TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Xavier Marks on Beha'alotcha: Video, Screen Shots and Dvar Torah

 

Happy Hanukkah!

OK, so it’s not really Hanukkah, but if you look at my Torah and haftorah portions, you would think that it is.  The Torah portion – B’haalotcha – begins by describing the menorah in the sanctuary.  And the haftorah is the exact one that is also read on Hanukkah.  So… happy Hanukkah.  And don’t forget to add a Hanukkah present to the Bar Mitzvah presents you send me.

As many of you know, during those few waking hours when I’m not studying hard or saving the world, I watch the occasional movie or TV show.  I especially like action comedies and one particular theme that comes through in many of them is found in my haftarah. 

The line is pretty famous: “Not by might, not by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

It’s surprising to see this verse connected to a holiday like Hanukkah, that celebrates a great military victory.  But the message is an important one for Judaism, as it is for many movies and TV shows.  Winning on the battlefield is not enough.  As Zeus says in the Disney movie “Hercules,” “For a true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart.”

That message comes through in lots of movies and TV series that I like. For instance, one of my favorite TV shows, “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure,” a show features characters that aren’t physically imposing.  Even the ones who are drawn to look really buff in one part might appear much thinner later on. 

The things that make them strong are the spiritual will to fight and not their actual strength.  There are all types of manifestations of that fighting spirit in the show.

To be the strongest actually is not to be the one with the most physical strength but to have other, more spiritual strengths.

We see that in some of my favorite movies.  For instance, “Deadpool” 1 and 2.   The main character, Deadpool, the main character has no superpower, except for one. That came about because he had terminal cancer; he was turned into a mutant so he wouldn’t die. So, blessed with this gift of immortality, he is able to fight crime and save the lives of others.  Because he can’t die, he’s not afraid of anything, although, as he says, “Every dinosaur fears the t-rex.”

And then there’s one of my favorite oldies, “Spaceballs,” which I first loved when I was about five.  Just as with my haftarah, the power comes not from power and might but from the Schwartz.  And that power was harnessed by the ring, although it turns out that “the ring is bupkis – it was found in a Cracker Jack box.”

For my mitzvah project, I’m going to help sheltered cats, by volunteering at PAWS during the summer.

As they say, “May the Schwartz be with you.”  I think it was Judah Maccabee who said that.

Watergate’s Jewish ‘thing’ & Nixon’s thing for the Jews (Times of Israel)

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Watergate’s Jewish ‘thing’ & Nixon’s thing for the Jews

We won't accept a world where bad presidents happen to good people: we speak truth to power, and pursue justice - as this week's January 6 hearing remind

Fifty years ago, on June 17, 1972, the Watergate break-in changed the world. Little did we know it at the time, or for months after, that this seemingly innocuous, two-bit trespass would transform how Americans would view the venerated institutions of our civic life. Many were tainted by the stench of the scandal, from the FBI to the CIA to the presidency itself. Other institutions, most notably the press, acquitted themselves quite well.

But what about the Jews — or as Nixon liked to call us, the Jewboys? Was Nixon the most antisemitic president ever? An argument can be made for that, but having had so many private conversations recorded probably gives him an unfair advantage. It’s hard to quantify such things, but it’s also hard to imagine American Jewry surviving someone who hated Jews more than Nixon did. Even before Watergate, there was Nixon’s “Jew Count.” discussed by Woodward and Bernstein in The Final Days. Nixon was convinced that Jews in the Labor Department were deliberately undermining his efforts by altering labor numbers, so he had some people with Jewish last names demoted. The plan has been called “the last known act of official anti-Semitism conducted by the United States government.” And wait, there’s more. President Nixon also pushed for tax audits of wealthy Jewish contributors to his Democratic rivals.

During Watergate, perhaps Nixon’s most vociferous defender was not only Jewish but a rabbi, Baruch Korff, whom Nixon introduced as “my rabbi.” Nixon’s speechwriter, William Safire, was also Jewish (Safire generously compared Nixon to a “layer cake”). They were not Nixon’s sole Jewish defenders — we can’t forget that many Jews considered Nixon heroic for airlifting assistance to Israel during those first precarious days of the Yom Kippur War. And there was Henry Kissinger, whose Jewish background was the source of some unease in an Oval Office suspicious of Jews. In one tape, Nixon blurts out to H.R. Haldeman, “The Jews are all over this government.” Nixon said the Jews needed to be brought under control by putting someone “in charge who is not Jewish” in key agencies. Washington “is full of Jews,” the president stated. “Most Jews are disloyal.” But he made exceptions, and for the most part, Kissinger was one of them. He even prayed with him as the walls closed in.

