By Nathan Guttman
Tue. Dec 09, 2008
Washington — For most of the world, the recent terrorist murders in Mumbai were a terrible tragedy. But for Jack Rosen there was an additional personal disappointment.
The government of Pakistan, he pointed out, offered no word of condolence regarding the Jewish victims of the attack.
To be sure, Pakistan offered no specific public condolence either to the United States and Great Britain, whose citizens were also especially targeted by the Mumbai terrorists, according to survivors’ accounts. But Rosen, chairman of the American Jewish Congress, has spearheaded Jewish outreach to Pakistan’s leaders through his related group, the Council for World Jewry. And Pakistan’s failure to reach out to Jews, he said, represented a tremendous missed opportunity.
“This will force us to take a step back here,” he said. “It was always a hard sell, and it is a little harder now… It helps reinforce the worst stereotypes and perceptions Americans and many members of our community have of the Pakistanis.”
Rosen’s response was not a universal one in the Jewish community. Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Conn., and a prominent Conservative rabbi, warned against a Jewish and Israeli inclination to focus too much on the Jewish dimension of the atrocity, calling this a “grave mistake.”
The attack, he said on his blog, was “first and foremost, on India, and on Western civilization. We Jews have something to offer the world, gained from centuries of experience at being hated for no reason other than that we stand up for life and innocence. Now the world is ready to listen to us — but they can only listen to us if we take our eyes off our own navels and engage them, acknowledging that their suffering is as great as ours.”
But Rosen has been focused for years on bringing Pakistan’s relations with Israel and world Jewry closer. Here, the main drawback facing relations between Jews and Pakistan’s 170 million Muslims is not the outburst of deadly violence last month, but broader developments that preceded it — including, ironically, the formal restoration of democracy and departure of Pakistan’s autocratic former president Pervez Musharraf last August.
Under Musharaff, a strong supporter of ties with the Jewish community, contacts between Pakistan and American Jewish and Israeli officials have been going on behind the scenes for more than a decade. For a moment, in late 2005, activists believed ties had reached a turning point.
That year, Musharaff attended a public dinner with Jewish leaders in New York sponsored by Rosen. This was followed by a handshake with the Israeli prime minister and a meeting in Turkey between the foreign ministers of Israel and Pakistan.
But the diplomatic honeymoon was short. Although talks and meetings — conducted mainly by Rosen and a handful of activists from the AJCongress —continued, public gestures were scarce.
This was due in part to increasing pressure from the West to take action against Al-Qaeda, whose leaders are believed to have taken refuge in the country’s Northwest Frontier Province. That led to a fierce domestic pushback by extreme Islamists. Increasingly, the central government feared open ties with Jewish activists and continuation of the courting game with Israel could further destabilize an already shaky regime.
Pakistan agreed to accept assistance from Israel after the 2005 earthquake and, that year, hosted Jewish leaders in Islamabad. But Musharraf, who saw these outreach efforts as part of his “enlightened moderation” approach to Islam, did not try again to showcase these relations.
When Musharaff, under pressure from a grassroots democratic movement, agreed to elections earlier this year, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, on the eve of her return from self-imposed exile, seemed open to deepening ties when she met with Jewish communal leaders in New York. But Bhutto was assassinated last December, shortly after her return.
The current Pakistani government, led by democratically elected president Asif Ali Zardari and prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani has put the relations on a back burner. During Gillani’s recent visit to Washinton, Rosen was invited to a small dinner in the prime minister’s honor. But visits to Pakistan were put off.
Still, Rosen believes in the future of ties with Pakistan despite his disappointment about the lack of outreach after Mumbai. “It is in our interest as Americans and as Jews to foster good relations with the Pakistanis and to make sure these events don’t distract us,” Rosen said.
But once again, broader developments — specifically, a change of policy in Washington — might make this more difficult. President-elect Barack Obama has stressed during his campaign that he believes America has the right in certain cases to go after terror targets inside Pakistan. For Pakistani leaders battling internal resistance both from extremists and from its own security service, these remarks could result in a stronger urge to distance themselves from the U.S. and the West.
A Jewish businessman, recently returned from Pakistan, said that while there is no doubt about the willingness of Pakistani leadership to maintain ties with the Jewish community and Israel, calls for high-profile engagement could be counter-productive. “They prefer doing things quietly,” said the businessman who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of his ties with Pakistani leadership. ”If you ask for a public gesture, it is a death sentence for Zardari.”
Calls to the Pakistani embassy for reaction were not answered.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
TBE Israel Adventure 2009
Click here to see the full, interactive itinerary for our TBE Israel Adventure, which is now set for December, 2009. Reservations are being taken now, with deposits fully refundable until Feb. 4, after the airfares are known. E-mail me for reservation forms, at rabbi@tbe.org.
TBE Bar/ Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Sophie Koester on Vayetze
Two of the most important events of my life have taken place over the last two weeks: today, of course, I become bat mitzvah. And two weeks ago, November 21st to be exact, an event ALMOST as important, the premier of the most important movie ever made..."TWILIGHT."
For those few of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, "Twilight" is ONLY the most popular, great, beloved novel ever written since Harry Potter. It’s about a human girl who falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. I know what you’re thinking…A: vampires aren’t nice. Why would someone fall in love with them? and B: Why in the world is she talking about this at her bat mitzvah?
The rabbi was asking me the same thing! Well, it turns out that A: there are some nice vampires who happen to live in Forks, Washington. And B: there are many surprising connections between vampires, Judaism, and my portion.
My portion’s name, “Vayetzei” means “And he went out”, describing how Jacob ran away from his homeland and his very angry brother, Esau. At the end of the portion, Jacob is returning to his home, this time with four wives, thirteen kids, and a whole lot of goats and sheep. Just like Jacob, and the rest of the Jewish people for that matter, vampires are always coming and going. They can’t stay in one place for too long a time because people get suspicious that they never age. The Jewish people have been around for a long time, too. People have often been suspicious of us because of our ability to overcome endless obstacles.
As with Jews, there have been many false rumors and myths about vampires. These stereotypes aren’t always true. For instance, vampires don’t have fangs and they don’t sleep during the day. In fact, they don’t sleep at all! And, there are some who don’t even like to drink human blood. They live off animal blood instead.
According to the Torah, Jews are forbidden to consume blood. Unfortunately, in the Middle Ages, rumors went around that Jews used the blood of Christian children to make their matzah. This was called “The Blood Libel”, and some even spread this horrible rumor today. Because of this rumor, some folk tales have connected Jews to vampires.
Interestingly, for Jews as well as vampires, the most important time of day is twilight. For vampires, twilight is bittersweet because they are saying goodbye to another day and then welcoming a new one. Vampires celebrate quietly, sometimes going out and watching the sky. Jewish days also begin and end at twilight. On Shabbat especially, we celebrate quietly by welcoming the Shabbat Bride and we watch Shabbat leave us the next night by going outside and waiting for three stars to appear.
In the book, one of the major themes is risk. Edward loves Bella so much that he realizes he can’t get too close to her or he could harm her. The love between Jacob and Rachel involves similar risks. In both cases, though, there’s a happy ending. Both couples get married and both women lose their lives in childbirth, only Bella becomes a vampire and Rachel becomes a symbol of motherhood.
Another theme is change. Vampires can’t change. They can’t even have kids. But Jews believe in change, and that every new generation can help to repair the world. So as I become a bat mitzvah today, I realize I would much rather be a Jew than a vampire.
While each vampire lives forever, I also know that the Jewish people will live forever. As I become bat mitzvah, I realize that it’s now my responsibility to help make that happen.
For my mitzvah project, I’ve been volunteering at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center farm, feeding, cleaning up after, and playing with the animals who live there. I also took pictures of the animals there and created greeting cards on the computer. I sold these greeting cards, and I am donating the money to the Israeli Center for the Blind to sponsor a dog and to the Mo-Bear fund, which helps sick and neglected dogs.
For those few of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, "Twilight" is ONLY the most popular, great, beloved novel ever written since Harry Potter. It’s about a human girl who falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. I know what you’re thinking…A: vampires aren’t nice. Why would someone fall in love with them? and B: Why in the world is she talking about this at her bat mitzvah?
The rabbi was asking me the same thing! Well, it turns out that A: there are some nice vampires who happen to live in Forks, Washington. And B: there are many surprising connections between vampires, Judaism, and my portion.
My portion’s name, “Vayetzei” means “And he went out”, describing how Jacob ran away from his homeland and his very angry brother, Esau. At the end of the portion, Jacob is returning to his home, this time with four wives, thirteen kids, and a whole lot of goats and sheep. Just like Jacob, and the rest of the Jewish people for that matter, vampires are always coming and going. They can’t stay in one place for too long a time because people get suspicious that they never age. The Jewish people have been around for a long time, too. People have often been suspicious of us because of our ability to overcome endless obstacles.
As with Jews, there have been many false rumors and myths about vampires. These stereotypes aren’t always true. For instance, vampires don’t have fangs and they don’t sleep during the day. In fact, they don’t sleep at all! And, there are some who don’t even like to drink human blood. They live off animal blood instead.
