.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/05/07/pope.quneitra/.

For some follow-up on the silent response of the Vatican to the outrageously anti-Semitic statements made by Syrian President Assad in the Pope’s presence, see Richard Cohen’s article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60884-2001May7.html, and the Jewish Week editorial at http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editorials.php3.
 
And while you’re in the activist mood, sign the petition on behalf of Israel’s missing soldiers, at http://www.mia.org.il/petition/index.html, if you haven’t already.



ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mazal Tov
: to Robin and Greg Druckman (and to grandparents Ron and Belle Agronin who were back in Stamford for the blessed event) on the birth of Shayna Arielle Druckman.

If you did not receive a Membership Survey in the mail, or if you have misplaced yours, please call Mindy in the Temple office at (203) 322-6901, ext. 301 or e-mail office@tbe.org, and she will send one to you immediately.

Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class
With approximately 20 participants, this is the largest such class ever at Beth El. There is still room for you. Classes are being held on Thursdays from 7-9 PM. The course will last exactly one year. All skill levels and backgrounds welcome. Contact the education office for more information (322-6901 X306).

Scholar in Residence: Egon Mayer
Our Scholar in Residence this year, on the weekend of June 1-3, will be Prof. Egon Mayer. The theme for the weekend will be "LOVE & TRADITION: Marriage, Family Patterns and the Jewish Future." Mayer’s specialty is outreach to those at the fringe of Jewish communal life, including and especially interfaith families. Our program for that weekend will be most appealing to those families, as well as to the rest of us, so it is incumbent upon us to reach out and find them. 

The lecture schedule will be as follows:

Friday evening, June 1: Services will be held at 7:00 PM (outdoors, weather permitting), followed by a dinner at 8 (contact our education office to reserve).  During dinner, Dr. Mayer will speak on the topic: “Tevyeh’s Lament: What’s Love Got to Do With It -How Modernity Broke Tradition in the Lives of the Jewish People.”  We will have concurrent programming for children with Nurit Avigdor but keep in mind that it will be late, and there is no Tot Shabbat that night. 

Shabbat morning, June 2: During our family services -- “A Sermon on the Future of Welcoming and Reconciliation -- Ready or Not: Thinking Beyond Minority Status.” Lunch and questions following the service

Saturday evening: Dessert-Havdalah evening of discussion at the home of congregants Milton and Norma Mann, with limited space available (RSVP to our education office soon to guarantee a spot).  Topic: “The Demographic Revolutions of America’s Jews:  Major trends that are transforming the prospects of the Jewish future in Modern American society.

Sunday morning, June 3 at 9:30 AM: brunch for the leadership of the congregation (board, ritual committee, board of education, sisterhood, men’s club leadership, and anyone else who is interested), following morning minyan (minyan at 9:00, brunch at 9:30). "Developing Strategies for Outreach.”

Background materials: take a look at the latest statistics on children of interfaith families:
“Do Kids Of Interfaith Families Choose Judaism?
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=4436

The book “Kaddish” by Leon Wieseltier will be reviewed by Rabbi Hammerman (that's me) as part of the Jewish Historical Society’s book review series, at the JCC on Wed. May 16, at 10:30 AM

Kindergarten Open House  May 20
Let all your unaffiliated friends know that, if they have a child entering Kindergarten in the fall, they are cordially invited to see our remarkable school in action on May 20, at either the early (8:45) or late (11:00) sessions.  RSVP to bonnie in the education office, at 322-6901 X306.  We look forward to greeting them!

Thank you: to all the Volunteers that did a great job working on the Americares House Project last Sunday!.


SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: Lag B’Omer
Thursday night and Friday bring us the least understood and most mysterious of all Jewish holidays: Lag B’Omer. About the easiest thing to explain about it is the name. Since each Hebrew letter has a corresponding numerical value, the letters lamed and gimel add up to thirty three, and Thursday night indeed is the thirty third night of the counting period between Passover and Shavuot known as the Omer.