It's clear that Nixon’s antisemitic proclivities went way beyond “Jewboy,” tax audits and labor statistics. He considered Jews to be “born spies.” Nixon conjured up Jewish demons even where there were none; his paranoia extended to non-Jews who seemed Jewish to him. His original enemies list and expanded master list of political opponents had plenty of Jewish sounding names. In the tapes, his response to the Pentagon Papers leak was to consider reviving the House Committee on Un-American Activities to investigate government whistleblowers — or in his words, “going after all these Jews. Just find one that is a Jew, will you.” But Daniel Ellsberg was not Jewish — he was raised as a Christian Scientist, though his parents were born Ashkenazi Jews.

Mark Felt, the great Watergate whistleblower of “Deep Throat” fame, was also not Jewish; nonetheless the Watergate tapes disclosed that Nixon was suspicious of him as he asked H.R. Haldeman, “Is he a Catholic?” Haldeman replied that Felt, who was of Irish descent, was Jewish, and Nixon replied: “It could be the Jewish thing. I don’t know. It’s always a possibility.”

What exactly is this “Jewish thing?” What is it that caused Nixon to assume that whistleblowers like Deep Throat and Ellsberg were Jewish?

Nixon would undoubtedly have invoked the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and spoken of dual loyalty, but I’d define the “Jewish Thing” as the prophetic instinct to speak truth to power, to seek justice and pursue it, following the calls of elders who speak on the pages of Isaiah 1:17, Deuteronomy 16:20, Micah 6:8 and Psalms 34:15 — and so many more ancient passages. We are obsessed with justice. The word for justice, tzedek, appears no fewer than 118 times in the Hebrew Bible. Click here to see over 4,000 usages of the term “justice” in the Sefaria database of traditional Jewish sources.

We won’t accept a world where bad presidents happen to good people. We are obsessed with getting it right. We are maniacal for justice — and we’re seeing it again this week with the January 6 investigation.

That’s the Jewish Thing.

Any nation can have kings and emperors. We have them too, but we also have prophets. Yes, we have our share of corrupt politicians, including two Israeli former prime ministers who are currently suing each other for slander in one of the most absurd trials of all time. We’ve had Olmert, who went to jail, and Bibi, who might, and King Ahab, who robbed a poor man of his livelihood and his life. We had a whole slew of corrupt Hasmonean rulers. But we also had Jeremiah. We had Nathan. We had Spinoza and Kafka and Reb Nachman. We are the people of Mike Wallace and Philip Roth and Arthur Miller and Boris Pasternak. We are the people of Carl Bernstein, along with a slew of great journalists and other truth tellers, and at least in H.R. Haldeman’s estimation, we are the people of “Deep Throat” too.

Yes, it’s nice to know that, to Richard Nixon, Jews were a “thing.” We are a “thing” that stands up to corruption. We are a “thing” that believes in an old fashioned concept called integrity and honesty. We have a sense of shame. We speak truth to power. Even when there are political differences, how could a Jew not admire someone who stands up to power even at the risk of their political future. That happened so often in Watergate — it has rarely happened after January 6. Our “thing” is why he feared us — and why extremists, liars and cheats continue to today.

Fifty years later, Nixon and Deep Throat and many of the other key players are gone. Nixon never went to jail, but neither did he get away with it. Meanwhile, the Jewish Thing lives on and on.

May it — and we — continue to spread the light of justice throughout the world.