According to the Torah, Jews are forbidden to consume blood. Unfortunately, in the Middle Ages, rumors went around that Jews used the blood of Christian children to make their matzah. This was called “The Blood Libel”, and some even spread this horrible rumor today. Because of this rumor, some folk tales have connected Jews to vampires.
Interestingly, for Jews as well as vampires, the most important time of day is twilight. For vampires, twilight is bittersweet because they are saying goodbye to another day and then welcoming a new one. Vampires celebrate quietly, sometimes going out and watching the sky. Jewish days also begin and end at twilight. On Shabbat especially, we celebrate quietly by welcoming the Shabbat Bride and we watch Shabbat leave us the next night by going outside and waiting for three stars to appear.
In the book, one of the major themes is risk. Edward loves Bella so much that he realizes he can’t get too close to her or he could harm her. The love between Jacob and Rachel involves similar risks. In both cases, though, there’s a happy ending. Both couples get married and both women lose their lives in childbirth, only Bella becomes a vampire and Rachel becomes a symbol of motherhood.
Another theme is change. Vampires can’t change. They can’t even have kids. But Jews believe in change, and that every new generation can help to repair the world. So as I become a bat mitzvah today, I realize I would much rather be a Jew than a vampire.
While each vampire lives forever, I also know that the Jewish people will live forever. As I become bat mitzvah, I realize that it’s now my responsibility to help make that happen.
For my mitzvah project, I’ve been volunteering at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center farm, feeding, cleaning up after, and playing with the animals who live there. I also took pictures of the animals there and created greeting cards on the computer. I sold these greeting cards, and I am donating the money to the Israeli Center for the Blind to sponsor a dog and to the Mo-Bear fund, which helps sick and neglected dogs.
Friday, December 5, 2008
The Lessons of Mumbai
In the midst of the justifiable outrage over last week’s terror attacks in Mumbai, it has been all too tempting to focus on the way Jews were targeted unlike any other group. The deaths of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka have been the focus of so much grief, again justifiably. In Israel, the Holtzbergs are being treated as national heroes. Yossi Klein Halevi wrote in the The New Republic, “In embracing the Holtzbergs, Israelis were restoring to the national ethos the old concept of kiddush hashem, religious martyrdom.” Halevi contrasts the reaction to the Holtzbergs’ deaths with the tepid response for another victim of Mumbai, the anti-Zionist Satmer hasid Leibish Teitelbaum, whose family wouldn’t allow his casket to be draped in the Israeli flag.
We’ve long known that we are the canary in the mine shaft of hatred and terror, but the focus on Jewish suffering here is also a gross generalization that clouds some important facts, in particular that Americans and British were also specifically singled out by the terrorists. The fact that an American cultural center wasn’t picked as a target does not mean that they were less the focus of the terrorists’ irrational hate.
Now this won’t make American Jews any more comfortable – it’s wonderful to know that we are doubly despised. But none of this is new to us. I believe it is a grave mistake to focus on the particularly Jewish aspects of this murder, when it was an attack, first and foremost, on India, and on western civilization. We Jews have something to offer the world, gained from centuries of experience at being hated for no reason other than that we stand up for life and innocence. Now the world is ready to listen to us – but they can only listen to us if we take our eyes off our own navels and engage them, acknowledging that their suffering is as great as ours.
The fact that the Holtzberg child will now be an orphan makes it all too tempting to use him as the poster child for Jewish victimization. All that will accomplish, in my mind, is to train our children to hate. I would not want to see him become the Jewish version of Muhammad Al Dura, that Palestinian child falsely used as the symbol of alleged Israeli oppression. It has since been proven that he was not shot by Israeli bullets; but I’m talking here not about the method or intent of the death, but rather the use of a child, any child, for propagandistic purposes. I just hope that Moshe Holtzberg will be allowed to grow up in peace. At his parents’ funeral, Moshe was called by one eulogizer “the child of all Israel.” Of course all Israel feels great compassion and sympathy for Moshe. But I beg those who now care for him to please let Moshe simply be a child, not a poster child, not a symbol. We have enough symbols.
After all, Moshe, unlike most martyrs, is alive. If anything, I would hope that the tragedy of the Holtzbergs might call attention to his dead sibling, and his other, hospitalized one, who are victims of Tay Sachs disease. This well known disease effects primarily Ashkenazi Jews, is always fatal and brings only the most cruel, painful death, usually by age four. It is not curable but it is preventable, through genetic screening. I am loath to be critical of people as kind and courageous as the Holtzbergs were, but it is beyond me how any Jew who intends to procreate with another Jew in this day and age would not undergo a simple act of genetic screening before getting married.
I’ve been looking at some of the blogs and chat groups on this matter, and many are expressing bewilderment that the Holtzbergs had kids at all. One person made the horrible claim that their murder was a divine punishment from their having brought suffering children into the world. I find that claim downright dangerous (much like Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s obscene claim that Hurricane Katrina was a divine punishment for the withdrawal from Gaza).
Another person wrote, “Genetic screening removes the element of trust in Hashem and the power of miracles and prayers from the equation.” If indeed that is why Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife were never screened, or continued to have children in spite of their clear evidence that they were carriers of Tay Sachs (Rivka was six months pregnant when she was killed last week), that also cannot be ignored. There is a large chance that the child growing in Rivka's belly would have suffered a fate more painful than any of the victims suffered last week. And who knows how many other kids they were planning to bring into this world.
If the Holzbergs are now going to be lionized for the purity of faith, then they must also be criticized for the naiveté of their faith.
Ultimately, where there is pure faith, there is ALWAYS naiveté, and pure faith should never be lionized. To be Jewish in this world is to recognize above all that God’s word is best understood through the subtlety of a still, small voice – the Torah is best read in shades of gray. I don’t know much about God’s ways, but I could never believe in a God that would give us the tools to know how to prevent children from suffering as unbearably as Tay Sachs victims do and yet encourage us to ignore those tools because of an alleged faith in that same God.
My understanding is that Chabad mandates genetic testing prior to dating, so this is not about any organizational policy. My only point is that were I to be standing before a group of young Jewish adults right now, I would cry for all the victims of hate and terror and then beg these young adults to go out tomorrow and do two things: 1) perform an act that will bring a little more love and goodness into the world … and 2) make an appointment for some genetic screening.
As the Talmud tells is, “Save a life, save the world.” The same is true for preventable premature deaths.
We’ve long known that we are the canary in the mine shaft of hatred and terror, but the focus on Jewish suffering here is also a gross generalization that clouds some important facts, in particular that Americans and British were also specifically singled out by the terrorists. The fact that an American cultural center wasn’t picked as a target does not mean that they were less the focus of the terrorists’ irrational hate.
Now this won’t make American Jews any more comfortable – it’s wonderful to know that we are doubly despised. But none of this is new to us. I believe it is a grave mistake to focus on the particularly Jewish aspects of this murder, when it was an attack, first and foremost, on India, and on western civilization. We Jews have something to offer the world, gained from centuries of experience at being hated for no reason other than that we stand up for life and innocence. Now the world is ready to listen to us – but they can only listen to us if we take our eyes off our own navels and engage them, acknowledging that their suffering is as great as ours.
The fact that the Holtzberg child will now be an orphan makes it all too tempting to use him as the poster child for Jewish victimization. All that will accomplish, in my mind, is to train our children to hate. I would not want to see him become the Jewish version of Muhammad Al Dura, that Palestinian child falsely used as the symbol of alleged Israeli oppression. It has since been proven that he was not shot by Israeli bullets; but I’m talking here not about the method or intent of the death, but rather the use of a child, any child, for propagandistic purposes. I just hope that Moshe Holtzberg will be allowed to grow up in peace. At his parents’ funeral, Moshe was called by one eulogizer “the child of all Israel.” Of course all Israel feels great compassion and sympathy for Moshe. But I beg those who now care for him to please let Moshe simply be a child, not a poster child, not a symbol. We have enough symbols.
After all, Moshe, unlike most martyrs, is alive. If anything, I would hope that the tragedy of the Holtzbergs might call attention to his dead sibling, and his other, hospitalized one, who are victims of Tay Sachs disease. This well known disease effects primarily Ashkenazi Jews, is always fatal and brings only the most cruel, painful death, usually by age four. It is not curable but it is preventable, through genetic screening. I am loath to be critical of people as kind and courageous as the Holtzbergs were, but it is beyond me how any Jew who intends to procreate with another Jew in this day and age would not undergo a simple act of genetic screening before getting married.
I’ve been looking at some of the blogs and chat groups on this matter, and many are expressing bewilderment that the Holtzbergs had kids at all. One person made the horrible claim that their murder was a divine punishment from their having brought suffering children into the world. I find that claim downright dangerous (much like Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s obscene claim that Hurricane Katrina was a divine punishment for the withdrawal from Gaza).
Another person wrote, “Genetic screening removes the element of trust in Hashem and the power of miracles and prayers from the equation.” If indeed that is why Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife were never screened, or continued to have children in spite of their clear evidence that they were carriers of Tay Sachs (Rivka was six months pregnant when she was killed last week), that also cannot be ignored. There is a large chance that the child growing in Rivka's belly would have suffered a fate more painful than any of the victims suffered last week. And who knows how many other kids they were planning to bring into this world.
