On One Foot: Joshua Hammerman's Blog

Author of "Embracing Auschwitz" and "Mensch•Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi - Wisdom for Untethered Times." Winner of the Rockower Award, the highest honor in Jewish journalism and 2019 Religion News Association Award for Excellence in Commentary. Musings of a rabbi, journalist, father, husband, poodle-owner, Red Sox fan and self-proclaimed mensch, taken from essays, columns, sermons and thin air. Writes regularly in the New York Jewish Week and Times of Israel.

Friday, May 17, 2002

Shabbat (and Shavuot)-O-Gram for May 17-18, Sivan 6-7, 5762

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Temple Beth El, Stamford, Connecticut

The Web link for this week's Shabbat-O-Gram is http://www.tbe.org/sog/020517.htm. The site is continually updated during the week with corrections and additions. Feel free to forward this link to your friends. People can subscribe to the weekly Shabbat-o-Gram at www.tbe.org. If you wish to unsubscribe, contact office@tbe.org.

SHABBAT SHALOM, and Happy Shavuot, and Mazal Tov to our 12 Adult B'not Mitzvah!

JUST THE FACTS: Services and Such (N.B. 7 PM Fri night, outdoors)

Friday Night: Candles: 7:48: PM

Shabbat and Shavuot Ma'ariv service: 7:00 PM, OUTDOORS (weather permitting -- dress is casual).

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

Shabbat Morning (Second Day of Shavuot): Adult B'not Mitzvah as well as Yizkor service.

P'sukey d'zimra (psalms and meditations) 9:15 and Shacharit: 9:30

Children's Services: 10:30, in the chapel (grades 3 - 6) and downstairs in the Kindergarten room for younger grades. This week's jr. cong. is hosted by grade 5

MAZAL TOV -- to all our B'not Mitzvah!

Morning Minyan: Daily at 7:30, Sundays at 9:00

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Spiritual Journey on the Web: Downloading Torah from Sinai

Torah is a Verb

It is hardly news at this point that there are surprising parallels between the notion of divine revelation as understood in Jewish tradition and how we retrieve information on the Internet. But as we approach Shavuot, the festival of the "giving" of the Torah, there is no better time to look at some of the ways Torah is shared on the Web.

Years ago, Leonard Fein wrote a classic article about Reform Judaism, "Reform is a Verb." In the same manner, Torah is more a verb than a noun for Jews. We do Torah. To understand that is to understand Judaism.   Those who think of the Torah as an object are those most likely to have stopped their Jewish education at age 13. "Torah" is the lifelong act of gleaning meaning and wisdom from our sacred sources, and then in turn injecting new life into those sources. It is an interactive, life-giving experience, best done while in networking mode (traditionally called "hevruta").

So how are people "doing" Torah online this Shavuot? We can begin with Rabbi Barry Lerner’s Shavuot downloads (html or Adobe), at http://shamash.org/holidays/shavuot/.   A wealth of materials can be found there. Or, how about CLAL’s experiment in distance pluralism, found at  http://www.shavuot.org, their "National Unity Shavuot Web site." So, let’s say you can’t make it to a late-night Torah-thon at your local synagogue (ours will be in Greenwich with Temple Shalom) on Sunday night; simply click on this and voila, Mount Sinai will be staring right back at you.   You can study the texts presented and post your comments. Some of the texts they’ve selected are extremely provocative. Here’s one, from the Zohar:

Once the world was created, it could not have been sustained had it not occurred to the Divine Will to create human beings to engage in the study of Torah. For just as God looked into the Torah and created the world, humans look into it and sustain the world. Zohar 161 a-b

Talk about the Torah being a verb! Here it’s the Mother of all Verbs: Creation. Doing Torah is not only what sustains our people, it’s what sustains our world.

Taking Jewish Learning Seriously

There’s lots of ways to do Torah online. One is through distance learning. Full, accredited Jewish studies classes can be found at many sites, including JTS (http://courses.jtsa.edu/registration/), Hebrew College of Boston (http://www.hebrewcollege.edu/online/index.shtml) and the Jewish University in Cyberspace (J.U.I.C.E.) at http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/juice/index.html, and Bar Ilan University, at http://www.bar-ilan.edu/courses.html. A complete listing of places to go can be found at http://www.jesna.org/jeet/distance.htm.   If you are at all interested in Jewish Education, that JESNA page is a must-bookmark site, along with http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/links/toptorares.html, the World Zionist Organization’s "A Touch of Torah: Web sites to Teach and Learn." For hard-core graduate level studies, find more at http://www.gradschools.com/listings/distance/jewish_distance.html, but beware, you’ll find some Messianic Jewish offerings there (it shows us what we’re up against).

Shavuot and Zionism

Simply learning ABOUT the festival of the giving of the Torah is a great way to be "doing Torah," especially this weekend.  http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/festivls/index.html literally maps out the Jewish festivals for easy navigation. Click on Shavuot for quick explanations of key concepts, emphasizing the multi-layered nature of this festival:

"Shavuot, perhaps more than any other festival, embodies the extraordinary integration of the spiritual-religious side and the earthly-material side of the Jewish people.

The festival of Matan Torah, the Giving of the Torah, wherein the children of Israel willingly and consciously accepted a system of laws that make up the Torah, the infrastructure for their spiritual and moral existence, is also the festival that expresses the close connection with the daily life of the people who, on entering Eretz Israel,s became farmers, cultivating the soil, and completely associated with all aspects of nature, its seasons and its manifestations.