What’s the Omer?
OK, so what’s an Omer? The Omer happens to be explained in this week’s Torah portion, Emor. It is also known as the Sephira, which means counting, but Jewish mystics have tied that into the notion of the Sephirot, God’s emanations. So let’s see, we’ve got Omer, Emor, Sephira, Sephirot…let’s call the whole thing off!

No, let’s just go to the experts for help. At http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/880331_Omer_Light.html, you’ll find Eliezer Segal’s excellent tie-in to the portion, including an explanation as to a humdinger of a rabbinic controversy regarding the Jewish calendar. The Omer is considered a semi-mourning period. Find out why at http://jewishminds.healthekids.net/course.phtml?course_id=458. Then, for a detailed summary of the Sephira laws, go to http://www.yipc.org/new_page_62.htm, the site of Young Israel of Passaic.  It is interesting to note that, even within the traditional world, “In the post-Holocaust era, uniformity of practice is virtually no longer possible to implement, since pockets of population with all sorts of customs have descended upon all Jewish communities. Accordingly, in one city it is no longer surprising to see a host of customs simultaneously observed.”

This can often leads to much confusion in the scheduling of communal events, Bar Mitzvahs and weddings at this time of year. You can have a halachic field day on all this at the OU site, http://www.ou.org/chagim/sefira/default.htm.

The Kabbalalists loved the Omer concept both because of the tie-in to the Sephirot. To see how they do that, check out this from Reb Goldie Milgrom, of the New York Center for Jewish Meditation, at http://www.rebgoldie.com/Shavuot.htm. IF you really want to learn all about the Sephirot, got to http://www.aril.org/Drob.htm. For a Breslaver Hasidic view, see http://www.breslov.org/omer.html.

And finally, kudos to Rabbi Sue Fendrick and SocialAction.com for developing the concept of the seven-week counting leading us to constructive acts of world-repair. Find out how, and see some terrific articles, at http://www.socialaction.com/omer2000.html.

What’s Lag B’Omer?
Now we focus on the big day itself.
http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/festivls/shavuot/lagba.html is a good place to start. If after that you can figure out the difference between Rabbi Akiva and Shimon Bar Yochai, you’re ready for the Lag B’Omer hot sites at http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/j-hdayla.htm. From there you can really go to town on this stuff. I mean that quite literally, for there are several visits to those hotbeds of Lag B’Omer festivities, Meron and Safed, nestled high in the hills of northern Galilee. http://www.ascent.org.il/html/Mystic/holidays/lagbomer61.html will take you to Meron, describing the white-hot bonfires, and you’ll also be exposed to some relatively palatable selections from the Zohar, that magnum opus of Jewish mysticism. Continue to explore Mount Meron with nice photos, at http://www.starkman.com/aviva/AJS/lag_baomer.html, and find out at
http://207.168.91.4/vjholidays/lagbaomer/gallery.htm how the Meron scene is really akin to “Meah Shearim meets Woodstock.” On the other hand, the article at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0599/lag.html says that Meron “’aint exactly Woodstock.” Lots less rain and lots more clothes, I suppose.

Back on earth, Lag B’Omer is more of a nature festival for those non-mystics among us. (I agree with those who see a definite May Day tie in, both holidays sharing ancient pagan roots with other  spring nature festivals). In the early days of Zionism, it became a perfect time to celebrate the spectacular spring weather in the Land of Israel, with bonfires and picnics. All the secular youth groups would take part. A nice photographic reminder of that can be found at http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/gallery/pg26/pg2/pg26253.html.

For the kids, a nice story about Rabbi Akiba, one of the heroes of the festival, can be found at http://www.bjeny.org/images/Judaic_Curricula_/Rabbi_Akiva__From_Shepherd_to_/rabbi_akiva__from_shepherd_to_.htm. For the cooks, some Lag B’omer picnic recipes are at
http://www.fspronet.com/kosherkorner/lagbomer.html.

