Shabbat-O-Gram, October 2000

 Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameach,

I apologize for the length -- but much is happening. I'm sending it in two parts, for your downloading pleasure: 

BRIEF WEEKEND UPDATE
Shabbat Shalom service -- 6:15 PM
Family Shabbat-Sukkot Dinner -- 7:00 PM (reservations are no longer being accepted)
Shabbat - Festival Services -- 8:00 PM

Shabbat morning -- Shmini Atzeret Services begin at 9:00 AM -- NOTE SPECIAL TIME...
the services will include a partial reading of the book of Ecclesiastes, Yizkor (sometime around 10:30, but it's anyone's guess), the prayer for rain and....Mazal Tov to Emily Lessen, who will become Bat Mitzvah tomorrow!!!  Childrens' services at 10:30 as usual.

Simchat Torah: 6:30 Saturday evening, 9:30 Sunday morning (with the Torah procession at about 10:15).  Special goodies will be given out at both services.  On Sunday morning, we'll likely do some dancing with Torahs outdoors too!  Simchat Torah morning is loads of fun (we'll also have children's programming).  For those who normally don't get the chance to do this when it falls on a weekday, don't miss this one.  We'll also be having a special lunch after the service on Sunday.

BETH EL CARES MEETING -- WEDNESDAY AT 7:30
Now more than ever we have to become active voices for good within our community and around the world.  Help us do that at this important organizational and planing meeting for the congregation's social action arm.

NOW, REGARDING ISRAEL:

1)      Our community will gather in support of Israel on Sunday night at 8:00 PM, at Congregation Agudath Sholom.  I urge people to come, even if it means missing an inning or two of the World Series.  The program will not be a long one.  We'll be hearing from an particularly inspiring speaker, an Israeli journalist, who will update us on the situation.

2)      I've just sent out a letter to all parents of Religious School and Beth El Bi-Cultural students, giving guidance on how we might discuss the current situation with our children.  An important point I make in the letter is that, as much as we need to keep our children (and ourselves) informed of events, it is even more essential that we provide them with positive Jewish experiences, so that being Jewish not be seen by them as something that evokes sadness, anxiety and fear (as it did for many of us growing up).  This weekend is the Simcha of Simchas, Simchat Torah, and we'll also be celebrating a Bat Mitzvah and having a large Shabbat dinner tonight.  Unfortunately it is now too late to sign up for the dinner (and we have about 150 attending), but all these other activities are still open to all, including the Shabbat Shalom service this evening that will take place before the dinner, and especially our Simchat Torah services Saturday night and Sunday morning too. 

3)      Here are some ways for you to find out first-hand what's happening in Israel:

www.beliefnet.com/new/middleeast.html
http://www.jr.co.il/things/politics.htm
http://www.thetruthaboutisrael.com
The Jerusalem Post, Israel’s leading English language newspaper, has
recently launched its own Internet radio station.  24 hours a day; news,
and exclusive interviews: www.jpostradio.com

Here is the International Coalition for Missing Israeli Soldiers home page:
http://www.mia.org.il/

Other News Sources:

There is a dearth of good and accurate information in the US. The best way
to get information is from the Jerusalem Post. Its web page can be accessed
at www.jpost.com.  Sources such as National Public Radio,(NPR) are
especially poor and unreliable. Of the three major networks, ABC is the
least accurate and NBC is the most accurate. US News is tightly controlled
and many major stories are left out. Therefore it is valuable to turn to
the web and to receive accurate news from a number of sources.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs web site  - for official statements
and documents from the government of Israel:
http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa
NOTE: You can subscribe to Israel Line,’ a summary of the Israeli press
prepared Monday through Friday by the Israeli consulate in NY, at this
location: http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/listservform.asp
Israel Wire - for the latest updates direct from Israel:
http://www.israelwire.com/
Haaretz  - for more in-depth reporting, analysis, and commentary on the
current situation in Israel: http://www3.haaretz.co.il
The Jerusalem Post - for more in-depth reporting, analysis, and
commentary on the current situation in Israel:  http://www.jpost.com/
The Jerusalem Report - for an additional point of view read about the
political situation in the Middle East, as well as politics and society
in Israel, in Israel’s bi-weekly newsmagazine: http://www.jrep.com
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA)
Read about bias in media coverage: http://world.std.com/~camera/

AIPAC - check out how America’s Pro-Israel lobby is responding to the
crisis and the steps you can take to help affect the political process
and public sentiment: http://www.aipac.org/
ADL “Anti-Defamation League” see the ADL’s perspective on anti-Israel
violence, as well as good information about security: http://www.adl.org

SOME HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON CURRENT EVENTS:

from “The Innocents Abroad,” by Mark Twain, recounting his visit to Shechem
and the Holy Land in 1867:
“...About a mile and a half from Shechem we halted at the base of
Mount Ebal before a little square area, inclosed [sic] by a high stone
wall, neatly whitewashed. Across one end of this inclosure [sic] is a tomb
built after the manner of the Moslems. It is the tomb of Joseph. No truth
is better authenticated than this.
“When Joseph was dying he prophesied that exodus of the Israelites
from Egypt which occurred four hundred years afterwards. At the same time
he exacted of his people an oath that when they journeyed to the land of
Canaan they would bear his bones with them and bury them in the ancient
inheritance of his fathers. The oath was kept...  Few tombs on earth
command the veneration of so many races and men of diverse creeds as this
of Joseph... Samaritan and Jew, Moslem and Christian alike,revere it, and
honor it with their visits.  The tomb of Joseph, the dutiful son, the
affectionate, forgiving brother, the virtuous man, the wise Prince and
ruler. Egypt felt his influence the world knows his history.”

THE LATEST DISPATCH FROM VIRTUAL JERUSALEM

Dear VJ Members,

It is noon in Jerusalem, and there is a sense of great uneasiness in the
city. Fridays, the day when Muslims converge on the Temple Mount for
prayers, are always fraught with tension. Reports coming out of the Old
City at this time, indicate that Israeli police are preventing anyone
under forty years-old from entering the Mount as information was received of intentions by young men to cause disturbances after prayers. Naturally, this is leading to feelings of anger and frustration amongst those barred from attending prayers.
Adding to the tension are reports from Israeli police that terror attacks are expected in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. We have been told to carry on our usual activities but to be on the lookout for suspicious objects or people.
Finally, we are all rather anxious over the outcome of the ‘Al-Aqsa’s
Intifada Summit’ for leaders of Arab countries, going on in Cairo today.
What will the outcome be?


*ACT AGAINST MEDIA BIAS!
Last night I watched three different news broadcasts on the terrible
events that took place on Mount Eval.  To watch events on CNN and the BBC,
one is lead to believe that armed settlers set out for Mount Eval in order
to open fire on Palestinians who were innocently picking olives on the
hillside.  They explained that settlers did indeed open fire and that the
Palestinians merely shot back to defend themselves.

Switching to Israeli news channels, the story was quite different!
Thirty-seven men, women and children (residents of the West Bank),
apparently with IDF permission, set out by bus to hike around the area of
Mount Eval. After visiting Joseph’s Overlook, to see the recently
destroyed Joseph’s Tomb, the group then decided to walk a path that leads from the overlook toward Nablus and the Askar refugee camp. At this point, Palestinians in the refugee camp opened fire on the group.
This is just one example of the anti-Israel bias that emerges daily. We
have received hundreds of letters from VJ members outraged by the media
bias they are seeing on television or in the press.  Instead of feeling
helpless to act against it, we urge you to encourage people you know to
sign up to our Special Edition newsletters and to write directly to the
agencies who are responsible for the bias:

*CNN e-mail contacts:
eason.jordan@turner.com
tom.johnson@turner.com
CNN Tel: 1-404-827-1500
Fax: 1-404-827-1784

*BBC email contact:
newsonline.complaints@bbc.co.uk
We will bring you more contact information as we receive it.
Visit our Presswatch forum for more:
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/forums/go.asp?cmd=http://bb.virtualjerusalem.com/messages/43/501.html


*LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: OCTOBER 20, 2000
**Settlers, Palestinians clash over version of Mount Eval shooting
http://www2.haaretz.co.il/breaking-news/intifada/331838.asp
Saying that they didn’t do anything that could be seen as a threat,
settlers who had been part of the day-trip at Mount Eval, where a
gun-battle broke out, added that they didn’t even approach the Nablus
area. Palestinians, however, claim that they were acting in self-defense
against settlers they said attacked Palestinians and torched a house in
the Askar refugee camp. Yoav Noyman, who along with his wife participated
in the trip, said, “We have an obligation to live our lives here with
maximum routine and normalcy, and routine during the Sukkot holiday, from
our point of view, includes trips like this. Once the trip was authorized
by security forces, there was no indecision about it at all.”