When we dwelt in our land, before the destruction of the First and the Second Temples, Shavuot was above all the festival of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. Following the Exile, the emphasis for Shavuot was naturally placed on the fact that it is the festival of the giving of the Torah.

When the Jewish people returned to their land in recent generations, they returned to a natural life, working the land in their independent state. Shavuot once more became the Festival of Reaping, the festival of the fruits of our soil, the festival of flowers and greenery - and this combines well with "Hag Matan Torah.

Only in Israel can Shavuot be celebrated fully, with its entire range of meanings."

That final line is not surprising, given that the source is the Jewish Agency.

Shavuot: Something for Everyone

Shavuot has begun to take on new meaning for all branches of Judaism. You’ll find a gold mine of Shavuot links at http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/j-hdaysh.htm and some neat audio lectures from a modern Orthodox perspective at http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/j-hdaysh.htm.

Shavuot has made the greatest inroads in the liberal movements, although it still is not being taken as seriously as it should. In that way, it is the perfect Jewish match for the American Memorial Day, which has lost almost all of its meaning as a true Memorial Day (except for Reform Jews, who say Yizkor on Monday). Between the aforementioned Ruth, the all-nighters, and the environmental, Zionist slant, this holiday is enjoying a renaissance. A good example is http://www.jewishappleseed.org/ and its treatment of the Omer. Also see Art Waskow’s interpretation of the Ezekiels’s vision of the chariot, a classic text of Jewish mysticsm and a haftorah for Shavuot. It’s at http://www.shalomctr.org/html/seas06.html.

Finally, take a Shavuot quiz and send a Shavuot card. You can find a card at http://www.bluemountain.com/eng3/shavuot/, and the quiz at http://www.bus.ualberta.ca/yreshef/pesach/shavuotquiz/shquiz.htm.

Yes, I passed the quiz. But that doesn’t mean I know all there is to know. We can never stop downloading Torah from Sinai.

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REQUIRED READING AND ACTION ITEMS

ISRAEL AND THE WAR ON TERORRISM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/krauthammercharles/A17468-2002May14.html -- Krauthammer on why Sharon's tactics have worked

Quote of the Week:

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

From our Youth Center:

ATID (Grades K-2): Kite Making & Picnic Day

Sunday, May 19th 1:00-2:45 pm

*Parent help is needed, please sign up.

$10.00 RSVP to Marcie at 322-6901 ext.324 or e-mail youth@tbe.org

KESHER (Grades 3-5) Shabbat Scavenger Hunt & Havdalah

Saturday, May 18th 7:00-9:00 pm

$5.00 RSVP to Marcie at 322-6901 ext.324 or e-mail youth@tbe.org

KADIMA (Grades 6-8) BBQ & Softball Game at the Stamford JCC

Wednesday, May 29th 3:30-5:30 pm

$7 for JCC members, $10 for non-memebers, Drop-ins at $3

RSVP to Marcie at 322-6901 ext.324 or e-mail youth@tbe.org

8th Graders & USY (Grades 9-12)

Thursday, May 23rd FREE EVENT!! FREE FOOD!!

Final Lounge Night

6-8/8:30 pm

come for pizza, snacks & movie

also...get info on upcoming events as when as info on next year's calendar of events

CALLING ALL LEADERS... we will be discussing the 2002-2003 chapter board

*final event forms due to Marcie by this event*

RSVP to Marcie at 322-6901 ext.324 or e-mail youth@tbe.org

GRADES 5-12: SIX FLAGS NEW ENGLAND

Sunday, June 9th leave Beth El at 9:00 am, return 9:00 pm

$50.00 Includes: admission to both parks (Six Flags New England & Kingdom Water Park),

bus transportation, dinner & program at Temple Beth El, Springfield, MA

*If you are a season pass holder, your cost is $30.00.

FORMS & PAYMENT DUE THURSDAY, MAY 23rd

RSVP to Marcie at 322-6901 ext.324 or e-mail youth@tbe.org

FAMILY FUN DAY - ALL GRADES: Bridgeport Bluefish Game

Sunday, June 23rd

$15.00

RSVP to Marcie at 322-6901 ext.324 or e-mail youth@tbe.org with your # of tickets requested by

Monday, May 27th.

Entering Grades 6-12: Encampment

August 20-25 Camp Ramah in the Poconos

watch your mail for more information, or contact Marcie at 322-6901 ext.324 or e-mail youth@tbe.org

2002 Senior Class: watch your mail for staff application

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Don't Forget to Join us for our
Adult B'not Mitzvah Service on May 18, the Second Day of Shavuot!!!
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Don't forget…May 19 - "Hazzan: The Musical,"
Community Event to Honor Hazzan Sidney and Sandy Rabinowitz
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House-Hunting Help Needed by the Temple

The Temple needs to rent a three-bedroom apartment or house as interim housing for Cantor Deborah Jacobson and her family, until the Hazzan's Parish House becomes available. The residence will be needed beginning June 15th for three or four months. Furnished preferred but not essential. If you know of any available rental housing for the June-October period please let the Temple office know so that the Hazzan Transition Committee can follow up on it. Your help is very much appreciated.

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Friday Night Outdoor Services

weather permitting (otherwise we'll be indoors, but still at 7:00),

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Opening May 17th at the GARDEN THEATER
29 Isaac Street, Norwalk, CT
203-838 4504

TREMBLING BEFORE G-D
A film by Sandi Simcha DuBowski

Special event with Rabbi Steve Greenberg, Sunday, May 19th

Trembling Before G-d is an unprecedented feature documentary that shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality, and religious
fundamentalism.

