Bialik’s Bird: Of Flight And Return (Jewish Week)

 

Bialik’s Bird: Of Flight And Return

joshua hammerman

I’ve been thinking a lot about Bialik’s bird lately. Hayyim Nachman Bialik’s first published poem, “El ha-Tzipor” (“To the Bird”), written in 1892 in frigid Russia, was as much a part of my childhood Hebrew school curriculum as the Shema and the Ten Commandments. Here, in translation, is a selection from that 16-stanza classic of early Zionism: “Greetings! Peace to you, returning Lovely bird, unto my window From a warmer clime! How my soul for songs was yearning When my dwelling you deserted In the wintertime. … Do you bring me friendly greetings From my brothers there in Zion, Brothers far yet near? O the happy! O the blessed! Do they guess what heavy sorrows I must suffer here? Do my brothers know and could they picture How many rise against me, How their hatred swells? Singing, singing O my birdling, Sing of the wonders of the land where Spring forever dwells.” Bialik was just 19 when he wrote this. The depth of his torment resembles that of the two separated young lovers of the Song of Songs, his mood swinging furiously between the extremes of youthful passion and despair. The poet, envious of the bird’s seasonal migrations to Zion, languishes in a bitter Exile. Times certainly have changed. There is envy still, but for me it is more focused on the bard than the bird, for Bialik was able to yearn for Zion with an ardor that so few contemporary Jews express openly. I envy that passion. Meanwhile, that swelling hatred, once directed at Bialik’s generation in Russia, now is focused primarily on those very brethren in the land of Israel that the poet yearned to join. If Bialik’s bird could talk, it would tell us that spring still forever dwells in our troubled homeland, and that we must re-intensify that yearning for Zion. Even amid the bombs and mortar shells, the spring prevails. And it would add something else, something Bialik could never have imagined. From May to September, my congregation takes advantage of our synagogue’s rustic surroundings and prays outdoors when weather permits. When we do, our chanting of Lecha Dodi is augmented by a chorus of birds overhead, including those man-made ones departing from LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark, en route to Boston, Europe and points east. And each week, like Bialik before me, I look up, marveling at what these migratory creatures might say if they could speak of their wondrous adventures. When I was younger, I used to dream of being on those planes and flying to the most magical spots on earth, maybe even to Israel itself. In the cold northeast winters of my childhood, I imagined that each aircraft aloft, like Bialik’s bird, was most certainly headed to a place filled with palm trees, exotic music and eternal spring. Then, one gorgeous midsummer Shabbat eve a couple of years ago, as I was finishing the silent Amidah with my congregants in the synagogue garden, I looked up, fixed my gaze upon a high-flying jet and my perspective changed completely. Rather than speculating about it, I imagined a passenger on that plane looking down at us — a Jewish businessman headed to London on business. He sees us praying and wistfully recalls those pointless bar mitzvah lessons of his childhood, and a young adulthood sacrificed to the rat race, and wonders how everything got so crazy. Like Bialik, he longs for a Promised Land he never knew. He wishes, more than anything else, he could be on the ground with us. This man on the plane is now a bird of pray, gazing in astonishment at the scene of serenity below. Like Bilaam, the biblical Moabite prophet (sent not by Bialik but by Balak, the son of Tzipor, I might add), this outsider wishes so much to reject what he is looking at, but as he opens his mouth all he can do is echo the sweet song he is hearing in his mind’s ear, “How delightful are your sanctuaries, O Israel.” The bird sings. There are Jews out there who have never heard of Hayyim Nachman Bialik, who yearn for grounding every bit as much as Bialik longed for flight. We’ve got to extend a hand and help them down from their perch. Whereas a century ago the bard was so envious of the bird, the roles have now been reversed. And where Bialik’s Zionism was rooted in the need for a Jewish refuge there, in Israel, the most Zionist thing we can do now is to make the Jewish pulse beat more vibrantly right here, and to lure back those who have long since taken flight from our synagogues and schools. They want to return — almost as much as they need to return — to us, and then, with our help, to Zion. They gaze at us from far above, from first class or coach, in their offices or at home, with their perpetual jet lag and their unfulfilled lives. Wherever they are, Bialik’s new birds are listening closely for us to sing, of the wonders of the land where spring forever dwells. n Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Conn., can be reached at rabbi@tbe.org. His new book, “thelordismyshepherd.com: Seeking God in Cyberspace” can be previewed on-line at www.thelordismyshepherd.com

Shabbat-O-Gram for May 10, 2001

Shabbat Shalom!


JUST THE FACTS

Friday Night:
Candle lighting: 7:43 PM
Kabbalat Shabbat (outdoors): 7:00 PM

Shabbat Morning:
Services: 9:15 (Pesukey d’Zimra -- introductory psalms), 9:30 (Shacharit)
Children’s Services: 10:30
We celebrate as Michael Karp becomes Bar Mitzvah.  Mazal Tov to Michael and his family.

Torah Portion: Emor
This week’s Lear Torah With commentary is found at http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Emor/ltw_5761_emor.html,
by Rabbi Myer Kripke, who has Stamford connections and has often attended services here.  Ironically, if you check out the JTS d’var Torah this week, at http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/
Rabbi Matt Berkowitz informs us that the Kripke Tower (donated by the very same), was dedicated this week.  This tower, holding the priceless library collection, had been destroyed by fire in 1965.  At long last, it has been rebuilt, thanks to one of the great philanthropist rabbis of our generation (and a very sweet and gentle human being).  Berkowitz writes:

“The lamp about to be kindled atop the Kripke Tower is a precious symbol, reminding us of the biblical menorah of this week’s parashah. But more than that, let it remind us of the precious treasure of Talmud Torah that is the essence of JTS; an undertaking to which we bring the best of ourselves, a love that must continually be stoked and nourished, a light that radiates outward, as the light of the menorah, and a light that burns from generation to generation. Let JTS as a modern mishkan be a model for each of us in our own religious lives - learning with hitlahavut (fiery enthusiasm) and then turning outward to enlighten and illuminate the world in which we live.”

ISRAEL'S WAR, OUR WAR
In case you haven’t noticed, Israel is at war.  There is no such thing as a “low level war” or “tolerable casualties.”  In Judaism, one innocent life lost is an entire universe.  And in case you haven’t noticed it, we are all on the front lines of a very important theater of this war.  Our job, like that of the classical Hebrew prophet, is to convey truth to power. Essentially, that means to lobby the leaders and monitor the media, with the understanding that war is not the path that Israel has chosen, but the one that has been thrust upon us.  We can never lose sight of the ultimate goal of peace and reconciliation, but right now it seems that the only way to achieve it is for the civilized world to take a united stand against terrorism.  The U.S. has come a long way in understanding that there is no moral equivalence between the accidental death of a baby in self-defense, and the deliberate murder in cold blood of two innocent teenagers.  That’s why Arafat has not been invited to the White House.  It’s time, I believe, for the US to make even stronger statements of support for embattled Israel.  Clearly, the way of the honest, objective peace broker hasn’t worked.  The Mitchell commission almost sounded pre-historic in its attempts to show balance this week.  This is not a balanced situation.  The message that we need to convey is clear: All innocent death is equally tragic, but all who cause such death are not equally innocent. We must keep on hammering it home.  

We also need help Israel maintain the moral high ground, by encouraging Israel to treat its Arab citizens with with equality and fairness, by seeking to avoid civilian casualties whenever possible, as it has, and always to be pursuing peace.

I propose that we establish immediately within our congregation an emergency Israel Defense Committee, to help us coordinate long and short-term actions on Israel’s behalf.  And I propose that our first meeting be held on Thursday, June 14.  That evening, at 8:30 PM in our chapel, we’ll be hearing from  Steve Zacharow, rabbi of Kehilat Shevet Achim, a new Masorti synagogue in the embattled Gilo section of Jerusalem. His lecture is entitled "Gilo Story: Life on the Frontline."  That presentation might be the perfect springboard to further action on our part, something we can discuss both during and after the presentation.  (BTW, the Bi-Cultural graduation that night, also taking place in our building, will be over before the lecture begins).  Let me know if you wish to be on this emergency committee.

