Judaism in the Foxhole

The Jewish Week, Sept. 13, 2001 (Written before 9/11)

Through the horrors of the past year and the forecast of an uncertain future, increasing numbers of secular Israelis are finding comfort in the most unusual of places: the synagogue. At a satellite teleconference arranged for rabbis last week by the United Jewish Communities, Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman of Jerusalem’s congregation Kol Haneshama, spoke of the phenomenon. His synagogue, typically a magnet for liberal Jewish tourists, has seen a jump in attendance over the past year. With the hotels empty and the tourism industry suffering terribly, it is clear that the seats are being filled by an increasing number of Israelis. I have heard similar reports from other Israeli colleagues.

Periods of great stress typically lead to an increase in religiosity. Life in Israel never has been stress-free, but even in the most difficult times, rarely have Israelis looked to the synagogue for solace. Following the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin, for example, new mourning rituals were spontaneously improvised in public squares, with groups gathered around clusters of candles singing melancholy songs. But now, candles and songs aren’t enough. People are seeking a refuge for comfort and protection.

Seldom before has the synagogue so fulfilled its role as a sanctuary in the most literal sense. Although the terrorists have not been averse to attacking religious sites (most infamously the tomb of Joseph and the Western Wall), synagogues on the whole have served as oases from the storm. Exhausted, fearful and battle-weary, Israelis have found a safe haven of community far from the more vulnerable cafes and malls downtown.

They’ve also had the chance to rediscover the healing power of communal prayer. . The Masorti movement is running an ad in Israeli newspapers this week, “Ha’yamim Be’emet Nora’im.” It’s a play on words, since the expression for “Days of Awe,” literally means “days of fear.” This year, the prayers of the Machzor will take on terrifying overtones of realism. “Who shall live and who shall die?” is no longer a rhetorical question, but one that haunts every Israeli on a daily basis, while deciding whether to head to the market for milk or waiting for the school bus to carry a child safely home. The wail of the shofar sounds eerily like the sirens, bombs and mortar fire routinely piercing the tranquillity that once was Jerusalem; or like the cry of a child huddled in a Gilo shelter, fearful of the next attack.

That is how it will be in Israel this year on the Days of Awe. Israelis are discovering that Judaism is at its best in a foxhole. The question for every rabbi outside of Israel is, how can we coax people out of their supposedly impenetrable fortresses and into the same foxhole? A century ago, Rabbi Israel Salanter said, "A rabbi whose community does not disagree with him is no rabbi. A rabbi who fears his community is no man." I offer the corollary to that challenge: “A rabbi unable to move congregants to tears this year is no rabbi. And any congregant not moved to tears this year, with or without the help of a rabbi, is no Jew.”

We shouldn’t need a rabbi’s guidance to hear that crying child with each shofar blast. These need to be “days of fear” for us too, no matter how safe we think we are. Our prayers should remind us, this year more than ever, that all of life is precarious, and that any semblance of control is illusory. There simply is no excuse for boredom this year. Angry at God? Fine. Despondent? Understandable. We’ll all be struggling to find meaning in the words we utter. But if you are bored, you’re on another planet.

The uncertainties of the moment do test our faith, but the Jewish spirit has always soared highest when put to such a test. As if to remind us of that, out of the depths of the Durban fiasco arose perhaps the most eloquent, uplifting statement made on behalf of the Jewish people since Abba Eban’s days at the UN, and the author, Rabbi Michael Melchior, wasn’t even there to deliver it. But his Churchillian words reminded us of why we love Israel so much, and, even within a sea of xenophobia, how compassionate and universal Judaism can be. Despite the vicious attacks Israel endured at the conference, Rabbi Melchior still found it within himself to demonstrate the Jewish vision at its noblest, reaching outward, emphasizing its aversion to slavery for all peoples. He singled out Herzl’s concern for blacks, and later Martin Luther King’s concern for Zionism and the Jews, drawing a perfect parallel between those two prophets of liberation.

Melchior’s speech is a masterful visionary statement, caring yet condemning, sort of a Jeremiah meets Isaiah II. What glows above all is the absolute confidence that the Jewish people will persevere. The speech concludes with a stinging indictment of the conference: “We are here as representatives of states, and states of their nature have political interests and agendas. But we are also human beings, all of us brothers and sisters created in the divine image. And in those quiet moments when we recognize our common humanity, and look into our soul, let us consider what we came here to do - and what we have in fact done.”

I’ll make a deal with you. Go to the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s web site and download Melchior’s speech, at http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0kfh0. Slip it in with your tallis bag and bring it to services. When you sense a lull coming on, read it. Pray it. Imagine how incredibly difficult it must be for someone to recognize common humanity while the bombs are exploding around him. Imagine also the poets of the Machzor, who endured similar traumas when composing their masterworks. Hear the shofar. Hear the bombs. Hear the cries.
Then maybe, just perhaps, from the pit of the foxhole, you’ll hear yourself praying.

Link the Holocaust With Tisha B'Av (Jewish Week)

 

Shabbat-O-Gram, June 14, 2001

Shabbat Shalom

JUST THE FACTS:

Friday Night:
Candles: 8:11 PM
Kabbalat Shabbat (outdoors, weather permitting); 7:00 PM, led by our  Junior Choir
Shabbat Shalom Service (Grades 1-4 and families): 7:15 PM (in the lobby)

Shabbat Morning:
Pesukey d’zimra: 9:15 AM
Shacharit (morning service) 9:30
Children’s Services: 10:30           

Mazal Tov to Benjamin Lazerus and family.  Ben will become Bar Mitzvah here this Shabbat.

Torah portion: Shelach.  Learn Torah With commentary (fascinating, entitled “A Bug’s Life”):
http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Shelah-Lekah/ltw_5761_shelah-lekah.html


A BYTE OF TORAH and JEWISH CONTROVERSY OF THE WEEK:
Scouting Out the Land

THE BYTE
This week’s commentary is supplied by Rabbi Brad Artson, Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic
Studies at the University of Judaism:

Moses instructs twelve spies, one for each of Israel's tribes, to investigate the characteristics of the land the people are about to enter. They travel throughout the land of Israel during the course of forty days, and they return to the camp bearing an enormous load of the fruit of the land. Yet when they return, their testimony is contradictory. On the one hand, they assert that the land is one which "flows with milk and honey," a land bounteous and fertile. On the other hand, they also insist that the people in the land are giants--nefillim--who cause the hearts of those who see them to collapse. Based on the perceived strength of the inhabitants, the spies urge Israel not to occupy the land, despite the assurances of God and of Moses that they would do so successfully. Alone among the spies, Caleb and Joshua assert, with complete faith, that Israel should enter and take the land immediately.

What is striking about the spies' report is the central role of subjectivity in any report of reality. What mattered to them was not a simple compilation of facts, but rather an internal sense of what those facts mean: "We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them." The spies, faced with the sight of fortified cities and armed soldiers, looked at each other. And what they imagined revealed a lack of imagination, a failure of vision. Rather than envisioning themselves as carried by God's promise, sustained by the covenant of Israel, they became overwhelmed by the facts as they appeared on the surface. Caleb, on the other hand, saw the same facts and refused to bow before them. Infused with passion, conviction and Torah, he intended to shape reality to conform to his vision. And his vision was one of a faithful Israel, led by a loving God, occupying the land of its promise. The facts looked glum--they demonstrated just how unlikely Israel's occupation of the land would be. Yet Caleb, with his idealism and his energy, proved to be correct.