Built around intimately-told personal stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are lesbian or gay, the film portrays a group of people who
face a profound dilemma- how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism and the Divine with the drastic Biblical prohibitions that
forbid homosexuality. As the film unfolds, we meet a range of complex individuals- some hidden, some out- from the world's first openly gay
Orthodox rabbi, to closeted married Hasidic gays and lesbians, to those abandoned by religious families, to Orthodox lesbian high-school
sweethearts.

Trembling Before G-d is an international project with global implications that strikes at the meaning of religious identity and
tradition in a modern world. For the first time, this issue has become a live, public debate in Orthodox circles. The film is both witness and
catalyst to this historic moment. What emerges is a loving and fearless testament to faith and survival and the universal struggle to belong.

"A real eye-opener....This sensitive, passionate and beautifully made film provides an overwhelming emotional and intellectual experience. Nearly five years in the making and shot on locations encompassing half the world, DuBowski's film might be likened to an adventure in ethics both personal and political. And it's an adventure, no one, Jew or gentile, can afford to miss." - Houston Press

"Sublime, moving, and hopeful" - LA Weekly

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Junior Choir Reunion! Friday, June 14, 2002

The Committee to Honor Hazzan & Sandy is looking for former Junior Choir singers to participate in the upcoming festivities! If your son or daughter ever participated in the Beth El Junior Choir, please call Roz Perlson (323-7328), Kathy Paseltiner (356-9735) or Carol Kalter (968-1075) to give his/her name, address and phone number.

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Israel and the Palestinians: What Next?

A lecture by Mitchell Kraus, former CBS News correspondent

Wed. May 22, at 1:00 PM

at the Harry Bennett Branch of the Ferguson Library

115 Vine Road

Registration recommended: call 964-1000 X292

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SHA’AR
Outreach to Young Jewish Singles

So, you’ve come to the Greater Stamford area and you are interested in the who’s who and the what’s what in the Jewish world. Well, you’ve come to the right place to find out. Through a grant provided by Michael Steinhardt, project SHA’AR was developed to provide information about and/or formulate welcoming Jewish educational, cultural and social programs that are geared to the interests of young Jewish singles. SHA’AR is your link to existing Jewish organizations in the Greater Stamford community.

SHA’AR will provide information about the existing Synagogues, so that you can find the one that fulfills your religious needs. A number of programming options will be available to fulfill your Jewish religious and educational desires. Additionally, SHA’AR can connect you to the popular Young Jewish Professionals singles group to accommodate your social interests.

Our program is unique, due to the fact that SHA’AR involves you in the development process of the project and that its coordinator is 26, single and can relate to and understand the needs of the young Jewish single.

For more information please contact Dan Rozett, Coordinator of SHA’AR, United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien.
203.321.1373 ext. 115 or dan@ujf.org
www.ujf.org

SHABBAT SHALOM

The 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 sign up at www.tbe.org. You can unsubscribe by contacting our office at office@tbe.org.

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

Friday, May 10, 2002

Shabbat-O-Gram for May 10-11, Iyar 29, 5762

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Temple Beth El, Stamford, Connecticut

The Web link for this week's Shabbat-O-Gram is http://www.tbe.org/sog/020510.htm. The site is continually updated during the week with corrections and additions. Feel free to forward this link to your friends. People can subscribe to the weekly Shabbat-o-Gram at www.tbe.org. If you wish to unsubscribe, contact office@tbe.org.

SHABBAT SHALOM, Happy Mothers Day and Happy Jerusalem Day!

Photos from last week's fabulous dinner dance honoring Hazzan Sidney and Sandy Rabinowitz can now be seen online at www.tbe.org.

JUST THE FACTS: Services and Such (N.B. 7 PM Fri night, outdoors)

Friday Night: Candles: 7:41: PM

Kabbalat Shabbat: 7:00 PM, OUTDOORS (weather permitting -- and looks like it will be fabulous), featuring Rabbi Andrea Cohen Kiener. We begin our season of outdoors services with a more meditative style.

Shabbat Shalom Service: 7:15 PM (in the lobby)

Shabbat Morning: ELDERS DAY AND FAMILY SERVICE. We honor Norma and Milton Mann as or Elders of the Year. Part of the service will be led by Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener in a more meditative style. Mazal tov to the Manns and thank you to Jack and Claire Steinberg for their ongoing sponsorship (and creative support) of this important annual event -- as well as the scrumptious lunch following services.
AND DON'T MISS OUR BEAUTIFUL ELDER'S DAY BOOKLET, FEATURING THE WRITINGS OF MANY OF OUR RELIGIOUS SCHOOL STUDENTS, SALUTING THEIR GRANDPARENTS.

P'sukey d'zimra (psalms and meditations) 9:15 and Shacharit: 9:30, featuring our scholar in residence.

Torah Portion: Bamidbar

Read the Masorti commentary at http://www.masorti.org/mason/torah/index.asp. JTS commentary is at: http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/. USCJ Torah Sparks can be found at http://uscj.org/item20_467.html. UAHC Shabbat Table Talk discussions are at http://uahc.org/torah/exodus.shtml. Other divrei Torah via the Torahnet home page: http://uahcweb.org/torahnet/. Test your Parasha I.Q.: http://www.ou.org/jewishiq/parsha/default.htm. CLAL's Torah commentary archive: http://click.topica.com/maaaiRtaaRvQhbV2AtLb/

Children's Services: 10:30, in the chapel (grades 3 - 6) and downstairs in the Kindergarten room for younger grades. This week's jr. cong. is hosted by grade 4

Mincha - Havdalah: 7:00 PM

MAZAL TOV -- to Jennifer and Elizabeth Shepard, who will both become B'not Mitzvah this Shabbat afternoon!