Some Israel-related articles worth reading this week:

On the Pope’s visit to Quneitra (and the misinformation spread re. the destruction of the town): see Smarter Times (NY Times watchdog site)at http://www.smartertimes.com/archive/2001/05/010508.html. I’ve yet to see CNN called on the carpet for it’s shoddy reporting on the matter, as seen at http://europe.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/05/07/pope.quneitra/.

For some follow-up on the silent response of the Vatican to the outrageously anti-Semitic statements made by Syrian President Assad in the Pope’s presence, see Richard Cohen’s article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60884-2001May7.html, and the Jewish Week editorial at http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editorials.php3.
 
And while you’re in the activist mood, sign the petition on behalf of Israel’s missing soldiers, at http://www.mia.org.il/petition/index.html, if you haven’t already.



ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mazal Tov: to Robin and Greg Druckman (and to grandparents Ron and Belle Agronin who were back in Stamford for the blessed event) on the birth of Shayna Arielle Druckman.

If you did not receive a Membership Survey in the mail, or if you have misplaced yours, please call Mindy in the Temple office at (203) 322-6901, ext. 301 or e-mail office@tbe.org, and she will send one to you immediately.

Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class
With approximately 20 participants, this is the largest such class ever at Beth El. There is still room for you. Classes are being held on Thursdays from 7-9 PM. The course will last exactly one year. All skill levels and backgrounds welcome. Contact the education office for more information (322-6901 X306).

Scholar in Residence: Egon Mayer
Our Scholar in Residence this year, on the weekend of June 1-3, will be Prof. Egon Mayer. The theme for the weekend will be "LOVE & TRADITION: Marriage, Family Patterns and the Jewish Future." Mayer’s specialty is outreach to those at the fringe of Jewish communal life, including and especially interfaith families. Our program for that weekend will be most appealing to those families, as well as to the rest of us, so it is incumbent upon us to reach out and find them. 

The lecture schedule will be as follows:

Friday evening, June 1: Services will be held at 7:00 PM (outdoors, weather permitting), followed by a dinner at 8 (contact our education office to reserve).  During dinner, Dr. Mayer will speak on the topic: “Tevyeh’s Lament: What’s Love Got to Do With It -How Modernity Broke Tradition in the Lives of the Jewish People.”  We will have concurrent programming for children with Nurit Avigdor but keep in mind that it will be late, and there is no Tot Shabbat that night. 

Shabbat morning, June 2: During our family services -- “A Sermon on the Future of Welcoming and Reconciliation -- Ready or Not: Thinking Beyond Minority Status.” Lunch and questions following the service

Saturday evening: Dessert-Havdalah evening of discussion at the home of congregants Milton and Norma Mann, with limited space available (RSVP to our education office soon to guarantee a spot).  Topic: “The Demographic Revolutions of America’s Jews:  Major trends that are transforming the prospects of the Jewish future in Modern American society.”

Sunday morning, June 3 at 9:30 AM: brunch for the leadership of the congregation (board, ritual committee, board of education, sisterhood, men’s club leadership, and anyone else who is interested), following morning minyan (minyan at 9:00, brunch at 9:30). "Developing Strategies for Outreach.”

Background materials: take a look at the latest statistics on children of interfaith families:
“Do Kids Of Interfaith Families Choose Judaism?”
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=4436

The book “Kaddish” by Leon Wieseltier will be reviewed by Rabbi Hammerman (that's me) as part of the Jewish Historical Society’s book review series, at the JCC on Wed. May 16, at 10:30 AM

Kindergarten Open House  May 20
Let all your unaffiliated friends know that, if they have a child entering Kindergarten in the fall, they are cordially invited to see our remarkable school in action on May 20, at either the early (8:45) or late (11:00) sessions.  RSVP to bonnie in the education office, at 322-6901 X306.  We look forward to greeting them!

Thank you: to all the Volunteers that did a great job working on the Americares House Project last Sunday!.


SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: Lag B’Omer
Thursday night and Friday bring us the least understood and most mysterious of all Jewish holidays: Lag B’Omer. About the easiest thing to explain about it is the name. Since each Hebrew letter has a corresponding numerical value, the letters lamed and gimel add up to thirty three, and Thursday night indeed is the thirty third night of the counting period between Passover and Shavuot known as the Omer.

What’s the Omer?
OK, so what’s an Omer? The Omer happens to be explained in this week’s Torah portion, Emor. It is also known as the Sephira, which means counting, but Jewish mystics have tied that into the notion of the Sephirot, God’s emanations. So let’s see, we’ve got Omer, Emor, Sephira, Sephirot…let’s call the whole thing off!

No, let’s just go to the experts for help. At http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/880331_Omer_Light.html, you’ll find Eliezer Segal’s excellent tie-in to the portion, including an explanation as to a humdinger of a rabbinic controversy regarding the Jewish calendar. The Omer is considered a semi-mourning period. Find out why at http://jewishminds.healthekids.net/course.phtml?course_id=458. Then, for a detailed summary of the Sephira laws, go to http://www.yipc.org/new_page_62.htm, the site of Young Israel of Passaic.  It is interesting to note that, even within the traditional world, “In the post-Holocaust era, uniformity of practice is virtually no longer possible to implement, since pockets of population with all sorts of customs have descended upon all Jewish communities. Accordingly, in one city it is no longer surprising to see a host of customs simultaneously observed.”

This can often leads to much confusion in the scheduling of communal events, Bar Mitzvahs and weddings at this time of year. You can have a halachic field day on all this at the OU site, http://www.ou.org/chagim/sefira/default.htm.

The Kabbalalists loved the Omer concept both because of the tie-in to the Sephirot. To see how they do that, check out this from Reb Goldie Milgrom, of the New York Center for Jewish Meditation, at http://www.rebgoldie.com/Shavuot.htm. IF you really want to learn all about the Sephirot, got to http://www.aril.org/Drob.htm. For a Breslaver Hasidic view, see http://www.breslov.org/omer.html.

And finally, kudos to Rabbi Sue Fendrick and SocialAction.com for developing the concept of the seven-week counting leading us to constructive acts of world-repair. Find out how, and see some terrific articles, at http://www.socialaction.com/omer2000.html.

What’s Lag B’Omer?
Now we focus on the big day itself.
http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/festivls/shavuot/lagba.html is a good place to start. If after that you can figure out the difference between Rabbi Akiva and Shimon Bar Yochai, you’re ready for the Lag B’Omer hot sites at http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/j-hdayla.htm. From there you can really go to town on this stuff. I mean that quite literally, for there are several visits to those hotbeds of Lag B’Omer festivities, Meron and Safed, nestled high in the hills of northern Galilee. http://www.ascent.org.il/html/Mystic/holidays/lagbomer61.html will take you to Meron, describing the white-hot bonfires, and you’ll also be exposed to some relatively palatable selections from the Zohar, that magnum opus of Jewish mysticism. Continue to explore Mount Meron with nice photos, at http://www.starkman.com/aviva/AJS/lag_baomer.html, and find out at
http://207.168.91.4/vjholidays/lagbaomer/gallery.htm how the Meron scene is really akin to “Meah Shearim meets Woodstock.” On the other hand, the article at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0599/lag.html says that Meron “’aint exactly Woodstock.” Lots less rain and lots more clothes, I suppose.

Back on earth, Lag B’Omer is more of a nature festival for those non-mystics among us. (I agree with those who see a definite May Day tie in, both holidays sharing ancient pagan roots with other  spring nature festivals). In the early days of Zionism, it became a perfect time to celebrate the spectacular spring weather in the Land of Israel, with bonfires and picnics. All the secular youth groups would take part. A nice photographic reminder of that can be found at http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/gallery/pg26/pg2/pg26253.html.

For the kids, a nice story about Rabbi Akiba, one of the heroes of the festival, can be found at http://www.bjeny.org/images/Judaic_Curricula_/Rabbi_Akiva__From_Shepherd_to_/rabbi_akiva__from_shepherd_to_.htm. For the cooks, some Lag B’omer picnic recipes are at
http://www.fspronet.com/kosherkorner/lagbomer.html.

