In This Moment: Praying for Quiet; From Passover to Shabbat to Yom Hashoah; Cross the Red Sea, Lee...50 Ways to Count the Omer

Praying for Quiet A Zissen Pesach and pre-Shabbat Shalom - and a reminder that our office is closed on Wed and Thurs for the final two days of the holiday, but we are very much open for services at 10 both mornings (in person and on Zoom), including Yizkor on Thursday. Today's Yediot Achronot newspaper in Israel had an unusual greeting in their festival edition (see above, top left, circled in yellow, above the headline that states that Netanyahu reversed his decision to fire the defense minister). It says,"We wish our readers and all the House of Israel a Joyous and QUIET Holiday." Who wants a quiet holiday - that is unless obnoxious Uncle Joe is coming to dinner? That particular and unusual choice of words pretty much says it all, about how we are marking time these days. If we can't have peace, let us at least have quiet. We are praying for quiet. This month is all about marking time. This week's Shabbat-O-Gram comes out on Tuesday, before the final two days of Pesach, as we will be shifting gears very quickly from the end of the holiday on Thursday night to Shabbat the next day and then to Yom Hashoah a few days later. Throw in Tax Day, Patriots Day (for Bostonians like me) and Earth Day. We also are marking time with the counting of the Omer, which began on the second night of Passover and continues to Shavuot. All of this while the world continues to be a very dangerous place, and in our daily lives we are marking time in terror attacks and protest rallies in Israel - and here, mass gun killings, The Hebrew headline below cries out "Terror Attack" and shows photos of two Israeli sisters, Maia and Rina Dee (15 and 20) who were killed in a roadside shooting (their mother also died), and an Italian tourist killed in a car ramming in Tel Aviv. Maia and Rina's father, a British rabbi, who spoke passionately about the need to avoid moral equivalence between terrorists and victims: “Religions believe that we have the power to differentiate between good and bad… I am saddened that recently, maybe over the past 20 years of my life, this innate ability to differentiate between good and evil has gradually been lost from humanity,” he said. “That’s why I wish to designate the 10th of April as Dee’s Day. Today we differentiate between good and evil, right and wrong.” Still, despite the attacks reaching into the heart of Tel Aviv, the weekly protests against the proposed judicial coup continue, as can be seen at the bottom of that front page. A quarter of a million people turned out, even though it was in the midst of a festival and a "pause" in the legislative process. Below the Hebrew front page, the heartbreaking photo from Monday's English edition of Ha'aretz is of the Dee family at the funeral. Click on each front page for pdf. Meanwhile, in the U.S., there have been 377 school shootings since Columbine and 470 children between 0 and 17 killed in shootings just this year.

What Will Next Year Bring, in Jerusalem? As we prepare to bring Passover to an end, one more Haggadah to share with you, this one created by some of Israel's most notable writers, aiming to bring the mass protests of the past few months into the context of this Feast of Freedom. Click to see the English translation of The Freedom Haggadah.

Here are a few excerpts, the first from the great novelist David Grossman, which serves as an introduction to the Haggadah.

The second is from Etgar Keret, an interpretation of Psalms 114:4. Like him I always loved the childlike playfulness of that verse, but now what seemed like innocent gyrations of nature looks like a world come unhinged. "The mountains danced like rams" When I was a boy, this was my favorite part of the seder. More than asking the four questions, more than opening the door and waiting for Elijah who never showed up, more than stealing the afikoman. I don’t know if it was because of the upbeat, rhythmic tune, or because my big brother used to rattle the table and make the soup bowls dance, just like in the song. When you’re a kid, nothing makes you happier than a bit of chaos. And what could be more chaotic than hills dancing like sheep and goats? Up until the current government was installed, maintaining the status quo was considered a central tenet of Israeli politics, particularly among the Haredi parties. Logic held that in a society as diverse and contradictory as ours, any drastic or ill-considered change could lead to disaster. But that was before. Now that the mountains around us are dancing and the ground beneath us is trembling, that joyous mayhem of the rattling seder table has been replaced by a yearning for mountains, for hills, and for a supreme court, to all stand steady and unshakable. ------- Since we're talking Keret, arguably Israel's greatest contemporary story teller, and since next week is Yom Hashoah, you must listen to or read some of his stories about his mother, who survived the Holocaust, although she didn't like to be defined by those years. They were featured on "This American Life" (audio and transcript). I particularly love story #8, "A Good Day." These stories were also featured at an exhibit called "Inside Out," in the Jewish Museum of Berlin. Given the spasms of violence we have seen just since the beginning of Passover, with innocent children dying in schools, on the roads, here, there, everywhere, the last line of that story, the words of Etgar Keret's heroic mother, hit home all the more. The last page of The Freedom Haggadah, by novelist Haim Be'er, brings a vision of promise. To these hopes I can only utter that untranslatable Hebrew exclamation, Halavai! As we begin to gear up for Israel's 75th in a couple of weeks, we can celebrate the promise and the hope, if not the current realities. And we can pray for quiet.