**Last night’s clashes: Rafah, Ramallah, Gilo, Gush Katif Junction
http://www2.haaretz.co.il/breaking-news/intifada/331833.asp
A gunbattle raged last night between Israeli Defense Forces soldiers and
Palestinians slightly north of the Rafiah, on the Egyptian border. There
were no injuries. In Ramallah, shots were fired at the Psagot settlement.
There were no injuries there as well. Shots were fired into the Gilo
neighborhood in Jerusalem from the neighboring Palestinian village of Beit
Jala. The shots were aimed at IDF tank positions near the Jewish
neighborhood. No injuries or damage was reported, though the Home Front
Command continued to carry out defensive work near the homes on the
southern side of the road in an effort to shield them from gunfire.
Residents, however, claimed that these protective measures are
insufficient as the shots struck at the upper levels of the buildings.


**EU wants milder UN resolution on Mideast violence
http://www2.haaretz.co.il/breaking-news/peace_process/331828.asp
UNITED NATIONS - The European Union tried to soften a UN General Assembly draft resolution condemning Israel for excessive use of force against Palestinians ahead of Friday’s scheduled debate. The resolution, which the United States opposes, is expected to be adopted at the end of a special emergency session of the 189-member assembly that began Wednesday and resumes late Friday with a briefing by Secretary-General Kofi Annan followed by some 40 speeches.

**PA, Clinton react to Mount Eval shooting; PM weighing response
http://www2.haaretz.co.il/breaking-news/peace_process/331827.asp
Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced yesterday that the shooting in Mount
Eval, near Nablus, yesterday was a blatant violation of agreements with
the Palestinian Authority, but senior government sources say he is still
considering the exact components of a harsh retaliation. Barak did however renounce settler protests that he did not permit the IDF to use full force to evacuate the slain Israeli, Rabbi Binyamin Herling.

**For more headlines, visit www.virtualjerusalem.com.

**Send greetings of support to your loved ones in Israel:
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/greetings/cat/support.asp

THE SITUATION IN ISRAEL: ANOTHER VIEW

It is very easy to put on blinders in a situation like this, especially with such misinformation going around.  In war, as they say, the first casualty is truth.  That's why I present the following as another perspective, this written by an Israeli Jew who has dedicated his life to fostering dialogue between Arabs and Jews.  In the end, that will be the only answer.  So it's important to hear his perspective, even as we are in the heat of a battle which, because of the forces arrayed against Israel, requires that we often lost contact with the complexity of the issue.  This will help us to understand what the Palestinians are thinking.  The Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information - IPCRI - is an Israeli-Palestinian public policy think-tank working to advance peace between Israel and Palestine and in the region.

Thursday, October 19, 2000

Dear friends,

For all of those who are interested to know how we have been facing the current situation, the following is a bit of an update and a bit of analysis on the present situation.  This analysis is my own and although, to a great extent it is shared by Zakaria, he is not here right and and I will not speak on his behalf  but from extensive discussions of the situation  I believe that we pretty much see eye-to-eye (which is quite different from most Israelis and Palestinians who are talking about “eye for eye”).

The IPCRI Office

Getting to the IPCRI office in Bethlehem can only be done now by taking considerable personal physical risk.  On Wednesday of last week, one day before the lynch of the Israeli soldiers in Ramallah, I was stopped at a Palestinian check point in Bethlehem and told to wait in front of the check point.  Within minutes about 6 young men in civilian dress holding weapons surrounded my car and began interrogating me. I explained to them who I was and that I had an office in Bethlehem.  I gave them my ID and asked to use my phone.  I called Zakaria, who was in the office and he spoke to the officer there.  The officer told Zakaria that they were taking me to the headquarters of the Preventative Security in Bethlehem  something that I didn’t want to happen.  Zakaria immediately began searching for Jabril Rajoub while I convinced the officer not to take me there but the call the head of Preventative security for Bethlehem who was in our office just 2 days before.All of this conversation taking place in my less than perfect Arabic. During the next 15-20 minutes (that felt like hours) I was held there on the side of the road with 6 Palestinian armed soldiers telling me I shouldn’t be afraid  I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t be afraid as well (it only worked partially).  Finally a call came from the head of Preventative Security for the Bethlehem area.  The officer asked if I was from IPCRI  I said yes. He reported back and closed the phone.  He then gave me back my ID Card and told me that he had instructions to escort me wherever I needed to go.  I was leaving Bethlehem so I received a military escort out of the city  until the Israeli check point in Beit Jalla.
The next morning we decided that I would travel into the office with Zakaria in his car. There was a complete closure on the territories and the entrance of Israelis to the PA areas was forbidden.  Under normal circumstances when there is a closure there are about 200 ways in and out of Bethlehem  and we know all of them.  We had been using some of them since the beginning of the latest uprising to come and go to the office.  However, on Thursday morning, every entrance was blocked.  The Israeli army had dug ditches in the roads and placed huge boulders and dirt at every entrance. I remembered that the Talita Kumi school has an entrance on a road that was open and also has a back door into Beit Jalla on a road that leads directly to our office.  We spoke with the headmaster of the school who said that we could leave Zakaria’s car in the school.  We then called our landlord in Bethlehem to pick us up at the school.

Our landlord’s uncle is the commander of PA Military Intelligence in the Bethlehem district and is very well known.  All of the roads in Beit Jalla and Bethlehem were filled with Palestinian soldiers awaiting an Israeli invasion.  We made it to the office without any problem.

At 11:00 we received a phone call from someone in Ramallah that 2 Israeli soldiers were captured and killed there just a few minutes ago.  At 11:45 there were the first reports on the incident on the internet.  At 12:30 the Israeli radio reported the incident without any great detail. It was still quite unclear what had happened there.  At about 1:15 we saw Palestinian soldiers leaving the Bethlehem military headquarters in full gear and carrying lots of equipment.  They entered the olive fields around our office that are across from their headquarters. Several minutes later we heard on Palestinian radio that the Israelis said that they would be attacking Palestinian military installations in Ramallah and in other places. Shortly afterwards, several friends of IPCRI from the area came to our office and told us that it was time to leave  they got no argument from us.  We called our landlord who swiftly returned us to Talita Kumi.  Zakaria, Birgit (our office manager) and I went to my house in Jerusalem for a cup of coffee and to see the news on TV.  When the first attack by Israeli helicopters took place Zakaria was clearly nervous and felt that tempters were so high he better get home as soon as possible so that he wouldn’t get caught in a lynch by angry Israelis.  He got home in about 15 minutes and I called him to make sure that he was safe and that nothing happened to him on the way home.
So now the office is off limits until things calm down.  Fortunately we have an Israeli teachers training taking place that began yesterday and will go on until tomorrow. It is a great testimony of commitment and hope that this teacher training is even taking place.  Our Peace Education staff of Marwan Daweish, Anat Resiman-Levy, and Nedal Jayousi earn a great deal of credit for making this happen as do the 60 Israeli Jewish and Arab teachers who are participating.  Unfortunately, the Palestinian teachers could not participate due to the closure.  Nonetheless it is quite difficult to talk about peace education when the ground is burning.  A major part of the training is aimed to allow the teachers to talk about the situation and to try and understand what is actually happening and why. It is also aimed at allowing them to vent their anger and fears.

What else have we been doing?