I loved the material at http://www.kneidlach.com/kneidlach/index.asp. I have little knowledge of the background of the sponsor of this organization in South Africa, and a few thigns I see there make me wary, but the Lag B’Omer material is top-notch, with a special focus on Simon Bar Yochai You’ll also find a full mystical Omer chart there, at http://www.kneidlach.com/kneidlach/jho_prayers.asp

And one final, sobering note: Yitz Greenberg teaches us the lessons of Lag B’Omer’s history at http://jewishsf.com/bk970523/comm1.htm.
“Most people think of Lag B'Omer as a warm, fuzzy semi-holiday with a nature-loving theme.   But in the Talmud, the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer period is a devastating reminder of a catastrophe caused by Jews' divisiveness. Today, Jewry seems headed for a repeat of the disaster.”

And, in recognition of Yitz’ valid points, I pledge to hold back in my usage of inflammatory language involving other Jews.  I suppose that means my even putting the term “fundamentalist” to rest for a while, although I still do reserve the right to use “literalist” from time to time.

Happy Lag B’Omer, Happy Mother's Day and Shabbat Shalom to all the people of Israel and the world.

jh


This Shabbat-O-Gram goes out weekly to hundreds of Beth El congregants and others. Feel free to forward it to your friends, and if you know of anyone who might wish to be included, please have them e-mail me at rabbi@tbe.org. To be taken off this e-mail list, simply click on "reply" and write "please unsubscribe" in the message box.

For more information on the synagogue, check out Beth El's Web site at www.tbe.org. And to check out some previous spiritual cyber-journeys I have taken, see my book's site at www.thelordismyshepherd.com.

Shabbat-O-gram may 7, 2001

 Shabbat Shalom!

JUST THE FACTS

Friday Night:
Candle lighting: 7:51 PM
Kabbalat Shabbat: 7:00; outdoors weather permitting, otherwise on the sanctuary bima
Shabbat Shalom service: 7:15; in the lobby, with Nurit Avigdor, for grades 1-4 and their families

Kabbalat Shabbat (outdoors): 7:00 PM

Shabbat Morning:
Services: 9:15 - Pesukey d’Zimra -- introductory psalms; 9:30 - Shacharit
Children’s Services: 10:30
Family Service 11:00, with student cantor Laura Berman.  We encourage families with religious school-age children to try out this informal, enjoyable parent-child experience.

What’s Special This Shabbat: We celebrate as Matthew Beck becomes Bar Mitzvah.  Mazal Tov to Matthew and his family.   On Shabbat morning I’ll also discuss the age-old burning question that suddenly has heated up again, “Did the Exodus Really Happen?”

Torah Portion: Be-Har  Be-Hukkotai
This week’s Learn Torah With commentary is found at:

Be-Har
http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Be-Har/ltw_5761_be-har.html

Be-Hukkotai
http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Be-Hukkotai/ltw_5761_be-hukkotai.html

JTS Commentary: http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/

Sunday Morning
Annual Meeting: 9:30 AM
We thank all our volunteers, welcome new board members and envision the future.

Kindergarten Open House
Let all your friends know that, if they have a child entering Kindergarten in the fall, they are cordially invited to see our remarkable school in action this Sunday morning, at either the early (8:45) or late (11:00) sessions. RSVP to Bonnie in the education office, at 322-6901 X306. We look forward to greeting them!

Last day of Religious School: Have a great summer!  And hey, don’t be a stranger! We look forward to seeing our Religious School students here often between now and September.

Atid and Kesher Youth Groups go to the Bluefish game in the afternoon.  A few seats are still available on the bus.


ISRAEL UPDATE AND JERUSALEM DAY

1) Israel Day Parade in NYC this Sunday.  Our 7^th grade will be attending en masse.  In addition, a solidarity rally in support of Israel has been scheduled for Sunday, June 3 at 11:00 AM, in front of the Israeli UN Mission, on 2^nd Ave, between 42^nd and 43^rd St. The world needs to know that Israel has our full support.  A small turnout would be worse than having no rally at all.  For the world (and the US government), it would signal that American Jews are apathetic.  For Israel, that would be a disaster.   I have signed on as a rabbinic sponsor of the June 3 rally and I encourage you to consider going, either to the parade, the rally, or both.

2) Media: Amidst all the bad news on the media front some good news from an unlikely source: NBC.  See the transcript of a terrific report by Martin Fletcher at http://www.msnbc.com/news/570581.asp. 

3) Settlements and Violence: If you need to explain to people just why there can be no linkage between Israel’s settlement policy and an end to Palestinian-instigated violence, see  http://www.jcpa.org/ for Dore Gold’s expert analysis of the matter.  To find out why have the settlements have suddenly come front and center (because the Palestinians have lost the battle to pin the blame on Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount), see “Changing the Script,” a column in last Friday’s Jerusalem Post, at http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/05/11/News/News.25977.html.   It is amazing how gullible ostensibly smart journalists can be (e.g. Anthony Lewis), to have swallowed this linkage.

4) Monday is Yom Yerushalyim, Jerusalem Day, an excellent time to brush up on modern Israeli history and especially that of the 6-Day War.  The Jerusalem Post has some nice supplements at http://info.jpost.com/C001/Supplements/, including one featuring Jerusalem in snow, and you’ll find a Jerusalem history timeline at http://www.wzo.org.il/encountr/timeln.htm.  Plus, you can go to our very own Web site at www.tbe.org, to see photos of our Religious School’s spectacular Jerusalem experience held on May 6.

5) I’ve gotten some positive feedback on the idea of starting an Israel Defense Committee here as a means of coordinating our collective response to events as they unfold.  We’ll be meeting informally on Thursday, June 14. That evening, at 8:30 PM in our chapel, we’ll be hearing from Steve Zacharow, rabbi of Kehilat Shevet Achim, a new Masorti synagogue in the embattled Gilo section of Jerusalem. His lecture is entitled "Gilo Story: Life on the Frontline." That presentation might be the perfect springboard to further action on our part, something we can discuss both during and after the presentation. (BTW, the Bi-Cultural graduation that night, also taking place in our building, will be over before the lecture begins). Do plan to join us.

6) US Embassy in Jerusalem: Finally, a notice from AMCHA, the Coalition for Jewish Concerns about an age-old issue.
May 31st is the deadline for President Bush's decision to fulfill his campaign promise and relocate the American Embassy to Jerusalem.  

This decision comes up every 6 months. The President can either give the order or defer it by 6 more months.  Please call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or 456-1414 and voice your opinion about this issue. It is important that as many calls as possible reach the White House BEFORE May 31st.  

Please send this e-mail to every person on your list who cares if every one of us sends it to 10 to 20 of his/her correspondents, urging them to do likewise, this vital lobbying exercise will reach massive proportions within a matter of days.

The phone call should not take more than a few moments but if you can't call, please send an e-mail to: President@whitehouse.gov.

7) If you didn't hear,  Maccabi Tel Aviv did indeed win the European champonship, and 250,000 Israelis celebrated in Rabin Square (even the locale of the celebration has to be bitter-sweet).  It was their first such triumph in 20 years, after being the perrennial bridesmaid.  Bodes well for the Red Sox.


A BYTE OF TORAH:
This week, with Jerusalem Day in mind, we feature Rabbi Brad Artson’s commentary.  For more on our relationship with the Land, see the spiritual journey at the conclusion of this Shabbat-O-Gram.
Shabbat Parashat Behar/Behukotai
May 19, 2001 - 26 Iyar 5761
"Love for the Land of Israel"

Torah Reading: Leviticus 25:1 - 27:34
Haftorah Reading: Jeremiah 16:19 - 17:14

One of the central paradoxes of Jewish history is that the Jewish People were land-less through most of our history. Yet, we were always profoundly aware of our link to the Land of Israel, perhaps because we did not live in a place we could call our own. The intense love between the Jews and their homeland permeated our prayers, our Torah and our hearts. Today's Torah portion speaks directly to the centrality of the Land of Israel in Jewish thought and deed. God instructs the Jewish People, "You must provide for the ge'ulah (redemption) of the land."

