Why Zelensky drives Israelis crazy (Hint: It’s not the Holocaust)

The screaming headlines from Israel’s newspapers said it all, quoting Prime Minister Naftali Bennett: "Zelensky is fighting for his nation's survival, but it is forbidden to compare the Holocaust to anything else."

Volodymyr Zelensky was crying for help from his bunker when he addressed the Knesset on Sunday. Yet while Kyiv literally burned, Israelis fiddled with the Ukrainian president’s misguided use of the term, “Final Solution.” How is it that this icon of democratic values and steadfast self-determination, who would have been the envy of Israel’s founders, felt the wrath of Israel over a couple of misplaced words of an otherwise galvanizing speech?

Something is happening here, and it has little to do with the Holocaust.

This overreaction demonstrates that Israelis have no idea what to do with a man who has turned Zionism on its head. Zelensky is the antithesis of what was supposed to happen in a dying diaspora – and in Ukraine of all places, the deadest of the dying diasporas. He represents a new form of Jewish hero, more Mordechai than Maccabee, combining the courage and battlefield prowess of the IDF with the chutzpah and street smarts of Ukrainian-born Golda Meir, whom he quoted in his Knesset speech, along with the transformational, earth-moving faith of another Ukrainian Jew, Reb Nachman of Bratzlav, whom he also referenced. 

Diaspora Jews are supposed to be disheveled shlemiels and good fundraisers and maybe occasionally smart politicians and media stars. This guy is all of the above and more.

He’s a hero, in the way that Israelis used to be heroes. He’s Moshe Dayan and Yoni Netanyahu – and he’s Jon Stewart too. And, to top it off, he’s a political leader who isn’t standing trial for corruption. Who knew?

And that’s driving Israelis crazy.

Here's the perfect partner that your child brings home, and the parents are complaining, “Yes, but he’s not a doctor!” And to top it off, they refuse to give Iron Dome as a wedding present, and they want to invite Putin to the wedding.

Zelensky has been pitch-perfect in addressing government gatherings throughout the world. But when he addressed the Knesset last Sunday, he touched that third rail when he compared Russia's actions against his country to the Holocaust. Specifically, he appealed that Russians are aiming for a "final solution" for his people.

Zelensky was not totally wrong about that. But “genocide” is the word he should have used. There was only one "Final Solution." For decades, we’ve all had to navigate verbal minefields to avoid using that term. Israeli-Palestinian peace plans always include provisions for a "Final Status" agreement; never a "Final Solution." Synonyms like "end result" or "ultimate consequence" have found their way into the vernacular to replace the Holocaust expression that rolls so effortlessly off the tongue.

So Zelensky, who lost family members during the Holocaust and who successfully compared this conflict to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor when addressing Congress, and to Dunkirk when speaking to the British Parliament, slipped up here. It was an unforced error but give the guy a break! The energy with which Israeli politicians pounced on this modern Jewish hero who has done more to save democracy than anyone since Churchill, was even more tone deaf than Zelensky's remark.

It's even greater chutzpah for the Israeli government to act so offended when the state is now aligning itself squarely on the side of neutrality, at a time when even Switzerland - Switzerland! - has taken a side. They are choosing the way of Kissinger realpolitik when a strong Wiesel-like moral stance would be both morally right and politically prudent, at a time when Congress is voting on a 4.8-billion-dollar security package for Israel.

Neutrality in the face of evil is itself evil; and to Putin, it reeks of weakness. Perhaps a month ago neutrality might have made sense - perhaps. But now, who cares if Israel is the peace broker? Others can take up that mantle. Ukrainians and the world need to see Israel being a true beacon of justice here - precisely because of the Holocaust. Because of the Final Solution.

Zelensky's analogy was spot on; he just used the wrong words. This battle between good and evil is every bit as fateful as the one fought 80 years ago. Call it what you want, but Putin is aiming to annihilate the Ukrainian people, which incidentally, includes tens of thousands of Jews. This enemy has proven himself to be every bit as craven as the one the allies defeated in World War Two.

Zelensky should be absolutely embraced by his fellow Jews, not relegated to a Hollywood Squares Zoom session with nit-picky Knesset members looking for gotcha quotes. He is the ultimate Jewish hero envisioned by Herzl and the founders of Zionism. He's the ghetto fighter who survives in the bunker. But they can’t stomach that he's a product of the exile, a diaspora Jew who has stolen their mojo.