Cross the Red Sea, Lee, and Get Yourself Free! 50 Days (Minus 1) to count the Omer There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, (actually, in this parody of the Paul Simon song, 50 ways to leave Mitzrayim), but there are 49 days to count the Omer. Today is the fifth day of the 49 days of counting between Passover and Shavuot. This count takes us through the spring and has a number of explanations. Click here for the Omer blessing and some background from Siddur Lev Shalem. You can count in a different Jewish language for each day (see the website here). Speaking of languages, here is the Omer blessing page from a 19th century Ladino siddur. Instead of the Omer, you can count the Homer - and discover the Jewish side of the Simpsons (click here for the website) You can listen to the beautiful hasidic melody (niggun) for the Omer blessing that Cantor Kaplan has introduced to us. You can count using a chart reflecting the sacred Kabbalistic Sefirot (divine emanations), which interact during these seven weeks. We are challenged to take a journey of internal spiritual growth even as we journey across time and across the wilderness toward Sinai. See the chart below:

Today, on the 5th day, go down the first column on the left and see on the fifth day we have the colors purple and orange; we see the interaction of the divine qualities of Kindness (Hesed) and Humility (Hod). See reflections from Siddur Lev Shalem below for this week of Hesed. For a more traditional explanation of the Omer counting (what's all that stuff about weddings and haircuts?) click here for the detailed explanation, here for even more traditional detail and here for the traditional counting chart. And below, for something completely different, you'll find an interfaith Omer calendar (albeit not aligned for this year). What a great idea! And those 50 ways to leave your slaver? Don’t move a brick, Rick, Make sure to pray, Ray, Bring on a plague, Gregg, Listen to me. Leave in the night, Dwight, Don’t wait for the bread, Ned, Cross the Red Sea, Lee, And get yourself free.