If the Holzbergs are now going to be lionized for the purity of faith, then they must also be criticized for the naiveté of their faith.
Ultimately, where there is pure faith, there is ALWAYS naiveté, and pure faith should never be lionized. To be Jewish in this world is to recognize above all that God’s word is best understood through the subtlety of a still, small voice – the Torah is best read in shades of gray. I don’t know much about God’s ways, but I could never believe in a God that would give us the tools to know how to prevent children from suffering as unbearably as Tay Sachs victims do and yet encourage us to ignore those tools because of an alleged faith in that same God.
My understanding is that Chabad mandates genetic testing prior to dating, so this is not about any organizational policy. My only point is that were I to be standing before a group of young Jewish adults right now, I would cry for all the victims of hate and terror and then beg these young adults to go out tomorrow and do two things: 1) perform an act that will bring a little more love and goodness into the world … and 2) make an appointment for some genetic screening.
As the Talmud tells is, “Save a life, save the world.” The same is true for preventable premature deaths.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Taking Action in Hard Times
As our economy continues to unravel, all facets of society are tested. Severe economic stress affects us in so many ways. An increasing number of congregants are now seeking employment, others are confronting family pressures – and all of us are in need of words of faith, a glimmer of hope and the embrace of the community.
Congregations are tested as well in times like these, and I am pleased to announce some significant steps that we are taking to assist fellow congregants and others:
The Men’s Club, along with Donna Sweidan of Career Folk, LLC, is pleased to announce the formation of the Temple Beth El Networking Group. The first meeting will take place on Tuesday November 25th at 7:30 PM. The purpose of the group is to provide opportunities for Jewish professionals & the broader community to meet and exchange ideas and contacts. We are also looking for other members of the Temple or the community to join the group in advisory roles. If you are interested in attending the meeting, please contact Michael Arons at mmacpa@yahoo.com.
In addition, a TBE LinkedIn Networking Group has been created. You’re invited to join the TBE NETWORKing Group on LinkedIn. Joining will allow you to find and contact other TBENG members on LinkedIn. The goal of this group is to help members:
**Reach other members of the TBE NETWORK
**Accelerate careers/business through referrals from TBE NETWORK Group members
**Know more than a name – view rich professional profiles from fellow TBE NETWORK Group members
**To join, you have to be registered on Linkedin.com - Go to Groups, and type in Temple Beth El Networking Group.
We hope to see you in the group, and that it can be helpful to you in your business, personal and career endeavors. I thank Michael Arons and the Men’s Club for their assistance and concern.
Additionally, Donna Sweidan will be conducting a session as part of the upcoming Synaplex Shabbat to be held on December 13. The session will be entitled:
Career Insurance: Do you have it? - A discussion on Career Management or Job Search Strategies that will help you survive in this challenging economy. Discussion will include what is "Career insurance," and how to engage in a proactive job search or career change.
Donna Sweidan is a Linkedin Specialist and will be conducting an online webinar on Linkedin on December 3rd and 9th that will show you how to take advantage of this very powerful tool. You can email Donna for more information.. Donna@careerfolk.com.
Also, we’ve already gotten some good response for “Project Hesed,” which seeks volunteers to assist congregants who are shut ins or living in nursing homes or health care facilities. The group will visit people and also offer rides, help with shopping and deliver flowers in the hospital along with gifts to families with newborns. Project Hesed is being coordinated by Suzanne Horn at Suzanneshorn@yahoo.com.
Upcoming holidays bring families together, and in painful times like these that can lead to intensified stress. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you simply need someone to talk to. In addition, along with our many adult ed offerings, Mara is teaching a wonderful parenting class, which next meets on December 14. The Synaplex on the 13th will focus on ways we can bring people of all faiths together, and at my Learning and Latte interfaith panel at Borders on the 9th, we’ll be discussing the topic, “Faith and Money: What is Religion’s Role During Troubled Economic Times?”
Finally, we all need to find comfort simply in being together, right here. Join us for services on Shabbat or weekdays. This Friday night, we have the pleasure of hearing our congregant Katie Kaplan lead Kabbalat Shabbat here for the first time, and on Shabbat morning, Oliver Sabloff becomes Bar Mitzvah, while our 3rd, 4th and 5th grade families will celebrate Shabbat together. Our minyan attendance has become spotty, great some days, struggling at other times (like today) – please make a special effort to come! Note the special holiday time of 9 AM for next Thursday AND Friday.
These are times that test us all. More than ever, we at TBE are here to help!
Congregations are tested as well in times like these, and I am pleased to announce some significant steps that we are taking to assist fellow congregants and others:
The Men’s Club, along with Donna Sweidan of Career Folk, LLC, is pleased to announce the formation of the Temple Beth El Networking Group. The first meeting will take place on Tuesday November 25th at 7:30 PM. The purpose of the group is to provide opportunities for Jewish professionals & the broader community to meet and exchange ideas and contacts. We are also looking for other members of the Temple or the community to join the group in advisory roles. If you are interested in attending the meeting, please contact Michael Arons at mmacpa@yahoo.com.
In addition, a TBE LinkedIn Networking Group has been created. You’re invited to join the TBE NETWORKing Group on LinkedIn. Joining will allow you to find and contact other TBENG members on LinkedIn. The goal of this group is to help members:
**Reach other members of the TBE NETWORK
**Accelerate careers/business through referrals from TBE NETWORK Group members
**Know more than a name – view rich professional profiles from fellow TBE NETWORK Group members
**To join, you have to be registered on Linkedin.com - Go to Groups, and type in Temple Beth El Networking Group.
We hope to see you in the group, and that it can be helpful to you in your business, personal and career endeavors. I thank Michael Arons and the Men’s Club for their assistance and concern.
Additionally, Donna Sweidan will be conducting a session as part of the upcoming Synaplex Shabbat to be held on December 13. The session will be entitled:
Career Insurance: Do you have it? - A discussion on Career Management or Job Search Strategies that will help you survive in this challenging economy. Discussion will include what is "Career insurance," and how to engage in a proactive job search or career change.
Donna Sweidan is a Linkedin Specialist and will be conducting an online webinar on Linkedin on December 3rd and 9th that will show you how to take advantage of this very powerful tool. You can email Donna for more information.. Donna@careerfolk.com.
Also, we’ve already gotten some good response for “Project Hesed,” which seeks volunteers to assist congregants who are shut ins or living in nursing homes or health care facilities. The group will visit people and also offer rides, help with shopping and deliver flowers in the hospital along with gifts to families with newborns. Project Hesed is being coordinated by Suzanne Horn at Suzanneshorn@yahoo.com.
Upcoming holidays bring families together, and in painful times like these that can lead to intensified stress. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you simply need someone to talk to. In addition, along with our many adult ed offerings, Mara is teaching a wonderful parenting class, which next meets on December 14. The Synaplex on the 13th will focus on ways we can bring people of all faiths together, and at my Learning and Latte interfaith panel at Borders on the 9th, we’ll be discussing the topic, “Faith and Money: What is Religion’s Role During Troubled Economic Times?”
Finally, we all need to find comfort simply in being together, right here. Join us for services on Shabbat or weekdays. This Friday night, we have the pleasure of hearing our congregant Katie Kaplan lead Kabbalat Shabbat here for the first time, and on Shabbat morning, Oliver Sabloff becomes Bar Mitzvah, while our 3rd, 4th and 5th grade families will celebrate Shabbat together. Our minyan attendance has become spotty, great some days, struggling at other times (like today) – please make a special effort to come! Note the special holiday time of 9 AM for next Thursday AND Friday.
These are times that test us all. More than ever, we at TBE are here to help!
Thanksgiving Blessings for Your Table
As you sit down with your families at the table, pause for a moment to remember how fortunate we are, to be thankful for every moment that we are alive, for the capacity to love and to share. Say a spontaneous prayer and try to give it a Jewish context - the formula for a blessing would be perfect. Just begin as we would with any blessing, “Baruch ata Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam” and then add, in English “we are so thankful for ___.”
Jewish tradition instructs us to try to utter 100 blessings every day, whether spontaneous or not. Some can be found in the grace after meals (see Birkat Ha-mazon explained in Wikipedia and in the Jewish Virtual Library) If you would like to add some or all of that beautiful prayer to your Thanksgiving meal, it can be downloaded at Birkat Hamazon [pdf]
Jewish tradition instructs us to try to utter 100 blessings every day, whether spontaneous or not. Some can be found in the grace after meals (see Birkat Ha-mazon explained in Wikipedia and in the Jewish Virtual Library) If you would like to add some or all of that beautiful prayer to your Thanksgiving meal, it can be downloaded at Birkat Hamazon [pdf]
A THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION
thanks to Rabbi Jack Bloom for sending this along - always a nice reminder of the true meaning of our upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
By His Excellency Wilbur L. Cross, Governor: a PROCLAMATION
"Time out of mind at this turn of the seasons when the hardy oak leaves rustle in the wind and the frost gives a tang to the air and the dusk falls early and the friendly evenings lengthen under the heel of Orion, it has seemed good to our people to join together in praising the Creator and Preserver, who has brought us by a way that we did not know to the end of another year. In observance of this custom, I appoint Thursday, the twenty-second of November, as a day of
PUBLIC THANKSGIVING
for the blessings that have been our common lot and have placed our beloved State with the favored regions of earth for all the creature comforts: the yield of the soil that has fed us and the richer yield from the labor of every kind that has sustained our lives and for all those things, as dear as breath to the body, that quicken man's faith in his manhood, that nourish and strengthen his spirit to do the great work still before him: for the brotherly word and act; for honor held above price; for steadfast courage and zeal in the long, long search after truth; for liberty and for justice freely granted by each to his fellow and so as freely enjoyed; and for the crowning glory and mercy of peace upon our land;--that we may humbly take heart of these blessings as we gather once again with solemn and festive rites to keep our Harvest Home."