Morning Minyan: Daily at 7:30, Sundays at 9:00

Coming Attractions…..

SHAVUOT SERVICES -- on Friday and Shabbat next week at the usual Shabbat starting times. Thursday night we'll join in celebration and study with other congregations at Temple Shalom in Greenwich (see below). Friday morning we'll have children's services with Nurit and at the conclusion of our main service, we'll follow our new tradition of unrolling a Torah scroll so that all of us, young and old, might "receive" the Torah again. The book of Ruth will also be read and discussed. Friday evening services will be at 7 next week, outdoors, weather permitting, and next Shabbat morning, the 2^nd day of Shavuot, in addition to Yizkor prayers, we'll be celebrating an Adult Bat Mitzvah for several women who have been working very hard for an entire year leading to this event. It should be a most memorable Shavuot here next week.
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Spiritual Journey on the Web: What's so Jewish About Mother's Day?

A man calls his mother in Florida. "Mom, how are you?"
"Not too good," says the mother. "I've been very weak."
The son says, "Why are you so weak?"
She says, "Because I haven't eaten in 38 days."
The man says, "That's terrible. Why haven't you eaten in 38 days?"
The mother answers, "Because I didn't want my mouth to be filled with food if you should call."

When I was growing up, I used to love the little satiric book by Dan Greenberg, "How to be a Jewish Mother." It contained the typical jokes about dominating, overprotective mothers and obedient, castrated sons. There's still lots of Jewish Mother jokes on the Web, such as those found at http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6174/jmom-food-def.htm, "Jewish Mothers' Food Definitions," http://dave.editthispage.com/discuss/msgReader$148?mode=day, "Jewish Mother Jokes," and more assorted jokes at http://www.mazornet.com/jewishcl/humor/humor-mothers01.htm and http://www.zipple.com/weeklyzipple/joke.shtml#jewishmother. Here's a typical one:

A Jewish young man was seeing a psychiatrist for an eating and sleeping disorder. "I am so obsessed with my mother... As soon as I go to sleep, I start dreaming, and everyone in my dream turns into my mother. I wake up in such a state, all I can do is go downstairs and eat a piece of toast." The psychiatrist replies: "What, just one piece of toast, for a big boy like you?"

Some of the jokes are downright offensive, but many just seem dated. Or are they?. This week, Jewish Community Online ran a survey on this issue, asking: "With Mother's Day just around the corner, do you think that the stereotype of a Jewish mother is still valid? "(http://server1.jrmportal.com/survey/)

As of Tuesday, the results were:

Oh you bet... and I have the mom to prove it. 42.55%

No. Today's Jewish moms are more laid back than earlier generations. 31.91%

That wasn't a Jewish stereotype...it was an IMMIGRANT stereotype. 25.53%

Of course, Jews didn't always stereotype their mothers negatively. When Rabbi Yosef heard his mother enter the room he would say, "I must stand up, for the glory of God enters." Rabbi Tarfon used to help his mother get into bed by bending down and allowing her to use his back as a step ladder (nowadays, most people prefer to tell their mothers to get OFF their backs). For Jews, it used to be that every day was mothers day.

In 1907, Anna Jarvis campaigned for a national day to honor mothers. It is said that she was at odds with her mother at the time (ah… the power of maternal guilt). Read about her at http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvtaylor/mother.htm. For Jews, the "patron saint" of maternal figures would have to be the matriarch Rachel, who stands watch over her children even in death, as in life. At http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/910501_Mothers_Day.html, you can read how Rachel's Yahrzeit has been transformed into a national Mothers Day of sorts in Israel, especially among pre-schoolers (it occurs in the fall, on the 11^th of Heshvan).

To read the fifth commandment is to understand that Mother's Day is indeed a daily occurrence for Jews -- or at least it should be. Sometimes it isn't easy to respect our moms. Take this Talmudic account, as related in a sermon by Rabbi Elan Adler of Baltimore (with whom I shared many great times when he lived here in Stamford):

The Talmud tells of Dama the son of Netina, who was once wearing a gold-embroidered silken cloak sitting among Roman nobles. It is clear that Dama ben Netina was highly regarded and respected. One day, his mother came to where he was sitting, tore off his elegant gown, struck him on the head, and spat repeatedly in his face. The Talmud says that with all this, he did not shame her. For he knew that the Torah demanded, "kabed et avicha v'et imecha," honor your father and your mother in all circumstances. The word "kabed" without vowels can also be read as "kaved", meaning a heavy load or burden. Sometimes, it is a heavy burden to respect our parents, especially when they are no longer capable, or when we don't see eye to eye with them. (find the rest of the sermon at http://www.btfiloh.org/adler.htm).

And indeed, there are also times when we can't honor our parents as much as we would like, specifically when they are abusive. Aish's Web site discusses these limits in an article found at http://www.aish.com/literacy/mitzvahs/Honoring_Parents.asp.

But, for the most part, mothers are due the highest respect and honor. As the saying goes, "God could not be everywhere, so God created mothers."

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, MOM AND MARA, FROM ALL THE HAMMERMEN!