When hundreds of thousands of Jews left for Israel after the Soviet Union fell, Zelensky's family stayed behind in the land of Golda and Reb Nachman and Bialik. He chose to continue to identify proudly as a Jew and yet won a national election by a landslide. He reduced corruption and antisemitism in his country. His army could give the IDF a run for its money.

And he's not afraid to take on Putin alone.

All of this makes Israel look like the diaspora weakling begging the Russian bully to return their lunch money in Syria.

Zelensky has turned Zionism on its head, and that's why Israeli politicians are treating him with such disdain, when they should in fact be embracing him, as everyone else in the free world is, including American Jews across the political spectrum. He got a standing O in Washington. He got a muted Zoom wave in Jerusalem.

There is still time to change that. Ukraine still needs what Israel has to offer. And this war has not yet reached its final…resolution.

In This Moment: March 25: Why Zelensky Drives Israelis Crazy; The Red Heifer and the Refrigerated Trucks of Dnipro; Spotlight on Berdichev

In This Moment Purim: Back and Better than Ever!

It was great to get back into our sanctuary for Purim last week, and into the social hall for Temple Rock. Thank you to Lisa Gittelman-Udi for the photos seen here. Click here to see all of Aviva Maller's fantastic photographs from Purim, which can be downloaded individually. If you share them on social media please tag Aviva Maller and use her copyright as well - AvivaMaller Photography.

Jewish g

Shabbat Shalom As our concern for Ukraine continues to grow, our interfaith community will be gathering virtually for a prayer vigil on Tuesday at 7. I've engaged a special guest speaker for the event, Larry Cohler-Esses, who just returned from the region, reporting for the Forward. Larry (pictured here), an acclaimed and well-traveled journalist, spoke here several years ago following his trip to Iran, where, according to The New York Times, he was the first journalist from an American Jewish pro-Israel publication to be given an Iranian visa since 1979. Please join us on Tuesday as we welcome Larry and pray together with our neighbors. You have likely seen our revised Covid protocols, which, mirroring the world around us, reflect a deep desire to enable people to gather in person comfortably and safely. Still, with the threat of a new variant growing, we are not going to be caught with our guard down yet again. So we are focusing our efforts on instantaneous adaptability. The new tent will help, as will our commitment having all our services be engaging on multiple levels. We strive for excellence in person AND online. And that's where you come in. In order to provide excellent Zoom options for Shabbat mornings and many Friday nights, we need people to run the Zoom for us. We'll train you! We'll help you! But we need you! Without a Zoom operators, we will not be able to move Shabbat morning services to in-person in April, as we are hoping to do. So please contact me or our office if you are interested. More details can be found in the weekly announcements. And we have a big social justice event for TBE teens this weekend. Several will be participating in a Midnight Run on Sat. night, bringing food for people without homes in Manhattan. Finally, I am happy to announce that I have just begun posting on Substack. I'll be sending out emails on a regular basis, some of them mirroring what you see here plus new material. Click here to subscribe (it's free) and share the link with your friends!

The Red Heifer and the Refrigerated Trucks of Dnipro

This week is Shabbat Parah, the third of the four special Torah readings read before Passover. Parah means cow, and the section, from Numbers chapter 19, describes the red heifer that was killed as part of an ancient purification ritual when coming into contact with a corpse. We are reminded to purify our homes - and ourselves - with the festival fast approaching. But this ancient ritual gains special meaning for us this year, both in light of the weekly portion, Shmini, which speaks of the tragic and sudden deaths of Aaron's two young sons Nadav and Avihu, and with the specter of death everywhere in Ukraine. I was taken by a report shown on CNN today, featuring the deputy mayor of Dnipro, 240 miles southeast of Kyiv, a city that has seen its share of death and suffering and an area with a rich and tragic Jewish history as well. The reporter was shown the cemeteries where Ukrainian soldiers are buried, and then large refrigerated trucks, within which 700 Russian soldiers lie, awaiting transport to Kyiv and then, presumably, back to Russia - if the Russians will take them back.

The deputy mayor does not open the trucks, not wanting to show the faces of the "dead guys," preferring to preserve some sense of their dignity. The reporter asks why go through all this effort, and he replies, "We cannot leave this body on our fields, on our streets or another place. It is not normal." This small example of human dignity in the midst of an inhuman war reminded me of another biblical purification rite involving a heifer and a corpse. In Deuteronomy 21, we read:

Heschel said, "In a free society, some our guilty, all are responsible." This ritual, however strange, reminds us that if we come across a calamity, even if we didn't cause it, even if it's outside our area of prime responsibility, we are obligated not to ignore it - especially if it involves a death. The Russians have retreated without taking the corpses of their comrades with them, whether out of fear of causing panic back home, sheer denial or simply reflecting the wishes and character of their nihilistic leader. The Ukrainians are providing a more dignified repatriation, in line with the values espoused by the Torah. What the Russians are doing to their dead brothers, and what they are doing to their Ukrainian cousins, is not normal. May we all possess such caring hands as those of the deputy mayor of Dnipro, and may those caring hands purify our hearts, as the season of liberation approaches.