What does it mean, to bring redemption to a land? It might make sense to use tangible terms --"irrigate" the land, "fertilize" the land, even "cultivate" the land. Those are terms upon which a farmer would act and recognize. But how does one "redeem" a land? According to most biblical commentators, this verse is understood as mandating a loving Jewish presence in the Land of Israel. Thus, Hizkuni (France, 13th Century) interprets our verse to mean "there can be no [permanent] selling, only [temporary] dwelling."

Jews do not have the right to sever their connection to the Land of Israel. That claim  our inextricable link to the Land of Israel -- is at the very core of biblical and rabbinic religion. The Land is referred to as an 'ahuzzah,' a holding -- given to the Jewish People as God's part of our 'brit,' covenantal relationship. Our ancestors agreed to serve only God, and God agreed to maintain a unique relationship with the Jewish People. That relationship was given form in the detailed legislation of the Torah and the Talmud as a way of shaping and cultivating the reciprocal obligations between God and the Jews. And the one place in the world where the Jewish People could act on every part of our 'brit' was within the Land of Israel. Only there could all the laws and practices of Judaism receive their full articulation, because, in the words of Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno (Italy, 16th Century), "Outside of the Land [of Israel], there is no Sabbatical Year, nor a Jubilee Year."

The many agricultural 'mitzvot' -- of leaving gleanings for the poor, of offering first fruits and others -- were operative only within the Land of Israel. There, in the Land, the Jew could most directly encounter God and sanctity. What was true in the past is true today as well. There is a special quality to the Land of Israel that exists nowhere else in the world. In the words of the Talmud, "the air of the Land of Israel makes one wise."

Our generation is uniquely blessed. While Jews have prayed facing Jerusalem for thousands of years, while our ancestors longed for the messianic future as a time when Jews could freely live as Jews in our homeland, we have seen the establishment of a Jewish state -- a thriving democracy and a world center for Jews and Jewish expression -- in our own time. Unlike our great-grandparents, we can travel to Israel's holy sites any time we choose. Unlike the Jews of the past, we can learn our holy language, Hebrew, from people who speak it on a daily basis. We can contribute to the liberation of Jewish people who have left lands of oppression and suffering -- places like Ethiopia, Syria and the former Soviet Union -- to be reunited with their people and its history. We can redeem the Land.

Rambam (Spain, 13th Century) translated God's instruction to mean, "that I wish to redeem My land from the hand of those who hold it, as I have not given it to them as part of their possession." We make the Land of Israel ours by translating our possession into deeds. For example, by planting trees through the Jewish National Fund, we are able to literally make the deserts bloom, while also assuring a Jewish presence throughout the Land.

By contributing generously to federations and UJC, we make it possible for hundreds of thousands of former Soviet Jews to rejoin our people and to strengthen our land in freedom. By visiting Israel ourselves, often, we demonstrate our love of the land and our solidarity with the first free Jewish state in over two thousand years. "You must provide for the redemption of the land." What have you done for Israel lately?
Shabbat Shalom.

***********************************************************
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic
Studies at the University of Judaism, a rabbinical school for the heart,
mind and soul.



SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE: Is Judaism Open to Everyone? 

Our Scholar in Residence this year, on the weekend of June 1-3, will be Prof. Egon Mayer. The theme for the weekend will be "LOVE & TRADITION: Marriage, Family Patterns and the Jewish Future." Mayer’s specialty is outreach to those at the fringe of Jewish communal life, including and especially interfaith families. Our program for that weekend will be most appealing to those families, as well as to the rest of us, so it is incumbent upon us to reach out and find them.

The Schedule:

Friday evening, June 1: Services will be held at 7:00 PM (outdoors, weather permitting), followed by a dinner at 8 (contact our education office to reserve). During dinner, Dr. Mayer will speak on the topic: “Tevyeh’s Lament: What’s Love Got to Do With It -How Modernity Broke Tradition in the Lives of the Jewish People.” We will have concurrent programming for children with Nurit Avigdor but keep in mind that there is no Tot Shabbat that night (Tot Shabbat will be held on the 8^th). 

Shabbat morning, June 2: During our family services -- “A Sermon on the Future of Welcoming and Reconciliation -- Ready or Not: Thinking Beyond Minority Status.” Lunch and questions follow the service.  We’ll also be celebrating the completion of a year’s membership here with our no-longer-new members.

Saturday evening at 7:30PM: Dessert-Havdalah. An evening of discussion at the home of congregants Milton and Norma Mann, with limited space available (RSVP to our education office soon to guarantee a spot). Topic: “The Demographic Revolutions of America’s Jews: Major trends that are transforming the prospects of the Jewish future in Modern American society.” 

Sunday morning, June 3 at 9:30 AM: brunch for the leadership of the congregation (board, ritual committee, board of education, sisterhood, men’s club leadership, and anyone else who is interested), following morning minyan (minyan at 9:00, brunch at 9:30). "Developing Strategies for Outreach.”

Background materials: take a look at the latest statistics on children of interfaith families:
“Do Kids Of Interfaith Families Choose Judaism?”
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=4436. And a response to that article, written by  the publisher of www.Interfaithfamily.com, is found at http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3?artid=1255.


OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class
With 22 participants, this is the largest such class ever at Beth El. There is still room for you. Classes are being held on Thursdays from 7-9 PM. The course will last exactly one year. All skill levels and backgrounds welcome. Contact the education office for more information (322-6901 X306).

Lost and Found: If you lost a pair of sunglasses at the Beth El Cares AmeriCares project two weeks ago, we’ve got ‘em here.  Contact me at rabbi@tbe.org.

Project Ezra: We are looking for volunteers to help deliver pre-shiva meals to mourners in our congregation.  Please contact our office to let us know if you are interested in this vital task.


SHAVUOT IS COMING:

Get our full Shavuot Schedule by clicking on the service schedule at our Web site www.tbe.org.  Note especially the dinner, service and late night discussion (Tikkun Layl Shavuot) at Temple Shalom in Greenwich on Sunday the 27th, and our Elders Day commemoration on the second day (when we also have Yizkor services), Tues. May 29.  This year’s honoree, Harry Bennett, has always been so important to our community.  Please join us that morning in giving Harry the thanks and recognition he so richly deserves.  On the first day (Memorial Day), we’ll continue our custom of unrolling a Torah scroll at the conclusion of services, so that we and our children can once again “receive the Torah,” as did our ancestors at Sinai, and we’ll read from the book of Ruth.  Children’s services will be held on both days of Shavuot.



SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: The Torah’s Energy Policy

This week, the Bush administration has revealed it’s long-awaited energy program.  It comes to no surprise that it is heavily weighted toward production as opposed to conservation,” with the goal of producing lots more fuel so that Americans can continue to buy gas-guzzlers and so coal and oil company stocks can continue to rise.  The Washington Post has a number of articles helping us to understand that we are in the midst of a power crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen since the ‘70s.  (Back then, King Faisal was vilified as “the Mohel of Oil  the Man Who Cut it Off”)  Find the Post series at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/specials/energy/index.html.

Our portion chimes in with a reminder that we are custodians of land and that the Earth belongs, ultimately, to God.  Judaism has always been pro-environment, with the caveat that we can derive benefit from the land, as long as we don’t abuse the privilege.  The first two chapters of Genesis, along with this week’s selection from Leviticus, lay out a path of environmental restraint and responsibility, and other sections of Deuteronomy prohibit us from wasting precious resources.  A superb site on Jewish environmental matters is Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, at http://www.coejl.org/home.shtml.  Within that site, an article by Rabbi Lawrence Troster discusses Jewish perspectives on “Sustainable Development.”  The key, he reminds us, is humility.  We need to look at the needs of today, the horizontal axis, as well as the needs of the future, the vertical axis, and understand that we are only a small part of the big picture.  God did not create the Earth just so that I might buy an SUV and crank up the A/C.

A Revolutionary Idea:

Along comes parshat Behar with a revolutionary idea: the Sabbatical and Jubilee years.  In cycles of seven, seven days, seven years, and seven times seven (49) years, we build in a rest-period for the land  and for us, reminding us of our task of custodianship.   The 7-year Shmita cycle, as it’s is called, like our annual seasonal festivals, helps us to live out our lives within the rhythm of Jewish time, sacred time.