In This Moment, June 17: Watergate's "Jewish Thing" and Nixon's Thing for the Jews

In This Moment The Shabbat-O-Gram is sponsored by Naomi Marks and Jonathan Marks in honor of their son, Xavier, becoming a Bar Mitzvah. MAZAL TOV! In Sept. 1973, the Boston Globe created a dummy front page for June 18, 1972, had we known then what the break-in would eventually lead to. The article that actually ran on June 18, was tiny, and on page 50. Below the Globe's coverage, you can see the first New York Times article about the break-in, which occupied a sliver of the front page, and not until the following day, June 19. Here is the actual New York Times front page story that ran on June 19, 1972. See the rest of that initial article on the bottom of this email. Note especially the statement of John Mitchell in the Times piece, denying any connection between the break-in and the campaign. "We want to emphasize that this man (McCord) and other people involved were not operating either on our behalf or with our consent," Mitchell said. "I am surprised and dismayed at these reports." He was likely also dismayed at the two years of prison time he would have to serve for conspiring to plan the break in, obstruction of justice and perjury. Watergate's "Jewish Thing" (and Nixon's "Thing" for Jews) Fifty years ago, on June 17, 1972, the Watergate break-in changed the world. Little did we know it at the time, or for months after, that this seemingly innocuous, two-bit trespass would transform how Americans would view the venerated institutions of our civic life. Many were tainted by the stench of the scandal, from the FBI to the CIA to the presidency itself. Other institutions, most notably the press, acquitted themselves quite well. But what about the Jews - or as Nixon liked to call us, the Jewboys? Was Nixon the most antisemitic president ever? An argument can be made for that, but having had so many private conversations recorded probably gives him an unfair "advantage." It's hard to quantify such things, but it's also hard to imagine American Jewry surviving someone who hated Jews more than Nixon did. Even before Watergate, there was Nixon's "Jew Count." discussed by Woodward and Bernstein in The Final Days. Nixon was convinced that Jews in the Labor Department were deliberately undermining his efforts by altering labor numbers, so he had some people with Jewish last names demoted. The plan has been called "the last known act of official anti-Semitism conducted by the United States government." And wait, there's more. President Nixon also pushed for tax audits of wealthy Jewish contributors to his Democratic rivals. During Watergate, perhaps Nixon's most vociferous defender was not only Jewish but a rabbi, Baruch Korff, whom Nixon introduced as "my rabbi." Nixon's speechwriter, William Safire, was also Jewish (Safire compared Nixon to a "layer cake"). They were not Nixon's sole Jewish defenders - we can't forget that many Jews considered Nixon heroic for airlifting assistance to Israel during those first precarious days of the Yom Kippur War. And there was Henry Kissinger, whose Jewish background was the source of some unease in the Oval Office suspicious of Jews. In one tape, Nixon blurts out to H.R. Haldeman, "The Jews are all over this government." Nixon said the Jews needed to be brought under control by putting someone "in charge who is not Jewish" in key agencies. Washington "is full of Jews," the president stated. "Most Jews are disloyal." But he made exceptions, and for the most part, Kissinger was one of them. He even prayed with him as the walls closed in. It's clear that Nixon's antisemitic proclivities went way beyond "Jewboy," tax audits and labor statistics. He considered Jews to be "born spies.". For anyone who might doubt the virulence of this man's bigotry - and not just toward Jews - read this excerpt from the tapes. Nixon conjured up Jewish demons even where there were none; his paranoia extended to non-Jews who seemed Jewish to him. His original enemies list and expanded master list of political opponents had plenty of Jewish sounding names. In the tapes, his response to the Pentagon Papers leak was to consider reviving the House Committee on Un-American Activities to investigate government whistleblowers—or in his words, “going after all these Jews. Just find one that is a Jew, will you.” But Daniel Ellsberg was not Jewish - he was raised as a Christian Scientist, though his parents were born Ashkenazi Jews. Mark Felt, the great Watergate whistleblower of "Deep Throat" fame, was also not Jewish; nonetheless the Watergate tapes disclosed that Nixon was suspicious of him as he asked H.R. Haldeman, "Is he a Catholic?" Haldeman replied that Felt, who was of Irish descent, was Jewish, and Nixon replied: "It could be the Jewish thing. I don't know. It's always a possibility." What exactly is this "Jewish thing?" What is it that caused Nixon to assume that whistleblowers like Deep Throat and Ellsberg were Jewish? Nixon would undoubtedly have invoked the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and spoken of dual loyalty, but I'd define the "Jewish Thing" as the prophetic instinct to speak truth to power, to seek justice and pursue it, following the calls of elders who speak on the pages of Isaiah 1:17, Deuteronomy 16:20, Micah 6:8 and Psalms 34:15 - and so many more ancient passages. We are obsessed with justice. The word for justice, tzedek, appears no fewer than 118 times in the Hebrew Bible. Click here to see over 4,000 usages of the term "justice" in the Sefaria database of Jewish sources. We won't accept a society where bad presidents happen to good people. We are obsessed with getting it right. We are maniacal for justice - and we're seeing it again this week with the January 6 investigation. That's the Jewish Thing. Any nation can have kings and emperors.  