Should Russia's War Be Compared to the Holocaust? Why are Israelis Really So Angry at Zelensky?

The screaming headlines from Israel’s newspapers said it all, quoting Prime Minister Naftali Bennett: "Zelensky is fighting for his nation's survival, but it is forbidden to compare the Holocaust to anything else."  Volodymyr Zelensky was crying for help from his bunker when he addressed the Knesset on Sunday. Yet while Kyiv literally burned, Israelis fiddled with the Ukrainian president’s misguided use of the term, “Final Solution.” How is it that this icon of democratic values and steadfast self-determination, who would have been the envy of Israel’s founders, felt the wrath of Israel over a couple of misplaced words of an otherwise galvanizing speech? Something is happening here, and it has little to do with the Holocaust.  This overreaction demonstrates that Israelis have no idea what to do with a man who has turned Zionism on its head. Zelensky is the antithesis of what was supposed to happen in a dying diaspora – and in Ukraine of all places, the deadest of the dying diasporas. He represents a new form of Jewish hero, more Mordechai than Maccabee, combining the courage and battlefield prowess of the IDF with the chutzpah and street smarts of Ukrainian-born Golda Meir, whom he quoted in his Knesset speech, along with the transformational, earth-moving faith of another Ukrainian Jew, Reb Nachman of Bratzlav, whom he also referenced. Diaspora Jews are supposed to be disheveled shlemiels and good fundraisers and maybe occasionally smart politicians and media stars. This guy is all of the above and more.  He’s a hero, in the way that Israelis used to be heroes. He’s Moshe Dayan and Yoni Netanyahu – and he’s Jon Stewart too. And, to top it off, he’s a political leader who isn’t standing trial for corruption. Who knew? And that’s driving Israelis crazy. Here's the perfect partner that your child brings home, and the parents are complaining, “Yes, but he’s not a doctor!” And to top it off, they refuse to give Iron Dome as a wedding present, and they want to invite Putin to the wedding. Zelensky has been pitch-perfect in addressing government gatherings throughout the world. But when he addressed the Knesset last Sunday, he touched that third rail when he compared Russia's actions against his country to the Holocaust. Specifically, he appealed that Russians are aiming for a "final solution" for his people. Zelensky was not totally wrong about that. But “genocide” is the word he should have used. There was only one "Final Solution." For decades, we’ve all had to navigate verbal minefields to avoid using that term. Israeli-Palestinian peace plans always include provisions for a "Final Status" agreement; never a "Final Solution." Synonyms like "end result" or "ultimate consequence" have found their way into the vernacular to replace the Holocaust expression that rolls so effortlessly off the tongue. So Zelensky, who lost family members during the Holocaust and who successfully compared this conflict to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor when addressing Congress, and to Dunkirk when speaking to the British Parliament, slipped up here. It was an unforced error but give the guy a break! The energy with which Israeli politicians pounced on this modern Jewish hero who has done more to save democracy than anyone since Churchill, was even more tone deaf than Zelensky's remark. It's even greater chutzpah for the Israeli government to act so offended when the state is now aligning itself squarely on the side of neutrality, at a time when even Switzerland - Switzerland! - has taken a side. They are choosing the way of Kissinger realpolitik when a strong Wiesel-like moral stance would be both morally right and politically prudent, at a time when Congress is voting on a 4.8-billion-dollar security package for Israel. Neutrality in the face of evil is itself evil; and to Putin, it reeks of weakness. Perhaps a month ago neutrality might have made sense - perhaps. But now, who cares if Israel is the peace broker? Others can take up that mantle. Ukrainians and the world need to see Israel being a true beacon of justice here - precisely because of the Holocaust. Because of the Final Solution. Zelensky's analogy was spot on; he just used the wrong words. This battle between good and evil is every bit as fateful as the one fought 80 years ago. Call it what you want, but Putin is aiming to annihilate the Ukrainian people, which incidentally, includes tens of thousands of Jews. This enemy has proven himself to be every bit as craven as the one the allies defeated in World War Two. Zelensky should be absolutely embraced by his fellow Jews, not relegated to a Hollywood Squares Zoom session with nit-picky Knesset members looking for gotcha quotes. He is the ultimate Jewish hero envisioned by Herzl and the founders of Zionism. He's the ghetto fighter who survives in the bunker. But they can’t stomach that he's a product of the exile, a diaspora Jew who has stolen their mojo. When hundreds of thousands of Jews left for Israel after the Soviet Union fell, Zelensky's family stayed behind in the land of Golda and Reb Nachman and Bialik. He chose to continue to identify proudly as a Jew and yet won a national election by a landslide. He reduced corruption and antisemitism in his country. His army could give the IDF a run for its money. And he's not afraid to take on Putin alone. All of this makes Israel look like the diaspora weakling begging the Russian bully to return their lunch money in Syria. Zelensky has turned Zionism on its head, and that's why Israeli politicians are treating him with such disdain, when they should in fact be embracing him, as everyone else in the free world is, including American Jews across the political spectrum. He got a standing O in Washington. He got a muted Zoom wave in Jerusalem. There is still time to change that. Ukraine still needs what Israel has to offer. And this war has not yet reached its final…resolution. Pilgrimage to Jewish Ukraine Spotlight on Berdichev