The history of the Jewish people is the continuing saga of the power of ideas to alter statistics. One hundred years ago, no one expected traditional forms of Judaism to survive--yet there are now kosher bakeries and butchers flourishing in communities throughout North America, and Conservative and Orthodox trends within Judaism remain strong. In the time of Maimonides (12th Century Egypt), people wrote of the demise of Judaism, only to have their predictions ignored. When the Temple of Solomon was destroyed and the Jews were exiled, few would have expected the survival of our people. Yet we are still thriving, some 2,500 years later. We have witnessed the rise and fall of Egyptians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, the Holy Roman Empire, the British Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, just to name a few. They rose and fell, and we remain.

As the 20th psalm exults: "They stumble and fall, but we rise and stand firm." That there are still Jews who care about Judaism is a statistical impossibility. Yet we are still here, still passionate and still Jewish. The secret weapon of our survival is our continuing excitement and fascination with our ideas. Passionate about our relationship with God, thrilled with the challenge of doing mitzvot, energized by the values and ethics that form the core of our rich inheritance, we make ourselves eternal by linking our identity to the One who is eternal. The Psalmist explains that "some trust in chariots, others in horses, but we honor the name of the Lord our God." In the process, we show the obsession with "facts" and statistics to be lacking. Through passion and conviction, we mold mere reality to match our vaunted dream.


THE CONTROVERSY
In our day, the situation has changed dramatically: Now we are talking about an established Jewish state, which many Jews living in the Diaspora have great reluctance to visit.  Tourism is way down, the Reform movement has cancelled its youth group trips, and the Maccabiah Games, one of the great symbols of Jewish and Zionist unity, could well be postponed or cancelled.  

It is noteworthy that many youth trips to Israel will still be taking place, including those of the Conservative movement, although with a significant drop-off in numbers.  At this time, 240 are signed up for the Ramah Israel program.

As with most such matters, there are valid arguments to be made on both sides.  Those who are not sending children over this summer claim that it would be better for the teens to have a more positive experience of Israel at other times, when they might walk freely among the people and enjoy the nightlife without fear.  And, as the Forward states in an editorial, (http://www.forward.com/ )“The notion that Jews in other countries ought to respond to the Israelis' plight by sending their own children to stand in the bombers' path defies comprehension. Parents do not normally send their children to spend their vacations in a war zone.”

Others say that part of being Jewish is understanding that sometimes life is about more things than shopping on Ben Yehuda street, and that this is precisely the opportunity when Jewish identity might be strengthened most by a visit to Israel.  See Dennis Prager’s moving  piece in Moment, “My Son’s Turn,” at      http://www.momentmag.com/columnists/index1.html.  He writes, “Why, then, am I encouraging (my son) to go to Israel? And why does he agree? Because as a Jew, an American, and a manmy three primary identitiesI believe there is more to life than living in safety. For life to be worth living, one has to take risks for the preservation of one’s most cherished values.”  Prager takes the position of Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who did not feel like grasshoppers in the face of giants, understanding that the perceived dangers are far greater than the real ones.

Israelis from both the left and the right are feeling abandoned and expressing it angrily.  Jerusalem Mayor Olmert has threatened to break ties with the Reform movement  (see http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/06/10/News/News.27835.html).  That, in my opinion, is a blatant overreaction, although I do believe that the Reform movement could have handled the matter with greater sensitivity to the message it would send.  Both sides overreacted here.   In the end, collectively, adults need to stand together behind Israel, to visit whenever possible and as soon as possible.   I hope to lead a solidarity group from here sometime in the fall and am glad to see that the United Jewish Communities, among others, is actively organizing large solidarity missions through the summer and fall.  But the decisions we make regarding the safety of our children are purely an individual matter, and they should not be questioned.


WHAT CAN WE DO FOR ISRAEL?

Gilo Speaker, tonight,  June 14 at 8:30, in our chapel.

If you are concerned about Israel, do join us to hear from a rabbi who is living through the nightly gunfire aimed at his neighborhood of Gilo, on southern border of Jerusalem. We’ll be hearing from Steve Zacharow, rabbi of Kehilat Shevet Achim, a new Masorti synagogue. 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.

Solidarity Visit to Israel

I’m beginning to make preliminary plans for a solidarity visit to Israel next fall from our congregation.  This would be a quick, affordable (and subsidized) four or five-day visit designed to combine some touring, learning, consoling and shopping, to give a needed boost to Israel’s morale and economy.  It would be geared primarily for adults (first-timers or those who have visited before) and would be designed to minimize security risks while maximizing our impact.  Please let me know if you might have some interest in this crucial project and which weeks might work for you. 

Staying Informed

Click on http://www.actionIsrael.org/ for free e-mail briefings on the current situation vis a vis the Palestinians. Carefully selected quality writing from a wide variety of sources. The site has sign up information plus archives of articles sent out from October '99 to the present. Excellent source of background.

For charts and graphs explaining the impact of terrorism on Israel (constantly being updated), go to http://www.idf.il/english/news/graphEat.stm

For an interesting “I told you so” commentary by Seth Lipsky of the Wall Street Journal, lashing out at Jewish doves, go to
http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/slipsky/?id=95000615. 

For an interesting pep talk by Meron Benvenisti, imploring doves to stop their self-flagellation see http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/htmls/kat10_4.htm.

To remain fully informed, check on Ha’aretz http://www2.haaretz.co.il/breaking-news/
and the Jerusalem Post  http://www.jpost.com/ several times daily.


OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Morning Minyan

To quote the old Yiddish saying, nine great rabbis cannot make a minyan, but ten cobblers can.  We need a few good cobblers!  This week we were just short of a minyan twice (so far).  With summer vacation upcoming, this does not bode well.  This is what we need from all our congregants: 1) Come whenever possible; 2) tell your friends to come; 3) Let us know when you plan to be here on a weekday morning for yahrzeit and I will get the word out on our “Guaranteed Minyan” e-mail service.

Send in Your Surveys! 

We need your input to determine our future and this is the main vehicle for the Strategic Planning Committee to determine what our congregation wants to become over the next several years. If you haven't submitted your survey, please set aside an hour to complete it. If you have misplaced it, call the office for another copy. We can't know what you expect of our Temple unless you tell us -- and this is the best time and place to do it and have your voice recognized as we set our course for the future.

Pre-school Program for the Fall

This fall, we’ll be featuring Mechinah, a new Sunday morning Jewish enrichment program for pre-school students, plus other special holiday-centered activities on select Sunday afternoons.  Also, we’ll be adding one more Friday evening Tot Shabbat per month, and we’ll be enhancing our Shabbat morning program for young children, as Nurit Avigdor will now be here every week.  For registration materials and information, contact our education office (322-6901 X306).

Jewish Communities of Stamford & Greenwich 1st Annual Legislative Breakfast

Sunday, June 24 @9:30 at the JCC Cost: $12.50 for the breakfast
Featuring: Speaker of the House Moira Lyons, Senate Majority Leader George Jepsen , Chairman of the House Finance Committee Anne McDonald.
For information contact: Gary Geller: (800) 317-3002 (daytime) (203) 322-8564 (evening) or Marcy Bick at the Federation.