By His Excellency Wilbur L. Cross, Governor: a PROCLAMATION
"Time out of mind at this turn of the seasons when the hardy oak leaves rustle in the wind and the frost gives a tang to the air and the dusk falls early and the friendly evenings lengthen under the heel of Orion, it has seemed good to our people to join together in praising the Creator and Preserver, who has brought us by a way that we did not know to the end of another year. In observance of this custom, I appoint Thursday, the twenty-second of November, as a day of
PUBLIC THANKSGIVING
for the blessings that have been our common lot and have placed our beloved State with the favored regions of earth for all the creature comforts: the yield of the soil that has fed us and the richer yield from the labor of every kind that has sustained our lives and for all those things, as dear as breath to the body, that quicken man's faith in his manhood, that nourish and strengthen his spirit to do the great work still before him: for the brotherly word and act; for honor held above price; for steadfast courage and zeal in the long, long search after truth; for liberty and for justice freely granted by each to his fellow and so as freely enjoyed; and for the crowning glory and mercy of peace upon our land;--that we may humbly take heart of these blessings as we gather once again with solemn and festive rites to keep our Harvest Home."
TBE Bar/ Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Tammy Wise on Parashat Vayera
You might have noticed that there are a good number of kids here today. My portion is all about friendships and how people need to be hospitable toward one another. So it got me to thinking about how my friends come from so many different places and groups.
Just to give you an idea, I’d like to ask all my friends from Cloonan to stand up. OK now you can be seated.
Now, all my friends from softball, please stand up. OK, now you can be seated.
Now, my friends from Hebrew School, please stand. OK, now be seated.
My friends from the neighborhood, please stand. Now be seated.
Finally, anyone who hasn’t stood up yet. I know this group from a variety of places. (please be seated)
As you can see, friends are very important to me.
And they were to Abraham and Sarah too!
At the beginning of the portion, when guests came to visit, the first thing Abraham did was to get up and greet them. He didn’t wait for them to come to the door, he went out to meet them. When people come to my house, I often do that same thing – even more than my sisters do, but I must admit, my dog Tucker always beats me to it.
Abraham’s tent was a real center of activity. According to legend, the tent was pitched right in the middle of a major roadway, so caravans had to stop and accept his hospitality before moving on to their destination. The same is true for my house. My mom is often talking about how our house is so incredibly busy all the time. My friends and my sisters’ friends all seem to be filtering in all the time. We live on a street where everyone is friendly toward each other, and my house, like Abraham’s tent, is the Grand Central Station of Brodwood Drive.
The portion also teaches us other aspects of friendship, like caring for people’s feelings, defending them when they are in danger, and visiting them when they are sick.
I try to be honest with my friends all the time, like Abraham was. But the portion also shows how there are times when it is better not to be totally truthful. When Sarah heard that she was going to have a baby, she said that her husband is too old, but when God relayed that conversation to Abraham, he conveniently left that part out, so Abraham wouldn’t be offended.
I can think of times when I’ve also had to slip by with a white lie in order not to embarrass someone.
So as I become a Bat Mitzvah less than two weeks before Thanksgiving, I realize how thankful I am for all of my friends and that all of you could be here with me today.
For my mitzvah project, I’ve been helping out at the Food Bank of lower Fairfield County. The need is so great right now and I am thankful for all who have donated in the bins that I set up here at the temple.
Just to give you an idea, I’d like to ask all my friends from Cloonan to stand up. OK now you can be seated.
Now, all my friends from softball, please stand up. OK, now you can be seated.
Now, my friends from Hebrew School, please stand. OK, now be seated.
My friends from the neighborhood, please stand. Now be seated.
Finally, anyone who hasn’t stood up yet. I know this group from a variety of places. (please be seated)
As you can see, friends are very important to me.
And they were to Abraham and Sarah too!
At the beginning of the portion, when guests came to visit, the first thing Abraham did was to get up and greet them. He didn’t wait for them to come to the door, he went out to meet them. When people come to my house, I often do that same thing – even more than my sisters do, but I must admit, my dog Tucker always beats me to it.
Abraham’s tent was a real center of activity. According to legend, the tent was pitched right in the middle of a major roadway, so caravans had to stop and accept his hospitality before moving on to their destination. The same is true for my house. My mom is often talking about how our house is so incredibly busy all the time. My friends and my sisters’ friends all seem to be filtering in all the time. We live on a street where everyone is friendly toward each other, and my house, like Abraham’s tent, is the Grand Central Station of Brodwood Drive.
The portion also teaches us other aspects of friendship, like caring for people’s feelings, defending them when they are in danger, and visiting them when they are sick.
I try to be honest with my friends all the time, like Abraham was. But the portion also shows how there are times when it is better not to be totally truthful. When Sarah heard that she was going to have a baby, she said that her husband is too old, but when God relayed that conversation to Abraham, he conveniently left that part out, so Abraham wouldn’t be offended.
I can think of times when I’ve also had to slip by with a white lie in order not to embarrass someone.
So as I become a Bat Mitzvah less than two weeks before Thanksgiving, I realize how thankful I am for all of my friends and that all of you could be here with me today.
For my mitzvah project, I’ve been helping out at the Food Bank of lower Fairfield County. The need is so great right now and I am thankful for all who have donated in the bins that I set up here at the temple.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Lessons of the Binding of Isaac
For those, like me, who are big fans of lists, I've come up with some lessons of the Binding of Isaac, based on various commentaries, along with my own thoughts. This list is a work in progress, so let me know what you think!
1) To teach that God does not want child sacrifice and explain why Israel does not engage in that practice.
2) To indicate that God is seen through life’s darkest moments, apparently instigating them, but in reality providing us with the keys to salvation (the ram). Was that original voice, then one that commanded Abraham, really God? Or just the last voice (the angel) In Genesis, there often is confusion between angels/God/ and (see Jacob and the beginning of this portion too)
3) Torah: shows epitome of commitment to and love of God. Part of our essence – (each of us is challenged in different ways through life. Individually and the Jewish people as a whole. Abraham’s merit saves us.
4) Isaac actually doesn’t return:
- Midrash: He dies and is brought back. This was comforting to Jews being slaughtered in middle ages. Jews saw themselves as being bound on the altar.
- Christian version: He is forerunner of Jesus. The father saves the son.
5) Have to be willing to risk all in order for life to have meaning. We do not choose our fate: God does.
6) Absurdity of life (1 chapter before this one, Abraham’s immortality is “assured”)
7) Sarah’s role – why does she let them go? Both she and Abraham are automata.
8) Abraham did lose faith after this (God went too far). He never “hears” God again (this “Lech Lecha” annuls the first/Sarah dies/Abe doesn’t trust God (Isaac) to find the right wife – sends Eliezer instead (whose name means “helper of my God”)
9) Arguing for oneself is self-serving. But is submissive faith what God wants? Abe failed the test.
10) Response to the Flood – from here on, God will save (but what of the Shoah?)
11) God is never too late (angel comes just in nick of time). In the case of the Shoah it is HUMANITY that arrived too late.
12) Norman Cohen: Isaac is our child – we do not see that we sacrifice children on alters of our careers, interests or principles. Isaac even carries the wood for his own sacrifice!!!
13) Isaac is really the victim nor martyr but protagonist, challenging his father as his father challenges God. (Oedipal interpretation) – result of infant primacy psychic conflict with father.
14) Received promises do not entail being protected in moments when those promises seem to be called into question.
15) What of the Ne’arim (the youths)? Why did they not protect Isaac??? (perhaps analogous to Jews in US during the Shoah)
16) The story explains the origins of Jerusalem and Mount Moriah as a holy spot. What makes it holy?
17) We shouldn’t worship our children – this is a lesson to Abraham that despite the fact that a son was what we cherished and wanted more than anything else, even that should not become an absolute.
18) Koran: God puts us in this world in order to test us.
19) God needs to learn something here – just how much is the human capacity to fear God / or to obey blindly.
20) People who claim to hear God’s voice directly are susceptible to succumbing to madness – it is dangerous.
21) Repetition of the verb “sees.” Place is called “God will see.” Faith is not blindness, faith is sight. God grants vision. (and Isaac, the son, ends up blind, and handicapped for life).
22) “This is the terror in God’s mysteriousness and inscrutability.” Job/Jonah: life isn’t fair.