A very nice explanation of the various elements of Shmita, written by Micha Odenheimer, can be found at http://jewishminds.healthekids.net/course.phtml?course_id=560.  Art Waskow has long championed the cause of renewing the concept of Sabbatical and Jubilee.  Find out why at  http://www.theotherside.org/archive/sep-oct98/waskow.html.  He writes:

If we reexamine the production end of the material process, where environmental destruction begins, will we not lessen the need for typical environmental programs that focus on cleanup and recycling? If we create more spiritual sustenance to ensure our own survival, will we not restrain our material consumption and ensure the planet's survival?

What would it mean, in our society, to draw on this biblical teaching as a way of addressing the three intertwined sicknesses--economic, environmental, and compassional--of our generation? What would it mean to build a movement and constituency around a "Jubilee program" that would bring more energy and political power to bear than most secular progressive coalitions can generate?

Shmita in Israel

This year is the seventh in the cycle, a Shmita year.  The Halacha of Shmita is very involved and tricky.  Read about it from a traditional perspective at http://aishdas.org/webshas/eretz/shemitah.htm

Last fall it became front-page news in Israel, before the current violence threw everything else off the front pages.  What was the big deal?  Well, for centuries the restrictions of the Sabbatical Year were irrelevant to most Jews, sicne they apply only to the land f Israel.  With the advent of modern Zionism, that all changed.  For historical background, go to http://israeliculture.about.com/culture/israeliculture/library/weekly/aa091100a.htm?terms=shmita, where you’ll read that in 1889, Rabbi Elhanan Spector of Kovno issued a ruling instituting a heter mechira. This sales permit would allow Jewish farmers to nominally "sell" their lands to Moslems, similar in fashion to the sale of hametz (leaven) before Pesach. The first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Avraham Yitzhak Kook, regarded the heter as a matter of national necessity. Israel's Chief Rabbinate has reluctantly endorsed this arrangement, but this biblical loophole is viewed by ultra-Orthodox Jews as insufficient.

Haredi circles have always opposed the heter mechira. They note that the sale is a true "legal fiction," since in reality neither the landowners nor the government would ever agree to transfer land to an Arab. Haredi families rely on their own kashrut authorities, especially the Ultra-Orthodox. During previous Shmita years, Haredi Jews would only purchase fruits and vegetables from Arab and Palestinian farmers, or from Jewish farmers with lands outside the borders of biblical Israel. The Shmita commandment does not apply to farmlands in the Golan Heights, Gush Katif or the Arava.

Read about last fall’s to-do as covered in the Jerusalem Post, at http://israeliculture.about.com/culture/israeliculture/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/09/07/Opinion/Editorial.11843.html.

For the Land  or for us?

It is unfortunate that Israel has yet to find creative ways to celebrate the Sabbatical year as an expression of Jewish environmental values rather than turning it into another religious-secular tussle.  An opportunity has been lost.  For in the end, Shmita is not as much about the land as it is about us.  It may not change the environment much to leave farms fallow for one year in seven, but it has a huge impact on our awareness of the environment.

The Talmudic sages discussed the very same matter, of whether it is for the Land’s benefit or ours.  Find out what they said at
http://israeliculture.about.com/culture/israeliculture/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.ujcvp.org/adath%5Fjeshurun/vortify/bhar.html.  The solution given here is that Shmita, like Shabbat, was instituted to give us more time to study Torah.  Sounds like a Sabbatical idea I could go for. 

Which reminds me, if I just celebrated by 13^th year here, that means I’m going on to year 14.  That’s a multiple of  let’s see  seven. I just might be ready for http://omni.cc.purdue.edu/~alltson/sabbat.html, “Sensational Sabbatical Suggestions.”

But for now, a peaceful Shabbat will do just fine.

Shabbat Shalom.
jh


This Shabbat-O-Gram goes out weekly to hundreds of Beth El congregants and others. Feel free to forward it to your friends, and if you know of anyone who might wish to be included, please have them e-mail me at rabbi@tbe.org. To be taken off this e-mail list, simply click on "reply" and write "please unsubscribe" in the message box.

For more information on the synagogue, check out Beth El's Web site at www.tbe.org. And to check out some previous spiritual cyber-journeys I have taken, see my book's site at www.thelordismyshepherd.com.

Shababt-O-Gram, April 19, 2001

 Shabbat Shalom

JUST THE FACTS

Friday night: Candles: 7:23 PM
Shabbat Shalom Service for young families with Nurit: 7:15 PM
Services: 8:00 PM  Mazal tov to Joel and Lisa Zaritsky on the naming of their daughter, Kayla Medeline Zaritsky

Shabbat Morning:
Pesukey d’Zimra: 9:15 AM, followed by Morning services at 9:30 AM. Bar Mitzvah of David Benjamin.  Mazal tov to the family!
Children’s Services: 10:30

Torah Portion: Shemini: Learn Torah With commentary:  http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Shemini/ltw_5761_shemini.html


A BYTE OF TORAH
This week’s portion focuses on the dietary laws, delineating in great detail those species of animals, birds and fish that are to be considered “fit” or “Kosher.”  For my own congregants, it is no secret that I am vegetarian in addition to being Kosher.  Although I do not proselytize vegetarianism (as opposed to Kashrut, which I happily proselytize), this is the perfect week to introduce you to the foremost expert on Jewish vegetarianism: Richard Schwartz. 

Richard recently sent me a brand new printing of his important book, “Judaism and Vegetarianism,” in which he makes a convincing argument that vegetarianism is in fact the ideal Jewish dietary choice.  In light of the current crisis involving Mad Cow disease and that hoof-in-mouth thing going on in Europe, his message to appears even more urgent:  “There is an epidemic of diseases in the Jewish community, animal-based agriculture is contributing to global warming, destruction of tropical rain forests, and many other ecological threats, and the realities of animal-based diets and agriculture are in sharp contrast to basic Jewish values.” So, with all this in mind, I invite you to look at the 100 articles on Judaism and Vegetarianism on his Web site, at http://schwartz.enviroweb.org/.  And his infomercial interview can be found at http://www.tjwalker.com/schwartz.htm. When you look at some of his arguments, whether or not you adjust your eating habits, I think many will agree with his basic premise, that “it is essential that the Jewish community start to address the many moral issues related to our diets. This is an issue of importance for Torah and for the future of our endangered planet.”   


ANNOUNCEMENTS

Help Us Reach Out!!!

Our Scholar in Residence this year, on the weekend of June 1-3, will be Prof. Egon Mayer.  The theme for the weekend will be "LOVE & TRADITION: Marriage, Family Patterns and the Jewish Future."  Mayer’s specialty is outreach to those at the fringe of Jewish communal life, including and especially interfaith families.  Our program for that weekend will be most appealing to those families, as well as to the rest of us, so it is incumbent upon us to reach out and find them.  If you would like to join our Scholar in Residence Weekend Committee to help us plan this very special program, please inform whether myself or Barb Moskow.  Without your help, we won’t find them!

Send in Your Surveys!

Should the direction of Temple Beth El be dictated by the opinions of 30 percent of the membership? That is the number of member surveys returned. While 200-plus surveys will certainly allow the strategic planners to draw conclusions about what the membership wants, will they be the best conclusions for the 700 members of Temple Beth El? Will they show a fair comparison to the 387 surveys returned five years ago? If you have not completed your membership survey, please do so within the next few weeks. It is important that all of our members’ voices be heard in this critical process of charting our course for the next ten years.

Beth El Baseball is Back

We have a nice group already signed up for our fabulous Jewish baseball league, representing all ages from pre-school to grade 7. We still are looking for more kids for all our Beth El teams. It’s a great way to express “shul spirit” and Jewish pride, and to deepen synagogue friendships, while developing athletic skills in a supportive, positive setting. It also helps to minimize conflicts that inevitably arise regarding Shabbat service attendance and sports. Both are important to your child’s emotional maturity. Now you can have your hallah and eat it too! Also WE NEED COACHES for each group. Ken Temple has once again volunteered to help out in this effort, but we need other parents to join in. Call Bonnie in our education office (322-6901 X307) to volunteer and for registration info.

Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class:

By popular demand, we are organizing an adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah class, with the goal of completing the course in about a year and preparing for a service in May of 2002. The course of study will be taught by the Hazzan, Barb Moskow and myself, and include some synagogue skills and a basic overview of Jewish history, prayer, customs and ceremonies and sacred texts. We will gladly accommodate all levels of Hebrew proficiency. If you are at all interested, please contact the education office (322-6901 X306). There are 20 already signed up! An organizational meeting will be held on Tues., April 24, at 8:00 PM. Subsequent classes will likely be held on Thursday evenings.

Jewish Heritage Tour of Eastern Europe, July 1-15, with Hazzan Rabinowitz.

Includes Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Prague, and Vienna. For information, contact Hazzan Rabinowitz at 322-6901 X309.

Friday Night Live

Here, on April 27, at 7:30 (not 8:00 as is printed in some places). We're assembling an incredible musical ensemble. Learn the music ahead of time: join the Hazzan for rehearsal on Wednesday evening at 8. And join us on the 27th -- it's for all ages.

Service for Young Families: April 28

11 AM -noon, with Student Cantor Laura Berman.  A relaxing, informal Shabbat service for parents and school-age children.

Women of the Wall

Find out about this courageous group of women who, despite great pressure from the Ultra-Orthodox authorities, hold a monthly service at the Western Wall. Video and brunch, with commentary and discussion led by Barb Moskow. And it’s FREE this is Sisterhood's gift to the women of TBE. April 29, 9:30AM. RSVP by 4/25 to Denise Greenman 329-8594 or Denise147@aol.com.


SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: Days of Remembrance

Each year at this time, we step back to reflect and to remember those events of over half a century ago that still cast a shadow over the world.  With fewer actual witnesses with us as each year passes, the evidence attained through technology is becoming more and more important.  First there were written testimonies and photographic evidence presented in books and at trials, then the televised documentaries and audio and videotaped oral histories.  And now the Internet is beginning to play a prime role in preserving and disseminating the historical facts.  No doubt, the Internet is also a fertile field for Holocaust deniers, but those sites are overwhelmed in number by the weight of fact.  Whether or not be design, search engines almost always point us in the right direction when we inquire about the Holocaust.  We no longer need to wait for those annual PBS specials or the occasional Oscar-winning documentary, when we can visit the Spielberg fondattion’s “Survivors of the Shoah” project and discover that over 50,000 survivors have been interviewed thus far, with over 200,000 hours of videotaped testimony becoming available through the foundation’s repositories.  Go to http://www.vhf.org/ to see the status of the project and to order the foundation’s excellent video and CD-ROM materials.

History and Remembrance

But one doesn’t have to order anything to have access to the facts.  Click on http://www.holocaust-history.org/ , the Holocaust History Project, a free archive of documents, photographs, recordings, and essays regarding the Holocaust, including direct refutation of Holocaust-denial.  There you will find a series of short, scholarly essays and documentary evidence.  Continue to http://www.holocaust-history.org/short-essays/finding-people.shtml for help in locating information about family or friends who are missing or who perished in the Holocaust.  There you will also find a link to Yad Vashem: http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/ , where you will see how Yom ha-Shoah was observed in Israel today, at http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/remembrance/temp_index_remembrance_day.html.

Worth a Thousand Denials

I was exceedingly moved by a special exhibit of photographs entitled “The Auschwitz Album,” accessible from the Yad Vashem home page.  This is the only surviving visual evidence of the process of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau.  According to the introduction, the photos were taken at the end of May or beginning of June 1944, either by Ernst Hofmann or by Bernhard Walter, two SS men whose task was to take ID photos and fingerprints of the inmates (not of the Jews who were sent directly to the gas chambers). The photos show the arrival of Hungarian Jews from Carpatho-Ruthenia. Many of them came from the Berehov Ghetto, which itself was a collecting point for Jews from several other small towns.

The description continues:

“Early summer 1944 was the apex of the deportation of Hungarian Jewry. For this purpose a special rail line was extended from the railway station outside the camp to a ramp inside Auschwitz. Many of the photos in the album were taken on the ramp. The Jews then went through a selection process, carried out by SS doctors and wardens. Those considered fit for work were sent into the camp, where they were registered, deloused and distributed to the barracks. The rest were sent to the gas chambers. They were gassed under the guise of a harmless shower, their bodies were cremated and the ashes were strewn in a nearby swamp. The Nazis not only ruthlessly exploited the labor of those they did not kill immediately, they also looted the belongings the Jews brought with them. Even gold fillings were extracted from the mouths of the dead by a special detachment of inmates. The personal effects the Jews brought with them were sorted by inmates and stored in an area referred to by the inmates as "Canada": the ultimate land of plenty.”

The photos in the album show the entire process except for the killing itself.

What purpose it could have served the Nazis to photograph these scenes is beyond me.  But if a picture is worth a thousand words, each of these photos refutes a thousand Holocaust denials.

Where Anne Frank Walked

Other valuable Shoah links can be found at the Web site of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, at http://library.ushmm.org/frame1.htm.  Among them you’ll find:

Anne Frank House
http://www.annefrank.nl/
Web site of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. The building, now a museum, includes the hiding place where Anne Frank wrote her famous diary. Features numerous photographs of Anne, her family, and the others in hiding, as well as excerpts from her writings.
Nizkor Project
http://www.nizkor.org/
Produced and directed by Ken McVay, the Nizkor Project is an online collection of electronic resources on the Holocaust and Holocaust denial and revisionism. Includes the reproduction of numerous primary source materials, detailed information on Nazi documents, and evidence presented at the Nuremberg Trials as a means of refuting Holocaust deniers and revisionists.
shoah.de
http://www.shoah.de/index1.html
Comprehensive collection of links to German Web sites related to the Holocaust that is annotated and organized by category.

And if the Auschwitz Album didn’t provide enough powerful photography, go to the Holocaust Pictures Exhibition at http://www.fmv.ulg.ac.be/schmitz/holocaust.html

A Survivor’s Prayer

Finally, we venture to http://remember.org/, which bills itself as a “Cybrary,” organized into 2 sections: Research, areas where you can explore the issues of the Holocaust, and Forums, where discussion and ongoing feedback is held.  The site shares art, discussion, photos, poems and facts.  Included is this powerful  “Survivor’s Prayer” shared by a certain MalkaB (whom you can contact via hyperlink).  And with this, our journey into the darkest moments of human history concludes.

I have lived
dear G-d
in a world gone mad
and I have seen
evil
unleashed beyond reason or
understanding.

I was with them.
We drank from the same
bitter cup.

I hid with them
Feared with them,
Struggled with them
And when the killing was finally done
I had survived
while millions had died.
I do not know why

I have asked many questions
for which there are no answers
And I have even cursed
my life
thinking I could not
endure the pain.

But a flame
inside
refused to die.
I could not throw away
What had been ripped away
from so many.

In the end
I had to choose life.
I had to struggle to cross
the bridge between
the dead and the living.
I had to rebuild
what had been destroyed.
I had to deny death
Another victory.


Shabbat Shalom
jh


This Shabbat-O-Gram goes out weekly to hundreds of Beth El congregants and others.  Feel free to forward it to your friends, and if you know of anyone who might wish to be included, please have them e-mail me at rabbi@tbe.org.  To be taken off this e-mail list, simply click on "reply" and write "please unsubscribe" in the message box.

For more information on the synagogue, check out Beth El's Web site at www.tbe.org.  And to check out some previous spiritual cyber-journeys I have taken, see my book's site at www.thelordismyshepherd.com.

Shabbat-O-Gram, April 12, 2001

SHABBAT SHALOM AND HAPPY PASSOVER (Mo-adim L'Simcha)


A Meditation for Yizkor, Pesach and Israel, by Yehuda Amichai:

An Arab Shepherd is Searching for His Goat on Mount Zion

An Arab shepherd is searching for his goat on Mount Zion,
And on the opposite hill I am searching
for my little boy.
An Arab shepherd and a Jewish father
Both in their temporary failure.
Our two voices meet above
The Sultan’s Pool in the valley between us.
Neither of us wants the boy or the goat
To get caught in the wheels
of the “Chad Gadya” machine.

Afterward we found them in the bushes,
And our voices came back inside us
Laughing and crying.

Searching for a goat or for a child has
Always been
The beginning of a new religion in
these mountains.