We have been involved in organizing meetings between Israeli and Palestinian politicians aimed at keeping channels of communication open. The Most important of these attempts was a meeting we organized between Avshalom (Abu) Vilan and Musi Raz from Meretz and Jabril Rajoub on Sunday night October 1  three days after the Sharon visit to Al Aqsa.  Abu Vilan is very close to Barak having served as an officer under him in the past. Abu brought a message from Barak to Arafat and requested to deliver it to Jabril and we were requested to organize the meeting. At one point in the meeting we had Barak on one phone and Arafat on the other.  Abu Vilan asked Jabril Rajoub what Arafat wanted to put an end to the violence. Rajoub called Arafat and was dictated a list of seven conditions.  They mainly focused on returning to the situation that existed prior to the events as well as a demand to establish an international investigation to examine the events of the riots and deaths on the Haram el Sharif-Temple Mount after the Sharon visit and after the Friday prayers.  Six of the seven conditions were acceptable to Barak.  There was full objection to any international involvement in examining what happened.  Barak’s office also wanted to check the information from another channel that opened up ½ an hour before our call to Barak.  Rajoub proposed a Barak-Arafat meeting right there to reach an agreement and put an immediate end to the escalation.  Barak refused and instead sent his confidante  former deputy director of the Shin Bet and Arafat’s business partner  Yossi Ginosar (Known to the Palestinians as Joe) to meet Arafat.  The Ginosar-Arafat meeting turned out as a disaster with mutual screaming and recriminations. We pleaded with Barak’s office to accept the Rajoub offer and to give Rajoub the credit knowing that if there would be an agreement, Rajoub would have to take responsibility to bring quiet to the streets. Rajoub was all ready to make the preparations to bring Arafat to his office. Barak was in Cochav Yair in his private residence.  All that is now history.

What happened and why?
It seems very unlikely that the Sharm el Sheikh declaration will take hold and be implemented.  The declaration is extremely unpopular on the Palestinian streets where most people believe that they have paid a very high price for a very small return. It will be very difficult for Arafat to impose his will (if in fact his will is to bring about quiet) on the forces in the streets  both those from Fatah and those from the opposition Islamic groups. It seems to me that Arafat’s strategy is based on his conclusion that the Israeli offers from Camp David fell far short of what Arafat believes he could accept and sell to his people and to the Arab and Islamic world  particularly concerning the Haram al Sharif and the refugees’ right of return. The Palestinian position since November 1988 has been based on the claim that they have accepted international law and Security Council Resolutions and that the international community has to insure their implementation in the face of Israeli violations and disrespect of the international community.  In Oslo in 1993, the Palestinians said that they have made an historic compromise and that in the final status talks Israel would have to make its historic compromise. The Palestinians refer to their acceptance of the State of Israel within the June 4, 1967 borders  meaning that they have given up their claim to 78% of historic Palestine  but they would not make any compromises on the remaining 22%.  In Camp David, Barak proposed to withdraw from 90% of the West Bank. Arafat offered Barak 2% for free and another 2% in land exchanges.  This was a very unpopular move by Arafat amongst Fatah activists and Tanzim (the former leaders of the fatah during the years of the intifida who come from the West Bank and Gaza) leaders. In fact a fistfight broke out between members of the Palestinian delegation at Camp David over this issue.

Arafat has always wanted the international community to act in Palestine as they acted in Iraq (Kuwait) and in Kosovo.  Furthermore, he was inspired by the lessons of the Hizballah victory in bringing about an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon through a guerilla war of attrition. In this few, some 2000 Hizballah fighters defeated the mighty Israeli army. Why can’t Palestinian resistance target key sensitive places such as Rachel’s Tomb, Joseph’s tomb, Netzarim, Kfar Darom, Psagot and other isolated places in the same way that Hizballah did? Recognizing the difference between every other place in the world and Israel, Arafat believes that without great Palestinian casualties the world will not take notice of the need to intervene and impose international law on Israel.  Arafat wants the international community to send troops to Palestine to protect the Palestinian people and to force Israel to accept Security Council Resolution 242.  Understanding this strategy is also the main reason for the strong Israeli objection to the international investigation panel which would have given an official entry into the region and could lead to further international intervention.

Al Aqsa and the Sharon Visit

At Camp David, one of the Israeli proposals for Jerusalem involved the establishment of a small synagogue on the Haram al Sharif in exchange for some form of dejure Islamic control (not Palestinian). At the same time Israeli newspapers reported that the chief Rabbinate in Israel was examining Jewish law with regard to the issue of holding Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.  When Sharon announced his intention to visit the Temple Mount, rumors began to spread throughout Palestine that the Israelis were planning to take over Al Aqsa and to divide it between Jews and Muslims as the Cave of the Patriarchs is in Hebron. Barak agreed to Sharon’s visit for internal Israeli political reasons and thereby led to the catalyst that set the region on fire.  There was clearly a lack of understanding of the intensity of Islamic sensitivities and fears regarding the Haram al Sharif.  There was also a lack of understanding of the frustration of the Palestinians on the ground and the fears of losing their rights through compromises in the peace negotiations.
Another very basic problem in my view emanates from the lack of democracy in Palestine and the tragic relationship that has developed between Israel and the Arafat regime serving the very narrow and short-sighted interests of a small group of people on both sides.  The dwindling support for Arafat amongst Palestinians is a reflection of the contempt that most Palestinians feel towards the Palestinian authority and Arafat and towards the Oslo Process.  This also reflects limits that Arafat has had in getting the public into the streets to support him in the past as well as the limitations that he now faces on trying to control the streets.  Israel and the US hold a lot of responsibility for the nature of the PA regime  the subject of which I will devote another letter.

Where to from here? 

It seems to me that there will not be a complete reduction of violence and that the potential for terror is very high.  There will most likely be new elections in Israel and a very weakened Barak has little chance of winning. It seems that in recognition of the fact that Israelis and Palestinians will continue to live here, Israel is likely to take unilateral steps towards forced separation while the Palestinians will take unilateral steps towards sovereignty and statehood.  The two sides will try to find a modus vivendi of regulating varying levels of violence between them.

IPCRI will continue to reevaluate the situation to examine ways to keep communication and dialogue open. We are now trying to get the US Ambassador to host a series of high level meetings in his home which we would facilitate.  If this will not work, we will approach several EU Ambassadors to do the same.

We appreciate your support and interest and will keep you informed of our activities.

Gershon

Gershon Baskin, Ph.D.
Directors

TO BE CONTINUED.......

Shabbat-O-Gram, Sept 2000

 Shabbat Shalom and G'mar Hatima Tova (May we all be sealed for good this year),

SHABBAT SHUVA -- PARSHAT HA'AZINU

Deuteronomy 32:1-52 (we read the entire portion every year, regardless of the Triennial system year)
HAFTARAH: Hosea 14:2-10; Joel 2:15-27

THIS SHABBAT, KNOWN ON THE CALENDAR AS "SHABBAT SHUVAH," IS NAMED AFTER THE
FIRST WORD OF THE HAFTARAH.

Parashat Ha'azinu is the shortest parasha in the Torah. It consists of only one chapter of just fifty-two lines. The first 47 lines are a song that Moses sings at the threshold of the Promised Land, within hearing distance of all the people of Israel. Ha'azinu hashamayim, he begins. "Give ear, O heavens, let me speak; let the earth hear the words I utter!" (Deuteronomy 32:1).
Moses praises God, saying that all God's deeds are perfect and all God's ways are just. God created and sustained the people, caring for them in the desert and feeding them. If they forget God, God will make them suffer. If they return to God, God will be merciful and protect them. Moses tells the people "Take to heart all the words with which I have warned you this day. Enjoin
them upon your children, that they may observe faithfully all the terms of this Teaching. For this is not a trifling thing for you: it is your very life..." (Deuteronomy 32:46-47). In the concluding five lines, God speaks to Moses, telling him to climb Mount Nebo and view the Promised Land from there, for he will die on that mountain.This week's Haftarah portion is taken from the prophets Hosea and Joel. It
was selected not for its relevance to the Torah portion, but rather for its relevance to the Ten Days of Repentance. It focuses on the theme of repentance which permeates the High Holy Days liturgy.

ISRAEL

All of us are concerned at the week's events in Israel; concerned and more than likely confused.  In matters like these, the question always seems to be "Who's to blame?"  That's a fruitless exercise.  I've received several emails just today, all with the same forwarded message about the New York Times' culpability in identifying a bloodied Jewish victim of the fighting as an Arab.  The matter is deplorable, and in fact it was the AP that was at fault, not the Times, but the matter is a needless distraction.  We know that there have been victims on both sides.  There's plenty of blame to go around.  What matters is ending the cycle of violence, and then returning the task of peacemaking, if the opportunity still presents itself.  I've found the statements made by Israeli officials, including the one forwarded to you earlier this week, to be refreshingly human, conciliatory and forward looking, while not disregarding the security needs of soldiers and settlers in the line of fire.