I loved the material at http://www.kneidlach.com/kneidlach/index.asp. I have little knowledge of the background of the sponsor of this organization in South Africa, and a few thigns I see there make me wary, but the Lag B’Omer material is top-notch, with a special focus on Simon Bar Yochai You’ll also find a full mystical Omer chart there, at http://www.kneidlach.com/kneidlach/jho_prayers.asp

And one final, sobering note: Yitz Greenberg teaches us the lessons of Lag B’Omer’s history at http://jewishsf.com/bk970523/comm1.htm.
“Most people think of Lag B'Omer as a warm, fuzzy semi-holiday with a nature-loving theme.   But in the Talmud, the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer period is a devastating reminder of a catastrophe caused by Jews' divisiveness. Today, Jewry seems headed for a repeat of the disaster.”

And, in recognition of Yitz’ valid points, I pledge to hold back in my usage of inflammatory language involving other Jews.  I suppose that means my even putting the term “fundamentalist” to rest for a while, although I still do reserve the right to use “literalist” from time to time.

Happy Lag B’Omer, Happy Mother's Day and Shabbat Shalom to all the people of Israel and the world.

jh


This Shabbat-O-Gram goes out weekly to hundreds of Beth El congregants and others. Feel free to forward it to your friends, and if you know of anyone who might wish to be included, please have them e-mail me at rabbi@tbe.org. To be taken off this e-mail list, simply click on "reply" and write "please unsubscribe" in the message box.

For more information on the synagogue, check out Beth El's Web site at 
www.tbe.orgAnd to check out some previous spiritual cyber-journeys I have taken, see my book's site at www.thelordismyshepherd.com.

Shabbat-O-gram may 7, 2001

 Shabbat Shalom!



JUST THE FACTS

Friday Night:
Candle lighting: 
7:51 PM
Kabbalat Shabbat: 7:00; outdoors weather permitting, otherwise on the sanctuary bima
Shabbat Shalom service: 7:15; in the lobby, with Nurit Avigdor, for grades 1-4 and their families

Kabbalat Shabbat (outdoors): 7:00 PM

Shabbat Morning:
Services
: 9:15 - Pesukey d’Zimra -- introductory psalms; 9:30 - Shacharit
Children’s Services: 10:30
Family Service 11:00, with student cantor Laura Berman.  We encourage families with religious school-age children to try out this informal, enjoyable parent-child experience.

What’s Special This Shabbat: We celebrate as Matthew Beck becomes Bar Mitzvah.  Mazal Tov to Matthew and his family.   On Shabbat morning I’ll also discuss the age-old burning question that suddenly has heated up again, “Did the Exodus Really Happen?”

Torah Portion: Be-Har  Be-Hukkotai
This week’s Learn Torah With commentary is found at:

Be-Har
http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Be-Har/ltw_5761_be-har.html

Be-Hukkotai
http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Be-Hukkotai/ltw_5761_be-hukkotai.html

JTS Commentary: http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/

Sunday Morning
Annual Meeting
: 9:30 AM
We thank all our volunteers, welcome new board members and envision the future.

Kindergarten Open House
Let all your friends know that, if they have a child entering Kindergarten in the fall, they are cordially invited to see our remarkable school in action this Sunday morning, at either the early (8:45) or late (11:00) sessions. RSVP to Bonnie in the education office, at 322-6901 X306. We look forward to greeting them!

Last day of Religious School: Have a great summer!  And hey, don’t be a stranger! We look forward to seeing our Religious School students here often between now and September.

Atid and Kesher Youth Groups go to the Bluefish game in the afternoon.  A few seats are still available on the bus.


ISRAEL UPDATE AND JERUSALEM DAY

1) Israel Day Parade in NYC this Sunday.  Our 7th grade will be attending en masse.  In addition, a solidarity rally in support of Israel has been scheduled for Sunday, June 3 at 11:00 AM, in front of the Israeli UN Mission, on 2nd Ave, between 42nd and 43rd St. The world needs to know that Israel has our full support.  A small turnout would be worse than having no rally at all.  For the world (and the US government), it would signal that American Jews are apathetic.  For Israel, that would be a disaster.   I have signed on as a rabbinic sponsor of the June 3 rally and I encourage you to consider going, either to the parade, the rally, or both.