We have them too, but we also have prophets. Yes, we have our share of corrupt politicians, including two Israeli former prime ministers who are currently suing each other for slander in one of the most absurd trials of all time. We've had Olmert, who went to jail, and Bibi, who might, and King Ahab, who robbed a poor man of his livelihood and his life. We had a whole slew of corrupt Hasmonean rulers. But we also had Jeremiah.  We had Nathan.  We had Spinoza and Kafka and Reb Nachman. We are the people of Mike Wallace and Philip Roth and Arthur Miller and Boris Pasternak. We are the people of Carl Bernstein, along with a slew of great journalists and other truth tellers, and at least in H.R. Haldeman's estimation, we are the people of "Deep Throat" too. Yes, it’s nice to know that, to Richard Nixon, Jews were a “thing.”  We are "thing" that stands up to corruption.  We are a “thing” that believes in an old fashioned concept called integrity and honesty. We have a sense of shame. We speak truth to power. Even when there are political differences, how could a Jew not admire someone who stands up to power even at the risk of their political future. That happened so often in Watergate - it has rarely happened after January 6. Our "thing" is why he feared us - and why extremists, liars and cheats continue to today. Fifty years later, Nixon and Deep Throat and many of the other key players are gone. Nixon never went to jail but neither did he get away with it. Meanwhile, the Jewish Thing lives on and on. May it - and we - continue to spread the light of justice throughout the world. Have a good Shabbat! Rabbi Joshua Hammerman Menorah poster below from the Jews Allied for Social Justice Facebook page Recommended Reading.  The Menorah as an evolving Jewish symbol - Speaking of the light of justice, no symbol says "Light unto the nations" quite like the menorah - and it happens to be featured in this week's portion. Here's the Parsha Packet for Beha'alotcha. See how Judaism's ageless symbol of light has evolved, while maintaining it's original meaning, projecting how Jews are to be a "light unto the nations," and the sages explained that a purveyor of light is the perfect symbol because light is not a violent force. Given our reputation as truth tellers and justice seekers, a seven branched candelabra is the perfect depiction of the Jewish vision.This week's haftarah contains a classic vision of the temple menorah along with the immortal phrase, "Not by might, not by power but by My spirit, says the Lord of hosts." Wisdom For Unwelcome Experiences (MyJewishLearning) - The founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, offered a three-pronged approach to dealing with difficulty. A teaching from the Besht, the 18th century rabbi who revolutionized Judaism with the creation of Hasidism, offers a rudder as we navigate stormy seas. The Besht sought to help his followers to cope with unwelcome experiences — distracting thoughts during prayer and any encounters with brokenness. He offered a three-pronged approach: hachna’ah (yielding), havdalah (discernment), and hamtakah (sweetening). Stew Leonard's boss accused of racist, sexist, anti-Semitic remarks (CNBC) - Say it 'aint so, Stew! I won't pile on here, but these accusations can't go ignored. Remembering the Family Store - I'm hearing great things about this documentary describing the family businesses of Old Time Stamford, playing at the Avon until Tuesday. Congrats to the Jewish Historical Society for their Check it out! For Israelis and Palestinians, confederation is a disastrous fantasy (Ha'aretz) Rabbi Eric Yoffie states that all of a sudden, the idea of an Israel-Palestine confederation is everywhere, not least among progressive Zionists. It’s not a new idea – but it’s a terrible one. The soon-to-end coalition that nurtured two visions of Israel | Yossi Klein Halevi | The Blogs (The Times of Israel) - In creating a government representing Zionist parties from the right, left and center with fundamentally opposed visions of the country’s territorial borders and cultural identity, the coalition has proven one of its key assertions: that what unites Israel’s Jews is ultimately more compelling than what divides us. Pushing back against his vehement critics on the right, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has repeatedly invoked the “shared tent” of Jewish Israelis, bound by a covenant to defend the state. The left, Bennett reminds the right, aren’t enemies but “achim l’neshek,” brothers in arms. You don’t need a map to find antisemitism (Jonathan Greenblatt op ed - TOI) See also FAQ's on the Boston Mapping Project (ADL) See also Massachusetts Democrats, including Ayanna Pressley, condemn pro-Palestinian project mapping Boston Jewish groups (JTA) The mapping project is an interactive map that pinpoints the locations of Jewish communal and other community organizations in Massachusetts, including ADL. The map’s lines extend outwards to any group, organization, educational institution or government official those communal organizations may have interacted with, in an attempt to expose and isolate those who they assert are responsible for “the colonization of Palestine” and other perceived “harms that we see linked, such as policing, US Imperialism and displacement.” In all, approximately 400 organizations are named.  See conservative columnist Jeff Jacoby's column about it below. Temple Beth El 350 Roxbury Road Stamford, Connecticut 06902 203-322-6901 | www.tbe.org    A Conservative, Inclusive, Spiritual Community