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REQUIRED READING AND ACTION ITEMS

ON SHAVUOT (Next Friday and Saturday, May 17 and 18)

We can begin with Rabbi Barry Lerner’s Shavuot downloads (html or Adobe), at http://shamash.org/holidays/shavuot/. A wealth of materials can be found there. Or, how about CLAL’s experiment in distance pluralism, found at http://www.shavuot.org, their "National Unity Shavuot Web site." http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/festivls/index.html literally maps out the Jewish festivals for easy navigation. Click on Shavuot for quick explanations of key concepts, emphasizing the multi-layered nature of this festival:

The reading of the book of Ruth on this festival makes Shavuot of particular interest not only to women, but also to Jews by Choice and champions of outreach. Find a nice summary of the book (in dramatized form) at http://www.rjca.org/ruth.html. A d’var Torah on Ruth by Rabbi Richard Hirsh, at http://www.jrf.org/recondt/shavuot_hirsh.html, makes the claim that Ruth’s wasn’t a religious conversion, per se, but an application for citizenship. Ruth, in effect, places identification with the Jewish people on a higher level than belief in the Jewish God. Affiliation comes before belief. The Jewish Outreach Institute sees Ruth as a paradigm for contemporary outreach efforts. Find out how at http://www.joi.org/celebrate/shavuot/story2.htm and also at http://www.joi.org/celebrate/shavuot/story1.htm. JOI’s Shavuot Home Page is at http://www.joi.org/celebrate/shavuot/.

Shavuot has begun to take on new meaning for all branches of Judaism. You’ll find a gold mine of Shavuot links at http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/j-hdaysh.htm, and some neat audio lectures from a modern Orthodox perspective at http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/j-hdaysh.htm.

Finally, take a Shavuot quiz and send a Shavuot card. You can find a card at http://www.bluemountain.com/eng3/shavuot/, and the quiz at http://www.bus.ualberta.ca/yreshef/pesach/shavuotquiz/shquiz.htm.

ISRAEL AND THE WAR ON TERORRISM

http://www.jcpa.org/daily/index.html Daily alert Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
info@prescon.org by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Comprehensive and helpful.

http://www.bigbuttonscorp.com/ "Saturday Night Live's" mock-ad slamming France. An elixir for those who are too angry at the French for words.

www.pizzaidf.org -- send pizza to soldiers on the front lines. Really! (and a personal message too)

http://www.ariga.com The Ariga home page includes links to a collection of data on the formation of Israel since 1947, from a dovish perspective. Thanks to Mitzi Silverman for letting me know about it. It's important to see this conflict from all perspectives.

On April 24, 2002, Bill Bennett, Jack Kemp, and Jeane Kirkpatrick issued an open memorandum (attached below) about Israel and the Middle East. These 20 facts will help serve as a primer for those trying to understand the historical context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Twenty facts about Israel and the Middle East:http://www.empoweramerica.org/stories/storyReader$517?print-friendly=true

http://israelbehindthenews.com/ Good journalistic resource on Israel

http://www.nymag.com/page.cfm?page_id=5972 Cover story in New York Magazine on American Jews' current crisis -- excellent

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=160377&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Sen. Joe Biden on Israel and Jenin: 'The Massacre that Wasn't"

http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;$sessionid$THP3KGIAAAN4JQFIQMGSFFOAVCBQWIV0?xml=/opinion/2002/05/04/do0402.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/05/04/ixnewstop.html No "Massacre" in Jenin -- from the Daily Telegraph (U.K.)

Yet More Evidence…

The IDF captured an anti-Semitic book titled "Zionazism - Fight it before it kills you". It was found in a residence maintained for Yasser Arafat in Bethlehem. The book’s author is a member of the Palestinian National Council and it carries a handwritten dedication to Dr. Yussuf Abdallah, a close associate of Arafat and head of his Presidential Guard.

The main points of this vile tract are summarized on the book’s cover:

1. The Jews of our times are not the descendants of Abraham or related to him.

2. The origin of today’s Jews is from various nations, religions and peoples, therefore the Jews are not our cousins.

3. The current Bible and Talmud are not god given.

4. A small number of Jews reached Palestine in the past. They lived east of Mt. Se’ir and later became extinct.

5. The God of the Jews (Jah-we) was created from an ancient volcano above the hills of Yemen. But what about Allah, praised be his Name, who is an answer to (Jah-we). [Note: meaning that there is only the Moslem Allah]

6. The temple was never built, neither in Jerusalem nor anywhere else.

7. Zionism is the Eighth Crusade. The Zionists are occupiers, crusaders and pirates who arrived from overseas, as planned by the imperialistic countries, notably the US.

8. Hitler never murdered nor incinerated Jews in gas chambers.

9. Relinquishing the liberation of Jerusalem constitutes great treachery.

10. Relinquishing the refugees right to return is even greater treachery.

11. The Zionazi settlement is a tumor (these are highly-developed and advanced military bases).

12. One of Zionism’s goals is to impose a degrading surrender on our people.

13. Some Arab leaders and some Palestinians conspired against the Palestinian problem.

14. Rabbi Ovadia Yossef suffers from a persecution complex, or from schizophrenia and a persecution and superiority complex. [Note: Rabbi Yossef is chief rabbi of the ultra-orthodox Shas movement]

The IDF website has scans of the book and additional information about it at this link: http://www.idf.il/arafat/terrorism3/english/main.stm

Related to this, the Jerusalem Post reported that "Mein Kampf" is selling well in Palestinian areas and in Arab quarters of London. http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/03/19/LatestNews/LatestNews.45493.html

From Honestreporting.com:

The Salute to Israel Parade in Manhattan on Sunday drew 700-800,000 people, including marching bands and professionally designed floats (http://www.salutetoisrael.org). About 600 protesters also showed up— representing about .0008 of total attendance. Yet The New York Times ran a front-page photo of an anti-Israel poster held by one of the protesters, suggesting to readers that there had been a huge ANTI-Israel parade! The ensuring article devotes more ink to the protesters than it does to the pro-Israel paraders themselves. Read the article at:http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/06/nyregion/06SALU.html Comments to: letters@nytimes.com. The Times did print a quasi retraction the following day:

"An article yesterday about a parade in Manhattan marking Israel's 54th anniversary reported that 100,000 people had registered to march and hundreds of thousands more lined Fifth Avenue in support. The article also said that anti-Israel protesters numbered in the hundreds.