Recommended Reading

The Three Biggest Misconceptions About Israel’s Upheaval (Yair Rosenberg, Atlantic) Let’s make 2023 the best Earth Day ever! (Earth Day Toolkit) Why Did Moroccan Jews Bring Moses Into the Passover Haggadah? (National Library of Israel) - Moroccan Jews (and the Jews of Western Algeria in the areas adjacent to Morocco) to this day begin the Passover Seder with a short text in Judeo-Arabic at the center of which is the figure of Moses. It's because of persecution. See also: Mimouna: A Post Passover Celebration of Moroccan Jews This holy season in six faiths is a rebuke to Christian nationalism (RNS) - If this nation does not provide full rights for my Jewish cousins, I don’t want any part of it. The same goes for my friends and neighbors from all different backgrounds and beliefs who will celebrate holidays this month — Ramadan, Vaisakhi and Holi, to name just the most prominent. The concurrent holy days form a portrait of the faith life of the United States as our founding fathers ordained it.  Israel's top 75 songs for 75 years (Yediot Ahronot) - Chosen by 65 judges, musicians, journalists, radio station managers, music editors and also ministers of culture past and present. The vote was anonymous, from a list of hundreds of songs. See the full playlist on Spotify. Yom Hashoah is April 17-18. Info packet for Intro the Judaism on the Holocaust Also see. Eduational Materials for Yom Hashoah 2023 from Yad Vashem. Also see Yad Vashem Book of Names and Central Theme: 80 Years Since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Yad Vashem Book of Names: A new 360° virtual tour for learning and teaching about the Holocaust is now available. Learners can embark on a chronological journey that tells the narrative of the Holocaust: the lives of Jews before the Holocaust, thriving communities and culture, the persecution of the Jews, anti-Jewish legislation and edicts, establishment of the camps, deportations, mass murder, uprisings, rescue stories, liberation and the return to life. All these are told and taught through a variety of vantage points and learning styles - historical videos, animated concepts, survivor testimony, historical figures and more. Begin your virtual tour here. Additional educational materials - lesson plans, testimonies, ceremonies and videos are available online. Why "Parade," why Leo Frank and why now? (RNS) - Because the Leo Frank case is Antisemitism 101: Medieval antisemitism? The Leo Frank case was a blood libel. Early modern antisemitism? Leo Frank was the Jew, who symbolized industrialization and social change. The Holocaust, even? As Chris Browning taught in his studies of the Holocaust, “ordinary men” are capable of perpetuating great horrors. So it was with the Leo Frank story. Men in suits — community leaders from prominent families — planned and perpetrated his murder. They posed proudly for the photographer’s camera before their demonic handiwork, as did Nazi soldiers. The real Jewish history behind Netflix’s ‘Transatlantic’ and the WWII rescue mission that inspired it (JTA) How ‘A Rugrats Passover’ became an iconic holiday special (Forward)

Parsha Packets for Shemini

The Ideal Jewish Community Shmini is the first portion where the tent of meeting is up and running at full capacity. What in your mind is needed to create an ideal Jewish community in our day?

“The Hunger Games” and Jewish Values  For Passover, Shemini and Yom Hashoah. What does Katniss,"the girl who was on fire," have in common with Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu in our portion?  How do Aaron’s and Katniss’s responses to the sudden death of a loved one compare? Which one (or both) is more comparable to how the Jewish people responded to the Holocaust? What is the “right” response? Is Katniss more a victor or a survivor?

Can Pigs Fly - and be Kosher Too? - As we read this portion that contains the laws of Kashrut, we discuss whether lab-grown pork can be kosher - and can be eaten with milk (!) and other new frontier questions.

Temple Beth El 350 Roxbury Road Stamford, Connecticut 06902 203-322-6901 | www.tbe.org    A Conservative, Inclusive, Spiritual Community