In This Moment, June 10: Covid’s “Wild West” Era

 

In This Moment See Aviva Maller's fabulous photos of last week's Cantor's Concert / Installation in our End of Year Album Covid’s “Wild West” Era Some of you may have heard that our senior staff was exposed to Covid this past Tuesday. As a result, given the increasing risks of my being contagious over the next few days, I plan to attend our (indoor) services remotely this Shabbat and will, God willing, conduct in person three outdoor namings and an outdoor wedding on Sunday. I have consulted with medical professionals all the relevant families and have arranged for a backup plan for the wedding. Hopefully I will not test positive. But it would be very sad were I not to make it.    We have entered the “Wild West” portion of the Covid era. With so many variables and unknowns, with so many otherwise sane people at wits end – and with nearly every public official afraid to upset all their at-wits-end constituents – it has been left to individuals to set their own safety standards. We need to be guided by the science, as they say, but we also need to be guided by our moral principles, and foremost among them is “cause no harm.”   This has put a particular strain on clergy, who answer both to their congregants and to a Higher Authority. As a result of added stress, many clergy have simply thrown their hands up and headed for the hills.    We’re the ones who need to be unswerving in the face of pressure to conform, while also understanding of the reasons why people are so tired of precautions. But we also know that when we officiate at a life-cycle event, that is often one of the most important moments of that congregant’s life. Unlike a late-night talk host, if we test positive, we can’t simply rerun an old broadcast, and unlike an elected official, we can’t simply reschedule a key vote. The event we might miss could well have been in the planning stages for years, and during the Covid era, postponed already. People count on us, and so clergy need to be worthy of their trust by trying to stay safe – and keeping others safe too. No one cares if Jimmy Kimmel can't perform a wedding. But when a rabbi gets Covid, it's a five alarm blaze for that family.    This week, a day after I heard that I had been exposed, I got a frantic call from someone I’ve known for many years, who now lives in a neighboring community, asking me if I could pinch hit and officiate at his daughter’s bat mitzvah this weekend. Why? Because HIS rabbi suddenly came down with Covid. I felt horribly having to turn him down, knowing how important a bat mitzvah is for any Jewish family. But it's just a small indication of how much this current variant is wreaking havoc with family celebrations that have already been put off so many times.   In the pre-Covid era, if I had a cold or flulike symptoms, I’d load up my pocket with a few extra tissues and just tough it out. I once went through an entire Yom Kippur with acute laryngitis. Each word of my sermon was summoned with all my strength projected into a jacked-up microphone. Each breath was a full-on bellow straight from the diaphragm. It was excruciating. I'd have given my life for a Sucret - but I couldn't even have a glass of water. Afterwards, people said it was the most impactful sermon I ever gave. Such emotion! They had no idea what I was going through.    But until now, nothing could keep me from officiating at a life-cycle event.. It's hard to believe that I’ve never missed a Bar/Bat Mitzvah because of illness in all my years here.   In early Covid times, there were no in-person weddings and attendance was highly restricted at funerals. Brisses were private and namings were put off. The rules were clear and they were followed. Had I felt ill before an event, I wouldn’t have left my home and it would be completely understood. or we would shift to Zoom.   But what happens now in this Wild West era? If I feel a little sick while on my way to a wedding, do I stop the car, turn, go home and test? Do I continue on, say nothing to the family, and just try to keep my distance? What if this happens and I am on a plane? Who wants to get stuck quarantining in a faraway place? Maybe I just suck it up, do the wedding and test when I get home. With testing mandates becoming rarer - as of today you don't even need one to enter the country on an international flight - and tests themselves are not completely reliable, so much has been left to the honor system. In the end, how honest do we think honorable-but-Covid-crazed people really are?   