Happy
snowy Friday.
Join
us tonight as we celebrate our continued relationship with Carmel Academy, and hear head
of school Nora Anderson speak on: Teaching Our Children the Value of
Justice through the
Study of Mishpatim.
People
are still buzzing about last week’s presentation by Footsteps and Shulem
Deen. You can find a number of his audio
and video appearances on his website and
you can read more about Footsteps here.
Other
follow up from last week: See my study packets on Jewish
sources on relationships (from last Sunday’s board retreat) and, from
Shabbat morning’s Torah discussion, Jewish
sources on leadership and democracy.
See
also my
featured op-ed in the Times of Israel, “Bernie Sanders and the Return of Old
Jew Chic” (an expansion of my comments in last week’s O-Gram)
I
hope to see everyone at our spectacular Temple Rock on Sat. night (it
just gets better every year – and once again, weather will not be a problem).
This Sunday marks four important events:
-
Our annual World Wide Wrap family
program for b’nai mitzvah families as well as others simply interested in
learning about the mitzvot of tallit and tefillin. Thank you to our men’s club
for their sponsorship of this event. Click here for FAQs about
tefillin and here, for videos
and other content from the Federation of Jewish Mens Clubs
-
UJF Super Sunday. Make sure to answer the call!
-
The actual Super Bowl. No prediction this year (I’m still getting over
that missed extra point), but here
are three Jewish lessons one can gain from the Super Bowl and how
the number 18 factors into a bet between Carolina and Denver rabbis.
-
Oh, and the 4th
important event? Happy 25th
birthday, Ethan Hammerman! (And happy birthday to Cantor Fishman, too!)
Armor of Light
And
don’t forget Tuesday at 7:30, the Stamford Premiere of a film that is receiving
wide acclaim, “The Armor of Light.” It’s got numerous festival raves, was
directed by Abigail Disney and will be shown next month at the Avon. See it here first! I’ve previewed this tale
of how an Evangelical preacher, the voice of the right wing, evolved into a gun
control activist, driven by his pro-life beliefs. It will get us all thinking
and reconsidering our own values,, which is what we try to do here – and a very
Jewish thing to do There is another
fascinating Jewish twist to this story, which I will not give away.
A Sad Week
This
has been a week of unspeakable sadness in our community. Aside from the four funerals that have
occurred here, there was one other that overshadowed everything else: the
passing of a local teenager, Evan Hyman.
On Tuesday evening, approximately 25 teens gathered at my home, where
Mara and I tried to help them come to grips with an unbearable pain, reassuring
them that we are always there for them and that they are never alone. Most importantly, we had an open conversation
about the growing phenomenon of teen depression, which too often leads to
thoughts of suicide – and for some, to acting on those thoughts. This conversation needs to happen all over
our community. It is too important to
push under a rug and goes far beyond the specifics of this case. I extend a plea to anyone who is having
trouble dealing with these events to seek help – and never to hesitate to
contact me at rabbi@tbe.org. Anytime.
Our
hearts go out to Evan’s family, to the BBYO and AITE students who knew him best
and to Temple Sinai’s community. I also
am reaching out to our college students, many of whom have been severely
troubled by Evan’s death, some of whom have already contacted me or Mara. Their pain is ours as well.
Marranos No More
For
the first time in nearly seven decades of Israel’s existence, and nearly fifty
years since the reunification of Jerusalem, a non Orthodox Jew can pray with
pride in his or her own way, at Judaism’s holiest site.
The
historic announcement of the revisioning of the Kotel is not without its
detractors and legitimate concerns.
Read
here a defiant retort by one of the Women of the Wall, concerned that the
WOW are abandoning the objective of free worship in the women’s section, a
concern echoed
in this article.
My
feeling is that this is a historic moment, not because of what it provides for
us today, but for what it portends for the future. Once the new egalitarian section is complete,
attractive, open and equally accessible, Jews will all see that many different
visions of Judaism are available. At
that point, it won’t be simply about tourists.
Israelis will choose to have their Bar AND Bat Mitzvahs at a place where
women don’t need to stand on chairs and crane their necks to see anything. Israeli schools will bring their kids to see
this flowering of a pluralistic Judaism.
Over time, this will make a huge impact.
For
the first time in many years, I will be able to go to our holiest site and feel
that my way of being Jewish is not second class. For so long, I’ve felt like a medieval
Spanish Marrano, forced to
practice my form of Judaism in secret because of the bullying tactics of those
in power. Now we, who represent the
largest groups of affiliated American Jews (and most of the unaffiliated too)
are Marranos no more.
That
is a big deal. But there’s a long way to go: civil marriage, women’s rights,
government support for non-Orthodox institutions, but we are on the right side
of history and progress is happening, in large part because of the efforts of
Anat Hoffman, who spoke here last November (hear
the Hoffman lecture). The reason why
the current government, including the Ultra-Orthodox parties, accepted this
compromise (albeit kicking and screaming) is that they knew that Hoffman would
just keep on taking them to court, and that she would win.