TODAY’S WEB JOURNEY CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS E-MAIL


CONTROVERSY OF THE WEEK: THE B.C. CARTOON

This Sunday, the popular comic strip BC is scheduled to run a cartoon that has already stoked much controversy over the Internet.  To see it first-hand, click on http://jdl.org/action/armchair/bc_comic.html, which, I promise, is the only time I will ever direct you to the Jewish Defense League web site.  While the cartoon could easily be seen as anti-Semitic, and it certainly makes me uncomfortable on a number of levels, I believe that there was no anti-Semitic intent here.  While most Jews see the 7-branch menorah as a purely Jewish symbol, most of the rest of the world does not.  The issue is ignorance and insensitivity more than anti-Semitism.  And that alone might be reason enough to protest.  I’d be interested in your impressions of this, both via e-mail and live, as at services on Sunday morning I plan to discuss it.  It might be worth bringing older children in on that discussion, especially if they happen to be bothered by the cartoon when they see it, live and in color, this weekend.

For the other side of the coin, check out this article at
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cnasa08apr09.story?coll=sfla%2Dnews%2Dsfla.  I wonder how the creator of BC will feel when he finds out that there will be Kosher meals served in space.  Maybe he’ll change the name of the strip to BCE!



JUST THE FACTS

Shabbat/ Seventh night of Passover:
Candles:  7:15 PM
Services: 8:00 PM

Shabbat Morning/ Seventh Day:
Family Service: 9:30 AM, followed by lunch. Naming of Kate Hollenberg, daughter of Julie and Jonathan Hollenberg.  Mazal tov to the family!  For a change of pace, we’ll be holding services in the lobby.
Children’s Services: 10:30
In addition to the Torah and haftarah for the day, we read the Song of Songs, “Shir Ha-shirim.”  Read this beautiful love poem and elegy to spring online at http://ebible.org/bible/hnv/Song.htm.  Commentary can be found at http://www.milknhoney.co.il/torah/shir_hashirim.html., http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~jtreat/song/, and http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/love-in-the-arts/songofsongs.html, with real audio of the Sephardic chant at http://philae.sas.upenn.edu/~jtreat/song/sephardi/.


Eighth Day:
Candles: 8:15 PM Saturday night
Services: 9:30 AM (9:15 Pesukey d’Zimra) Sunday morning
Yizkor prayers included.
Children’s Services: 10:30 AM
Torah Commentary:  See Chancellor Schorsch’s commentary, as well as the texts of the Torah and haftorah readings, at http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/5761/.  It’s a fascinating look into the history and meaning of Yizkor.



ANNOUNCEMENTS

Send in Your Surveys!

Should the direction of Temple Beth El be dictated by the opinions of 30 percent of the membership? That is the number of member surveys returned. While 200-plus surveys will certainly allow the strategic planners to draw conclusions about what the membership wants, will they be the best conclusions for the 700 members of Temple Beth El? Will they show a fair comparison to the 387 surveys returned five years ago? If you have not completed your membership survey, please do so within the next few weeks. It is important that all of our members’ voices be heard in this critical process of charting our course for the next ten years.

Beth El Baseball is Back

We have a nice group already signed up for our fabulous Jewish baseball league, representing all ages from pre-school to grade 7.  We still are looking for more kids for all our Beth El teams.  It’s a great way to express “shul spirit” and Jewish pride, and to deepen synagogue friendships, while developing athletic skills in a supportive, positive setting.  It also helps to minimize conflicts that inevitably arise regarding Shabbat service attendance and sports.  Both are important to your child’s emotional maturity.  Now you can have your hallah and eat it too!  Also WE NEED COACHES for each group.  Ken Temple has once again volunteered to help out in this effort, but we need other parents to join in.  Call Bonnie in our education office (322-6901 X307) to volunteer and for registration info.

Temple Beth El Seniors Trip to Ellis Island

Date: May 16, 2001- Wednesday 10:00-6:00
Cost: $30 per person (includes all transportation-bus and ferry ride, snacks, drinks, audio
tape, movie, Ranger talk, Tour of the facility, Ferry ride. There are wheelchairs available on the island and everything is handicapped accessible.
Open to Temple Beth El members who are AARP-qualified (age 50 and
over). We are taking reservations for the first 48 people who sign up. Checks must
be in by May 2, 2001. At bottom of check, indicate "for Ellis Island trip."

Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class: The Chai’s the Limit!

By popular demand, we are organizing an adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah class, with the goal of completing the course in about a year and preparing for a service in May of 2002. The course of study will be taught by the Hazzan, Barb Moskow and myself, and include some synagogue skills and a basic overview of Jewish history, prayer, customs and ceremonies and sacred texts. We will gladly accommodate all levels of Hebrew proficiency. If you are at all interested, please contact the education office (322-6901 X306). There are 18 (chai) already signed up! An organizational meeting will be held on Tues., April 24, at 8:00 PM. Subsequent classes will likely be held on Thursday evenings.

Yom Ha-Shoah: The Legacy of the Generations  Next Thursday

This year's community-wide Holocaust Remembrance Day program, will be held here at 7:30 on April 19.  It will focus on the second and third generations of survivors. If you are a child or grandchild of a survivor and would be interested in sharing your story, please let me know. How have the stories you grew up with changed your life? What do you feel is your special legacy or obligation as the descendant of a survivor? The program will feature brief testimonies given by people of all ages, including children, and we will be collecting additional written testimonies to be distributed that night.

Jewish Heritage Tour of Eastern Europe, July 1-15, with Hazzan Rabinowitz.

Includes Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Prague, and Vienna. For information, contact Hazzan Rabinowitz at 322-6901 X309.

Friday Night Live

Here, on April 27, will be at 7:30 (not 8:00 as is printed in some places). We're assembling an incredible musical ensemble. Learn the music ahead of time: join the Hazzan for rehearsals each Wednesday evening at 8. And join us on the 27th -- it's for all ages.

Women of the Wall

Find out about this courageous group of women who, despite great pressure from the Ultra-Orthodox authorities, hold a monthly service at the Western Wall.  Video and brunch, with commentary and discussion led by Barb Moskow.  And it’s FREE  this is Sisterhood's gift to the women of TBE.  April 29, 9:30AM. RSVP by
4/25 to Denise Greenman 329-8594 or Denise147@aol.com

On TV  TONIGHT: Thursday April 12, at 10 p.m.

"They Came for Good: A History of the Jews in the United States" Part Two:  Years 1820-1880 -  WNET Channel 13

MAZAL TOV
To Marc and Susan Leferman and family on the birth of Joshua Sol Leferman, this week in Stamford hospital.



SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: Mimouna: A Movable Feast

Food and Fellowship

Passover both begins and ends with a powerful combination of food and fellowship.  We begin the Seder with the public invitation to “all who are hungry” to join with us at our table.  The Afikoman recalls an ancient Roman practice of transporting hospitality from the table to the road. In Greek, the word “afi” means “after” and “koman” means, “procession.”  In Roman times, people would leave their homes after the meal and go around from house to house to share the dessert.  While we don’t do that at our Seders anymore, many in Israel and elsewhere conclude the holiday with an old Moroccan Jewish tradition known as Mimouna.  At the close of the festival of liberation, here is a celebration of true springtime liberation  liberation from the festival itself  as the entire nation takes to the streets, the parks and beaches, and Jews return to the wonders of hametz by breaking bread with their neighbors.

The best cyber-explanation of this fascinating tradition can be found at the Sephardi Connection Web Site: http://sephardiconnect.com/pesah/mimouna.htm. Those who have had the pleasure of spending Pesach in Israel know just how wildly popular Mimouna has become, and while politicians have indeed exploited it, as the Web site suggests, that attention has only increased its stature.  Mimouna has become a rallying point for Sephardi pride, and given the historic injustices perpetrated on that community by successive Israeli governments, that can be compared to the inordinate focus on Martin Luther King Day in America.  But unlike America’s minorities, who have found their political voice primarily on the left, the Sephardim have found their voice within the right wing of Israeli politics.  That has often turned Mimouna into one big Likud/Shas campaign rally in Israel, lending it a divisiveness that goes against spirit of the custom’s origins.  That will likely change this year.  Embattled and subdued by the current situation, Israelis are adjusting to the peculiar partnership of right and left, embodied by the team of Sharon and Peres.