This is not a time for anger, but of great sadness and heshbon ha-nefesh (soul searching) as befits the season.  Avraham Burg's op-ed in the Times yesterday is a good place to begin, "I Was For peace, Now What?"  What follows is a first-hand account of the situation in the Galilee, where Israeli Arabs rioted this week, in perhaps the most disturbing development of all for Israeli Jews.  You can hear the anguish in his words.  It behooves us to read them:

I have not spoken to other colleagues, but can only give my perspective, from my hilltop in the Galilee, where I sat on my balcony last night watching the JNF forests across the wadi burning, hearing the rhythmic chanting of the demonstrating young men of the village of Shaab. I have a few disconnected comments:

1. Having spent the past 5 years showing off the Galilee as a model of civilized coexistence "despite everything", this is very sad, and worrying about the future. On the other hand, one cannot judge historical events while they are taking place. My secretary, and our chef's assistant, both Moslem Arabs from Galilean villages, have arrived at work with no problem and "can't understand what all the fuss is about." My assumption is that there is certainly a change going on in the consciousness of the Arabs here,
but that when the current crisis settles, we will be able to deal with this change in the context of a return to everyday coexistence.

2. While I am no expert, I would suggest that the Israeli Arabs have been caught in a double marginalization: they are expected to distance themselves from the struggle of their "brothers" in the territories and to be loyal citizens - but this government like its predecessor has made it abundantly clear that they are not really seen as equal citizens. On the other hand, by being "good citizens" of Israel they are perceived as betraying their Palestinian identity. We have essentially told them that they may not be
Palestinians, but we don't really think they are Israelis either. So what is left for them to be? What would you do if you were in their place? What would I do? Well, actually, I am pretty sure I would not throw stones and set fires, and I can't understand how anyone thinks that is useful or right. Same as I felt about Los Angeles and Detroit.

3. Regarding the territories I am even less of an expert. It does seem clear that Arik Sharon, hard as it is for me to say this, was probably not responsible for this outbreak of violence. It does seem to have been planned, and had begun before his infamous (and in my leftist opinion, stupid and unnecessary) visit to the Holy of Holies. It seems to me that given the situation "on the ground," as long as we continue to occupy the areas that we occupy, and must defend the settlements that we must defend, then we have no choice but to shoot back when fired upon. And there is no question (I think) that we have been fired upon, not just by children with stones. And in this situation, in the end, our superior fire power will inflict major casualties on the Palestinians. So their violence has trapped us into being more violent; clever - just like Indian non-violence trapped the British. Can't really just walk away; can't just blow them away; we'll just have to squirm in this trap until we can negotiate a way out of it.

4. Is it my Reform background? Am I the only one who finds a smidgen of idolatry in the cult of the Western Wall, Temple Mount, Jerusalem the eternal and undivided?
Gmar Tov
Marc Rosenstein
Shorashim

We need to discuss this situation in greater detail, and we will at services this Shabbat morning. 

SHABBAT

Friday night: Candle lighting at 6:10. Tot Shabbat at 7:15, with Nurit.  Our main Kabbalat Shabbat service will be at 8:00 PM, and we're back in the chapel for the season.  Please disregard the time listed in the Advocate this week -- it always takes them a few weeks to get it right.

In the morning we've got monthly birthday blessings and regular children's services.  We've got no Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, namings ufrufs or major holidays this Shabbat.  Just a nice, quiet time to come together.  Join us!

DON'T FORGET....

1) ...to bring your filled food bags for Yom Kippur (if you didn't get a bag - don't despair, use one of your own).  We're also looking for people to unload the food on Tuesday at Person to Person.

2) ...that early bird deadline for Saturday Night Live at Temple Beth El is October 11.  Help welcome our new members at this fun evening.

3) ...to order your lulav sets from the Hazzan by Tuesday and to sign up in the school office to join us on our first annual Sukkah-hop a week from Sunday (whether or not you have a Sukkah of your own)

4)... to invite non-affiliated friends to come to a Beginner's Service on Yom Kippur day at 3, after which they can remain her for Mincha, Yizkor and Ne'eila.

5) ... to stay until the end of the Musaf service on Yom Kippur, when we'll be featuring the poetry of Yehuda Amichai in the moving Eileh Ezkera (Martyrology) section.

6) ...to bring all children born since last Yom Kippur to the pulpit for a special blessing just before the final shofar blast on Yom Kippur

7) ... for all kids to take part in our spectacular Havdalah glow-stick parade, also at the end of Yom Kippur's final (Neilah) service.  During Ne'ilah we'll also continue our new custom of inviting congregants to come up to the opened ark for personal, private prayer.

8)...to fast.  Check out a fine explanation at Jewish Family.com to see what that entails: It's at
http://www.jewishfamily.com/jc_a.php?text=http://www.jewishfamily.com/jc/holidays/rules_yk.txt
It's a great site to bookmark, BTW, and to explore for more information on the holidays.

9)...And speaking of Yom Kippur, please remember that it is disrespectful to enter or leave the sanctuary while the ark is open (and to insult ushers just trying to do their jobs).  We also are obligated to love our neighbors as ourselves -- that means to respect our neighbors' property and dignity.  And we are still quite saddened that a few of our teens treated our own property -- their own temple -- with such disrespect last week.  Finally, the orange stickers on the pews indicate that those seats are available to sit in. 


GAIL TRELL HONORED

Our own "Woman of the Year", Gail G. Trell will be honored by United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Connecticut Valley Region, at their meeting on November 5.  Let' s really show our support for Gail by planning to attend that meeting.  For more information, please call Roberta Aronovitch our Executive Director.

One final "Kappara."  If there is anything that I have done to offend you over the past year, please forgive my misdeed. 
G'mar Tov
JH

Thelordismyshepherd.com: Seeking God in Cyberspace, by Joshua Hammerman. Simcha Press, 2000

 

Why Lieberman Makes Some Jews Nervous (Jewish Week)

The Jewish Week, August 25, 2000

A few years ago, a Jewish Museum exhibit entitled “Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Identities” poked fun at all the things that make American Jews so insecure. There were a lot of pictures of noses in that exhibit, and the revelation that Barbie, the ultimate non-Jewish goddess, was actually invented by Jews. The sad fact is that Jews have often responded to uncomfortable stereotypes by internalizing them. That’s why the selection of Senator Joseph Lieberman for the Democratic ticket is having so profound an effect on the American Jewish psyche. Instantly it has smashed the myth of “too Jewish” to bits and replaced it with a non-ethnic, value-based, positive and – heaven forbid – religious approach to being Jewish and in power that we’ve not seen on the larger political stage since, well, the original Joseph in the Bible.

Some will undoubtedly wax nostalgic for all those “too Jewish” role models of yore: the neurotic, self-effacing skeptic, the nebbish, the nerd and the non-believer, the shmoozer and the shlemiel. Lieberman is none of these. He’s the anti-Woody Allen, the UnKissinger. And that’s why, despite their immense pride in his accomplishments, many Jews feel conflicted by the seriousness with which he takes his Jewishness, while the rest of America is admiring that very thing. That Lieberman keeps kosher seems downright unkosher to those weaned on the lox and bagels of the assimilation mythos.

In his acceptance speech in Nashville, the senator invoked the name of God more times in five minutes than some rabbis do in a month. American Jews have come to expect muffled God-talk and overall blandness from their leaders, because the “too Jewish” ethos is based on the premise that everything Jewish has to be toned down, including God.

Lieberman began his speech with an English, modified version of the Shehechianu prayer, a breathtaking exclamation at the miracle of being alive and of the fulfillment of a personal journey. When Menachem Begin and Yitzchak Rabin prayed on the White House lawn, that was OK. They’re Israelis. They’re supposed to pray. But for “too Jewish” Jews, Lieberman’s gesture might have seemed over the top. That palpable sigh of relief you might have heard came from those Jews, grateful that at least he didn’t don a yarmulke. It was one thing for Sandy Koufax not to pitch on Yom Kippur. But not to campaign on Saturday? Every Saturday? And Friday night too? What kind of meshugenah is this guy?

Face it. Joe Lieberman has blown Sandy Koufax out of the water, replacing him overnight as the prime role model for every Jewish child -- and Dodger fans aren’t the only ones a little uneasy about this.