Mazal tov to Nancy and Jeff Herz on the birth of Jacob Saul Herz. He arrived on Monday June 11, 2001 at 6:03 pm at Stamford Hospital.
His vital statistics are as follows:
Weight: 6 lbs, 9 3/4 oz.
Length: 19 inches
Mazal tov also to grandparents Lynn and Alan Pearce and great grandmother Ann Pearce.

Mazal tov to all our graduates (of all ages)!  A special welcome/Mazal Tov to the 8^th graders of Bic-Cultural Day School, who will become graduates right here on our bima tonight.  It is our pleasure to enhance the community partnership between BCDS and TBE in this manner.


SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: Fringe Benefits

This week’s portion includes the last paragraph of the Sh’ma, detailing the commandment of the tzitzit (fringes) and the tallit.  I’ve always loved this mitzvah, ever since I first fiddled with my dad’s fringes when I was a child.  If Judaism is to be multi-sensual, and it is, than the sense of touch is no less important than hearing, sight, smell and taste…well, OK, taste takes the kugel, but I’m still a great proponent of tactile Judaism.   On the simplest level, the tzitzit are like the proverbial string-around-the-finger, reminding us constantly of the 613 mitzvot.  But there is so, so much more.

So here’s where you can read about those little sacred strings and knots
For a good introduction, go to http://scheinerman.net/judaism/tallit/index.html.  There you can find out what the 7-8-11-13 winding pattern is all about.  Then take the quiz at http://scheinerman.net/judaism/tallit/tallit-quiz.html, and be sure to click on All the answers.
Another fine explanation site, with an emphasis on liberal Jewish practice and some good historical background, can be found at http://isaac.exploratorium.edu/bluethread/tzitzit.htm.  Once there, see especially the reasons cited at http://isaac.exploratorium.edu/bluethread/different/holytzitzitrevisited.html.
Also, check out http://www.bethelsudbury.org/reflect/kaf.htm for material on the knots and fringes.

The graduating students of the Solomon Schechter School of Greater Boston did a fantastic “online Bet Midrash Rabbinics Lab” on this topic recently.  The home page is at http://www.uscj.org/ssds/boston/main.htm, and some relevant tzitzit links are at http://www.uscj.org/ssds/boston/tzitzit/index.htm, http://www.uscj.org/ssds/boston/tzitzit/tz00.htm (Talmudic references), and http://www.uscj.org/ssds/boston/tzitzit/d2joalad.htm (on that mysterious blue thread, techelet).  I am very impressed!

For a more traditional view of tzitzit and their place in Jewish law and mysticism, go to http://www.ahavat-israel.com/ahavat/torat/tzitzit.asp and http://www.breslov.org/tzitzit.html.

Other religions have much to say about sacred knots and threads.  For the Catholic view of this biblical precept, look at http://www.breslov.org/tzitzit.html, and for a Hindu commentary on sacred thread, look at
http://www.hinduism.co.za/sacred.htm.  Reading about Hindu practice helps us to understand the universality of this tactile experience, and how meaning is often derived from numerology:

The composition of the Sacred Thread is full of symbolism and significance. Its length is ninety six times as the breadth of the four fingers of a man, which is equal to his height. Each of the four fingers represents one of the four states the soul of a man experiences from time to time, namely, waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep and absolute Brahmanhood (Turiya or the fourth state). The three folds of the cord are also symbolical. They represent the three Gunas (Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas) reality, passion and darkness, out of which the whole universe is evolved. It was done, so that the Sattwaguna or the good quality of reality may predominate in a man, and so he may attain spiritual merits. The three cords remind the wearer that he has to pay off the Three Debts he owes:

1.To the Rishis (ancient seers), 2.To the ancestors and 3.To the gods.

The three cords are tied together by a knot called Brahma-granthi, which symbolises Brahma, Vishnu and Siva (the trinity of gods, Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer). Besides, extra knots are made in the cords to indicate the various Pravaras of a particular family.

Finally, if you are so inclined and never have done so before enwrap yourself in a tallit for the first time.  You can find a meditation for this ritual at http://www.clal.org/wkly_ritual_life10.html.  The CLAL faculty also provides a nice image for us to ponder as we don the sacred, flowing garment:

“Like paratroopers who always take their parachutes with them when they jump from planes, those who have begun wearing a tallit as they pray discover just how essential it is. Like the parachute that catches the breath of the wind, protecting those who dare to jump into the air, the tallit ensures God’s embrace for those who dare to leap into prayer.”

Whether we see the garment and accompanying threads as a parachute, uniform, blankie, reminder-string or sacred knot (and indeed we are “tying the knot” with God), or even as the prototype for the Israeli blue and white striped flag (http://www.icepond.com/FlagofIsrael/ and find out the importance of Morris Harris in Jewish history), there is no denying its distinctive allure.   But if a tallis is a parachute, does that not make us all…“tzitzit flies?”

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 for June 7, 2001

Shabbat Shalom

JUST THE FACTS:

Friday Night:
Candles: 8:08 PM
Kabbalat Shabbat (outdoors, weather permitting); 7:00 PM. We celebrate with our 7^th graders at their “Aliyah” service, and look forward to their continuing on with our various teen and Hebrew High School programs.

Tot Shabbat: 7:15 PM (in the lobby)

Shabbat Morning:
Pesukey d’zimra: 9:15 AM
Shacharit (morning service) 9:30
Children’s Services: 10:30           

Mazal Tov to Rachel Maimon and family.  Rachel will become Bat Mitzvah here this Shabbat.

Torah portion: Beha’alotcha.  Learn Torah With commentary:
http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Be-ha_alotekha/ltw_5761_be-ha_alotekha.html



A BYTE OF TORAH: Bread and Matzah, Together at Last

This week’s portion covers an assortment of obscure matters, among them what was known as the Second Passover, which was observed exactly one month after the Original Passover. It’s fascinating for a few reasons, one of which is that the timing of its initial observance in the Wilderness throws the entire chronology of the book of Numbers out of whack. This was later used as a basis for rabbinic acknowledgement that the Torah is not written in chronological order.

But what’s most interesting about the Second Passover is in that it existed at all. The idea was that when Israelites were either ritually impure or too far away to participate in the Passover sacrifice, they were given a second chance to do it a month later. Evidently, this really happened, as we read in Chronicles 30:1-5, where it says, “The king and his officers and the congregation had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month, for at the time they were unable to keep it for not enough priests had sanctified themselves, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem.”

It’s nice to know that Judaism offers us second chances to celebrate holidays that we might have missed the first time around. Second chances are a key idea of Judaism; we need look no further than the concept of teshuvah, repentance, so central to the High Holidays.

Even to this day, when the issues of impurity and distance are not relevant to Passover observance, some Jews still mark the Second Passover. Some have the interesting practice of eating bread and matzah together on that day. Imagine that, hametz and matzah, these two polar opposites of the palate, together. What significance can this have, to be Passover and so un-Passover at the same time?

It gets back to the notion of second chances. If hametz and matzah can find common ground on the same menu, reconciliation of other opposing forces gains an air of possibility.  Second chances abound this week for Republicans and Democrats in Congress, although for Israel and her neighbors, those hopes seem far more remote.

But if hametz and matzah can break bread together, there’s still a crumb of possibility for reconciliation everywhere else.


JEWISH CONTROVERSY OF THE WEEK: Is Mel Brooks Jewish?