In This Moment: Porky's Revenge, In-Between Times, Vaccine Passports

In This Moment April 9, 2021 Click to watch this week's Town Hall event with Senator Blumenthal Shabbat Shalom! A busy week, highlighted by our Town Meeting with Senator Blumenthal (was that an official 2022 kickoff that I heard, on his home Zoom?) as well as Yom Hashoah. In Israel, Bibi received the mandate to form a government, but the numbers do not currently favor him. Read Marc Shulman's excellent analysis of what's going on there, and this piece about the racist party that would become part of a prospective right-wing government. Tonight will mark our last scheduled Friday night that is totally virtual, although it should be noted that beginning next week, each week we will decide on Thursday whether to revert to a Zoom-only service because of weather concerns. So check your local listings. In any event, all services will still be available at home, so no one should feel pressured to attend in person. Shabbat morning I'll be discussing the portion of Shemini, which features the Torah's most comprehensive discussion of the laws and concepts of Kashrut.  Here is the discussion packet and fact sheet on Kashrut, and some links to additional "How tos" and "Whats."  With its roots in the Bible, the system of defining which foods are Kosher was developed by the rabbis of late antiquity. Its application to changing realities has been the work of subsequent generations, including our own. Tomorrow I'll focus on that most quintessential of Kashrut's foils, the pig - and did you see in today's NYT how wild boars are taking over Haifa? Sweet revenge for the porcine family! And yet, at the same time, on the front page of Ha'aretz today, archeological proof that the taboo against pork was strong even in medieval Oxford (where there is no shortage of bacon and lard, so I hear). So lots of piggledy wiggledy to discuss tomorrow. The Place In Between We've reached a strange "in-between" place, a moment of liminality, between one stage of our lives, and the next. Religion lives in these spaces; as we stand at a threshold, where we can shed one identity and begin to assume a new role. For many of us, as we exit from the year of Covid, we will be leaving behind loved ones who never quite got here. Our good friend Rabbi Vicki Axe is commemorating the first yahrzeit of her beloved Harold, and she has pulled together her thoughts into a podcast and lovely essay, "Love and Loss in the Time of Covid." You can link to the essay and podcast here. Speaking of love and loss, I was enraptured by the new season of Shtisel and would love to participate in a discussion about it. Let me know if you are interested . Meanwhile, to get us started, see this perceptive essay from the Forward. Whatever our situation, the next few months are going to be transitional, and then some. Over the past several days, I've been dealing with people planning all those postponed weddings and namings - and for those who are getting married after having spend Covid under the same roof as their future spouse, it will be as if they've already been married for a decade even before the glass is broken. The consensus is that the timespan of Covid living can be measured in dog years. So we are about to enter the most religiously charged few months of this generation. Really, we entered it a year ago. But it will not end when the doors open. It will be raised to a new level. Let's make the most of this time of growth and change. What do Jewish sources have to say about this return to "normalcy" following extraordinary events? See David Golinkin's "Jewish quotes on a return to normalcy," from the JPost. Vaccine Passports As we prepare to cross that threshold, there has been much discussion of so-called vaccine passports, and whether vaccination should be required for admission to schools, businesses, sporting events and, oh yes, places of worship. This should not be a politically-tinged conversation (just like masks shouldn't be). Last week, the libertarian party of Kentucky was called out for what Forbes described as "an extremely poor comparison of vaccination passport programs to the yellow Star of David that was forced to be worn by Jews during the Holocaust." (See for yourself: "Vaccine Passport Comparison To Holocaust Symbols Stirs Debate.") Israel has been implementing a Vaccine Passport system for about a month. And it has worked. I believe it makes sense to generally require vaccination or accurate texting when people are going to be in close quarters, once vaccines are available to all who want them. There will be exceptions, such as with children. This midrash explains why: A group of people were sitting in a boat. One person pulled out a hand-drill and proceeded to drill a hole beneath their seat. The fellow passengers screamed at the incredulous sight and asked, “What do you think you’re doing?!” The hole-driller dismissed the question and responded, “What do you care? Am I not drilling under my seat?” They replied: “Because you are sinking the boat with us in it!’” (Vayikra Rabbah 4:6). That is precisely why we will need to reenter society with our vaccine passports in hand. Below is the full quote of the midrash, for you to clip and save - and place it in your wallet, right next to your vaccination card. Rabbi Joshua Hammerman ‌ Temple Beth El 350 Roxbury Road Stamford, Connecticut 06902 203-322-6901 | www.tbe.org    A Conservative, Inclusive, Spiritual Community

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Jesse Kalt on Shmini

Shabbat Shalom!

When you look at me, if you don’t know already, probably the last thing you will think of is that I love to play bass guitar.  I love to play it so much that it’s starting to fall apart. 

I’ve been playing for about 4 years.  My dad had an amplifier and two basses in the basement and we would go down all the time – and while he would be playing the song “Iron Man” I’d be pretending to play along with him.  It was doubly special because not only did I love it, but I loved making music with my dad.

So, I’m a big fan of Rock and Heavy Metal – I can’t help it!  But I also know that heavy metal has its place – and that place is not here, at services.

Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu didn’t understand that.

In my portion of Shemini, these two kids played with fire, literally.  They brought their own unusual offerings without telling anyone else. And a horrible accident occurred and they were burned to a crisp.

It’s a very tragic story that has a lot of lessons for teenagers, and especially for creative types like me.

The Torah offers very little detail, which allows the Torah commentators suggest many different ways to understand why this happened.  Those theories range from the fact that they may have been drinking to wearing disrespectful clothing, the “strange fire” being the fire of ambition, and that they wanted to take over for their elders before they were ready.

One of the other explanations for Nadav and Avihu is that they rushed into something and had no way of knowing where it would lead.