It has become axiomatic that Jews lag far behind other faith groups in attendance at Sabbath worship. I don’t think Lieberman’s nomination will suddenly result in a mass exodus from the golf course on Saturday mornings, but the degree of discomfort will multiply each time a non-Jewish caddy comments, “Say, isn’t this your Sabbath?” When kosher meals are being rushed to every campaign stop and state dinner, that sizzling lobster on the plate will suddenly glare back at “too Jewish” Jews with stern accusatory eyes not seen since Hebrew School. Suddenly the typical American Jew will have gone from being “too Jewish” to “not Jewish enough.”

Lieberman’s brand of traditionalism is not the type one can easily dismiss as “fringe” or “fanatic.” In truth, he and his family embrace the values of the religious Jewish mainstream, including many non-Orthodox Jews who take Judaism seriously. For millions of others Jews, however, this nomination could trigger nightmares of ambivalence and self-hatred. That’s why it’s a given that some of Lieberman’s staunchest critics over the next few months will come from his co-religionists. Not that he should be beyond criticism – but I would hope that “too Jewish” Jews won’t now go witch-hunting for hints of ritual hypocrisy (the way Republicans will now scrounge for signs of moral two-facedness), as the senator makes the necessary compromises between religious observance and duty to his country.

We’ve already seen the first salvos fired in this regard, with a story in the Drudge Report that Lieberman was seen drinking following a noontime rally in very hot Atlanta on the fast day of Tisha B’Av. I admit to having left his Stamford rally early the previous evening, en route to my own synagogue’s Tisha B’Av observance, wondering how the senator would handle this first potential conflict between duty to party and to faith. But even had I seen him drinking, I’d never have held it up as a sign of hypocrisy, as the Drudge story seems to be implying. As a rabbi I know all too well that those who set the bar high both ritually and morally, become terribly vulnerable to such scrutiny from the real hypocrites among us.

If only all Jews could see what the rest of America already understands: We are in. Jewish chic has achieved new heights with Lieberman, but it was already prevalent in a society that had long since invited Seinfeld into its living rooms, rendered Oreos kosher – and now Twinkies too, the Barbie of snack foods – learned sex from a Shmuley Boteach, theology from Harold Kushner and investing from Alan Greenspan.

It’s time Jews got beyond all the hang-ups of “too Jewish” and “not Jewish enough.” We need new role models. In Lieberman, we’ve got one for the ages.

Too Jewish -- Or Not Jewish Enough?

The Jewish Week 8/00

A few years ago, a Jewish Museum exhibit entitled "Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Identities" poked fun at all the things that make American Jews so insecure. There were a lot of pictures of noses in that exhibit, and the revelation that Barbie, the ultimate non-Jewish goddess, was actually invented by Jews. The sad fact is that Jews have often responded to uncomfortable stereotypes by internalizing them. That s why the selection of Senator Joseph Lieberman for the Democratic ticket is having so profound an effect on the American Jewish psyche. Instantly it has smashed the myth of "too Jewish" to bits and replaced it with a non-ethnic, value-based, positive and heaven forbid religious approach to being Jewish and in power that we ve not seen on the larger political stage since, well, the original Joseph in the Bible.

Some will undoubtedly wax nostalgic for all those "too Jewish" role models of yore: the neurotic, self-effacing skeptic, the nebbish, the nerd and the non-believer, the shmoozer and the shlemiel. Lieberman is none of these. He s the anti-Woody Allen, the UnKissinger. And that s why, despite their immense pride in his accomplishments, many Jews feel conflicted by the seriousness with which he takes his Jewishness, while the rest of America is admiring that very thing. That Lieberman keeps kosher seems downright unkosher to those weaned on the lox and bagels of the assimilation mythos.

In his acceptance speech in Nashville, the senator invoked the name of God more times in five minutes than some rabbis do in a month. American Jews have come to expect muffled God-talk and overall blandness from their leaders, because the "too Jewish" ethos is based on the premise that everything Jewish has to be toned down, including God.

Lieberman began his speech with an English, modified version of the Shehechianu prayer, a breathtaking exclamation at the miracle of being alive and of the fulfillment of a personal journey. When Menachem Begin and Yitzchak Rabin prayed on the White House lawn, that was OK. They re Israelis. They re supposed to pray. But for "too Jewish" Jews, Lieberman s gesture might have seemed over the top. That palpable sigh of relief you might have heard came from those Jews, grateful that at least he didn t don a yarmulke. It was one thing for Sandy Koufax not to pitch on Yom Kippur. But not to campaign on Saturday? Every Saturday? And Friday night too? What kind of meshugenah is this guy?

Face it. Joe Lieberman has blown Sandy Koufax out of the water, replacing him overnight as the prime role model for every Jewish child -- and Dodger fans aren t the only ones a little uneasy about this.

It has become axiomatic that Jews lag far behind other faith groups in attendance at Sabbath worship. I don t think Lieberman s nomination will suddenly result in a mass exodus from the golf course on Saturday mornings, but the degree of discomfort will multiply each time a non-Jewish caddy comments, "Say, isn t this your Sabbath?" When kosher meals are being rushed to every campaign stop and state dinner, that sizzling lobster on the plate will suddenly glare back at "too Jewish" Jews with stern accusatory eyes not seen since Hebrew School. Suddenly the typical American Jew will have gone from being "too Jewish" to "not Jewish enough."

Lieberman s brand of traditionalism is not the type one can easily dismiss as "fringe" or "fanatic." In truth, he and his family embrace the values of the religious Jewish mainstream, including many non-Orthodox Jews who take Judaism seriously. For millions of others Jews, however, this nomination could trigger nightmares of ambivalence and self-hatred. That s why it s a given that some of Lieberman s staunchest critics over the next few months will come from his co-religionists. Not that he should be beyond criticism but I would hope that "too Jewish" Jews won t now go witch-hunting for hints of ritual hypocrisy (the way Republicans will now scrounge for signs of moral two-facedness), as the senator makes the necessary compromises between religious observance and duty to his country.

We've already seen the first salvos fired in this regard, with a story in the Drudge Report that Lieberman was seen drinking following a noontime rally in very hot Atlanta on the fast day of Tisha B Av. I admit to having left his Stamford rally early the previous evening, en route to my own synagogue s Tisha B Av observance, wondering how the senator would handle this first potential conflict between duty to party and to faith. But even had I seen him drinking, I d never have held it up as a sign of hypocrisy, as the Drudge story seems to be implying. As a rabbi I know all too well that those who set the bar high both ritually and morally, become terribly vulnerable to such scrutiny from the real hypocrites among us.

If only all Jews could see what the rest of America already understands: We are in. Jewish chic has achieved new heights with Lieberman, but it was already prevalent in a society that had long since invited Seinfeld into its living rooms, rendered Oreos kosher and now Twinkies too, the Barbie of snack foods learned sex from a Shmuley Boteach, theology from Harold Kushner and investing from Alan Greenspan.

It's time Jews got beyond all the hang-ups of "too Jewish" and "not Jewish enough." We need new role models. In Lieberman, we ve got one for the ages.

Too Jewish -- Or Not Jewish Enough? (Jewish Week)

 