As Mel Brooks humbly accepted a dozen Tony Awards last Sunday for his smash hit, ‘The Producers,” he acknowledged the “phalanx of Jews” behind him who created the show.  But the question buzzing around this week had less to do with the rest of the phalanx than with Brooks himself: Is he indeed Jewish? 

Now normally, the question is one for the trivia books, the occasional Bar Mitzvah speech or an Adam Sandler song, but with Brooks it carries more weight.  Why?  Because, as with so many Jewish comics, his religio-ethnic identity is central to his humor.  And since much of his humor pokes fun at Jews, and since he has been accused of trivializing the Holocaust, the fact of his Jewishness or lack thereof becomes more of a factor.  His art will stand on its own (and indeed, he makes fun of lots of others, not just Jews), but his place in the pantheon of Jewish role models most definitely hangs in the balance.

So I checked Yahoodi.com (http://www.yahoodi.com/famous/who.html), to find some definitions of “who is a Jew?”  Several are offered.  Certainly by the broadest definition (the ethnic one), Brooks qualifies.  He sees his humor as coming from the deepest wellsprings of Jewish culture.  Quoted in a recent academic paper on his life, Brooks describes his role in this way: "For every ten Jews beating their breasts, God designated one to be crazy and amuse the breast-beaters. By the time I was five I knew I was that one."  See the paper at http://www.jtsa.edu/users/hsp/htm/mbrooks.html

In a recent 60 Minutes Interview, he was even more emphatic about his Jewishness (see http://wagm.cbsnow.com/now/story/0,1597,285293-261,00.shtml).  Yet, according to the JTS academic paper, it is known that following his marriage to Anne Bancroft, their son was baptized, supposedly with the understanding that he would later become Bar Mitzvah.  That fact in and of itself is far less disturbing than the various reports, including one in last week’s Boston Jewish Advocate, that Brooks himself converted to Christianity at the time of his marriage to Bancroft.  I’ve not been able to verify this first-hand on the Web and would be interested in knowing if anyone out there has.  It’s not just a trivial matter to know whether our “phalanx of Jews” has been diminished by one. 

In the ever-shifting sands of Jewish identity, apostasy is one category whose definition has remained relatively stable over the centuries.  The traditional view has pretty much held, and should continue to, especially in the face of large-scale missionary activity directed against us.  See that traditional view at http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/j4j-2000/html/library/apostate.html.  To quote:

The halachic rule is that "An Israelite, even though he has sinned, is still an Israelite" (B.T. Sanhedrin 44a). But an apostate is a Jew only in the limited sense that the obligations of the Torah still apply to him, as they do to all biological Jews and converts to Judaism. The apostate has absolutely no communal status. A Jew who follows another religion is Jewish only insofar as he/she retains a spiritual obligation to repent and return to Judaism. However, as long as he/she owes a spiritual allegiance to a foreign religious philosophy he/she cannot be considered a member of the Jewish community.

So if indeed Mr. Brooks falls into that category, it would be hard to place him in the pantheon of Jewish greats, much as I admire and enjoy his work, generally support his irreverent style, and absolutely loved the way Bancroft played Golda Meir (though Ingrid Bergman was better).  But, pantheon or not, if you have an extra pair of tickets to “The Producers,” I’d be happy to check the matter out further!



ANNOUNCEMENTS

WHAT CAN WE DO FOR ISRAEL?

Gilo Speaker on June 14 at 8:30, in our chapel.

If you are concerned about Israel, whether or not you can make it to the rally, do join us to hear from a rabbi who is living through the nightly gunfire aimed at his neighborhood of Gilo, on southern border of Jerusalem. We’ll be hearing from Steve Zacharow, rabbi of Kehilat Shevet Achim, a new Masorti synagogue. 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).

Solidarity Visit to Israel

Last week, Israel’s President made a plea to American Jews to visit Israel.  Indeed, and predictably, Israel’s tourism industry is suffering greatly right now.  I’m beginning to make preliminary plans for a solidarity visit to Israel next fall from our congregation.  This would be a quick, affordable (and subsidized) four or five-day visit designed to combine some touring, learning, consoling and shopping, to give a needed boost to Israel’s morale and economy.  It would be geared primarily for adults (first-timers or those who have visited before) and would be designed to minimize security risks while maximizing our impact.  Please let me know if you might have some interest in this crucial project and which weeks might work for you. 

Last week’s Tel Aviv Terror Attack

A memorial tribute to the victims, including very moving photos, discussion, Russian translation, and info on where you can send donations to help victims of terror, can be found at http://techst02.technion.ac.il/~sunny/terror/.  The night is over but the pain is not.


OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Send in Your Surveys! 

The arrival rate of your surveys has dropped off precipitously over the past few weeks. That means that many of you have put it aside for later or discarded it. That's bad news, because we need your input to determine our future and this is the main vehicle for the Strategic Planning Committee to determine what our congregation wants to become over the next several years. If you haven't submitted your survey, please set aside an hour to complete it. If you have misplaced it, call the office for another copy. We can't know what you expect of our Temple unless you tell us -- and this is the best time and place to do it and have your voice recognized as we set our course for the future.

Pre-school Program for the Fall

This fall, we’ll be featuring Mechinah, a new Sunday morning Jewish enrichment program for pre-school students, plus other special holiday-centered activities on select Sunday afternoons.  Also, we’ll be adding one more Friday evening Tot Shabbat per month, and we’ll be enhancing our Shabbat morning program for young children, as Nurit Avigdor will now be here every week.  For registration materials and information, contact our education office (322-6901 X306).

Junior Choir Service

Join us outdoors, weather permitting, at 7:00 on Friday, June 15, for our final Junior Choir service of the
season.

Jewish Communities of Stamford & Greenwich 1st Annual Legislative Breakfast

Sunday, June 24 @9:30 at the JCC Cost: $12.50 for the breakfast
Featuring: Speaker of the House Moira Lyons, Senate Majority Leader George Jepsen , Chairman of the House Finance Committee Anne McDonald.
For information contact: Gary Geller: (800) 317-3002 (daytime) (203) 322-8564 (evening) or Marcy Bick at the Federation.

Mazal tov to Sheila & Gordon Brown, who have a new granddaughter.  Amanda Ashli was born to Mindi & Michael Brown.

Mazal tov to all our graduates (of all ages)!  A special welcome/Mazal Tov to the 8^th graders of Bic-Cultural Day School, who will become graduates right here on our bima next Thursday night.  It is our pleasure to enhance the community partnership between BCDS and TBE in this manner.


SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: The Flying Nuns

In the middle of the portion Beha’alotcha, something truly strange occurs. For the first time, pretty much, since we left the golden calf in mid-winter, there is movement. After months of focus on laws, sacrifices and the description of the sanctuary, the Torah picks up the narrative as the nation of Israel picks up camp.
As the nation begins the march, two verses are encircled in brackets, which, in the Torah text itself, look like two “nuns” (the letter, not Sally Field), one normal though enlarged, the other inverted. The verses enclosed between these brackets also happen to bracket our current Torah service, including the well-known “Vayhi binsoa ha-aron vayomer Moshe,” “And when the ark set forth, Moses exclaimed; rise up O Lord and scatter your enemies…”

What is this “nun” thing all about?