I can’t answer that, but I know that I still must answer to a higher authority. An ethical approach would demand complete honesty and transparency. In addition, I’d like to draw this ethical distinction to help guide us through this Wild West era:   To unknowingly infect is irresponsible. To knowingly infect is immoral.    Unfortunately, tomorrow, five days after my exposure on Tuesday, is precisely when I could be most contagious, even while not yet testing positive. In my mind that means that if I attend an indoor event with lots of people, I’d potentially be infecting people “knowingly.”    So my plan is to attend Men’s Club Shabbat remotely. I think my appearance on a two-way Zoom will have a galvanizing impact. It’s a win-win. I will be 100 percent present and no one will get infected. We’ve found ways to maintain a sense of community and intimacy via technology over the past few years and it is clear that we are going to need to find ways to continue to do that for a long time, even as we come together in person more frequently. And if we have trouble making the two-way audio connection on Zoom, I'll still be there on the screen, smiling and kvelling over the great job our men's club volunteers will do.   I don’t expect everyone to agree with my assessment. And there is a considerable degree of fluidity to it. If I am exposed again, and undoubtedly that will happen, many variables will need to be considered: the transmissibility and virulence of the variant, the number of days between the exposure and the event, the state of the boosters, and the anecdotal evidence of other infections within the particular group. So, everything will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.    But in this case, for me, the prudent response is also the moral one. So far, as of this minute I'm testing negative - and I waited until just before Shabbat to send this out. Let's pray that all those who have not been so fortunate will be OK. Have a good and healthy Shabbat! Rabbi Joshua Hammerman Ruth and Roe: A Conversation About Life and Choice Click below to watch last weekend's Tikkun Layl Shavuot with our friends at Congregation Beth El of Norwalk Recommended Reading.  Click here for a parsha packet on Jews, Teens and Hair. Also see What Is a Nazir, and Why the Wild Hair? (The Torah.com) - Why the focus on hair? It's from this week's portion of Naso. Like many prophets, a nazirite once characterized holy people living on the periphery of society, with wild flowing hair to mark their separate status. Some were divine messengers, like the prophets Elijah and Samuel. Others were warriors, like Samson, a wild-man warrior reminiscent of the Sumerian hero Enkidu. The priestly legislation neutralizes the nazir, making the hair itself the focus. Women are now leading three liberal-religious-Israeli movements - Rakefet Ginsberg is the first woman to head the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel. Yet even though she grew up in an entirely secular household, her father wasn’t thrilled when she told him she was chosen to lead the movement. Yes, there are Jewish Proud Boys (JPost), and one of them is a rabbi! (Miami Herald) but yes, the group is viciously antisemitic. 5 Jewish questions about the Jan. 6 committee hearings, answered - Jewish Telegraphic Agency Conservative rabbis approve new language for nonbinary Jews (RNS) - Calling people up to the Torah by name is a long-standing Saturday morning practice. Now the Conservative movement has formalized a series of Hebrew terms service leaders can use to call nonbinary people to Torah honors. LGBTQ Interpretations of Jewish Texts (and was King David Bisexual?) - From David and Jonathan to Ruth and Naomi, explore these LBGT readings of classic Jewish texts. This vintage Bulova watch was discontinued in 1972. So why are cantors so desperate to get one? (Forward) Spoiler - it has a built in Shabbat appropriate tuning fork Apocalypse now? Resources on religion and natural disasters (Religion Link) A rich resource for journalists that is important for everyone to study. The Jewish History of Bazooka Bubble Gum (Nosher) From a penny candy business to a global cult sensation. Judaism and Pets: Questions and Answers (My Jewish Learning) - What Jewish tradition says about cats, dogs and other companion animals. Can I walk my dog on Shabbat? Does Jewish law dictate how to treat pets? We explore these questions and more. Selling deadly weapons - from the Talmud (Shalom Center) ‌ Temple Beth El 350 Roxbury Road Stamford, Connecticut 06902 203-322-6901 | www.tbe.org    A Conservative, Inclusive, Spiritual Community