23) The ram, the vehicle for redemption (shofar) is there from the 6th day of creation. The DNA of redemption is programmed in from the start.
1) To teach that God does not want child sacrifice and explain why Israel does not engage in that practice.
2) To indicate that God is seen through life’s darkest moments, apparently instigating them, but in reality providing us with the keys to salvation (the ram). Was that original voice, then one that commanded Abraham, really God? Or just the last voice (the angel) In Genesis, there often is confusion between angels/God/ and (see Jacob and the beginning of this portion too)
3) Torah: shows epitome of commitment to and love of God. Part of our essence – (each of us is challenged in different ways through life. Individually and the Jewish people as a whole. Abraham’s merit saves us.
4) Isaac actually doesn’t return:
- Midrash: He dies and is brought back. This was comforting to Jews being slaughtered in middle ages. Jews saw themselves as being bound on the altar.
- Christian version: He is forerunner of Jesus. The father saves the son.
5) Have to be willing to risk all in order for life to have meaning. We do not choose our fate: God does.
6) Absurdity of life (1 chapter before this one, Abraham’s immortality is “assured”)
7) Sarah’s role – why does she let them go? Both she and Abraham are automata.
8) Abraham did lose faith after this (God went too far). He never “hears” God again (this “Lech Lecha” annuls the first/Sarah dies/Abe doesn’t trust God (Isaac) to find the right wife – sends Eliezer instead (whose name means “helper of my God”)
9) Arguing for oneself is self-serving. But is submissive faith what God wants? Abe failed the test.
10) Response to the Flood – from here on, God will save (but what of the Shoah?)
11) God is never too late (angel comes just in nick of time). In the case of the Shoah it is HUMANITY that arrived too late.
12) Norman Cohen: Isaac is our child – we do not see that we sacrifice children on alters of our careers, interests or principles. Isaac even carries the wood for his own sacrifice!!!
13) Isaac is really the victim nor martyr but protagonist, challenging his father as his father challenges God. (Oedipal interpretation) – result of infant primacy psychic conflict with father.
14) Received promises do not entail being protected in moments when those promises seem to be called into question.
15) What of the Ne’arim (the youths)? Why did they not protect Isaac??? (perhaps analogous to Jews in US during the Shoah)
16) The story explains the origins of Jerusalem and Mount Moriah as a holy spot. What makes it holy?
17) We shouldn’t worship our children – this is a lesson to Abraham that despite the fact that a son was what we cherished and wanted more than anything else, even that should not become an absolute.
18) Koran: God puts us in this world in order to test us.
19) God needs to learn something here – just how much is the human capacity to fear God / or to obey blindly.
20) People who claim to hear God’s voice directly are susceptible to succumbing to madness – it is dangerous.
21) Repetition of the verb “sees.” Place is called “God will see.” Faith is not blindness, faith is sight. God grants vision. (and Isaac, the son, ends up blind, and handicapped for life).
22) “This is the terror in God’s mysteriousness and inscrutability.” Job/Jonah: life isn’t fair.
23) The ram, the vehicle for redemption (shofar) is there from the 6th day of creation. The DNA of redemption is programmed in from the start.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Hoffman Lecture: "Three Movements, One Future" Ellenson, Eisen and Joel
THE 24TH ANNUAL HAROLD HOFFMAN MEMORIAL LECTURE
"Three Movements, One Future: Challenges Facing American Jews"
"Three Movements, One Future: Challenges Facing American Jews"
From the Stamford Advocate:
3 Jewish movements unite to ponder 'single purpose'
By James Lomuscio Special Correspondent
STAMFORD - Focusing more on what unites them than divides them, three leaders representing Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism met Thursday for a historic, public panel discussion at Temple Beth El.
"This is the first time in history that the heads of three movements have come together under one roof in a public dialogue," said Steven Lander, executive director of Beth El, a Conservative synagogue.
More than 500 congregants representing the three denominations filled the synagogue to hear the discussion titled "Three Movements, One Future: Challenges Facing American Jews," the 24th Annual Harold E. Hoffman Memorial Lecture.
Moderated by Beth El's Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, the panel consisted of David Ellenson, a leader in the Reform movement and president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; Arnold M. Eisen, chancellor of the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary; and Richard M. Joel, president of Yeshiva University and a leader in the Orthodox Jewish community.
"I think just our presence here says what we're going to say," Eisen said. "You have three movements with a single purpose of God, the Torah and the Jewish people.
"We have different paths, and each one of us thinks our path is the best one," he continued, "but we respect each other's path. The Jewish people need all three, and they need us to work together."
Saying the dialogue was a "sacred moment," Hammerman called the exchange of ideas appropriate on the heels of the election of President-elect Barack Obama "as Americans seek to bridge cultural divides to confront extraordinary challenges."
He added that there is no greater time for American Jews to seek common ground, especially with the increasing threats against Israel.
Hammerman began the discussion by asking each panelist what he theologically envied about the others. Ellenson, of the Reform movement, said he envied the intense Torah scholarship and devotion to Israel in the Orthodox movement.
"What Reform Judaism does well is its attention to social justice," said Eisen, of the Conservative movement. "Conservative Judaism hasn't succeeded in highlighting it."
Joel said he envied how the other movements were able to "look at the whole world."
"Sometimes we (Orthodox Jews) think we are the only ones there," he said.
Though Hammerman joked that the three coming together represented a "Kumbaya moment," stark differences came to the forefront. Ellenson said the Orthodox movement's strict interpretation of the Torah kept women in subservient roles, as if it were God's will as opposed to the social conventions of a patriarchal society.
Hammerman joked that sometimes Jews describe the movements as "lazy, hazy and crazy, and I'm not saying which is which," but all agreed their differences should be respected and not ignored to the point of relativism.
"Denominations matter," Eisen said, "but so does transcending them."
3 Jewish movements unite to ponder 'single purpose'
By James Lomuscio Special Correspondent
STAMFORD - Focusing more on what unites them than divides them, three leaders representing Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism met Thursday for a historic, public panel discussion at Temple Beth El.
"This is the first time in history that the heads of three movements have come together under one roof in a public dialogue," said Steven Lander, executive director of Beth El, a Conservative synagogue.
More than 500 congregants representing the three denominations filled the synagogue to hear the discussion titled "Three Movements, One Future: Challenges Facing American Jews," the 24th Annual Harold E. Hoffman Memorial Lecture.
Moderated by Beth El's Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, the panel consisted of David Ellenson, a leader in the Reform movement and president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; Arnold M. Eisen, chancellor of the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary; and Richard M. Joel, president of Yeshiva University and a leader in the Orthodox Jewish community.
"I think just our presence here says what we're going to say," Eisen said. "You have three movements with a single purpose of God, the Torah and the Jewish people.
"We have different paths, and each one of us thinks our path is the best one," he continued, "but we respect each other's path. The Jewish people need all three, and they need us to work together."
Saying the dialogue was a "sacred moment," Hammerman called the exchange of ideas appropriate on the heels of the election of President-elect Barack Obama "as Americans seek to bridge cultural divides to confront extraordinary challenges."
He added that there is no greater time for American Jews to seek common ground, especially with the increasing threats against Israel.
Hammerman began the discussion by asking each panelist what he theologically envied about the others. Ellenson, of the Reform movement, said he envied the intense Torah scholarship and devotion to Israel in the Orthodox movement.
"What Reform Judaism does well is its attention to social justice," said Eisen, of the Conservative movement. "Conservative Judaism hasn't succeeded in highlighting it."
Joel said he envied how the other movements were able to "look at the whole world."
"Sometimes we (Orthodox Jews) think we are the only ones there," he said.
Though Hammerman joked that the three coming together represented a "Kumbaya moment," stark differences came to the forefront. Ellenson said the Orthodox movement's strict interpretation of the Torah kept women in subservient roles, as if it were God's will as opposed to the social conventions of a patriarchal society.
Hammerman joked that sometimes Jews describe the movements as "lazy, hazy and crazy, and I'm not saying which is which," but all agreed their differences should be respected and not ignored to the point of relativism.
"Denominations matter," Eisen said, "but so does transcending them."
From The Forward:
Seminary Heads Join Rare Event
By Anthony WeissThu. Nov 13, 2008
By Anthony WeissThu. Nov 13, 2008
Stamford, Conn. — With the rhetoric of national unity still hanging in the postelection air, the leaders of the flagship seminaries of the three largest Jewish movements met in a rare joint appearance.
Sitting before a packed house at Temple Beth El here in Connecticut, Arnold Eisen, Jewish Theological Seminary chancellor; Rabbi David Ellenson, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and Richard Joel, president of Yeshiva University, spoke amicably about the election of Barack Obama, the future of rabbinical training and things they admired about the other movements.
Though such appearances together are rare — the three could not agree as to whether they had ever publicly appeared together previously — the leaders described themselves as friends and seemed to get along comfortably. All emphasized their ability to disagree respectfully.
“We want to symbolize our sense that denominations matter, the differences matter, but so does the transcending of differences,” Eisen said.