A front-page photograph, however, showed the parade in the background, with anti-Israel protesters prominent in the foreground, holding a placard that read, "End Israeli Occupation of Palestine." Inside the newspaper, a photo of a pro-Israel marcher was outweighed by a larger picture of protesters, one waving a sign that likened Zionism to Nazism.

Although the editors' intent in each case was to note the presence of opposing sides, the effect was disproportionate. In fairness the total picture presentation should have better reflected The Times's reporting on the scope of the event, including the disparity in the turnouts."

Quote of the Week:

PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON: HE WHO SEEKS
GAINS THROUGH TERROR "WILL CEASE TO EXIST"
Response to yesterday’s Rishon Lezion suicide bombing,
which claimed 15 Israeli lives

"I came here, to the United States, to talk over the possibility of reformation of the Palestinian Authority, which is an essential condition for furthering the diplomatic process. There cannot be progress in diplomatic process with a corrupt terrorist entity. I came here…to talk about the chances for holding a regional conference to advance stability in the area. [Despite] our frank efforts to move in diplomatic channels, we today received further proof of the true intentions of the person who stands at the head of the P.A.

"He who calls for millions of martyrs is guilty. He who incites incessantly is guilty. He who finances terrorism is guilty. He who dispatches terror is guilty. Therefore, anyone who tries to extort the state of Israel to make concessions large or small via terror and intimidation ... and the sowing of fear, I say today: the state of Israel will not surrender. It will not surrender to blackmail.

"He who rises up to kill us, we will pre-empt it and kill him first. Israel will act, and with might. Israel will fight anyone who tries to wage fear through suicide terrorism. Israel will fight. Israel will triumph. And when victory comes, Israel will make peace.

"The operation (carried out by the IDF in recent weeks in the West Bank) has yielded tremendous achievements, but our work is not done. The battle continues and will continue until all those who believe that they can make gains through the use of terror will cease to exist--cease to exist.

"Israel will act the same as any democracy that protects itself. Israel will act like any other democracy which fights the forces of darkness. Israel will continue to uproot the terror infrastructure."

(Ha’aretz, May 8, 2002)

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Celebrate Rosh Hodesh Sivan With Barb Moskow
And special guest Bonny Grosz
Monday, May 13 @7:30-9
In the Youth Lounge
For women only
Join us for an evening filled with study, prayer, thoughtful discussion, food
And much more
--------------
Don't Forget to Join us for our
Adult B'not Mitzvah Service on May 18, the Second Day of Shavuot!!!

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House-Hunting Help Needed by the Temple

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Friday Night Outdoor Services

weather permitting (otherwise we'll be indoors, but still at 7:00),

May 10, 2002 at 7:00 p.m., the first outdoor service will be led by
Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener
------------------

Eighth Annual Elders Day
Shabbat, May 11, 2002
Honoring Norma and Milton Mann,
featuring a special d'var Torah by Rabbi Andrea Cohen Keiner
Services begin at 9:30 a.m.
Congregational Family Luncheon to follow

----------------------------

Don't forget…May 19 - "Hazzan: The Musical,"

Community Event to Honor Hazzan Sidney and Sandy Rabinowitz
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Junior Choir Reunion! Friday, June 14, 2002

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TIKKUN LEIL SHAVUOT -- THURSDAY, MAY 16
Erev Shavuot at Temple Sholom in Greenwich, in Partnership with Greenwich Reform Synagogue, the Greenwich Beit Midrash and Temple Beth El of Stamford.

Begin your celebration of Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, in a traditional way. Join Rabbi Hurvitz of Temple Sholom, Rabbi Richard Chapin of Greenwich Reform Synagogue, Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, and Rabbi Eli Weinstock of the Greenwich Beit Midrash in an evening of study and preparation for the holiday.

7:00 PM Dairy Dinner (* optional), followed at 8 by a traditional/egalitarian Ma'ariv minyan OR Tefillah/ Prayer Workshop, then sessions (with plenty of nosh time) led by the rabbis through the evening, concluding at about 11.

Everyone is invited to attend. Please RSVP by May 10 to Carol Ann at 869-7191 ext. 100 (If you can only attend post-dinner, please let us still know that you are planning on attending.)

*The fee for the optional dinner is $10.00 per person. Please make your check payable to Temple Sholom and mail with the form below to 300 East Putnam Ave. Greenwich, Ct. 06830

If you cannot attend dinner, please join us for the remainder of the evening.

_____________________________________________________________________

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Israel and the Palestinians: What Next?