First, take a look at what a nun is, at
http://hebrew.about.com/homework/hebrew/library/children/blchild_nun.htm

Now, here are a number of commentaries on the matter:

At http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/torani/nehama/behaalo.html, read what is said by one of the great Torah teachers of the past century, Nechama Liebowitz. Reference is made to the popular notion that the inverted nuns set these verses apart as a separate body of literature, even a separate book of the Torah. In some sense, these words are intended to be read differently, as being more timeless, more about us than them, more about now than then.

In the “Torah from Dixie,” http://www.tfdixie.com/parshat/behalot/008.htm, Rabbi Mendel Dickstein, quoting the Talmud, claims that the bracketed section was imported from a more chronologically correct place in the Torah and inserted here to break up a series of three consecutive episodes in which the Israelites sinned.

Click on http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/06/15/Columns/Columns.8249.html, and see how Rabbi Shlomo Riskin turns the inverted nuns into a moving personal story about the love of one’s fellow Jew (Ahavat Yisrael) and love of family.

Got Gematria? Check out http://www.neveh.org/winston/parsha58/bhalscha.html for a Kabbalistic take on all this, based on Hebrew numerology. Nun, BTW, equals 50.  Some good Kabbalistic background on the letter nun can be found at http://www.inner.org/HEBLETER/nun.htm.

Want a martial arts slant? Yes, you heard me right. Go to the “Tora Torah” commentary, at http://www.kodesh.org/toratorah/bahalotcha.htm. What Moses is saying to God in these verses can well be seen as a call to the fighter within each of us to emerge and confront the enemies of fear and apathy. Not bad.

The march of Torah is going to be a long one, with the inevitable pitfalls. To “fall” in Hebrew is “nofel,” which begins, of course, with a nun. And from there the great Rabbi Soleveitchik derived his interpretation of this section, as noted in http://www.byad.org/parsha/5759/Behaalotcha.html. The aforementioned Rav’s lecture on leadership, at http://www.torah.org/advanced/mikra/5757/bm/dt.57.4.02.html, also contains references to the nuns.

OK, so what is your favorite approach: traditional, linguistic, mystical, martial?  Or perhaps “nun” of the above?  Then let me give you one more: the Joshua-centric approach, my personal favorite.  For who was the man who led the Israelites into battle, both during and after the Wilderness wanderings?  It was “nun” other than Joshua, the son of Nun!  That’s right, his Dad’s name was the very same as the letter.  So the nuns were then a heavenly sign that Joshua should lead the people, and a signal that Joshua’s leadership should be marked by a special protectiveness toward his people, always reaching out to them, encircling them like a pair of parentheses.  

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, June 14, 2001

Shabbat Shalom

JUST THE FACTS:

Friday Night:
Candles: 8:11 PM
Kabbalat Shabbat (outdoors, weather permitting); 7:00 PM, led by our  Junior Choir
Shabbat Shalom Service (Grades 1-4 and families): 7:15 PM (in the lobby)

Shabbat Morning:
Pesukey d’zimra: 9:15 AM
Shacharit (morning service) 9:30
Children’s Services: 10:30           

Mazal Tov to Benjamin Lazerus and family.  Ben will become Bar Mitzvah here this Shabbat.

Torah portion: Shelach.  Learn Torah With commentary (fascinating, entitled “A Bug’s Life”):
http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Shelah-Lekah/ltw_5761_shelah-lekah.html


A BYTE OF TORAH and JEWISH CONTROVERSY OF THE WEEK:
Scouting Out the Land

THE BYTE
This week’s commentary is supplied by Rabbi Brad Artson, Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic
Studies at the University of Judaism:

Moses instructs twelve spies, one for each of Israel's tribes, to investigate the characteristics of the land the people are about to enter. They travel throughout the land of Israel during the course of forty days, and they return to the camp bearing an enormous load of the fruit of the land. Yet when they return, their testimony is contradictory. On the one hand, they assert that the land is one which "flows with milk and honey," a land bounteous and fertile. On the other hand, they also insist that the people in the land are giants--nefillim--who cause the hearts of those who see them to collapse. Based on the perceived strength of the inhabitants, the spies urge Israel not to occupy the land, despite the assurances of God and of Moses that they would do so successfully. Alone among the spies, Caleb and Joshua assert, with complete faith, that Israel should enter and take the land immediately.

What is striking about the spies' report is the central role of subjectivity in any report of reality. What mattered to them was not a simple compilation of facts, but rather an internal sense of what those facts mean: "We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them." The spies, faced with the sight of fortified cities and armed soldiers, looked at each other. And what they imagined revealed a lack of imagination, a failure of vision. Rather than envisioning themselves as carried by God's promise, sustained by the covenant of Israel, they became overwhelmed by the facts as they appeared on the surface. Caleb, on the other hand, saw the same facts and refused to bow before them. Infused with passion, conviction and Torah, he intended to shape reality to conform to his vision. And his vision was one of a faithful Israel, led by a loving God, occupying the land of its promise. The facts looked glum--they demonstrated just how unlikely Israel's occupation of the land would be. Yet Caleb, with his idealism and his energy, proved to be correct.

The history of the Jewish people is the continuing saga of the power of ideas to alter statistics. One hundred years ago, no one expected traditional forms of Judaism to survive--yet there are now kosher bakeries and butchers flourishing in communities throughout North America, and Conservative and Orthodox trends within Judaism remain strong. In the time of Maimonides (12th Century Egypt), people wrote of the demise of Judaism, only to have their predictions ignored. When the Temple of Solomon was destroyed and the Jews were exiled, few would have expected the survival of our people. Yet we are still thriving, some 2,500 years later. We have witnessed the rise and fall of Egyptians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, the Holy Roman Empire, the British Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, just to name a few. They rose and fell, and we remain.

As the 20th psalm exults: "They stumble and fall, but we rise and stand firm." That there are still Jews who care about Judaism is a statistical impossibility. Yet we are still here, still passionate and still Jewish. The secret weapon of our survival is our continuing excitement and fascination with our ideas. Passionate about our relationship with God, thrilled with the challenge of doing mitzvot, energized by the values and ethics that form the core of our rich inheritance, we make ourselves eternal by linking our identity to the One who is eternal. The Psalmist explains that "some trust in chariots, others in horses, but we honor the name of the Lord our God." In the process, we show the obsession with "facts" and statistics to be lacking. Through passion and conviction, we mold mere reality to match our vaunted dream.


THE CONTROVERSY
In our day, the situation has changed dramatically: Now we are talking about an established Jewish state, which many Jews living in the Diaspora have great reluctance to visit.  Tourism is way down, the Reform movement has cancelled its youth group trips, and the Maccabiah Games, one of the great symbols of Jewish and Zionist unity, could well be postponed or cancelled.  

It is noteworthy that many youth trips to Israel will still be taking place, including those of the Conservative movement, although with a significant drop-off in numbers.  At this time, 240 are signed up for the Ramah Israel program.

As with most such matters, there are valid arguments to be made on both sides.  Those who are not sending children over this summer claim that it would be better for the teens to have a more positive experience of Israel at other times, when they might walk freely among the people and enjoy the nightlife without fear.  And, as the Forward states in an editorial, (http://www.forward.com/ )“The notion that Jews in other countries ought to respond to the Israelis' plight by sending their own children to stand in the bombers' path defies comprehension. Parents do not normally send their children to spend their vacations in a war zone.”