It reminds me of the scene from the movie “The Breakfast Club,” when John Bender, played by Judd Nelson, while crawling through an air vent to escape detention, says, “A guy walks into a bar with a two pound salami in one hand and a dog in the other and …” and then he falls through the air vent and falls on the floor, back in the detention hall.  It all happened so quickly and, just like with the Torah, it leaves us hanging and the rebellious teen never gets to the punch line.  

Another commentary states that they did too much too fast and because of that their souls “burned out” – they were spiritually and artistically dead, even though they were physically alive.  They lost their creative impulse.

The question we have to ask is where do you draw the line from being creative and trying new things and being bold, and on the other hand being disrespectful of tradition and those who are your elders.

That line is very hard to draw.  But as you can see, I got dressed up today, and I left my bass at home and I didn’t chant my haftarah to a heavy metal background.

Another way I show my love for music is through my mitzvah project, which is called “Project Music.”  “Project Music” is an organization that teaches lessons to kids who cannot afford music classes at places such “School of Rock.” So far I have raised over $2,000.

In the end, Nadav and Avihu might have met a different fate if they had used their creative talents to help others, with projects like this.

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Malkam Sabloff on Shmini

For most kids, when they think of their favorite childhood memory, it usually takes place at a baseball game, or, for the other half of you, a hockey game, or a celebration of some sort.  But for me, my favorite childhood memory took place when I was about eight years old, at, of all places, the allergist.

My mom had prepared eggs at home and brought them in a little purple container, and in front of my doctor, I took my first real bite of eggs.  I ate a little bit – and we waited. Then a little more, and we waited. In all, we were there for over three hours. And in the end, the doctor declared me allergy free.  My last remaining food allergy had cleared up.

Since birth, I had been unable to eat eggs, soy, wheat and dairy.  On the other hand, I could eat peanuts! It was bad. I had to carry my own snacks to parties. For 8 years my mom had to bake egg free hallah for me.  My family would buy a regular hallah and I would just have a roll. One time my mom, after learning how to bake without eggs, made an eggless hallah and said, “We’re all going to eat it together.”  For the first time, I was not separate with my roll. I cried.

So I’ve come to appreciate food in a special way.  

It’s fitting that my portion of Sh’mini contains the laws of Kashrut, explaining how the act of eating can help us to live holy lives.  My portion tells us which kinds of animals are considered acceptable. For instance, a cow is kosher, a lion is not. By the way, breaking news: bacon is not kosher.  

But kosher is not just about what you can or can’t eat.  It’s about acting with kindness toward animals and having reverence for life.  Kosher animals have to be killed painlessly. Also, these laws help us to understand that we are what we eat.  We don’t eat birds of prey, like vultures or eagles, because eating then would make us more violent. We tend to eat docile animals like chickens, or cows.

At my house we say, “food is medicine.”  We have to be mindful of what we put into your body and its impact on us.  I learned that from my allergies.

There’s also a social element to kashrut.  All the holiday foods bring families together, as we just saw with our Passover Seders.  Cooking and mealtime at my house are very important.

Dinner is my favorite time of day. I’ve even prepared our family dinner with my brother several times.  Eating together is very important for my family. It’s always been a priority. No TV is in the room, no phones are allowed at the table.  I savor these meals – in fact, I’m always the last to leave the table.

Speaking of the table, in my house, it’s all about the table. The table is so important in my house, that we switched the living room with the dining room so that we could make room for a bigger table.

So the dining room has become the room where we spend the most time.  Our lives revolve around it. It’s where my day begins and where my favorite part of the day happens. Several times a week, my family hangs around the table after meals to play board games.  

Because of my history of allergies, when I go to a new restaurant, I sometimes get nervous about the food.  In fact, I get nervous about a lot of things. A lot of people in my family get nervous! But for me, it’s something I’ve been fighting for a long time.  So for my Mitzvah Project, I chose to sell bracelets with individualized messages for people – words to comfort and inspire them. They are called “My Intent” bracelets.  I’m going to be creating each bracelet made to order. The proceeds of this mitzvah project will go toward the Cystic Fibrosis Walk. My family has been participating in it for the last several years.

So I hope you all now understand why food is so important both to me and in the Torah.  As they say, “Noshing is sacred.”