A lecture by Mitchell Kraus, former CBS News correspondent

Wed. May 22, at 1:00 PM

at the Harry Bennett Branch of the Ferguson Library

115 Vine Road

Registration recommended: call 964-1000 X292

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SHA’AR
Outreach to Young Jewish Singles

For more information please contact Dan Rozett, Coordinator of SHA’AR, United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien.
203.321.1373 ext. 115 or dan@ujf.org
www.ujf.org

Friday, May 3, 2002

Shabbat-O-Gram for May 3-4, Iyar 22, 5762

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Temple Beth El, Stamford, Connecticut

The Web link for this week's Shabbat-O-Gram is http://www.tbe.org/sog/020503.htm. The site is continually updated during the week with corrections and additions. Feel free to forward this link to your friends. People can subscribe to the weekly Shabbat-o-Gram at www.tbe.org. If you wish to unsubscribe, contact office@tbe.org.

SHABBAT SHALOM
JUST THE FACTS: Services and Such
THIS WEEKEND WE BEGIN A MONTH OF CELEBRATION OF 32 YEARS OF SERVICE AND DEDICATION ON THE PART OF OUR HAZZAN. APPROXIMATELY 400 OF US WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO DO THIS AT THE DINNER DANCE ON SATURDAY NIGHT, AND MANY MORE AT THE EVENT ON SUNDAY THE 19^TH. ALSO WE WELCOME CANTORIAL SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE DR. JOSEPH LEVINE, JOINING US AS PART OF THIS SPECIAL WEEKEND HONORING HAZZAN AND SANDY RABINOWITZ. DETAILS OF HIS LECTURES ARE FOUND BELOW.

Friday Night: Candles: 7:34 PM

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

Kabbalat Shabbat: 8:00 PM, in the sanctuary, featuring our scholar in residence and both the adult and junior choirs

Shabbat Morning:

P'sukey d'zimra (psalms and meditations) 9:15 and Shacharit: 9:30, featuring our scholar in residence.

MAZAL TOV to Joelle Braun, who becomes Bat Mitzvah this Shabbat morning

Torah Portion: B'Har - B'Chukotai

Children's Services: 10:30, in the chapel (grades 3 - 6) and downstairs in the Kindergarten room for younger grades. This week's jr. cong. is hosted by grade 3.

Morning Minyan: Daily at 7:30, Sundays at 9:00

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Spiritual Journey on the Web: To Eat and be Satisfied
Judaism is a glass-half-full religion; unfortunately, however, most Jews are glass-half-empty people. This paradox is borne out in our weekly portion.

The final portion of Leviticus, B'chukotai, contains a painful list of consequences should the people of Israel not fulfill the commandments. It is known as the "tochecha" (reproach) and is found in chapter 26 (http://www.bju.edu/bible/lev/26.html). It is quite painful to read (unless you happen to enjoy disaster movies where people are forced to eat their young -- see 26:29). Among the punishments is one that is rather curious, at the end of verse 26: "V'achaltem v'lo tisba-u," "You will eat, but you will not be satisfied." Compare this to Deuteronomy 8:10, where almost the exact same words are used to convey the opposite meaning, "You will eat, you will be satisfied and you will bless God for the good land God has given you." This last phrase is both found in the Grace after meals (Birkat Ha-Mazon) and is the basis for the commandment to recite that prayer.

The punishment described here is not a lack of food, but a lack of satisfaction. In other words, the punishment is self-inflicted. God isn't bringing about this misery -- it is a direct result of our lack of faith. The Jewish view is expressed by the well-known rabbinic statement, "Who is rich? S/he who content with his/her portion." Jewish prayer is relatively free of petition -- we do not focus on what we lack -- and it is dominated by glass-half-full expressions of appreciation and wonder. Find that famous rabbinic maxim in Pirke Avot 6:6, and a very nice UAHC commentary on it, excerpted below, at http://uahc.org/shabbat/middot/010421.shtml.

"To be truly joyful with one’s lot in life is wise advice. It is a wonderful way to live, but how easy is it to adopt this attitude? How many of us are truly satisfied with our portion? How do we recognize our own good fortune? All around us the world advertises the goods and services we all seem to "need." Our world is characterized by material acquisition, and to paraphrase a popular game show "who ‘wouldn’t’ want to be a millionaire?

This obsession with our "needs" is not just a contemporary concern. Solomon Ibn Gabirol, an eleventh-century Spanish poet-philosopher taught: "Who seeks more than he needs, hinders himself from enjoying what he has. Seek what you need and give up what you need not. For in giving up what you don’t need, you’ll learn what you really do need" (Mivhar Hapeninim 155,161 as found in The Jewish Moral Virtues, Borowitz and Schwartz, p.164). This is the challenge, balancing what we need and what we want in order to become samayach b’chelko - satisfied with our portion."

I found additional background on this at the World Union for Jewish Students (WUJS) site, at http://www.wujs.org.il/activist/activities/sources/theology/covenant.shtml:

"The three strongest natural instincts in man are the impulses of food, sex and acquisition. Judaism does not aim at the destruction of these impulses, but at their control and indeed their sanctification. It is the law that spiritualizes these instincts and transfigures them into legitimate joys of life. The first and probably most vehement of the three impulses mentioned is the craving for food; it can easily lead to gluttony, and what is worse, to the fundamentally wrong conception that man "liveth by bread alone." This natural, but dangerous food-instinct, is transfigured by the dietary laws into self-discipline. It is no accident that the first law given to man - not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil - was a dietary law... Self-control and self-conquest must start with the most primitive and most powerful of human instincts - the craving for food. Thus the dietary laws stand at the beginning of man's long and arduous road to self-discipline and moral freedom."