Too Jewish -- Or Not Jewish Enough? The Jewish Week 8/00 By Joshua Hammerman A few years ago, a Jewish Museum exhibit entitled "Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Identities" poked fun at all the things that make American Jews so insecure. There were a lot of pictures of noses in that exhibit, and the revelation that Barbie, the ultimate non-Jewish goddess, was actually invented by Jews. The sad fact is that Jews have often responded to uncomfortable stereotypes by internalizing them. That s why the selection of Senator Joseph Lieberman for the Democratic ticket is having so profound an effect on the American Jewish psyche. Instantly it has smashed the myth of "too Jewish" to bits and replaced it with a non-ethnic, value-based, positive and heaven forbid religious approach to being Jewish and in power that we ve not seen on the larger political stage since, well, the original Joseph in the Bible. Some will undoubtedly wax nostalgic for all those "too Jewish" role models of yore: the neurotic, self-effacing skeptic, the nebbish, the nerd and the non-believer, the shmoozer and the shlemiel. Lieberman is none of these. He s the anti-Woody Allen, the UnKissinger. And that s why, despite their immense pride in his accomplishments, many Jews feel conflicted by the seriousness with which he takes his Jewishness, while the rest of America is admiring that very thing. That Lieberman keeps kosher seems downright unkosher to those weaned on the lox and bagels of the assimilation mythos. In his acceptance speech in Nashville, the senator invoked the name of God more times in five minutes than some rabbis do in a month. American Jews have come to expect muffled God-talk and overall blandness from their leaders, because the "too Jewish" ethos is based on the premise that everything Jewish has to be toned down, including God. Lieberman began his speech with an English, modified version of the Shehechianu prayer, a breathtaking exclamation at the miracle of being alive and of the fulfillment of a personal journey. When Menachem Begin and Yitzchak Rabin prayed on the White House lawn, that was OK. They re Israelis. They re supposed to pray. But for "too Jewish" Jews, Lieberman s gesture might have seemed over the top. That palpable sigh of relief you might have heard came from those Jews, grateful that at least he didn t don a yarmulke. It was one thing for Sandy Koufax not to pitch on Yom Kippur. But not to campaign on Saturday? Every Saturday? And Friday night too? What kind of meshugenah is this guy? Face it. Joe Lieberman has blown Sandy Koufax out of the water, replacing him overnight as the prime role model for every Jewish child -- and Dodger fans aren t the only ones a little uneasy about this. It has become axiomatic that Jews lag far behind other faith groups in attendance at Sabbath worship. I don t think Lieberman s nomination will suddenly result in a mass exodus from the golf course on Saturday mornings, but the degree of discomfort will multiply each time a non-Jewish caddy comments, "Say, isn t this your Sabbath?" When kosher meals are being rushed to every campaign stop and state dinner, that sizzling lobster on the plate will suddenly glare back at "too Jewish" Jews with stern accusatory eyes not seen since Hebrew School. Suddenly the typical American Jew will have gone from being "too Jewish" to "not Jewish enough." Lieberman s brand of traditionalism is not the type one can easily dismiss as "fringe" or "fanatic." In truth, he and his family embrace the values of the religious Jewish mainstream, including many non-Orthodox Jews who take Judaism seriously. For millions of others Jews, however, this nomination could trigger nightmares of ambivalence and self-hatred. That s why it s a given that some of Lieberman s staunchest critics over the next few months will come from his co-religionists. Not that he should be beyond criticism but I would hope that "too Jewish" Jews won t now go witch-hunting for hints of ritual hypocrisy (the way Republicans will now scrounge for signs of moral two-facedness), as the senator makes the necessary compromises between religious observance and duty to his country. We ve already seen the first salvos fired in this regard, with a story in the Drudge Report that Lieberman was seen drinking following a noontime rally in very hot Atlanta on the fast day of Tisha B Av. I admit to having left his Stamford rally early the previous evening, en route to my own synagogue s Tisha B Av observance, wondering how the senator would handle this first potential conflict between duty to party and to faith. But even had I seen him drinking, I d never have held it up as a sign of hypocrisy, as the Drudge story seems to be implying. As a rabbi I know all too well that those who set the bar high both ritually and morally, become terribly vulnerable to such scrutiny from the real hypocrites among us. If only all Jews could see what the rest of America already understands: We are in. Jewish chic has achieved new heights with Lieberman, but it was already prevalent in a society that had long since invited Seinfeld into its living rooms, rendered Oreos kosher and now Twinkies too, the Barbie of snack foods learned sex from a Shmuley Boteach, theology from Harold Kushner and investing from Alan Greenspan. It's time Jews got beyond all the hang-ups of "too Jewish" and "not Jewish enough." We need new role models. In Lieberman, we ve got one for the ages.

Confessions of a Quickie Converter (Jewish Week)

 

Confessions of a Quickie Converter The Jewish Week 6/00 by Joshua Hammerman Recently, the Israeli Supreme Court heard arguments on the issue of the obligation of the State of Israel to recognize non-Orthodox conversions. At issue are the fates of more than 50 individuals who were either converted in Israel or who studied for conversion there and then traveled abroad for the actual ceremony. Some of these cases have been pending for many years. Interior Minister Natan Sharansky used a curious tack in defending the government s refusal to recognize the conversions of those who had gone abroad, and in doing so crossed a red line that had never been officially traversed before. Until now, it was a given that all conversions performed outside of Israel would be recognized by the Jewish state. Sharansky used the term "quickie" in describing those who study in Israel and then travel outside the country to complete the conversion process. The use of this derisive expression is in truth a not-so subtle indication of his bias against the liberal movements and their rabbis, and not just their conversions. Who would perform "quickie conversions," after all, other than proponents of "quickie Judaism," a superficial, one-night-stand version of the real thing? That is unfortunate. Mr. Sharansky should take notice of the very serious manner in which conversions are handled in the liberal Jewish world. I convert maybe two dozen Jews-by-Choice each year, and each one goes through a long, engaging process of study and questioning, followed by a ceremony that follows halachic standards. My process is impeccable because I know that the integrity of Jewish peoplehood has been, to an extent, entrusted to me. This hardly warrants labeling me a proponent of Judaism Lite. And I believe that rabbis of all denominations take conversion very seriously; we grapple with the new realities that face us, including the rising intermarriage rate and the surprising marketability of Judaism among Americans seeking a firm religious grounding. But Sharansky has done us all a favor by highlighting something that is fast becoming an important fact of Jewish life. Yes, there are such things as "quickie conversions," and yes, I ve done a few. Conservative rabbis do them, as do Orthodox rabbis, and rabbis of all denominations. We do them with increasing frequency, and the "quickie" is a phenomenon that the Jewish world needs to understand and discuss. My most recent quickie was done a couple of years ago and the scenario was typical: A woman comes to me in a great panic. All her life she has lived as a Jew. She was brought up as a Jew with a Jewish father and a mother who had converted to Judaism at the time of her marriage. Suddenly, questions are being raised about the validity of the mother s conversion. It turns out it had not been done according to minimal halachic standards there was no ritual immersion. So suddenly, the grown woman -- with a child, no less -- finds out that for her entire life she has been living a lie. She has gone through all the milestones of a Jewish life Bat Mitzvah, Shabbat candles, her own wedding to a Jew only to be ruthlessly run off the road, told that she s a spiritual fraud, and that her kid is too. How, Mr. Sharansky, would you propose that I clean up this mess? I wasn t the one to alarm her, mind you. I had never met her before, but even if I had, when people inform me that they are Jewish, I typically adopt a "don t-ask-don t-tell" policy. I never seek to verify the credentials of the converting rabbi. But in this case it was the woman herself who felt less than wholly Jewish, and she was concerned for her daughter. So I said to her, "Listen. In my mind you are a Jew," not telling her that the history did indeed raise concerns for me. Then I added, "and you should feel that your child is a Jew too. The last thing I want to do is make you feel like an outsider among your own people and chase you away. But just to tie up this little loophole, why don t you and your child come down to the local mikva with me for a little dip?" She did and remains to this day extremely grateful. I think Sharansky might even have approved. At least my quickie had purer intent than all those quickies allegedly performed over the years on foreign basketball stars to bypass Israeli citizenship requirements under the Law of Return. But I know that this woman and her family are hardly home-free. There is surely a rabbi out there who will see my name on the certificate some day and say to them, "You re still not really Jewish." And he (can t imagine it would be a she since he would likely be Orthodox) will offer to do a quickie of his own on humanitarian grounds. And then some other rabbi will not recognize the validity of this rabbis conversions, so he ll offer his own form of quickie. By this point the entire family will likely opt to settle in some ashram, far away from rabbis; but if somehow, miraculously, the daughter decides to move to Israel, it will happen again. Then the problem then will land right on the lap of Natan Sharansky, who will undoubtedly recommend some form of quickie too, because he ll have hundreds of thousands of similar cases cluttering his desk. The Jewish world has become so darn confusing that it s getting harder to tell who is and isn t a Jew. I can foresee a time, not too far off, when a near-majority of those who will undergo conversion rituals will be people who always thought they were Jewish, but found themselves slipping through the quicksand of shifting definitions. Sharansky has helped us to understand that conversion is a global Jewish problem crying out for a cooperative solution. The first thing world Jewry must convert is its priorities. We need to see how much pain our confusion is causing our people. The longer we allow this anarchy to continue, the more Jews we will lose.

Terezin and The Vision Thing (Jewish Week)

The Jewish Week 4/00

With another Bush now running for President, it s time once again for us to discuss "the vision thing." In truth, the Jewish community has never ceased talking about it, long after George the Elder suffered electoral demise after scoffing that ineffable and elusive quality we call "vision."

So what is vision, anyway?