Others say that part of being Jewish is understanding that sometimes life is about more things than shopping on Ben Yehuda street, and that this is precisely the opportunity when Jewish identity might be strengthened most by a visit to Israel.  See Dennis Prager’s moving  piece in Moment, “My Son’s Turn,” at      http://www.momentmag.com/columnists/index1.html.  He writes, “Why, then, am I encouraging (my son) to go to Israel? And why does he agree? Because as a Jew, an American, and a manmy three primary identitiesI believe there is more to life than living in safety. For life to be worth living, one has to take risks for the preservation of one’s most cherished values.”  Prager takes the position of Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who did not feel like grasshoppers in the face of giants, understanding that the perceived dangers are far greater than the real ones.

Israelis from both the left and the right are feeling abandoned and expressing it angrily.  Jerusalem Mayor Olmert has threatened to break ties with the Reform movement  (see http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/06/10/News/News.27835.html).  That, in my opinion, is a blatant overreaction, although I do believe that the Reform movement could have handled the matter with greater sensitivity to the message it would send.  Both sides overreacted here.   In the end, collectively, adults need to stand together behind Israel, to visit whenever possible and as soon as possible.   I hope to lead a solidarity group from here sometime in the fall and am glad to see that the United Jewish Communities, among others, is actively organizing large solidarity missions through the summer and fall.  But the decisions we make regarding the safety of our children are purely an individual matter, and they should not be questioned.


WHAT CAN WE DO FOR ISRAEL?

Gilo Speaker, tonight,  June 14 at 8:30, in our chapel.

If you are concerned about Israel, do join us to hear from a rabbi who is living through the nightly gunfire aimed at his neighborhood of Gilo, on southern border of Jerusalem. We’ll be hearing from Steve Zacharow, rabbi of Kehilat Shevet Achim, a new Masorti synagogue. 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.

Solidarity Visit to Israel

I’m beginning to make preliminary plans for a solidarity visit to Israel next fall from our congregation.  This would be a quick, affordable (and subsidized) four or five-day visit designed to combine some touring, learning, consoling and shopping, to give a needed boost to Israel’s morale and economy.  It would be geared primarily for adults (first-timers or those who have visited before) and would be designed to minimize security risks while maximizing our impact.  Please let me know if you might have some interest in this crucial project and which weeks might work for you. 

Staying Informed

Click on http://www.actionIsrael.org/ for free e-mail briefings on the current situation vis a vis the Palestinians. Carefully selected quality writing from a wide variety of sources. The site has sign up information plus archives of articles sent out from October '99 to the present. Excellent source of background.

For charts and graphs explaining the impact of terrorism on Israel (constantly being updated), go to http://www.idf.il/english/news/graphEat.stm

For an interesting “I told you so” commentary by Seth Lipsky of the Wall Street Journal, lashing out at Jewish doves, go to
http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/slipsky/?id=95000615. 

For an interesting pep talk by Meron Benvenisti, imploring doves to stop their self-flagellation see http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/htmls/kat10_4.htm.

To remain fully informed, check on Ha’aretz http://www2.haaretz.co.il/breaking-news/
and the Jerusalem Post  http://www.jpost.com/ several times daily.


OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Morning Minyan

To quote the old Yiddish saying, nine great rabbis cannot make a minyan, but ten cobblers can.  We need a few good cobblers!  This week we were just short of a minyan twice (so far).  With summer vacation upcoming, this does not bode well.  This is what we need from all our congregants: 1) Come whenever possible; 2) tell your friends to come; 3) Let us know when you plan to be here on a weekday morning for yahrzeit and I will get the word out on our “Guaranteed Minyan” e-mail service.

Send in Your Surveys! 

We need your input to determine our future and this is the main vehicle for the Strategic Planning Committee to determine what our congregation wants to become over the next several years. If you haven't submitted your survey, please set aside an hour to complete it. If you have misplaced it, call the office for another copy. We can't know what you expect of our Temple unless you tell us -- and this is the best time and place to do it and have your voice recognized as we set our course for the future.

Pre-school Program for the Fall

This fall, we’ll be featuring Mechinah, a new Sunday morning Jewish enrichment program for pre-school students, plus other special holiday-centered activities on select Sunday afternoons.  Also, we’ll be adding one more Friday evening Tot Shabbat per month, and we’ll be enhancing our Shabbat morning program for young children, as Nurit Avigdor will now be here every week.  For registration materials and information, contact our education office (322-6901 X306).

Jewish Communities of Stamford & Greenwich 1st Annual Legislative Breakfast

Sunday, June 24 @9:30 at the JCC Cost: $12.50 for the breakfast
Featuring: Speaker of the House Moira Lyons, Senate Majority Leader George Jepsen , Chairman of the House Finance Committee Anne McDonald.
For information contact: Gary Geller: (800) 317-3002 (daytime) (203) 322-8564 (evening) or Marcy Bick at the Federation.

Mazal tov to Nancy and Jeff Herz on the birth of Jacob Saul Herz. He arrived on Monday June 11, 2001 at 6:03 pm at Stamford Hospital.
His vital statistics are as follows:
Weight: 6 lbs, 9 3/4 oz.
Length: 19 inches
Mazal tov also to grandparents Lynn and Alan Pearce and great grandmother Ann Pearce.

Mazal tov to all our graduates (of all ages)!  A special welcome/Mazal Tov to the 8^th graders of Bic-Cultural Day School, who will become graduates right here on our bima tonight.  It is our pleasure to enhance the community partnership between BCDS and TBE in this manner.


SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: Fringe Benefits

This week’s portion includes the last paragraph of the Sh’ma, detailing the commandment of the tzitzit (fringes) and the tallit.  I’ve always loved this mitzvah, ever since I first fiddled with my dad’s fringes when I was a child.  If Judaism is to be multi-sensual, and it is, than the sense of touch is no less important than hearing, sight, smell and taste…well, OK, taste takes the kugel, but I’m still a great proponent of tactile Judaism.   On the simplest level, the tzitzit are like the proverbial string-around-the-finger, reminding us constantly of the 613 mitzvot.  But there is so, so much more.

So here’s where you can read about those little sacred strings and knots
For a good introduction, go to http://scheinerman.net/judaism/tallit/index.html.  There you can find out what the 7-8-11-13 winding pattern is all about.  Then take the quiz at http://scheinerman.net/judaism/tallit/tallit-quiz.html, and be sure to click on All the answers.
Another fine explanation site, with an emphasis on liberal Jewish practice and some good historical background, can be found at http://isaac.exploratorium.edu/bluethread/tzitzit.htm.  Once there, see especially the reasons cited at http://isaac.exploratorium.edu/bluethread/different/holytzitzitrevisited.html.
Also, check out http://www.bethelsudbury.org/reflect/kaf.htm for material on the knots and fringes.

The graduating students of the Solomon Schechter School of Greater Boston did a fantastic “online Bet Midrash Rabbinics Lab” on this topic recently.  The home page is at http://www.uscj.org/ssds/boston/main.htm, and some relevant tzitzit links are at http://www.uscj.org/ssds/boston/tzitzit/index.htm, http://www.uscj.org/ssds/boston/tzitzit/tz00.htm (Talmudic references), and http://www.uscj.org/ssds/boston/tzitzit/d2joalad.htm (on that mysterious blue thread, techelet).  I am very impressed!

For a more traditional view of tzitzit and their place in Jewish law and mysticism, go to http://www.ahavat-israel.com/ahavat/torat/tzitzit.asp and http://www.breslov.org/tzitzit.html.