This
victory validates that Diaspora Jewry needs to be vocal about Israel – even
when it means different with current Israeli policy
Ari Shavit believes
that American Jews need an AIPAC style lobby in Jerusalem, to “ensure that
Israel’s identity and values are in keeping with those of the Jewish people in
the Diaspora.”
He
asks, “Why let (American Jews) have a say in what (Israelis) do? Because that
is Zionism. Because by its own definition, Israel is responsible to world
Jewry. Because Israel was built with world Jewry’s support. Because even
today Israel survives thanks to the strategic front that world Jewry provides
it. Thus, it is only right that there be a powerful institution in Israel to
faithfully represent the beliefs and ways of life practiced by the Jews of the
world.”
We
are all now on the front lines of Israel’s fight for survival and against
delegitimazation. So if we are fighting the battles – and absorbing
threats and attacks on our institutions – we should be able to make our voices
heard
The following is the Masorti movement’s summary of the Kotel
Compromise:
This
historic resolution has changed forever how the non Orthodox streams will be
treated in Israel.
- This
agreement is about a historic compromise that redefines the relationship
between religion and state in the State of Israel. For the first time in
the State of Israel, in the holiest of places of the Jewish people - the
Western Wall - the non-orthodox Streams triumphed in attaining formal
status; Women of the Wall prevailed and achieved their own space; and
Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism have arrived at familiar
landscape.
- From
here on out, solutions to issues of religion and state will be able to
rely upon a new legal anchor. From today, every solution to every dispute
must give expression to the simple, basic and natural fact that there is
more than one way to be Jewish. We did not achieve everything that we
wanted, but this day is a day of celebration for Jewish pluralism in
Israel. Conversion. Marriage and Kashrut.
- From
the moment that the resolution will come into effect, families will be
able to celebrate together - mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, Bar
and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies - at the kotel. Standing on plastic chairs in
the women's section will be eliminated once and for all!
Achievements
of the resolution:
a.
One Kotel: There will be one common entrance to the Western Wall after
which every person can choose which part of the Kotel they would like to pray
at or visit. To choose (!) between the Northern plaza of the Western Wall which
respects Orthodox custom, or the Southern plaza of the Western Wall that
respects the equality as suited to the customs of Conservative Judaism and
Reform Judaism. The two plazas, north and south, will provide Torah scrolls,
siddurim, tables for reading the Torah and everything necessary for every man
and woman to pray as they see fit.
b.
Equality and pluralism: The requirements of safeguarding holy sites will
be updated, and for the first time in history, the following explicit words
will appear in the law books of the State of Israel: "The customs of this
site will be based on principles of pluralism and gender equality, and prayer
at this site will be egalitarian and unsegregated, women and men together,
without a partition."
c.
Size: The egalitarian plaza will have several large and extensive
levels. The plaza will spread out over an expanse that will include a raised
prayer plaza (constructed) and all of the Herodian Street area. The entire
prayer plaza will stand at almost 900 square meters (for means of comparison,
the area is about 70% as large as the present men's section at the Western Wall
and 130% larger than the present women's section).
d. Management of the Prayer Plaza: A
Public Council, to be appointed by the Prime Minister, will be headed by the
Chairperson of the Jewish Agency and six representatives from the Conservative
Movement, the Reform Movement and Women of the Wall, alongside six professional
representatives from the Prime Minister's office and various Ministries, as
well as the Israel Antiquities Authority. This is the first Statutory Council
in which representatives of the Conservative and Reform Movements in Israel, by
definition, will have been officially appointed to participate.
e.
Budgets: The Prime Minister's office will assign a permanent annual
budget of no less than 5,000,000 NIS for the management of the site, as well as
the maintenance, marketing and religious services that will be provided to the
public at-large.
f.
Round tables: Once every half year at least, the Cabinet Secretary will
be responsible to convene a collective round table to manage and settle all
issues that remain controversial and/or that may arise between all of the
involved parties responsible for management of the Western Wall in both of the
plazas – the Western Wall Heritage Foundation (Northern plaza) and the
egalitarian Western Wall Council (Southern plaza).
g.
The Public Plaza: The upper Western Wall plaza, that which is further up
from the current prayer plaza (the men's and women's sections of today) will be
defined as the Public Plaza and will be used to conduct national and military
ceremonies only. Prayer will only be permitted in the Public Plaza during a
specific number of times throughout the year (Tisha Ba'av, the three pilgrimage
festivals, etc.) during which there will not be enough space in the lower
prayer sections. Prayer at these times will take place in the Public Plaza as
per the Orthodox custom.
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