2) Media: Amidst all the bad news on the media front some good news from an unlikely source: NBC.  See the transcript of a terrific report by Martin Fletcher at http://www.msnbc.com/news/570581.asp

3) Settlements and Violence: If you need to explain to people just why there can be no linkage between Israel’s settlement policy and an end to Palestinian-instigated violence, see  http://www.jcpa.org/ for Dore Gold’s expert analysis of the matter.  To find out why have the settlements have suddenly come front and center (because the Palestinians have lost the battle to pin the blame on Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount), see “Changing the Script,” a column in last Friday’s Jerusalem Post, at http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/05/11/News/News.25977.html.   It is amazing how gullible ostensibly smart journalists can be (e.g. Anthony Lewis), to have swallowed this linkage.

4) Monday is Yom Yerushalyim, Jerusalem Day, an excellent time to brush up on modern Israeli history and especially that of the 6-Day War.  The Jerusalem Post has some nice supplements at http://info.jpost.com/C001/Supplements/, including one featuring Jerusalem in snow, and you’ll find a Jerusalem history timeline at http://www.wzo.org.il/encountr/timeln.htm.  Plus, you can go to our very own Web site at www.tbe.org, to see photos of our Religious School’s spectacular Jerusalem experience held on May 6.

5) I’ve gotten some positive feedback on the idea of starting an Israel Defense Committee here as a means of coordinating our collective response to events as they unfold.  We’ll be meeting informally on Thursday, June 14. That evening, at 8:30 PM in our chapel, we’ll be hearing from Steve Zacharow, rabbi of Kehilat Shevet Achim, a new Masorti synagogue in the embattled Gilo section of Jerusalem. His lecture is entitled "Gilo Story: Life on the Frontline." That presentation might be the perfect springboard to further action on our part, something we can discuss both during and after the presentation. (BTW, the Bi-Cultural graduation that night, also taking place in our building, will be over before the lecture begins). Do plan to join us.

6) US Embassy in Jerusalem: Finally, a notice from AMCHA, the Coalition for Jewish Concerns about an age-old issue.
May 31st is the deadline for President Bush's decision to fulfill his campaign promise and relocate the American Embassy to Jerusalem.  

This decision comes up every 6 months. The President can either give the order or defer it by 6 more months.  Please call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or 456-1414 and voice your opinion about this issue. It is important that as many calls as possible reach the White House BEFORE May 31st.  

Please send this e-mail to every person on your list who cares if every one of us sends it to 10 to 20 of his/her correspondents, urging them to do likewise, this vital lobbying exercise will reach massive proportions within a matter of days.

The phone call should not take more than a few moments but if you can't call, please send an e-mail to: President@whitehouse.gov.

7) If you didn't hear,  Maccabi Tel Aviv did indeed win the European champonship, and 250,000 Israelis celebrated in Rabin Square (even the locale of the celebration has to be bitter-sweet).  It was their first such triumph in 20 years, after being the perrennial bridesmaid.  Bodes well for the Red Sox.


A BYTE OF TORAH:
This week, with Jerusalem Day in mind, we feature Rabbi Brad Artson’s commentary.  For more on our relationship with the Land, see the spiritual journey at the conclusion of this Shabbat-O-Gram.
Shabbat Parashat Behar/Behukotai
May 19, 2001 - 26 Iyar 5761
"Love for the Land of Israel"
Torah Reading: Leviticus 25:1 - 27:34
Haftorah Reading: Jeremiah 16:19 - 17:14

One of the central paradoxes of Jewish history is that the Jewish People were land-less through most of our history. Yet, we were always profoundly aware of our link to the Land of Israel, perhaps because we did not live in a place we could call our own. The intense love between the Jews and their homeland permeated our prayers, our Torah and our hearts. Today's Torah portion speaks directly to the centrality of the Land of Israel in Jewish thought and deed. God instructs the Jewish People, "You must provide for the ge'ulah (redemption) of the land."

What does it mean, to bring redemption to a land? It might make sense to use tangible terms --"irrigate" the land, "fertilize" the land, even "cultivate" the land. Those are terms upon which a farmer would act and recognize. But how does one "redeem" a land? According to most biblical commentators, this verse is understood as mandating a loving Jewish presence in the Land of Israel. Thus, Hizkuni (France, 13th Century) interprets our verse to mean "there can be no [permanent] selling, only [temporary] dwelling."