Members of the Bene Tsiyon (Sons of Zion) society with visiting writer Sholem Aleichem (second row from front, fifth from left) and composer Mark Varshavski (third from left), Berdichev (now Berdychiv, Ukr.), 1900. (YIVO) One of the hidden gems of Jewish Ukraine is the city of Berdichev, about a three hour drive west of Kyiv and 25 miles south of Zhytomir, a site of nearly daily Russian bombardment. Last week, Berdichev (also spelled Berdychiv) was also attacked. Another holy place desecrated. According to the census of 1789, Jews constituted 75% of Berdychiv's population (1,951 out of 2,640, of whom 246 were liquor dealers, 452 houseowners, 134 merchants, 188 artisans, 150 clerks and 56 idlers). Around the turn of the 20th century, Berdichev counted some 80 synagogues and Jewish schools and was famous for its cantors. At that time it was an epicenter of constant debate between Hasidim, Mitnagdim (their rationalist, legalist opponents) and Maskilim (proponents of the Enlightenment). Throw in some socialists Zionists and Yiddishists - like Shalom Aleichem - and it was quite a volatile mix, Jewish culture at its absolute zenith. You can read all about the history of Jewish Berdichev at this website. The most influential Jew to come from there was Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev (1740–1809) who transformed it into one of the great early centers of Hasidism. Following an old tradition that dates back to Abraham, Levi Yitzchak was known to challenge God. One Rosh Hashanah he went far beyond that, actually putting God on trial. (And you think I have chutzpah!) He claimed that God had no right to extend Israel's exile when other more sinful nations were allowed to live in peace and prosperity. The verdict is rendered: "guilty," after which the rabbi rises to praise God's name by saying Kaddish. Elie Wiesel wrote of such a trial actually happening among the prisoners at Auschwitz. Musical renditions of this "Kaddish of Levi Yitzchak" became staples of cantorial repertoires around the world. Here's an example of how that "Kaddish" has resonated far beyond its original setting. One could imagine Levi Yitzchak repeating his emotional appeal, with his hometown facing renewed devastation from the skies. He raised his fist to the heavens to defend his people - such was his sense of compassion and devotion. He also had a keen sense of humor, as is seen in this story, with which I'll conclude this tribute to Berdichev, another magical place being trampled upon by the Russian oppressors. R. Levi Yitzhak’s every pronouncement was punctuated by a love for the Jewish people. When R. Levi Yitzhak once chanced upon a Jew standing in the street on Shabbat and smoking a cigarette, he did not approach the young man with harsh admonishment: “My beloved brother, you probably do not realize that today is the holy Shabbat.” The smoker responded in a belligerent tone: “I know that today is Shabbat,” and demonstratively placed the cigarette back in his mouth. “Then, dear friend, you probably do not realize that it is forbidden to smoke on the holy Shabbat.” “I know that it is Shabbat and I know that it is forbidden to smoke on Shabbat!” replied the smoker cantankerously as he exhaled puffs of smoke. Seeking some line of defense, R. Levi Yitzhak’s brow became knitted for a moment until suddenly his eyes lit up and with a satisfied grin he said: “My friend, you must be ill and the doctors have told you that the only remedy for your health is to smoke and you must smoke even on Shabbat because of your life-threatening condition!”  The Shabbat smoker’s eyes were ablaze as he aggressively responded: “I am perfectly healthy, I know it is Shabbat and I know that it is forbidden to smoke on Shabbat.” And with that he blew smoke straight into the face of the Berditchever Rebbe. R. Levi Yitzhak raised his eyes heavenward and called out to God: “Master of the universe! Look how unbelievably worthy Your children are: They will smoke on Shabbat, but they would never dare to tell a lie!”