Other religions have much to say about sacred knots and threads.  For the Catholic view of this biblical precept, look at http://www.breslov.org/tzitzit.html, and for a Hindu commentary on sacred thread, look at
http://www.hinduism.co.za/sacred.htm.  Reading about Hindu practice helps us to understand the universality of this tactile experience, and how meaning is often derived from numerology:

The composition of the Sacred Thread is full of symbolism and significance. Its length is ninety six times as the breadth of the four fingers of a man, which is equal to his height. Each of the four fingers represents one of the four states the soul of a man experiences from time to time, namely, waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep and absolute Brahmanhood (Turiya or the fourth state). The three folds of the cord are also symbolical. They represent the three Gunas (Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas) reality, passion and darkness, out of which the whole universe is evolved. It was done, so that the Sattwaguna or the good quality of reality may predominate in a man, and so he may attain spiritual merits. The three cords remind the wearer that he has to pay off the Three Debts he owes:

1.To the Rishis (ancient seers), 2.To the ancestors and 3.To the gods.

The three cords are tied together by a knot called Brahma-granthi, which symbolises Brahma, Vishnu and Siva (the trinity of gods, Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer). Besides, extra knots are made in the cords to indicate the various Pravaras of a particular family.

Finally, if you are so inclined and never have done so before enwrap yourself in a tallit for the first time.  You can find a meditation for this ritual at http://www.clal.org/wkly_ritual_life10.html.  The CLAL faculty also provides a nice image for us to ponder as we don the sacred, flowing garment:

“Like paratroopers who always take their parachutes with them when they jump from planes, those who have begun wearing a tallit as they pray discover just how essential it is. Like the parachute that catches the breath of the wind, protecting those who dare to jump into the air, the tallit ensures God’s embrace for those who dare to leap into prayer.”

Whether we see the garment and accompanying threads as a parachute, uniform, blankie, reminder-string or sacred knot (and indeed we are “tying the knot” with God), or even as the prototype for the Israeli blue and white striped flag (http://www.icepond.com/FlagofIsrael/ and find out the importance of Morris Harris in Jewish history), there is no denying its distinctive allure.   But if a tallis is a parachute, does that not make us all…“tzitzit flies?”

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 June 7, 2001

 Shabbat Shalom

JUST THE FACTS:

Friday Night:
Candles: 8:08 PM
Kabbalat Shabbat (outdoors, weather permitting); 7:00 PM. We celebrate with our 7^th graders at their “Aliyah” service, and look forward to their continuing on with our various teen and Hebrew High School programs.

Tot Shabbat: 7:15 PM (in the lobby)

Shabbat Morning:
Pesukey d’zimra: 9:15 AM
Shacharit (morning service) 9:30
Children’s Services: 10:30           

Mazal Tov to Rachel Maimon and family.  Rachel will become Bat Mitzvah here this Shabbat.

Torah portion: Beha’alotcha.  Learn Torah With commentary:
http://www.torahaura.com/Bible/here__/LTW_5761/LTW_5761_Be-ha_alotekha/ltw_5761_be-ha_alotekha.html



A BYTE OF TORAH: Bread and Matzah, Together at Last

This week’s portion covers an assortment of obscure matters, among them what was known as the Second Passover, which was observed exactly one month after the Original Passover. It’s fascinating for a few reasons, one of which is that the timing of its initial observance in the Wilderness throws the entire chronology of the book of Numbers out of whack. This was later used as a basis for rabbinic acknowledgement that the Torah is not written in chronological order.

But what’s most interesting about the Second Passover is in that it existed at all. The idea was that when Israelites were either ritually impure or too far away to participate in the Passover sacrifice, they were given a second chance to do it a month later. Evidently, this really happened, as we read in Chronicles 30:1-5, where it says, “The king and his officers and the congregation had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month, for at the time they were unable to keep it for not enough priests had sanctified themselves, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem.”

It’s nice to know that Judaism offers us second chances to celebrate holidays that we might have missed the first time around. Second chances are a key idea of Judaism; we need look no further than the concept of teshuvah, repentance, so central to the High Holidays.

Even to this day, when the issues of impurity and distance are not relevant to Passover observance, some Jews still mark the Second Passover. Some have the interesting practice of eating bread and matzah together on that day. Imagine that, hametz and matzah, these two polar opposites of the palate, together. What significance can this have, to be Passover and so un-Passover at the same time?

It gets back to the notion of second chances. If hametz and matzah can find common ground on the same menu, reconciliation of other opposing forces gains an air of possibility.  Second chances abound this week for Republicans and Democrats in Congress, although for Israel and her neighbors, those hopes seem far more remote.

But if hametz and matzah can break bread together, there’s still a crumb of possibility for reconciliation everywhere else.


JEWISH CONTROVERSY OF THE WEEK: Is Mel Brooks Jewish?

As Mel Brooks humbly accepted a dozen Tony Awards last Sunday for his smash hit, ‘The Producers,” he acknowledged the “phalanx of Jews” behind him who created the show.  But the question buzzing around this week had less to do with the rest of the phalanx than with Brooks himself: Is he indeed Jewish? 

Now normally, the question is one for the trivia books, the occasional Bar Mitzvah speech or an Adam Sandler song, but with Brooks it carries more weight.  Why?  Because, as with so many Jewish comics, his religio-ethnic identity is central to his humor.  And since much of his humor pokes fun at Jews, and since he has been accused of trivializing the Holocaust, the fact of his Jewishness or lack thereof becomes more of a factor.  His art will stand on its own (and indeed, he makes fun of lots of others, not just Jews), but his place in the pantheon of Jewish role models most definitely hangs in the balance.

So I checked Yahoodi.com (http://www.yahoodi.com/famous/who.html), to find some definitions of “who is a Jew?”  Several are offered.  Certainly by the broadest definition (the ethnic one), Brooks qualifies.  He sees his humor as coming from the deepest wellsprings of Jewish culture.  Quoted in a recent academic paper on his life, Brooks describes his role in this way: "For every ten Jews beating their breasts, God designated one to be crazy and amuse the breast-beaters. By the time I was five I knew I was that one."  See the paper at http://www.jtsa.edu/users/hsp/htm/mbrooks.html

In a recent 60 Minutes Interview, he was even more emphatic about his Jewishness (see http://wagm.cbsnow.com/now/story/0,1597,285293-261,00.shtml).  Yet, according to the JTS academic paper, it is known that following his marriage to Anne Bancroft, their son was baptized, supposedly with the understanding that he would later become Bar Mitzvah.  That fact in and of itself is far less disturbing than the various reports, including one in last week’s Boston Jewish Advocate, that Brooks himself converted to Christianity at the time of his marriage to Bancroft.  I’ve not been able to verify this first-hand on the Web and would be interested in knowing if anyone out there has.  It’s not just a trivial matter to know whether our “phalanx of Jews” has been diminished by one. 

In the ever-shifting sands of Jewish identity, apostasy is one category whose definition has remained relatively stable over the centuries.  The traditional view has pretty much held, and should continue to, especially in the face of large-scale missionary activity directed against us.  See that traditional view at http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/j4j-2000/html/library/apostate.html.  To quote:

The halachic rule is that "An Israelite, even though he has sinned, is still an Israelite" (B.T. Sanhedrin 44a). But an apostate is a Jew only in the limited sense that the obligations of the Torah still apply to him, as they do to all biological Jews and converts to Judaism. The apostate has absolutely no communal status. A Jew who follows another religion is Jewish only insofar as he/she retains a spiritual obligation to repent and return to Judaism. However, as long as he/she owes a spiritual allegiance to a foreign religious philosophy he/she cannot be considered a member of the Jewish community.