It s that which allowed a Herzl to look at the squalor of Jewish life in Europe and see modern Maccabees building up a Jewish state; or Moses to see broken slaves and imagine a people proud and free. Jews were quixotic long before Quixote ever flailed against his first windmill. Without the most audacious imagination, we could never have survived in Exile. Yet vision is so lacking in Jewish life today.

Is it simply that we have been hammered down for so long that we no longer can bring ourselves to envision the light at the end of the tunnel? Or is that that we ve become so pessimistic that, even when we do see the light, we automatically assume that its source must be an oncoming train?

Part of the problem might be that things are too good. Because we live in a time of such extreme affluence, with a secure Jewish state in one pocket and a Papal apology in the other, we ve lost the ability to imagine the future getting any better. All we can do is suppose the opposite, a cataclysm that any card-carrying Jew feels must be inevitable when times are good. We feel like we re being set up by God for one of those Satanic Joban deals. I call it the "P tu P tu" theory of Jewish life. When things are good, all we can see is the evil eye lurking behind the bend. Every policeman becomes a Cossack, every crucifix a potential dagger, every extended hand a cynical ploy to catch us off guard.

Time and time again we ve been told that the specter of anti-Semitism will no longer motivate Jews to greater involvement, yet we continue to return to the Holocaust as our primary rallying cry. Sometimes I look at all the attention being paid to these dark shadows of our past and wish to cry out "Never Again!" as in, "Never again will I allow myself to say Gevalt in public and allow the my message to be succumb to such despair."

Then I went to Terezin, and I understood the true nature of vision.

Recently I was part of a group of thirty-plus rabbis, representing the full geographical and denominational spectrum of North American Jewry, who traveled to Prague in a trip coordinated by the North American Boards of Rabbis (NABOR). We journeyed there to fulfill a vision -- several visions, actually. We went to accept a genuine offer of reconciliation from Church and government leaders. We also went to demonstrate an authentic model for unity amidst diversity. Rabbis from the group offered a class to the Prague Jewish community the first ever in Eastern Europe taught by rabbis of three different denominations. And we went to pay respects to the victims of Terezin, the infamous concentration camp located an hour s drive from the Czech capital.

At the end of a long and emotional tour of the camp, the guide brought us to a site only recently discovered, a small synagogue hidden in the basement of a bakery. It was an oasis of holiness in the midst of hell, never defiled by the Nazis, a place where the condemned could utter ancient prayers and dare to hope.

On the walls are Hebrew liturgical inscriptions, two of which absolutely floored me. One says, "Know before whom you stand," a verse found in synagogues everywhere, but one that took on a whole new meaning in that place; for on the other side of that wall stood the S.S. guards. They knew in their hearts that the One before whom they really stood was God, a sovereign whose very existence they certainly had every reason to doubt. In spite of it all, they believed.
And with belief comes vision. On the front wall of the synagogue is inscribed a verse from the Amida, "May our eyes be able to envision Your return to Zion in mercy."

Never again will I be able to recite the Amida without thinking of this holy place.

"Hazon" in Hebrew means "vision" and that word is embedded in the inscribed verse. Note that the prayer doesn t ask that the people themselves be whisked to Zion. The Jews of Terezin were not so quixotic as to imagine that they themselves would ever see the spectacular sunrise over Jerusalem. They didn t pray for their own return to Zion but for God s. Hidden away for a moment of sanity amidst the madness, these heroes had the audacity to pray that God and the Jewish people survive the Holocaust, even though they knew that they themselves most likely would not. They not only saw the light at the end of the darkest tunnel in human history, they shined it toward a distant future that no sane person could possibly have imagined, a future that certainly would not include them.

We were in tears. Spontaneously we davened the afternoon service, although very few of us had prayer books. It didn t matter. The prayers were calling out to us from those walls. It suddenly didn t matter that there was no Mechitza separating the men from the woman or whether the language was gender-neutral. Nothing mattered but that we were Jews, praying together, the living fulfillment of their vision.

Then I read aloud two selections from that classic collection of children s poetry written in Terezin, "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," and I felt like a pilgrim on the steps of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, reciting psalms. The poems were all about the joy of being alive.

If these residents of hell could find the vision to see butterflies and pray for God s renewal, how dare we allow ourselves to become mired in cynicism and negativity! The words of the prophets were written on these subterranean walls:

"May our eyes be able to envision."

And when I reach that verse of the Amida, never again will I dare to yawn.

Shabbat-O-Gram for April 6, 2000

This message runs the gamut this week, from deep concern and protest to laughter and song, from the sublime to the ridiculous.  We begin with the sublime:

Today (Thurs.) is Rosh Hodesh Nisan.  Happy New Year (in the biblical sense)!  We read in the Torah (last Shabbat in fact) the instruction, "HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem..." "This shall be the first of months for you."  What a perfect time, in this beginning of the spring month, to, in the words of Isaiah (40:26) "Lift your eyes heavenward and see Who created these..." 

Once a month, it is customary to look to the sky, check for the Moon, make sure it is not even partially obscured by clouds, and say Kiddush Levana, the prayer over the new moon. This will be done by many people this Motza'ei Shabbat.  Aside from this once a month mitzva, one can and should look at the sky often and be filled with a sense of wonder at God's creation. This might not be a specific mitzva, but it is definitely mitzva-ish in that it can bring a person to a greater appreciation and feeling towards God. 

A very special opportunity of this type presents itself tonight. A short time after sunset, low in the western sky (towards the south), we will be treated to a pretty sight - a slender crescent moon, bright "evening star" Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars close enough to each other to be framed by a circle of thumb and pointer held at arm's length.  

Or, for a daytime experience of awe, simply lok at the first buds of spring and say the special blessing over them.

The trial of the "Iran 13"(Iranian Jews imprisoned on the pretext of spying

for Israel) is scheduled to begin next week. 

As International President of the United Synagogue, I am calling on all

congregations to devote this Sabbath to special prayers, sermons, and other

appropriate programs.  The Hebrew names of the 13 individuals are Yaakov ben Mohtarem, Asher ben Sltani, Nasser ben Peeran, Shahroch ben Shhnaz, Faramaz ben Eshrat, Farzad ben Eshrat, Najat ben Nosrat, Farhad ben Hamdam, Daniel ben Soraya,  Orech ben Zoleicha, Ornid ben Soraya, Ramin ben Malak, Ramin ben Sarah.

We are also including recommendations for action, which are based on months of ongoing consultations of the Presidents Conference Special Task Force on the Iran 13, leaders of the Iranian Jewish communities in the US and abroad, many experts, and government officials.

This list of activities was developed keeping in mind at all times that our

primary obligation is the well-being of the 13 and of the Iranian Jewish

community. The complexity of the situation imposes certain restraints and

restrictions. We have sought throughout to give Iran a face-saving exit

strategy and to avoid provocations. We continue to believe that mass

demonstrations and protests could be counterproductive, although they may

be called for in the future.

Expectations that the situation would improve after the recent Iranian

elections have not been borne out. If anything, the Khatami government

appears to have adopted a harder line.

This list of suggestions will be updated periodically as developments

dictate.

Public activities will begin in North America and Europe this weekend, and

other communities will be joining thereafter.

DIPLOMATIC AND POLITICAL ACTIVITIES

1) Contact embassies and consulates of West European countries, Japan,

Muslim nations and other countries to urge continued intercessions with the

government of Iran at the highest level, and ask that they underscore that

the case of the 13 will affect their future relations with Iran.

2) Members of Congress should be urged to support resolutions now

being circulated. 

        (Texts will be sent separately.)

3) The Administration should be encouraged to continue approaches to

foreign governments, to oppose the World Bank loan to Iran, and to warn

Iran that no further gestures or concessions will be forthcoming until the

13 are free.

4) The United Nations should be urged to continue direct representations. Write to UN ambassadors calling on them to press their governments to act.

5) The UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva should be urged to send a

representative to Iran and to raise the plight of the 13. A resolution regarding human rights in Iran is pending and is due to be introduced on April 18. Urge support for the resolution.

6) Governments with resident ambassadors in Iran should ask that they

request to be observers at the trial.

CONTACTS WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

1) Human rights organizations, groups, church bodies and particularly

Muslim organizations should be asked to issue statements, write to the Iranian government, and send representatives to Iran to be observers. Joint

declarations of support for a fair trial, legal representation and freedom

for the 13 are in order.

2) Solicit interfaith participation in vigils, joint statements.