Recommended Reading Israel jumps to 9th in World Happiness index, its highest-ever ranking (Times of Israel) Finland again tops the UN-sponsored list, with the US in 16th, Britain 17th, France 20th; research was completed before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Why Jewish refugees from Ukraine are choosing Germany over Israel (Haaretz) With much of the Jewish world focusing on Ukrainian refugees fleeing for Israel in what could become the largest aliyah wave in decades, a key aspect of the Ukrainian-Jewish refugee crisis has been largely ignored: the growing numbers of refugees who are automatically eligible for Israeli citizenship who choose to wait out the war in Germany or even settle there permanently. Over 400 Companies have left Russia, but some remain (Yale School of Management) See the full list of companies that have left and those who refuse to participate in the boycott. Synagogues of Ukraine, Past and Present (Explore 18 of them) His Software Sang the Word of God Then it Went Silent - Who was Thomas Buchler, the late creator of beloved Torah program TropeTrainer? And can anything be done to revive his life’s work? You can now listen to the soundtrack of "Encanto" in Hebrew Clowns help mend the broken spirits of Ukrainian refugees Israeli medical clowns are bringing a much-needed moment of levity and calm to Ukrainian refugees in seven shelters in Moldova. Israel opens humanitarian field hospital in war-torn Ukraine

Shabbat Shalom!  Rabbi Joshua Hammerman 

Temple Beth El

In This Moment: March 4, 2022: Our Brother Calls; So what can we do? Judaism's Groundhog Month

In This Moment

Click above to hear her plea.

Shabbat Shalom In the midst of the global crisis unfolding in Ukraine, this Shabbat presents us with a moment of calm, a true oasis in time, where this week, we'll replenish our spirit to the soothing sounds of Lisa Tannenbaum's harp, in person or online. But this Shabbat is also a call to action. This the first day of Adar 2, our leap month. Purim, which occurs in two weeks, is a holiday of joy, but joy that results from dramatic courageous action. Mordechai says to Esther in chapter 4: 13-14, the key lines of the entire book, that this is the time to, as they say, spring forward.  See those verses below, as we leap into action on this first of Adar 2

Our Brother Calls Us

We are our brother's keeper and right now, he is calling out to us from a bunker in Kyiv. For Jews to come to the aid of all Ukrainians right now is a matter of universal principle as well as family responsibility. The two have become inseparable. It's a twist that is nearly unprecedented: a purely Jewish story, with its particularistic focus, completely intertwined with an expanded universal story, with its global implications. The two have merged. We need to save all Ukrainians and we need to save Jews - and we need to save the world from Putin-driven fascism and autocracy, once and for all. "Nazism is borne in silence," Volodymyr Zelensky cried out to Jews this week. It is a lesson we know all too well. There is a strong universal message here, but at the core of everything for us is the cry of our own brother's blood. And it was driven home with the attack on Babi Yar. And there is no doubt that the Russians knew what they were hitting. The TV tower they ostensibly aimed for isn't just nearby - it's right there. (Why it's in the same place is an interesting question, possibly going back to the days of Soviet Holocaust denial.) President Zelensky wrote a personal plea to the Jewish people yesterday, and he published it on his Facebook page...in Hebrew. On Tuesday, an aide was interviewed on Israeli television from the bunker. In Hebrew. Not since the biblical Joseph has an international leader appealed to his brothers and sisters, the people of Israel, in their own language. Joseph's goal was to save his family and the world. While amassing nearly unmatched power and inordinate respect, he never forgot where he came from. Zelensky's challenge to the Jewish people is echoed in this plea from a Ukrainian Jew in Ha'aretz. ...This undermines the moral foundation of Israel’s endless claims regarding the world’s inaction during the Holocaust: why the world remained silent, why Auschwitz wasn’t bombed, why the gates were closed to Jewish refugees. And to add ironic insult to injury, on the day Western countries imposed stiff economic sanctions on Russia and its oligarchs, in Israel they were rushing to spare (Russian oligarch) Roman Abramovich because he’s giving tens of millions to Yad Vashem. As you read Zelensky's FB posting below, ask yourself one question: Our brother is calling to us.... What are we going to do about it?