Shabbat-O-Gram for April 14

Shabbat - 

O - Gram

The Shabbat-O-Gram is sponsored by Matthew and Kelly Sabloff in honor of Malkam's Bar Mitzvah this Shabbat

 

A big crowd gathered here last Sunday to hear Georgia Hunter speak about her best selling Holocaust novel , "We Were the Lucky Ones,  That astonishing lecture was followed by another stirring presentation, at our community Yom Hashoah event, by the daughter of Righteous Gentile Irene Gut Opdyke.  It's hard to recall a week when we were privileged to hear two speakers who were so inspirational.

Shabbat Shalom! 

Mazal tov to Malkam Sabloff and family, as Malkam becomes bar mitzvah this Shabbat!

Thank you to David Camner, who spoke last Friday night.  Here, in pdf form, are the lecture notes for his Healthcare Plan, which he share with us last week.  and speaking of research, Sally Levine recently did lots of research on where to donate medical equipment and supplies.

Welcome back to Cantor Fishman, who will be joined by Chris Coogan and myself in leading services this evening.

Next Wed afternoon and evening, we will join with the community in a very special Israel @70 celebration at the JCC. Cantor Fishman is directing the music.  Our kids are helping with the big Lego project.  I can't wait!  Join us!

The Power of Ten

Who knows Ten?  Carol Krim knows ten - the number of minyan, as today she completed her eleven months of Kaddish and provided a lovely breakfast after minyan.  Carol has supported the minyan for years, but this year has been special.  To thank everyone, Carol wrote a tribute to our morning minyan "regulars."  Only when you have experienced the embrace of fellow sufferers, day after day, morning after morning, can you understand the true power of communal prayer.

With Carol's permission, I'm sharing her tribute, in the hopes that it might encourage more people to help us out.  Start with one day a week.  Even once a month, you can feel the love in the room. Minyan attendance often goes under the radar in comparison to more high-profile volunteer opportunities at a synagogue, but there might be no more important task.

What I have learned while saying Kaddish at TBE .... 

by Carol Krim

Beth usually knows what page the Torah reading is on.
Harvey gives the 'start' time and felt badly when he missed minyan once due to the snow. Today is his birthday.
Warren gets to services a lot before work and loves to daven the first line of a paragraph aloud.
Susan Schneiderman leads each passage slowly and deliberately and loves coffee.
Bert practices his Torah portion in his car and wishes everyone a happy day.
Steve D. reads Torah every Monday.
Sy and Harriet are a great team.
Mark L. sold his RV after traveling to almost every state.
Gail sings harmony every Monday.
Rob chants Rosh Hodesh Aliyah every month.
Dick F.  travels farther now that he moved downtown.
Irwin davens quietly while waiting for service to begin.
Stu loves morning minyan.
Phil always comes with a smile.
Susan Sabreen is active with Indivisible  and Jewish Historical Society.
Sol's Father lived in the Bronx.
Rabbi has a really lovely davening voice early in the morning.
Gerry is almost done his Rabbinicial studies.
Steve L. comes every Monday.
Jim B.  wears his red down vest all year round....
Barbara J. loves to hike.
Jerry R. comes on Tuesdays.

Sharon and Jeff became grandparents again.

Karen H. Has a lovely voice.

Neil S. joins in all the prayers.

Eileen does it all beautifully and efficiently and forgets nothing. Frank would be proud.

Allen came graciously when I called home.

Music to our ears is when the metal hangers jingle, meaning someone else has arrived to help make ten.

Thank you to everyone who comes regularly and thank you to all those who went out of their way to help me say Kaddish. I appreciated all you did. I also attended services in Bethesda, California, Florida, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Long Island, Orange, Mt. Kisco, NYC, Agudath and Stanford Sierra Camp in Lake Tahoe,  and appreciated every friendly face who made it a point to welcome me.

With Yom Hashoah still on our minds: 

-  Interesting reading - Thane Rosenbaum's "Is there anything left to say about the Holocaust?"

-  Holocaust Awareness and Denial Levels Around the World

-  Survey reveals gaps in knowledge of Holocaust history Americans believe it can happen again.