3) Business associations, Chambers of Commerce, and particularly those

having contacts to those doing business in Iran should be enlisted.

SYNAGOGUES AND JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS

4) Devote this Sabbath to special prayers, sermons, and other

appropriate programs. A list of the Hebrew names of the 13 is attached.

5) Special prayer services can also be held on Sunday and during the

week of the trial.

PUBLIC ACTIVITIES

1) We do not believe that street protests and mass demonstrations are

appropriate at this time. However, public vigils with the participation of

Jewish and non-Jewish clergy, governmental leaders, human rights figures,

cultural figures and other personalities are in order. These should be

conducted around the clock (at least throughout the day) at key locations

(e.g., near Iranian diplomatic posts or at central, high profile sites).

2) Press statements and press coverage of vigils are encouraged. Urge

editorials in newspapers and the electronic media.

3)  Promote public statements, letters to the editor and interviews

with human rights activists, clergy and political personalities.

4) Secure ads by legal associations, rights groups, etc. (A suggested

text is available.)

5)      Events should be scheduled to assure continuous activity during the

3 days before the trial.

THEMES

1.      Release of the 13 and, at least, granting the ten bail.

2.      The allegations of espionage are groundless.

3.      No formal charges have been brought after more than one year of

imprisonment.

4.      Allow full legal rights, including the choice of lawyers. This is

in accordance with the Iranian constitution, which provides:

"The parties to a suit have the right to appoint a Lawyer in all courts and

if they are not able to appoint a lawyer, facilities for appointing a

lawyer must be provided to them." Article 35 of the Constitution of the

Islamic Republic, The Single Article Act approved by the Council of Discernments of the Exigencies of the Regime provides: 

"All the parties in a litigation have the right to appoint a Lawyer and all

the courts that are established in accordance with law are required to

accept such Lawyers. "

To date, the judge has refused to recognize the attorneys chosen by the

families.

5.      An open, fair trial with observers from the UN, legal associations,

the Jewish community, etc.

6.      Remind Iran that the case of the 13 is a "barometer" for future

Iran-US relations, as Secretary Albright said; a "test case" of the Khatami

government, as Vice President Gore said, and will affect their standing in

the international community, as declared by many governments.

7.      The emphasis must be on humanitarian and human rights and not

attacks or threats against the government of Iran.

We will also post this information on our (USCJ) website. Fact sheets and

materials will be made available.

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These announcements were found in shul newsletters and bulletins.  Even spell check wouldn't have helped!...

Don't let worry kill you.  Let your synagogue help.

Join us for our Oneg after services.  Prayer and medication to follow.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our congregation.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

We are pleased to announce the birth of David Weiss, the sin of Rabbi and Mrs. Abe Weiss.

Thursday at 5:00PM, there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club.  All women wishing to become Little Mothers, please see the rabbi in his private

study.

The ladies of Haddassah have cast off clothing of every kind and they may be seen in the basement on Tuesdays.

A bean supper will be held Wed. even. in the community center.  Music will follow.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the JCC.  Please use the large double door at the side entrance.

Rabbi is on vacation.  Massages can be given to his secretary.

Mrs. Goldblum will be entering the hospital this week for testes.

The Men's Club is warmly invited to the Oneg hosted by Hadassah.  Refreshments will be served for a nominal feel.

Please join us as we show our support for Amy and Rob, who are preparing for the girth of their first child.

If you enjoy sinning, the choir is looking for you!

The Associate Rabbi unveiled the synagogue's new fundraising campaign slogan this week:  "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours."

Rabbis' Visit to Prague

 

Community must maintain vigilance in batter against hate (Advocate)

 

The Show Must Go On (Jewish Week)

Originally Appeared in The Jewish Week 2/9/00

I was 18 at the time, a neophyte iconoclast, bursting with hormonal angst and long, shaggy hair. It was the mid ‘70s, and with the War and Woodstock fading memories, the only thing I could rebel against was, of course, religion.

So I went up to the bima of my home synagogue on that fateful Shabbat morning and delivered the sermon (to this day called by many, "THAT Sermon") at our annual teen-led service. I discussed with great sympathy Aaron’s rebellious sons, who were killed in a flash while performing an unusual sacrifice, an "aish zara (strange fire)." Then I went on to offer my own brand of strange fire, critiquing the repetitive, predictable and overly theatrical offering being made by my elders on that pulpit week after week. I called it a show.

For some reason, the rabbi took offense.

It was a show, and the service I lead today is too -- only now I realize that that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've learned that the question should not be, "Is it a show?" but "Is it a good show?" Is this offering pleasing to the Lord? Is it real?

In rabbinical school I was advised that services can't possibly compete with Lincoln Center and Broadway, so best not to try. OK, I thought, so we’re not supposed to aim for that part of people’s souls that cry when they hear Aida or laugh at the banter of Neil Simon. We can’t compete, so let’s just be mediocre, weighed down by rote, suffocated by committee, callused by custom. I was led to believe that the only way to get people to return to services regularly is either by scheduling special events, (meals, guest speakers, honorees, special cantatas, special sermon themes), or by appealing to guilt.

I never bought into that. It's the service that matters, and my goal has always been to build my message from the power of the service itself, not to educate, but to connect; not to teach, but to inspire. I aim for the emotional jugular, all the time. And if that means adding a dramatic pause here and a well-timed joke there, if it means utilizing some of the tools of the actor and playwright, so be it. Each week, I expose more of my inner self than all the guests on Oprah, not to shock, but to share, to engender vulnerability. There's nothing wrong with drama, as long as it doesn't sink into melodrama. It can be real and still be a show.

What people bemoan as clergy-centered "performance Judaism" has little to do with it being a performance and lots to do with it being a bad performance. How does one differentiate good from bad? The answer has little to do with how polished or aesthetically balanced the performance is; it's based more on how intense and authentically human are the emotions evoked by it. Almost always, the people decide. They vote with their tears, their singing voices and their feet.

Recently, my synagogue was privileged to host the New York area debut of "Friday Night Live." Originated by the musician Craig Taubman and Rabbi David Wolpe, this monthly service attracts upwards of 2,000, primarily young singles, at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. It was inspired in part by B’nai Jeshurun in New York, and although the two styles are quite different, through the use of beautiful, contemporary and sing-able music, the results are remarkably similar.

On a frigid Friday last month, Craig Taubman and his band galvanized a packed sanctuary of seekers. I imagined how my father, a hazzan of the previous generation, would have reacted, as Taubman walked among the congregants with his guitar, interspersing humorous anecdotes and warm commentary between the prayers. I decided that, traditional though my dad was, he would have smiled -- the same way he beamed with pride on the day I offered my "strange fire" sermon a quarter century ago. Taubman presented each melody not as a solo, but as an invitation; and all of us, from expert to novice, total strangers, swaying, repeating, closing eyes and holding hands, sang with a power that I have rarely seen in a synagogue.

Was it a show? Yes. But no one exited that service feeling emotionally cheated or manipulated. No one would rather have been at Lincoln Center. We connected at the deepest level. And when I spoke briefly that night on the need for young, wayward Jews to return home to Judaism, I felt at one with my message.

A few days later, I got a note from one young woman with a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, who that night attended a Shabbat service for the first time. "It was WONDERFUL," she wrote, "filled with God’s spirit. I felt right at home. I’M SO EXCITED!!!" In reaching out to Jews on the fringe, we touched at least one who had strayed far beyond it. Her letter alone was enough to convince me that this show must go on.

Craig Taubman will be "performing" Friday Night Live at the upcoming Rabbinical Assembly Convention. I urge my Conservative colleagues to listen closely to their own voices singing along. Orthodox Jews will recognize this revolution in the popularity of the Carlbach style of service, which like Taubman's and B.J.'s, is also now being exported to distant places. And Reform Jews need to heed Eric Yoffie's recent cry for liturgical reform.

There is a Darwinian aspect to this that we must understand. That which brings life to our worship will survive, and that which doesn't will not. The Germanic-Eastern European music that energized synagogue life for two centuries did its job well, but its day is done, except as it is being synthesized into contemporary forms. The psalms themselves are imploring us, "Shiru L'Adonai, Shir Hadash," "Sing unto Adonai a new song." The caravan has already moved on to other ways of making our ancient, sacred prayers come alive. Service attendance will continue to decline until we all understand that it's either good show -- or no-show.