So what can we do?

Humanitarian assistance goes without saying. Continue to give, to assist the refugees, (Jews and non-Jews), feed the hungry and heal the wounded. Israel too is providing a field hospital for Ukraine (Israeli field hospitals are ranked #1 in the world). But that isn't enough. Ukraine and the civilized world cannot afford to lose this war. There is precious little wiggle room here, even for Putin to save face. His defeat must be conclusive. So what can be done? Here are some suggestions... President Zelensky must be protected, even as he stays in Kyiv. He's become a symbol of the resistance. Putin must understand that turning his foe into a martyr would be a grave mistake, but since when has anyone accused Putin of being rational? Zelensky can be protected with more weapons, to be sure, and we should get him more. But he can be insulated in other ways too. He should be elevated with honor. Heap awards on him, he deserves them. Presidential Medal of Freedom? President Biden, give it to him today. Nobel Peace Prize? He's going to win it anyway. Why not now - while he's alive to enjoy it? The Genesis Prize, given by Israel to a Jew who has made a deep contribution to the world and the Jewish people? Yeah. He should get that too. What Israel needs to do: Zelensky should have gotten the Genesis Prize already, though I suspect he'd prefer that Israel had sent him some Iron Dome batteries instead - and other weapons too, which Israel, to its shame, refused to sell to Ukraine a few weeks ago. If Ukraine loses this war, heaven forbid, Israel's reluctance to go all-in for freedom and saving lives, when it had the chance, will forever be a stain on all Jews. We'll forever have to answer why so little was done when Babi Yar was bombed. I understand why Israel didn't want to poke the bear a few weeks ago, given it's need to keep Syrian airspace open. but by now, with even Switzerland hopping off the fence, Israel should be in there with more than medics. Who knows...maybe they are in there and we just don't know it. According to a prominent Ukrainian Jew writing in Ha'aretz today, here's what Israel needs to do right now: Follow on from its UN vote condemning Russia’s invasion, Israel’s leaders must publicly condemn Putin’s war   Join the West’s sanctions against Russian oligarchs close to Putin who have economic interests and representatives in Israel  Cancel all military contracts with Russian subcontractors  Ban Israeli military and IT companies from aiding the Russian war machine, including a ban on cooperating with any Russian business in the sphere of cyber security, software development and military technology. Clear out the IDF’s warehouses of equipment that is no longer is current use and transfer it to Ukraine: Helmets, vests, uniforms, military radios, particularly for the use of home front civil defenders, who are in desperate need  Israeli anti-rocket radar: Identifies Russian rockets trajectories and which could save lives  Lethal weapons: Galil rifles, operational but no longer IDF current issue; AR15 rifles, Spike – an Israeli fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile; MATADOR – a portable, disposable anti-armor weapon system, as well as medical kits for soldiers Organize a group of Shaldag special unit commandos to evacuate Jewish refugees from the most dangerous areas of Ukraine.

Israeli and American illiberals have to get over their infatuation with Putin. The election poster you see to the left dominated the Tel Aviv skyline just last year. And prominent Americans were calling Putin a genius just last week. The heads of state who promoted the Cult of Putinesca in Israel and America are no longer leading their countries (and both are facing rather stiff legal challenges I hear), and former Putin wannabees in Turkey, Poland and Hungary are belatedly getting the message. We can all give our Putin-phile friends plenty of runway for a soft landing. Lindsay Graham now says it was "a mistake" to call Putin a genius. All is forgiven - well, almost all - but now is the time for everyone to get off the Putin Plane, because it is veering toward a calamitous crash. Now is the time to hug your favorite oligarchs, and get them to publicly disavow the hand that has fed them. That hand is murdering children. We should actively boycott all things Russian. Long ago, I resolved never to visit Russia as long as Putin was in power. But now it has become everyone's patriotic duty to make Putin pay and to encourage the Russian people to rise up. Time to dump that Russian vodka and feed that caviar to the cat. Here's a list of boycotts currently underway. Alexei Navalny has called out from his prison cell (where he had the courage to call Putin "obviously insane"), imploring Russians all over the world to take to the streets in protest every day. We need to encourage that, and heap praise on those who show such courage. it's never been easy to be Russian and no anger should be directed against ordinary folks - but they have a responsibility to the world to do what only they can do: force a change from within. We should pray for Ukraine. Every day. Here's one in the spirit of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy, written by Brandeis professor, Reuven Kimelman. We should pressure our lawmakers to do more. There is always more that can be done. I understand why NATO con't impose a no fly zone, but look at how Turkey has closed off the Dardanelles to Russian ships - and other ships too, but it's the Russian ones that matter. They're in NATO, but that provocation is somehow not starting World War Three. And I hear that our CIA is pretty good at secret ops. Time to get creative. Someone's got to be able to blow up those forty mile long sitting duck convoys. Geez, do we have to send Parnas and Fruman back? We've got to hit the Russian energy sector harder. Saving democracy is worth a few more pennies at the pump, but Americans need to be prepared for that sacrifice. That advertising campaign should already have begun. Let's take the current spirit of bipartisanship as far as it can go, to give everyone political cover. Helping Ukraine now is both a moral must and an existential imperative. Hug a Russian soldier. EU officials are considering offering asylum and refugee status for soldiers who want to desert the Russian army, as long as they have not committed war crimes.