Jews do not have the right to sever their connection to the Land of Israel. That claim  our inextricable link to the Land of Israel -- is at the very core of biblical and rabbinic religion. The Land is referred to as an 'ahuzzah,' a holding -- given to the Jewish People as God's part of our 'brit,' covenantal relationship. Our ancestors agreed to serve only God, and God agreed to maintain a unique relationship with the Jewish People. That relationship was given form in the detailed legislation of the Torah and the Talmud as a way of shaping and cultivating the reciprocal obligations between God and the Jews. And the one place in the world where the Jewish People could act on every part of our 'brit' was within the Land of Israel. Only there could all the laws and practices of Judaism receive their full articulation, because, in the words of Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno (Italy, 16th Century), "Outside of the Land [of Israel], there is no Sabbatical Year, nor a Jubilee Year."

The many agricultural 'mitzvot' -- of leaving gleanings for the poor, of offering first fruits and others -- were operative only within the Land of Israel. There, in the Land, the Jew could most directly encounter God and sanctity. What was true in the past is true today as well. There is a special quality to the Land of Israel that exists nowhere else in the world. In the words of the Talmud, "the air of the Land of Israel makes one wise."

Our generation is uniquely blessed. While Jews have prayed facing Jerusalem for thousands of years, while our ancestors longed for the messianic future as a time when Jews could freely live as Jews in our homeland, we have seen the establishment of a Jewish state -- a thriving democracy and a world center for Jews and Jewish expression -- in our own time. Unlike our great-grandparents, we can travel to Israel's holy sites any time we choose. Unlike the Jews of the past, we can learn our holy language, Hebrew, from people who speak it on a daily basis. We can contribute to the liberation of Jewish people who have left lands of oppression and suffering -- places like Ethiopia, Syria and the former Soviet Union -- to be reunited with their people and its history. We can redeem the Land.

Rambam (Spain, 13th Century) translated God's instruction to mean, "that I wish to redeem My land from the hand of those who hold it, as I have not given it to them as part of their possession." We make the Land of Israel ours by translating our possession into deeds. For example, by planting trees through the Jewish National Fund, we are able to literally make the deserts bloom, while also assuring a Jewish presence throughout the Land.

By contributing generously to federations and UJC, we make it possible for hundreds of thousands of former Soviet Jews to rejoin our people and to strengthen our land in freedom. By visiting Israel ourselves, often, we demonstrate our love of the land and our solidarity with the first free Jewish state in over two thousand years. "You must provide for the redemption of the land." What have you done for Israel lately?
Shabbat Shalom.

***********************************************************
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic
Studies at the University of Judaism, a rabbinical school for the heart,
mind and soul.



SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE: Is Judaism Open to Everyone? 

Our Scholar in Residence this year, on the weekend of June 1-3, will be Prof. Egon Mayer. The theme for the weekend will be "LOVE & TRADITION: Marriage, Family Patterns and the Jewish Future." Mayer’s specialty is outreach to those at the fringe of Jewish communal life, including and especially interfaith families. Our program for that weekend will be most appealing to those families, as well as to the rest of us, so it is incumbent upon us to reach out and find them.

The Schedule:

Friday evening, June 1: Services will be held at 7:00 PM (outdoors, weather permitting), followed by a dinner at 8 (contact our education office to reserve). During dinner, Dr. Mayer will speak on the topic: “Tevyeh’s Lament: What’s Love Got to Do With It -How Modernity Broke Tradition in the Lives of the Jewish People.” We will have concurrent programming for children with Nurit Avigdor but keep in mind that there is no Tot Shabbat that night (Tot Shabbat will be held on the 8th). 

Shabbat morning, June 2: During our family services -- “A Sermon on the Future of Welcoming and Reconciliation -- Ready or Not: Thinking Beyond Minority Status.” Lunch and questions follow the service.  We’ll also be celebrating the completion of a year’s membership here with our no-longer-new members.