The joint appearance and its friendly tone suggest that relations between the movements are at a high point, a far cry from the situation a decade or more ago, when sharp disagreements between the movements were commonplace on such topics such as conversion, patrilineal descent, the rights of women, gay and lesbian rights and a host of other issues.
“The way they’re talking to each other, I can’t imagine the previous generation [of leaders] talking to each other in this comfortable way,” said Ellen Umansky, a Fairfield University professor of Judaic studies who attended the event.
The friendly atmosphere was possible, at least in part, because the Jewish stream associated with many of the sharpest conflicts — the ultra-Orthodox — was not present for the event.
The evening opened with a discussion of the election of Obama, and the discussion quickly touched upon one key difference between the movements: Ellenson commented that he didn’t think a single one of his students had voted for the Republican ticket, adding, “It’s almost a problem to me.”
“The supporters that David was looking for were up at Yeshiva University,” Joel quipped. But the discussion did not dwell on the political split between Orthodox Jews, who increasingly vote Republican, and non-Orthodox Jews, who are overwhelmingly Democrats — a split that has vexed communal activists. Instead, the leaders spoke about the historic nature of the election and about the notion of linking faith to political activism. They even linked their own appearance to Obama’s talk of national unity.
“Sometimes, Rabbi Ellenson, Dr. Eisen and Richard Joel just being together is a statement,” Joel said. “It’s our way of saying, ‘Yes we can.’”
Later, at the behest of moderator Joshua Hammerman, the synagogue’s rabbi, each leader identified aspects of the other two movements that he envied. Ellenson praised the Conservative and Orthodox movements for their ability to inculcate a commitment to serious Jewish life. Eisen praised the Reform movement for its commitment to social justice, and Orthodoxy for its close relationship to Israel. And Joel, after an uncomfortable pause of several seconds, praised the other two movements for their willingness to act in the world beyond the Jewish community.
When the discussion did turn to differences among the movements, the leaders emphasized the principle of having disagreements while maintaining an open dialogue. Describing himself as a pluralist, Joel explained, “I think a pluralist is someone who is prepared to honor the other person’s right to be wrong.”
Each of the three leaders who appeared is the first picked to lead his institution in the 21st century, and Eisen argued that all three boards made a conscious decision to choose leaders who are pluralists, reflecting the spirit and urgency of the current moment.
Reality Check (The Jewish Week, November 14)
Our nation’s moral compass no longer gyrates from good to evil, but from “real person” to “celebrity,” the latter being equated with “fake.” In that universe, the quintessential symbol of iniquity is no longer Osama bin Laden but Britney Spears. No wonder the McCain campaign tried to paint Barack Obama with the Spears-Paris Hilton brush and present themselves as representatives of the “real” America. But the move backfired when the “real Americans” they presented for us, Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber — who’s neither named Joe nor is he a licensed plumber — themselves became instant celebrities. They kept on depicting Obama as a deceiver, some even accusing him of using a visit to his dying grandmother as cover on a nefarious mission to whitewash his birth certificate. But no one bought it.
Early on in the campaign, John Edwards seemed authentic to many, but he hired Rielle Hunter to produce a video enabling voters to see him “as I really am.” Big mistake. Hillary Clinton’s run was upended when it turned out she didn’t run from sniper fire on that tarmac in Bosnia. Rudy Giuliani put on a dress. As the candidates fell one by one, the common denominator was that each failed to pass the authenticity test.
In a confusing world where many create ersatz profiles on Web sites like Second Life and Facebook and where 53 percent lie on their résumés, authenticity appears increasingly elusive. We are hungering for the real as never before. No wonder Universal is doing a movie about the Mili Vanili lip-sync scandal of the 1990s. When we discover that the little 9-year-old at the Olympics wasn’t actually the girl who was singing, it bothers us as it never did when Natalie Wood wasn’t really singing in “West Side Story” or Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady.”
We hate fakers, unless, like Tina Fey and John Stewart, they use impersonation to expose other fakers. It’s OK for Stewart to be a pretend newsman, but not Jayson Blair, whose fake journalism besmirched The New York Times. The sports equivalent of Britney is Roger Clemens, whose smelly congressional testimony scared players so much that, for the first time in a decade, real baseball was played this season by real, unenhanced players.
Eckhart Tolle’s best seller, “A New Earth: Awaking to Your Life’s Purpose,” became a marketing phenomenon this year when it attracted Oprah’s eye, but it already had caught the wave of this zeitgeist. Tolle explores how we can discover our true, authentic selves — to cut through all the layers of falsehood that cover up who we really are. And James Gilmore’s book, “Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want,” has spent a good deal of time at the top of business book charts.
I picked up a cute little spoof at Barnes and Noble called “Faking it: How to Seem like a Better Person without Actually Improving Yourself.” No wonder we’ve seen the revival this year of the old saying, “Fake it ‘til you make it.” It’s actually not such a bad idea. Twelve-step programs utilize that principle and it’s used by motivators to build self-esteem. If you pretend to have self confidence and repeat an activity enough times, that confidence eventually kicks in. As our ancestors at Sinai said, “Na’ase v’nishma,” “We will do and THEN, we will understand.”
But faking it has its limits. I once was having Shabbat dinner at the home of a family, which began with the children reciting the blessings flawlessly. When I indicated how impressed I was, the mother said to me, “We’re making memories.” The implication was that the dinner was somewhat staged so that the kids would recall it later on, when they grow up. That’s admirable, but for these memories to indeed be indelible, it has to be more than just for the children. The experience of the here-and-now has to be real.
It’s not about leaving your legacy so much as living your legacy.
In his new book, “The Quest for Authenticity,” Michael Ross tells the story of Reb Simcha Bunim of Pesischa, one of the great chasidic leaders of the 19th century. He was such a real person that when he became a rebbe, he didn’t give up his day job. He was a pharmacist who also refused to forsake western dress even when other chasidim did. And he could spot a fraud a mile away.
Later, his philosophy was echoed by Reb Meshullam Zusya of Anipoli, whom his adoring students compared to Moses. His famous response: When he gets to the Heavenly Court, they will not ask him, “Why were you not Moses?” but “Why were you not Zusya?”
Or, as we like to say nowadays, “Let Zusya be Zusya.”
The world lost one of our most authentic people this past year, Tim Russert. He learned authenticity from his father, Big Russ, a garbage collector and newspaper deliverer, who, in the words of a Gail Godwin novel, has “lived his life by the grace of daily obligations.” Russert demonstrated that you can be part of the so-called Washington media elite and yet still be a real person. Big Russ is much like Ann Nixon Cooper, that 106-year-old matriarch Obama spoke of in Grant Park last week. They are the ultimate response to the disingenuousness of Joe the Plumber.
Being a “real American,” then, has little to do with where you live or how much you know, or whether you can down a six pack, smoke a Marlboro, wear Birkenstocks, shoot hoops, field dress a moose, sip martinis or bowl. And being an authentic Jew has nothing to do with the length of your tzitzit, the precision of your praying or the size of your donation.
The authentic life is lived by the grace of daily obligations. That’s what we yearned for in our candidates, because it’s what we feel is so lacking in our world — and ourselves.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Kristallnacht, 70 Years Later
This coming week we mark the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when many say the Holocaust really began. Here is some background on this tragic and foreboding night, excerpted from the Jewish Virtual Library. To see the full article, go to:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/kristallnacht.html
Almost immediately upon assuming the Chancellorship of Germany, Hitler began promulgating legal actions against Germany's Jews. In 1933, he proclaimed a one-day boycott against Jewish shops, a law was passed against kosher butchering and Jewish children began experiencing restrictions in public schools. By 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived Jews of German citizenship. By 1936, Jews were prohibited from participation in parliamentary elections and signs reading "Jews Not Welcome" appeared in many German cities. (Incidentally, these signs were taken down in the late summer in preparation for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin).
In the first half of 1938, numerous laws were passed restricting Jewish economic activity and occupational opportunities. In July, 1938, a law was passed (effective January 1, 1939) requiring all Jews to carry identification cards. On October 28, 17,000 Jews of Polish citizenship, many of whom had been living in Germany for decades, were arrested and relocated across the Polish border. The Polish government refused to admit them so they were interned in "relocation camps" on the Polish frontier.
Among the deportees was Zindel Grynszpan, who had been born in western Poland and had moved to Hanover, where he established a small store, in 1911. On the night of October 27, Zindel Grynszpan and his family were forced out of their home by German police. His store and the family's possessions were confiscated and they were forced to move over the Polish border.
Zindel Grynszpan's seventeen-year-old son, Herschel, was living with an uncle in Paris. When he received news of his family's expulsion, he went to the German embassy in Paris on November 7, intending to assassinate the German Ambassador to France. Upon discovering that the Ambassador was not in the embassy, he settled for a lesser official, Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath. Rath, was critically wounded and died two days later, on November 9.
The assassination provided Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Chief of Propaganda, with the excuse he needed to launch a pogrom against German Jews. Grynszpan's attack was interpreted by Goebbels as a conspiratorial attack by "International Jewry" against the Reich and, symbolically, against the Fuehrer himself. This pogrom has come to be called Kristallnacht, "the Night of Broken Glass."