Embrace Ukrainians. Understand that of all the countries that have checkered pasts regarding Jews, Ukraine has come the furthest. Yes, there was complicity during the Holocaust, along with acts of incredible courage by righteous gentiles. Even during the Holocaust, not every Ukrainian was Ivan the Terrible, the notorious Treblinka guard. Alexander Vindman came from Ukraine. So did Prokofiev, Trotsky and Oksana Baiul. Their Jewish president received 73 percent of the vote. See the chart below, proof that Ukraine has no need at all for "de-Nazification." Take a look to that big bear of a country to its north - that's where fascism needs to be rooted out.

Judaism's Groundhog Month Begins Today!

How often have we heard that familiar refrain this past year: "My, the holidays are early." Ever since Passover snuck in like a lamb last March, the crescendo has been building. With Rosh Hashanah linked to Labor Day and Chanukah to Thanksgiving the cry continued for months on end.  But now, it’s about to change. The month of Adar, which began on the first of February, is replicating itself today, which will return our calendars to "normal." Except then, everything in this new normal will be deemed "late." During Jewish leap years, Adar is our Mulligan Month, an entire month that we get to do over. It's as if Adar came out of the ground and saw its shadow. In a leap year, Yahrzeits can get confusing. (Generally, it depends whether your loved one died in a leap year, and if not, we observe the date in Adar 1. But if you have a question, ask. I'll get back to you in a month). Purim is always in Adar 2, but otherwise, we’ll have two of all things Adar. Since Adar is our most joyous month, we get a double dose of happiness, just what the doctor ordered in the midst of a brutal winter, complete with pandemic and the current clash of civilizations taking place in Europe. With our brains and bodies stuck on the monotonous, relentless tick of secular time, it's natural to wonder if the Jewish holidays ever fall on schedule. But when life sways to the rhythms of the Jewish calendar, the question never arises. For most, the idea of Jewish time has more to do with tardy board meetings than an intricate system of ritual, emotion and instruction affixed to the cycles of nature. The hour has come for Jews to begin living on Jewish time. Until we begin thinking of Rosh Hashanah as neither early or late, but right on target -- two months after Tisha b'Av and half a year from Passover -- we're grafting Judaism artificially into a corner of our beings. For Judaism to breathe, it must be lived on its own terms, on its own schedule.  Want to understand the Jewish calendar? Here goes: The ancient rabbis calculated the lunar month to be 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3.33 seconds (and they were less than a half a second off). The year consists of 12 of those months, or approximately 354 days. With the secular, solar calendar lasting 365 days, the lunar calendar falls 11 days behind the solar -- one each year. The rabbis figured that an additional month should be added seven times in each 19-year cycle in order to keep agricultural festivals in their seasons. Passover must come in the spring and Sukkot in the fall (unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere, but let's not complicate things). The sages actually were a little off in these calculations, or Passover would be celebrated in June. Fortunately, that's one of those problems we can afford to leave to subsequent generations, like the national debt and the location of Jimmy Hoffa. The extra month is added during the winter of the third, sixth, eighth, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of the cycle. Notice that leap years are usually three years apart, but occasionally two. Since we're now in the 6th year of the cycle, we've gone six years since the last two-year interval (years 17 and 19). That means we've had fewer leap years recently, therefore we've been losing more days to the secular calendar. The 17th year always has the earliest Rosh Hashanah, and the 9th year (because it's preceded by the greatest frequency of leap years) the latest. Get it? Sorry you asked? Now isn't it so much easier just to live on Jewish time rather than trying to understand it? How often do we ask ourselves about the logic of the secular calendar, which has a new year that occurs when nothing at all is changing and new days begin at an arbitrary hour, midnight, when few are awake to appreciate it? Give me a calendar that asks us to turn inward in the fall, just as the weather outside is nudging us precisely in that direction, and one that expels us from winter's hibernation in the spring, to the pulsating poetry of "Song of Songs" and the drama of national release, and one that always promises the moon's return to ripeness, no matter how dark things seem. For inhabitants of secular time, the only dilemmas occur when July 4 doesn't create a three-day weekend or when New Years Day falls on a Sunday. When do they collect garbage? When can they play football? Speaking of football, the only thing that compares to the rhythm of the Jewish year, with all its rituals and pageantry, is the American sports calendar. As a young boy growing up in the Boston area, fall meant three things: playing football, stuffing those delicious marble cake slices from the synagogue sukkah into my jacket pocket and watching someone other than the Red Sox win the World Series (things have changed!). Spring meant sneaking out of school to attend opening day at Fenway, usually with a matzah sandwich crumbling in my book bag. Now this year, we might miss the baseball season entirely, which will throw off our internal clocks completely. Seasonal rituals don't normally die easily, because we need them as a constant by which to measure our years. We need the Seder table as a gauge of how the family has evolved, to see who is sitting where this year. Our lives spin around these sacred moments.  It's really not so difficult to convert over to Jewish time. It's not like Celsius or kilometers or changing dollars to shekels. There's a very easy way to integrate the Jewish calendar into the rhythm of your life: Go out and buy one. Or go to Hebcal.com and download it. When you do, something remarkable will begin to happen. Your moods will shift and undulate, responding to events that occurred centuries ago. Holidays will arrive neither early nor late, and each week will flow into Shabbat none too soon. And what is Jewish continuity but the transmission of the cadences of Jewish life from one generation to the next? I am often asked, will the American Jewish community be around in the next century? To which I respond: Sure. The next century is only 18 years away - 5800. And there is one other thing that is certain. As long as there are any Jews left on this planet, meetings will still begin 15 minutes late.  Or will they? Ever since our meetings migrated to Zoom, Jews have become amazingly punctual. Who knew we would become the Punctual People! That is, until we move the clocks forward in two weeks.