The Sephardi Connection  And the Moslem Connection

For some background as to the socio-economic gap in Israel, see http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/juice/2000/israeli_society/is6.html.  There, author Jonathan Kaplan notes that Mimouna has had a positive impact:

“The overriding principle of the unity of the Jewish people is accepted by all groups. An example of this can be seen in the celebration of the Mimouna on the day after the Passover week. Originally a family-centered holiday among the Jews of Morocco, the occasion has developed in Israel into a national holiday centering on the breaking down of cultural barriers and the promotion of national friendship and unity. It has also become a something of a political staple, a whistle stop for politicians seeking the Sephardi vote.”

For another related backgrounder, this one focusing on varieties of Judaism in Israel, click on http://atheism.about.com/religion/atheism/library/world/AJ/bl_IsraelJudaism.html.  No politician has benefited more from Mimouna than the Moroccan-born David Levi.  Proof can be found in this photo at http://itonut09.po.biu.ac.il/davidsite/NewFiles/hachpics/mimuna.html.  And there are some nice Mimouna recipes to be found at http://www.food.epicurious.com/run/recipe/view?id=15507&printer=true, and at
http://reed.kfar-olami.org.il/resources/landmark/aliyah/MIMOUNA.htm

To understand the allure of Mimouna, we must trace its roots back to the Jewish communities of North Africa.  Next week, on Yom Ha-Shoah, we’ll mourning the loss of European shtetls; this week we should take a few moments to recall the rich and varied civilization that existed on the other side of the Mediterranean before 1948.  Some interesting though frustratingly incomplete background on Moroccan Jewish culture can be found at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1717/Culture.html and http://www.jct.ac.il/judaica/marocco/.

At http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/JewsofLibya/LibyanJews/testimonies/testimonyshlomo.html, you can read fascinating oral history interviews conducted by Vivienne Roumani-Denn.  In this one, Shlomo Gean describes daily life for Jews in Libya; Italian and Jewish schools; Shabbat celebration, Holy Day customs and prayers; life cycle customs; and synagogues. There are also descriptions of Arab customs, and Jewish-Arab relationships regarding life and work.  This is especially apparent when he describes Mimouna:

“(On) Motzae Pesah the Arabs took to the synagogue, outside the synagogue, they brought rolls uncooked, dough, to use them as leavening because the Jews of Libya, at Motzae Pesah they made a special bread called Mimuna, made with cumin and they put an egg on top, so to have leavening since during Pesah there was no leavening, the Arabs brought these uncooked rolls, dough, and the Jews used them as leavening for this kind of bread.”

Who would have thought that Mimouna originated as a celebration of Moslem - Jewish neighborliness!   But it makes lots of sense.  Since Hametz cannot be owned by Jews on the festival, without non-Jews to supply it, from whence would it come when darkness descends and the holiday has, at last, passed-over? 

This notion is reinforced at a review of the new show organized by the Jewish Museum in New York, entitled ”Morocco: Jews and Art in a Muslim Land" and reviewed at  http://www.ivri-nasawi.org/boumlik.html.  Here is how Mimouna is described:

“Mimouna, a uniquely Moroccan Jewish custom, is a day of largely outdoor celebration that
follows Passover, symbolizing the reintegration of Jews into society. It follows eight days of restricted eating and has, in fact, become a national holiday in Israel. Because Muslims considered this return beneficent for nature, they participated in this celebration by offering food to their Jewish friends.”

Imagine having the Grand Mufti offer Rabbi Ovadia Yosef a fresh-baked onion roll at Sacher Park in Jerusalem.  In essence, that’s what used to happen in Fez.  We’re not likely to see it again in the near future; perhaps the day after the Messiah comes, or the week after Ariel Sharon sells Yasser Arafat his Hametz, whichever comes first.

The Lion and the Lamb

Our exploration of Mimouna leads us to one final item, something I found at two sites, the bulletin boards of Tikkun and P’nai Or.  Since you’ll have a tough time finding Rick Gold’s dispatch from Bamako Mali, West Africa, at either site (http://www.shamash.org/listarchives/tikkun-on-line/log9504 and http://www.shamash.org/listarchives/pnai-or-rabbi/log9504), I’ll take the liberty of reprinting a significant chunk of it here.  Despite his clear anti-Zionist bias, the premise is fascinating.  Mimouna, as it existed in Morocco, at least, was not only a celebration of Jewish unity, but also of interfaith solidarity, much like Thanksgiving has become for Americans of different faiths.

“Here are some additional insights into the holiday of Mimuna, based on the four years I spent in Morocco. Those interested in learning more might want to read Harvey Goldberg's article, "The Mimuna and the Minority status of the Moroccan Jews," in the journal Ethnology, XVII, 1978, pp. 77-82. Mimuna is a holiday as full of symbolism as the Seder rituals. Named after Lalla Mimuna, a Jewish woman saint representing good fortune, the holiday is a demonstration of the symbiotic existence of Jews and Muslims. In addition to contributing to community cohesion, the festival celebrates the rebirth associated with spring. During Mimuna, Jews experience a feeling of liberation, at the end of a period of dietary restrictions. Their joy is expressed in attending parties at several people's homes and ignoring social constraints. During the evening of the last day of Passover, each family prepares for an open house, in which anyone, Jewish or Muslim, friend or stranger, can visit and sample from a table filled with desserts, sweets and symbolic foods. Jewish families go from house to house throughout the night, making sure to leave at least one person at their own home to welcome visitors. Muslim friends bring bread and cakes as gifts, the first leavened goods to be consumed by the Jews since the beginning of Passover. On the tables are found sweet products light in color, such as cakes, honey, milk and butter, representing a sweet life. Symbols of fertility such as fish, wheat, barley, fava beans, and fruit, also decorate the tables. Finally, there are symbols of prosperity, such as bowls of flour, and vases in which pieces of gold jewelry are covered with olive or argan oil. Upon arrival at a home, visitors say "TARBHU U-TSA'DU," meaning "Succeed in your ventures and rejoice." In this manner, they call upon Lalla Mimuna to intercede in their lives and provide fertility, success, happiness and abundance. Some Moroccan Muslims honor Lalla Mimuna to the same extent as Moroccan Jews. In addition, Muslims call upon her husband, Sidi Mimun, to intercede with Allah in their favor. In mellahs up through the 1950's, when Zionists convinced tens of thousands of Jews that there was no future for them in an independent Morocco and organized a secret operation to bring them to Israel, the streets were festive during Mimuna. Young people would wear costumes, with some boys dressing up as girls or as Muslims. Women might wear wedding dresses. Some families used the occasion to arrange marriages.”

On the Jewish political spectrum, Tikkun and P’nai Or are about as distant from Shas and Likud as one can get.  And yet it seems strangely appropriate that Mimouna has been embraced by both.  Mimouna, that George W. Bush of Jewish festivities, is at its heart a “uniter, not a divider.”  It beings out the lion and the lamb in us (although with fava beans on the menu, the lambs may well be silent), and coaxes them to coexist.  It also turns the world upside down.  After all, while ultra-pious Haredim will be pigging out on Hametz this Sunday at Mimouna celebrations (the day after Passover in Israel), we heretics here in America will be diligently dining on Matzah for one more day.  Mimouna does indeed make things topsy turvy.  So if Ariel Sharon and Simon Peres can barbecue together this weekend at Gan Sachar, perhaps there will also be room on the picnic blanket for Michael Lerner to break bread with Aryeh Deri, and for Hanan Ashwari to pass the hummos to David Levi?

Maybe next year.


This Shabbat-O-Gram goes out weekly to hundreds of Beth El congregants and others.  Feel free to forward it to your friends, and if you know of anyone who might wish to be included, please have them e-mail me at rabbi@tbe.org.  To be taken off this e-mail list, simply click on "reply" and write "please unsubscribe" in the message box.

For more information on the synagogue, check out Beth El's Web site at www.tbe.org.  And to check out some previous spiritual cyber-journeys I have taken, see my book's site at www.thelordismyshepherd.com.