On the nights of November 9 and 10, rampaging mobs throughout Germany and the newly acquired territories of Austria and Sudetenland freely attacked Jews in the street, in their homes and at their places of work and worship. At least 96 Jews were killed and hundreds more injured, more than 1,000 synagogues were burned (and possibly as many as 2,000), almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, cemeteries and schools were vandalized, and 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps [added by Mitchell Bard from his book The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II. NY: MacMillan, 1998, pp. 59-60].
The official German position on these events, which were clearly orchestrated by Goebbels, was that they were spontaneous outbursts. The Fuehrer, Goebbels reported to Party officials in Munich, "has decided that such demonstrations are not to be prepared or organized by the party, but so far as they originate spontaneously, they are not to be discouraged either." (Conot, Robert E. Justice At Nuremberg. NY: Harper & Row, 1983:165)
Three days later, on November 12, Hermann Goering called a meeting of the top Nazi leadership to assess the damage done during the night and place responsibility for it. Present at the meeting were Goering, Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich, Walter Funk and other ranking Nazi officials. The intent of this meeting was two-fold: to make the Jews responsible for Kristallnacht and to use the events of the preceding days as a rationale for promulgating a series of antisemitic laws which would, in effect, remove Jews from the German economy. An interpretive transcript of this meeting is provided by Robert Conot, Justice at Nuremberg, New York: Harper and Row, 1983:164-172):
'Gentlemen! Today's meeting is of a decisive nature,' Goering announced. 'I have received a letter written on the Fuehrer's orders requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all, coordinated and solved one way or another.'
'Since the problem is mainly an economic one, it is from the economic angle it shall have to be tackled. Because, gentlemen, I have had enough of these demonstrations! They don't harm the Jew but me, who is the final authority for coordinating the German economy. `If today a Jewish shop is destroyed, if goods are thrown into the street, the insurance companies will pay for the damages; and, furthermore, consumer goods belonging to the people are destroyed. If in the future, demonstrations which are necessary occur, then, I pray, that they be directed so as not to hurt us.
'Because it's insane to clean out and burn a Jewish warehouse, then have a German insurance company make good the loss. And the goods which I need desperately, whole bales of clothing and whatnot, are being burned. And I miss them everywhere. I may as well burn the raw materials before they arrive.
'I should not want to leave any doubt, gentlemen, as to the aim of today's meeting. We have not come together merely to talk again, but to make decisions, and I implore competent agencies to take all measures for the elimination of the Jew from the German economy, and to submit them to me.'
It was decided at the meeting that, since Jews were to blame for these events, they be held legally and financially responsible for the damages incurred by the pogrom. Accordingly, a "fine of 1 billion marks was levied for the slaying of Vom Rath, and 6 million marks paid by insurance companies for broken windows was to be given to the state coffers. (Snyder, Louis L. Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. New York: Paragon House, 1989:201).
Kristallnacht turns out to be a crucial turning point in German policy regarding the Jews and may be considered as the actual beginning of what is now called the Holocaust.
1. By now it is clear to Hitler and his top advisors that forced immigration of Jews out of the Reich is not a feasible option.
2. Hitler is already considering the invasion of Poland.
3. Numerous concentration camps and forced labor camps are already in operation.
4. The Nuremberg Laws are in place.
5. The doctrine of lebensraum has emerged as a guiding principle of Hitler's ideology. And,
6. The passivity of the German people in the face of the events of Kristallnacht made it clear that the Nazis would encounter little opposition—even from the German churches.
Following the meeting, a wide-ranging set of antisemitic laws were passed which had the clear intent, in Goering's words, of "Aryanizing" the German economy. Over the next two or three months, the following measures were put into effect (cf., Burleigh and Wippermann, The Racial State: Germany, 1933-1945. NY: Cambridge, 1991:92-96):
1. Jews were required to turn over all precious metals to the government.
2. Pensions for Jews dismissed from civil service jobs were arbitrarily reduced.
3. Jewish-owned bonds, stocks, jewelry and art works can be alienated only to the German state.
4. Jews were physically segregated within German towns.
5. A ban on the Jewish ownership of carrier pigeons.
6. The suspension of Jewish driver's licenses.
7. The confiscation of Jewish-owned radios.
8. A curfew to keep Jews of the streets between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. in the summer and 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in the winter.
9. Laws protecting tenants were made non-applicable to Jewish tenants.
10. [Perhaps to help insure the Jews could not fight back in the future, the Minister of the Interior issued regulations against Jews' possession of weapons on November 11. This prohibited Jews from "acquiring, possessing, and carrying firearms and ammunition, as well as truncheons or stabbing weapons. Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority."]
One final note on the November 12 meeting is of critical importance. In the meeting, Goering announced, "I have received a letter written on the Fuehrer's orders requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all, coordinated and solved one way or another." The path to the “Final Solution” has now been chosen. And, all the bureaucratic mechanisms for its implementation were now in place.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/kristallnacht.html
Almost immediately upon assuming the Chancellorship of Germany, Hitler began promulgating legal actions against Germany's Jews. In 1933, he proclaimed a one-day boycott against Jewish shops, a law was passed against kosher butchering and Jewish children began experiencing restrictions in public schools. By 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived Jews of German citizenship. By 1936, Jews were prohibited from participation in parliamentary elections and signs reading "Jews Not Welcome" appeared in many German cities. (Incidentally, these signs were taken down in the late summer in preparation for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin).
In the first half of 1938, numerous laws were passed restricting Jewish economic activity and occupational opportunities. In July, 1938, a law was passed (effective January 1, 1939) requiring all Jews to carry identification cards. On October 28, 17,000 Jews of Polish citizenship, many of whom had been living in Germany for decades, were arrested and relocated across the Polish border. The Polish government refused to admit them so they were interned in "relocation camps" on the Polish frontier.
Among the deportees was Zindel Grynszpan, who had been born in western Poland and had moved to Hanover, where he established a small store, in 1911. On the night of October 27, Zindel Grynszpan and his family were forced out of their home by German police. His store and the family's possessions were confiscated and they were forced to move over the Polish border.
Zindel Grynszpan's seventeen-year-old son, Herschel, was living with an uncle in Paris. When he received news of his family's expulsion, he went to the German embassy in Paris on November 7, intending to assassinate the German Ambassador to France. Upon discovering that the Ambassador was not in the embassy, he settled for a lesser official, Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath. Rath, was critically wounded and died two days later, on November 9.
The assassination provided Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Chief of Propaganda, with the excuse he needed to launch a pogrom against German Jews. Grynszpan's attack was interpreted by Goebbels as a conspiratorial attack by "International Jewry" against the Reich and, symbolically, against the Fuehrer himself. This pogrom has come to be called Kristallnacht, "the Night of Broken Glass."
On the nights of November 9 and 10, rampaging mobs throughout Germany and the newly acquired territories of Austria and Sudetenland freely attacked Jews in the street, in their homes and at their places of work and worship. At least 96 Jews were killed and hundreds more injured, more than 1,000 synagogues were burned (and possibly as many as 2,000), almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, cemeteries and schools were vandalized, and 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps [added by Mitchell Bard from his book The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II. NY: MacMillan, 1998, pp. 59-60].
The official German position on these events, which were clearly orchestrated by Goebbels, was that they were spontaneous outbursts. The Fuehrer, Goebbels reported to Party officials in Munich, "has decided that such demonstrations are not to be prepared or organized by the party, but so far as they originate spontaneously, they are not to be discouraged either." (Conot, Robert E. Justice At Nuremberg. NY: Harper & Row, 1983:165)
Three days later, on November 12, Hermann Goering called a meeting of the top Nazi leadership to assess the damage done during the night and place responsibility for it. Present at the meeting were Goering, Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich, Walter Funk and other ranking Nazi officials. The intent of this meeting was two-fold: to make the Jews responsible for Kristallnacht and to use the events of the preceding days as a rationale for promulgating a series of antisemitic laws which would, in effect, remove Jews from the German economy. An interpretive transcript of this meeting is provided by Robert Conot, Justice at Nuremberg, New York: Harper and Row, 1983:164-172):
'Gentlemen! Today's meeting is of a decisive nature,' Goering announced. 'I have received a letter written on the Fuehrer's orders requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all, coordinated and solved one way or another.'
'Since the problem is mainly an economic one, it is from the economic angle it shall have to be tackled. Because, gentlemen, I have had enough of these demonstrations! They don't harm the Jew but me, who is the final authority for coordinating the German economy. `If today a Jewish shop is destroyed, if goods are thrown into the street, the insurance companies will pay for the damages; and, furthermore, consumer goods belonging to the people are destroyed. If in the future, demonstrations which are necessary occur, then, I pray, that they be directed so as not to hurt us.
'Because it's insane to clean out and burn a Jewish warehouse, then have a German insurance company make good the loss. And the goods which I need desperately, whole bales of clothing and whatnot, are being burned. And I miss them everywhere. I may as well burn the raw materials before they arrive.
'I should not want to leave any doubt, gentlemen, as to the aim of today's meeting. We have not come together merely to talk again, but to make decisions, and I implore competent agencies to take all measures for the elimination of the Jew from the German economy, and to submit them to me.'