Recommended Reading

The Many Meanings of Shalom. Shalom is often translated as "peace" and can also be used to say hello or goodbye in Hebrew, but the word carries even deeper connotations.  Adar's is no ordinary joy. More than the joy derived from a fortunate event, more than the delight in a pleasing break in the monotonous ordinary, it is the joy of transformation. It is the joy of the bitter turned sweet, of the adverse converted into a positive force. We Break Down that Mrs Maisel Bar Mitzvah Episode (Kveller) The episode, which also ushers in the return of beloved Jewish comedian Lenny Bruce and Jason Alexander as Abe’s friend Asher Friedman, features the Jewish rite of passage at the Maisels’ and Weissmans’ synagogue. 5 Types of People in Your Church - Lifeway Research There are five types of church members: generational, confrontational, recreational, relational, and devotional. Which one are you? Pandemic Forces Change in How We Worship (Stamford Advocate) As we return to a new normal, some aspects of worship have changed forever.

Guest speaker Roberta Kwall will discuss her book "Remix Judaism" on Tuesday at 7. You can read her essay, A Remixed Yahrzeit. Some praise for her book: . . . "a helpful and innovative framework for those thinking about how American Judaism can survive and flourish. [Kwall] succeeds from the off at achieving her stated goal of introducing the "teachings and practices of the Jewish tradition in a way that comports with the sensibilities of Jews who are not, and likely never will be, observant by conventional measures." — Publishers Weekly   In our polarized world ... Roberta Kwall has found a way ...to reach a hand out to liberal and secular Jews, talking in a respectful way about how anybody can integrate Jewish practices into the well-lived life. Kwall is a pal, a teacher, and the ultimate Jewish life coach.— Mark Oppenheimer, host, Tablet Magazine's Unorthodox podcast; author of "Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood"                     Remix Judaism might as well be called "Recharge Judaism," because Kwall wakes us up, reminds us why Judaism powerfully endures ... and connects us to a powerful inheritance that's worth prioritizing. This accessible, wise, important book should be on every shelf. — Abigail Pogrebin, author of "My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew" and "Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish"                       Remix Judaism speaks to a moment of sharp Jewish polarity, when a vast majority of Jews tell pollsters that being Jewish is more important than doing Jewish. — Andrew Silow-Carroll, Editor of The New York Jewish Week

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