- See the study - 7 in ten Americans say fewer people care about the Holocaust than they used to

- Holocaust timeline

The study indicated that:

• Nearly one-third of all Americans (31 percent) and more than 4-in-10 Millennials (41 percent) believe that substantially less than 6 million Jews were killed (two million or fewer) during the Holocaust
• While there were over 40,000 concentration camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust, almost half of Americans (45 percent) cannot name a single one - and this percentage is even higher among Millennials.

Can Pigs Fly...and be Kosher Too?

You may have seen the recent news that a noted rabbi in Israel has declared that laboratory-manufactured pork is not only Kosher - but you can eat it with a glass of milk!

Kashrut, which is the prime topic of this week's portion of Shmini, is one mitzvah that has been near and dear to me - and not just because I proclaimed the era of the Kosher Oreo as a benchmark in American Jewish identity.

We'll be discussing this piggish question at services tomorrow.  Here is the discussion packet and fact sheet on Kashrut, and some links to additional "How tos" and "Whats."  With its roots in the Bible, the system of defining which foods are Kosher was developed by the rabbis of late antiquity. Its application to changing realities has been the work of subsequent generations, including our own.

So what of the "whys"? Why Kosher? Louis Jacobs writes, "Unlike the ethical and moral precepts of Judaism, the dietary laws seem to defy human reasoning. Why should it matter to religion what a man eats and, if it does matter, why are these particular items of food singled out as forbidden?" Maimonides believes it was a matter of good health.  Nachmanides sees it is beneficial to the soul rather than the body.  The Torah sees these laws through the prism of holiness.

From my perspective, the "whys" boil down to identity, spiritual discipline, ethics and social connection.  Kashrut preserves Jewish identity as a contact point for Jews across the globe and across the ages. Culture, after all, is transmitted though the stomach.  Tastes and smells are deeply embedded in our childhood memories.  Kashrut enables us to eat ethically and not indiscriminately, focusing on the sanctity of life and the pain of the animal.  It turns eating from a basic biological instinct to a sacred activity.  

So join us tomorrow morning to see whether pigs can fly - right onto your dining room table!

The More Things Change...

I've gotten wind of a rumor that in several weeks there will be an anniversary celebration of some sort.  It can't have anything to do with me, because I just arrived here yesterday.

But this 30 year anniversary thing has given me reason to look back through my files, and I've discovered two things:

1) I've been running in place the last three decades, pushing harder and harder but with little to show for all that huffing and puffing.  

 

And 2) Everything has changed dramatically. 

Exhibit A: The bulletin from October, 1992 (my first year as senior rabbi,) - see excerpts here.  On page 9, you can see my explanation of what a tallit is.  What I say on this page is nearly identical to what I told our 7th graders two months ago at the "World Wide Wrap."  Some things haven't changed one iota.  

But the section on the right hand side entitled, "What about women? - That part is different.  Back in 1992, very few women in this congregation wore a tallit.  While it's still considered optional, far more wear them now.  But the real shocker is that back then, I embarked on a campaign to have B'not Mitzvah girls wear them.  Before this article was written, not a single one had broken the ice.  But the culture has changed dramatically.  For a girl, equality in public ritual is seen now as a right, not a privilege.  Almost every Bat Mitzvah girl now wears a tallit here.

Is TBE a more inclusive congregation now than it was 30 years ago?  Hard to say.  Have we been a force for good as social changes have come about?  Also hard to say.  But while we may not have been the ones to steer the ship, I'd like to think that at least we've been on the boat, rowing as hard as anyone, and occasionally, just occasionally, setting an example that others could follow.  We did that with LGBT rights, for sure, as I spoke about in my seminal, autobiographical Yom Kippur sermon in 2007.  Ours is a God of love.

And now, just last week, our board signed on, nearly unanimously, to the HIAS Welcome Campaign, and now a task force will be determining just what we as a congregation can do to alleviate the plight of refugees worldwide, as has always been the Jewish way.

So some things have changed dramatically over the past thirty years, and we've changed along with them.  But somethings have not - our core belief in a God of love and a culture of welcoming the Other being among them.