It was decided at the meeting that, since Jews were to blame for these events, they be held legally and financially responsible for the damages incurred by the pogrom. Accordingly, a "fine of 1 billion marks was levied for the slaying of Vom Rath, and 6 million marks paid by insurance companies for broken windows was to be given to the state coffers. (Snyder, Louis L. Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. New York: Paragon House, 1989:201).
Kristallnacht turns out to be a crucial turning point in German policy regarding the Jews and may be considered as the actual beginning of what is now called the Holocaust.
1. By now it is clear to Hitler and his top advisors that forced immigration of Jews out of the Reich is not a feasible option.
2. Hitler is already considering the invasion of Poland.
3. Numerous concentration camps and forced labor camps are already in operation.
4. The Nuremberg Laws are in place.
5. The doctrine of lebensraum has emerged as a guiding principle of Hitler's ideology. And,
6. The passivity of the German people in the face of the events of Kristallnacht made it clear that the Nazis would encounter little opposition—even from the German churches.
Following the meeting, a wide-ranging set of antisemitic laws were passed which had the clear intent, in Goering's words, of "Aryanizing" the German economy. Over the next two or three months, the following measures were put into effect (cf., Burleigh and Wippermann, The Racial State: Germany, 1933-1945. NY: Cambridge, 1991:92-96):
1. Jews were required to turn over all precious metals to the government.
2. Pensions for Jews dismissed from civil service jobs were arbitrarily reduced.
3. Jewish-owned bonds, stocks, jewelry and art works can be alienated only to the German state.
4. Jews were physically segregated within German towns.
5. A ban on the Jewish ownership of carrier pigeons.
6. The suspension of Jewish driver's licenses.
7. The confiscation of Jewish-owned radios.
8. A curfew to keep Jews of the streets between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. in the summer and 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in the winter.
9. Laws protecting tenants were made non-applicable to Jewish tenants.
10. [Perhaps to help insure the Jews could not fight back in the future, the Minister of the Interior issued regulations against Jews' possession of weapons on November 11. This prohibited Jews from "acquiring, possessing, and carrying firearms and ammunition, as well as truncheons or stabbing weapons. Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority."]
One final note on the November 12 meeting is of critical importance. In the meeting, Goering announced, "I have received a letter written on the Fuehrer's orders requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all, coordinated and solved one way or another." The path to the “Final Solution” has now been chosen. And, all the bureaucratic mechanisms for its implementation were now in place.
Three Movements: One Future
Last night’s Hoffman lecture cannot be measured on the normal scale of measuring such lectures and programs. Typically, we measure attendance (over 500), media presence (local and national coverage, including a Shalom TV national broadcast), and the impact of the speakers (tremendous X3) and, on rare but special occasions, community partnering (we were blessed with rabbinic involvement from the entire community, and the active assistance of the UJF.
Those are all the normal measures. But last night was more than that. It was more than a huge success – it was a gift to the Jewish people. Leaders of our three main movements spoke eloquently and passionately about Jewish commitment and solidarity. And their mere presence on the bima together was a symbolic statement of our common destiny as Jews.
They regaled us with their wisdom and wit. Dr. Eisen’s last statement summed it all up, imploring us to support the institutions that train our future leaders. “We are living at a historical moment for the Jewish people that may not come again soon. We have a vibrant, strong, dynamic, wealthy Jewish community, living side by side with a vibrant, strong State of Israel. We have resources right now at our disposal that we might not have 30 years from now. We have young people with all their idealism rallying to the cause. Let us not let this moment go to waste. This is a moment that we must seize as a community.”
We'll be posting the audio file on our website shortly. Don't miss it!
Those are all the normal measures. But last night was more than that. It was more than a huge success – it was a gift to the Jewish people. Leaders of our three main movements spoke eloquently and passionately about Jewish commitment and solidarity. And their mere presence on the bima together was a symbolic statement of our common destiny as Jews.
They regaled us with their wisdom and wit. Dr. Eisen’s last statement summed it all up, imploring us to support the institutions that train our future leaders. “We are living at a historical moment for the Jewish people that may not come again soon. We have a vibrant, strong, dynamic, wealthy Jewish community, living side by side with a vibrant, strong State of Israel. We have resources right now at our disposal that we might not have 30 years from now. We have young people with all their idealism rallying to the cause. Let us not let this moment go to waste. This is a moment that we must seize as a community.”
We'll be posting the audio file on our website shortly. Don't miss it!
TBE Bar/ Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Samuel Sterman on Parashat Noah
“And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” This verse could either be describing the world at the time of Noah – OR, a typical Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the fall at hundreds of football stadiums across the country.
Yes, football is a violent sport. Some would even say it’s not a Jewish sport, since Jewish parents tend to encourage their kids to play less violent sports, like baseball, basketball and chess.
But last year, when I went to my parents to ask them if I could play football, strangely, they said yes. Of course they didn’t really want me to do it, but my dad said to my mom, “Give him a week and he’ll change his mind.”
They were wrong. Now, I’m a defensive captain, starting defensive back and one of the leading tacklers on the team. As you might have noticed, I’m no Brian Urlacher in size and I’m not exactly one of the larger players on my team.
But Iooks can be deceiving, and I’ve learned that success in football has less to do with how big you are and more to do with technique and teamwork, along with the ability to take a violent sport and play it in a controlled manner.
“Noah” is all about technique, teamwork and controlled violence. It’s also about football: if you think of the animals in the ark, half of the NFL was there: You had the Bears, the Lions, the Eagles, and the Falcons there. So were the Rams, and they played an even bigger role in the time of Abraham. And then there were the Ravens, who played a key role in this story. Noah sent one out to see if there was any dry land, but the raven did not return.
Technique is important for a football player, especially one who might be smaller than the opponent. The key is to get low, which is very easy for me, and to wrap your opponent with both arms. Noah used technique to craft his ark and to make sure that there were no holes. If you have holes, whether in boat building or building a defense, the result can be disastrous. (Think “Titanic,” or this year’s Rams)
After the flood, God decided that He would never destroy the world again because of violence, realizing that people are violent in nature. But that violence needs to be controlled, which is why some laws were established for all people, called the Seven Laws of the Sons of Noah.” Things that were prohibited included murder, animal abuse and grabbing the facemask. As a Patriots fan, they should also have prohibited hitting a quarterback in the knees, which is, unfortunately, what happened to Tom Brady.
Finally, Noah and the animals had to come together like a team to survive on the Ark. There were many animals that did not get along in nature very well, like the cats and dogs, but they had to work together to live on the Ark. In my Mitzvah project, I learned that it takes a great deal of teamwork to save abandoned animals. I raised money for PAWS, which is an organization that saves animals. It takes people like all of us to raise money to pay for the animal’s care. It also takes people to provide care for them, to nurse them back to health, and to find homes for them. I thank all of you for bringing items today that will help PAWS save more animals.
Yes, football is a violent sport. Some would even say it’s not a Jewish sport, since Jewish parents tend to encourage their kids to play less violent sports, like baseball, basketball and chess.
But last year, when I went to my parents to ask them if I could play football, strangely, they said yes. Of course they didn’t really want me to do it, but my dad said to my mom, “Give him a week and he’ll change his mind.”
They were wrong. Now, I’m a defensive captain, starting defensive back and one of the leading tacklers on the team. As you might have noticed, I’m no Brian Urlacher in size and I’m not exactly one of the larger players on my team.
But Iooks can be deceiving, and I’ve learned that success in football has less to do with how big you are and more to do with technique and teamwork, along with the ability to take a violent sport and play it in a controlled manner.
“Noah” is all about technique, teamwork and controlled violence. It’s also about football: if you think of the animals in the ark, half of the NFL was there: You had the Bears, the Lions, the Eagles, and the Falcons there. So were the Rams, and they played an even bigger role in the time of Abraham. And then there were the Ravens, who played a key role in this story. Noah sent one out to see if there was any dry land, but the raven did not return.
Technique is important for a football player, especially one who might be smaller than the opponent. The key is to get low, which is very easy for me, and to wrap your opponent with both arms. Noah used technique to craft his ark and to make sure that there were no holes. If you have holes, whether in boat building or building a defense, the result can be disastrous. (Think “Titanic,” or this year’s Rams)
After the flood, God decided that He would never destroy the world again because of violence, realizing that people are violent in nature. But that violence needs to be controlled, which is why some laws were established for all people, called the Seven Laws of the Sons of Noah.” Things that were prohibited included murder, animal abuse and grabbing the facemask. As a Patriots fan, they should also have prohibited hitting a quarterback in the knees, which is, unfortunately, what happened to Tom Brady.
Finally, Noah and the animals had to come together like a team to survive on the Ark. There were many animals that did not get along in nature very well, like the cats and dogs, but they had to work together to live on the Ark. In my Mitzvah project, I learned that it takes a great deal of teamwork to save abandoned animals. I raised money for PAWS, which is an organization that saves animals. It takes people like all of us to raise money to pay for the animal’s care. It also takes people to provide care for them, to nurse them back to health, and to find homes for them. I thank all of you for bringing items today that will help PAWS save more animals.
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