So if indeed Mr. Brooks falls into that category, it would be hard to place him in the pantheon of Jewish greats, much as I admire and enjoy his work, generally support his irreverent style, and absolutely loved the way Bancroft played Golda Meir (though Ingrid Bergman was better).  But, pantheon or not, if you have an extra pair of tickets to “The Producers,” I’d be happy to check the matter out further!



ANNOUNCEMENTS

WHAT CAN WE DO FOR ISRAEL?

Gilo Speaker on June 14 at 8:30, in our chapel.

If you are concerned about Israel, whether or not you can make it to the rally, do join us to hear from a rabbi who is living through the nightly gunfire aimed at his neighborhood of Gilo, on southern border of Jerusalem. We’ll be hearing from Steve Zacharow, rabbi of Kehilat Shevet Achim, a new Masorti synagogue. 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).

Solidarity Visit to Israel

Last week, Israel’s President made a plea to American Jews to visit Israel.  Indeed, and predictably, Israel’s tourism industry is suffering greatly right now.  I’m beginning to make preliminary plans for a solidarity visit to Israel next fall from our congregation.  This would be a quick, affordable (and subsidized) four or five-day visit designed to combine some touring, learning, consoling and shopping, to give a needed boost to Israel’s morale and economy.  It would be geared primarily for adults (first-timers or those who have visited before) and would be designed to minimize security risks while maximizing our impact.  Please let me know if you might have some interest in this crucial project and which weeks might work for you. 

Last week’s Tel Aviv Terror Attack

A memorial tribute to the victims, including very moving photos, discussion, Russian translation, and info on where you can send donations to help victims of terror, can be found at http://techst02.technion.ac.il/~sunny/terror/.  The night is over but the pain is not.


OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Send in Your Surveys! 

The arrival rate of your surveys has dropped off precipitously over the past few weeks. That means that many of you have put it aside for later or discarded it. That's bad news, because we need your input to determine our future and this is the main vehicle for the Strategic Planning Committee to determine what our congregation wants to become over the next several years. If you haven't submitted your survey, please set aside an hour to complete it. If you have misplaced it, call the office for another copy. We can't know what you expect of our Temple unless you tell us -- and this is the best time and place to do it and have your voice recognized as we set our course for the future.

Pre-school Program for the Fall

This fall, we’ll be featuring Mechinah, a new Sunday morning Jewish enrichment program for pre-school students, plus other special holiday-centered activities on select Sunday afternoons.  Also, we’ll be adding one more Friday evening Tot Shabbat per month, and we’ll be enhancing our Shabbat morning program for young children, as Nurit Avigdor will now be here every week.  For registration materials and information, contact our education office (322-6901 X306).

Junior Choir Service

Join us outdoors, weather permitting, at 7:00 on Friday, June 15, for our final Junior Choir service of the
season.

Jewish Communities of Stamford & Greenwich 1st Annual Legislative Breakfast

Sunday, June 24 @9:30 at the JCC Cost: $12.50 for the breakfast
Featuring: Speaker of the House Moira Lyons, Senate Majority Leader George Jepsen , Chairman of the House Finance Committee Anne McDonald.
For information contact: Gary Geller: (800) 317-3002 (daytime) (203) 322-8564 (evening) or Marcy Bick at the Federation.

Mazal tov to Sheila & Gordon Brown, who have a new granddaughter.  Amanda Ashli was born to Mindi & Michael Brown.

Mazal tov to all our graduates (of all ages)!  A special welcome/Mazal Tov to the 8^th graders of Bic-Cultural Day School, who will become graduates right here on our bima next Thursday night.  It is our pleasure to enhance the community partnership between BCDS and TBE in this manner.


SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ON THE WEB: The Flying Nuns

In the middle of the portion Beha’alotcha, something truly strange occurs. For the first time, pretty much, since we left the golden calf in mid-winter, there is movement. After months of focus on laws, sacrifices and the description of the sanctuary, the Torah picks up the narrative as the nation of Israel picks up camp.
As the nation begins the march, two verses are encircled in brackets, which, in the Torah text itself, look like two “nuns” (the letter, not Sally Field), one normal though enlarged, the other inverted. The verses enclosed between these brackets also happen to bracket our current Torah service, including the well-known “Vayhi binsoa ha-aron vayomer Moshe,” “And when the ark set forth, Moses exclaimed; rise up O Lord and scatter your enemies…”

What is this “nun” thing all about?

First, take a look at what a nun is, at
http://hebrew.about.com/homework/hebrew/library/children/blchild_nun.htm

Now, here are a number of commentaries on the matter:

At http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/torani/nehama/behaalo.html, read what is said by one of the great Torah teachers of the past century, Nechama Liebowitz. Reference is made to the popular notion that the inverted nuns set these verses apart as a separate body of literature, even a separate book of the Torah. In some sense, these words are intended to be read differently, as being more timeless, more about us than them, more about now than then.

In the “Torah from Dixie,” http://www.tfdixie.com/parshat/behalot/008.htm, Rabbi Mendel Dickstein, quoting the Talmud, claims that the bracketed section was imported from a more chronologically correct place in the Torah and inserted here to break up a series of three consecutive episodes in which the Israelites sinned.

Click on http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/06/15/Columns/Columns.8249.html, and see how Rabbi Shlomo Riskin turns the inverted nuns into a moving personal story about the love of one’s fellow Jew (Ahavat Yisrael) and love of family.

Got Gematria? Check out http://www.neveh.org/winston/parsha58/bhalscha.html for a Kabbalistic take on all this, based on Hebrew numerology. Nun, BTW, equals 50.  Some good Kabbalistic background on the letter nun can be found at http://www.inner.org/HEBLETER/nun.htm.

Want a martial arts slant? Yes, you heard me right. Go to the “Tora Torah” commentary, at http://www.kodesh.org/toratorah/bahalotcha.htm. What Moses is saying to God in these verses can well be seen as a call to the fighter within each of us to emerge and confront the enemies of fear and apathy. Not bad.

The march of Torah is going to be a long one, with the inevitable pitfalls. To “fall” in Hebrew is “nofel,” which begins, of course, with a nun. And from there the great Rabbi Soleveitchik derived his interpretation of this section, as noted in http://www.byad.org/parsha/5759/Behaalotcha.html. The aforementioned Rav’s lecture on leadership, at http://www.torah.org/advanced/mikra/5757/bm/dt.57.4.02.html, also contains references to the nuns.

OK, so what is your favorite approach: traditional, linguistic, mystical, martial?  Or perhaps “nun” of the above?  Then let me give you one more: the Joshua-centric approach, my personal favorite.  For who was the man who led the Israelites into battle, both during and after the Wilderness wanderings?  It was “nun” other than Joshua, the son of Nun!  That’s right, his Dad’s name was the very same as the letter.  So the nuns were then a heavenly sign that Joshua should lead the people, and a signal that Joshua’s leadership should be marked by a special protectiveness toward his people, always reaching out to them, encircling them like a pair of parentheses.  

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.