Saturday evening at 7:30PM: Dessert-Havdalah. An evening of discussion at the home of congregants Milton and Norma Mann, with limited space available (RSVP to our education office soon to guarantee a spot). Topic: “The Demographic Revolutions of America’s Jews: Major trends that are transforming the prospects of the Jewish future in Modern American society.” 

Sunday morning, June 3 at 9:30 AM: brunch for the leadership of the congregation (board, ritual committee, board of education, sisterhood, men’s club leadership, and anyone else who is interested), following morning minyan (minyan at 9:00, brunch at 9:30). "Developing Strategies for Outreach.”

Background materials: take a look at the latest statistics on children of interfaith families:
“Do Kids Of Interfaith Families Choose Judaism?
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=4436. And a response to that article, written by  the publisher of www.Interfaithfamily.com, is found at http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3?artid=1255.


OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class
With 22 participants, this is the largest such class ever at Beth El. There is still room for you. Classes are being held on Thursdays from 7-9 PM. The course will last exactly one year. All skill levels and backgrounds welcome. Contact the education office for more information (322-6901 X306).

Lost and Found: If you lost a pair of sunglasses at the Beth El Cares AmeriCares project two weeks ago, we’ve got ‘em here.  Contact me at rabbi@tbe.org.

Project Ezra: We are looking for volunteers to help deliver pre-shiva meals to mourners in our congregation.  Please contact our office to let us know if you are interested in this vital task.


SHAVUOT IS COMING:

Get our full Shavuot Schedule by clicking on the service schedule at our Web site www.tbe.org.  Note especially the dinner, service and late night discussion (Tikkun Layl Shavuot) at Temple Shalom in Greenwich on Sunday the 27th, and our Elders Day commemoration on the second day (when we also have Yizkor services), Tues. May 29.  This year’s honoree, Harry Bennett, has always been so important to our community.  Please join us that morning in giving Harry the thanks and recognition he so richly deserves.  On the first day (Memorial Day), we’ll continue our custom of unrolling a Torah scroll at the conclusion of services, so that we and our children can once again “receive the Torah,” as did our ancestors at Sinai, and we’ll read from the book of Ruth.  Children’s services will be held on both days of Shavuot.



SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: The Torah’s Energy Policy

This week, the Bush administration has revealed it’s long-awaited energy program.  It comes to no surprise that it is heavily weighted toward production as opposed to conservation,” with the goal of producing lots more fuel so that Americans can continue to buy gas-guzzlers and so coal and oil company stocks can continue to rise.  The Washington Post has a number of articles helping us to understand that we are in the midst of a power crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen since the ‘70s.  (Back then, King Faisal was vilified as “the Mohel of Oil  the Man Who Cut it Off”)  Find the Post series at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/specials/energy/index.html.

Our portion chimes in with a reminder that we are custodians of land and that the Earth belongs, ultimately, to God.  Judaism has always been pro-environment, with the caveat that we can derive benefit from the land, as long as we don’t abuse the privilege.  The first two chapters of Genesis, along with this week’s selection from Leviticus, lay out a path of environmental restraint and responsibility, and other sections of Deuteronomy prohibit us from wasting precious resources.  A superb site on Jewish environmental matters is Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, at http://www.coejl.org/home.shtml.  Within that site, an article by Rabbi Lawrence Troster discusses Jewish perspectives on “Sustainable Development.”  The key, he reminds us, is humility.  We need to look at the needs of today, the horizontal axis, as well as the needs of the future, the vertical axis, and understand that we are only a small part of the big picture.  God did not create the Earth just so that I might buy an SUV and crank up the A/C.

A Revolutionary Idea:

Along comes parshat Behar with a revolutionary idea: the Sabbatical and Jubilee years.  In cycles of seven, seven days, seven years, and seven times seven (49) years, we build in a rest-period for the land  and for us, reminding us of our task of custodianship.   The 7-year Shmita cycle, as it’s is called, like our annual seasonal festivals, helps us to live out our lives within the rhythm of Jewish time, sacred time.

A very nice explanation of the various elements of Shmita, written by Micha Odenheimer, can be found at http://jewishminds.healthekids.net/course.phtml?course_id=560.  Art Waskow has long championed the cause of renewing the concept of Sabbatical and Jubilee.  Find out why at  http://www.theotherside.org/archive/sep-oct98/waskow.html.  He writes:

If we reexamine the production end of the material process, where environmental destruction begins, will we not lessen the need for typical environmental programs that focus on cleanup and recycling? If we create more spiritual sustenance to ensure our own survival, will we not restrain our material consumption and ensure the planet's survival?

What would it mean, in our society, to draw on this biblical teaching as a way of addressing the three intertwined sicknesses--economic, environmental, and compassional--of our generation? What would it mean to build a movement and constituency around a "Jubilee program" that would bring more energy and political power to bear than most secular progressive coalitions can generate
?

Shmita in Israel

This year is the seventh in the cycle, a Shmita year.  The Halacha of Shmita is very involved and tricky.  Read about it from a traditional perspective at http://aishdas.org/webshas/eretz/shemitah.htm

Last fall it became front-page news in Israel, before the current violence threw everything else off the front pages.  What was the big deal?  Well, for centuries the restrictions of the Sabbatical Year were irrelevant to most Jews, sicne they apply only to the land f Israel.  With the advent of modern Zionism, that all changed.  For historical background, go to http://israeliculture.about.com/culture/israeliculture/library/weekly/aa091100a.htm?terms=shmita, where you’ll read that in 1889, Rabbi Elhanan Spector of Kovno issued a ruling instituting a heter mechira. This sales permit would allow Jewish farmers to nominally "sell" their lands to Moslems, similar in fashion to the sale of hametz (leaven) before Pesach. The first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Avraham Yitzhak Kook, regarded the heter as a matter of national necessity. Israel's Chief Rabbinate has reluctantly endorsed this arrangement, but this biblical loophole is viewed by ultra-Orthodox Jews as insufficient.

Haredi circles have always opposed the heter mechira. They note that the sale is a true "legal fiction," since in reality neither the landowners nor the government would ever agree to transfer land to an Arab. Haredi families rely on their own kashrut authorities, especially the Ultra-Orthodox. During previous Shmita years, Haredi Jews would only purchase fruits and vegetables from Arab and Palestinian farmers, or from Jewish farmers with lands outside the borders of biblical Israel. The Shmita commandment does not apply to farmlands in the Golan Heights, Gush Katif or the Arava.

Read about last fall’s to-do as covered in the Jerusalem Post, at http://israeliculture.about.com/culture/israeliculture/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/09/07/Opinion/Editorial.11843.html.

For the Land  or for us?

It is unfortunate that Israel has yet to find creative ways to celebrate the Sabbatical year as an expression of Jewish environmental values rather than turning it into another religious-secular tussle.  An opportunity has been lost.  For in the end, Shmita is not as much about the land as it is about us.  It may not change the environment much to leave farms fallow for one year in seven, but it has a huge impact on our awareness of the environment.

The Talmudic sages discussed the very same matter, of whether it is for the Land’s benefit or ours.  Find out what they said at
http://israeliculture.about.com/culture/israeliculture/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.ujcvp.org/adath%5Fjeshurun/vortify/bhar.html.  The solution given here is that Shmita, like Shabbat, was instituted to give us more time to study Torah.  Sounds like a Sabbatical idea I could go for. 

Which reminds me, if I just celebrated by 13
th year here, that means I’m going on to year 14.  That’s a multiple of  let’s see  seven. I just might be ready for http://omni.cc.purdue.edu/~alltson/sabbat.html, “Sensational Sabbatical Suggestions.”

But for now, a peaceful Shabbat will do just fine.

Shabbat Shalom.
jh


This Shabbat-O-Gram goes out weekly to hundreds of Beth El congregants and others. Feel free to forward it to your friends, and if you know of anyone who might wish to be included, please have them e-mail me at rabbi@tbe.org. To be taken off this e-mail list, simply click on "reply" and write "please unsubscribe" in the message box.

For more information on the synagogue, check out Beth El's Web site at www.tbe.org. And to check out some previous spiritual cyber-journeys I have taken, see my book's site at www.thelordismyshepherd.com.