So the "punishment" described here is not a punishment at all, but rather, it can be seen as the natural result of our disregarding the mitzvot, especially those commandments related to the sanctification of our deepest cravings. Just as those who demonstrate self-discipline through dieting feel "good" about themselves, so do those who are satisfied to drink up that half-full glass, who imbue their lives with prayer, wonder and self-discipline, those who look at the world through Judaic spectacles. And the Judaic view of the world is decidedly optimistic

But Jews continue to be weighed down by our glass-mostly-empty history. Take a look at a recent AJC survey of American Jews, at http://www.ajc.org/InTheMedia/Publications.asp?did=351. If you go to page 7 (the last page) of that survey, you'll find that only 9 percent of those surveyed think anti-Semitism will decline over the next five years. OK, given how things are in the world right now, that's understandable -- but look at this: Forty percent actually disagreed with the statement, "Virtually all positions of influence in the United States are open to Jews." And this survey was conducted exactly one year after an identifiably Jewish individual nearly became Vice President! How soon we forget! And this pessimism appears at a time when high-ranking colleges are fighting to recruit more Jewish students to their campuses (http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB102003890421804360,00.html).

Abba Eban called us the people who could "never take "yes" for an answer." The Torah's main goal, in this sense, would seem to be to get us to "yes." We have a long way to go. But that journey begins in the simplest manner -- by being thankful for the food on our plate, and by being profoundly satisfied with the mere fact of being alive.
-------------------

REQUIRED READING AND ACTION ITEMS

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB102003890421804360,00.html -- WSJ article (4/29) on how Jews are being recruited by college campuses "in effort to lift their rankings. "Yes, we're targeting Jewish students," Chancellor Gordon Gee told a March 17 board meeting of the Vanderbilt affiliate of Hillel, the nonprofit national Jewish campus organization. "There's nothing wrong with that. That's not affirmative action. That's smart thinking." Mr. Gee, who left the presidency of Brown University for Vanderbilt two years ago, says niche marketing to Jewish students is part of his "elite strategy" to lift Vanderbilt to Ivy League status. "Jewish students, by culture and by ability and by the very nature of their liveliness, make a university a much more habitable place in terms of intellectual life," he said in an interview.

ISRAEL AND THE WAR ON TERORRISM

http://www.idf.il/english/news/mapjenin.stm - Jenin, before and after -- IDF aerial maps

http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=04/30/2002&PrgID=2 Elie Wiesel interviewed on NPR's "All Things Considered." When I heard this on the radio, I pulled my car over to the side of the road. Amazing interview.

The Jerusalem Post reports that 3 Armenian monks, held hostage by the Palestinian gunmen inside the Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, fled the church and were rescued by Israeli soldiers, after holding aloft a white cloth banner with the words "Please help." One of the monks, Narkiss Korasian, told reporters: "They stole everything, they opened the doors one by one and stole everything... they stole our prayer books and four [gold] crosses... they didn't leave anything." Israeli officials quoted the monks as saying that Palestinian gunmen had also begun beating and attacking clergymen. http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/04/24/News/News.47624.html. (Was this covered in the network news you watched?)

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=105001985 (or find it at www.opinionjournal.com) Bernard Lewis on the dangers of kowtowing to moderate Arabs.

An investigation published in the Boston Globe (April 29) concludes that Palestinian allegations "that a large-scale massacre of civilians was committed [in Jenin] appear to be crumbling under the weight of eyewitness accounts from Palestinian fighters who participated in the battle and camp residents who remained in their homes." In interviews with civilians and fighters in Jenin, the Globe says that "none reported seeing large numbers of civilians killed." On the other hand, referring to the deaths of Israeli soldiers in Jenin, Abdel Rahman Sa’adi, a 14-year-old Islamic Jihad grenade-thrower, said "This was a massacre of the Jews, not of us." The Globe also quotes a spokesman for the Israeli army who says that Palestinians are moving bodies of people not killed in the Jenin fighting into graveyards around the camp "to score points with the UN committee." Online at: http://honestreporting.com/a/r/218.asp

A refreshingly straight article appears in the Globe and Mail (Canada) by Marcus Gee, "What really happened? The myth of Jenin grows" (April 27). Gee writes:" Only after those deaths did the army send in bulldozers to knock down the booby-trapped buildings where terrorists were hiding, and even then it made frequent announcements by loud-hailer that civilians would be allowed to leave, as some did. "That is considerably more than Hamas does when it dispatches killers to blow themselves up in Israeli buses, banquet halls and cafes. Yet militant leaders have the gall to blame Israel for attacking non-combatants." Online at: http://honestreporting.com/a/r/219.asp

The Massacre That Wasn't--VII
Two weeks ago, when Palestinians and British newspapers were claiming the Israeli Defense Forces had killed hundreds of Arabs at Jenin, Israelis estimated the Palestinian death toll at 45 to 55. Now, the Washington Times reports, the Palestinians have revised their estimate downward--to 56. Thirty-three Israeli soldiers also died during the battle.

http://mccain.senate.gov/aipac02.htm John McCain speech before the Senate

If you have a birthday present or wedding gift or any other to buy (someone's bar mitzvah?), you can find Israeli products in temple gift shops, etc. You don't even have to leave your house - you can go to a non-profit site on your computer that is being updated all the time: www.ShopinIsrael.com.

http://www.walk4israel.com/flowers.cfm - Seeds of Solidarity program -- plant flowers in Israel for Shavuot -- other ways to help terror victims' families are linked to this site.

THE JOKE DEPARTMENT:

http://24.104.35.12/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/161yaihr.asp Humorist Larry Miller on the Situation.

Life Imitates SatireWire
"Having nearly exhausted its supply of young martyrs, the militant group Hamas today asked a Palestinian court to approve of physician-assisted suicide bombing, arguing that the elderly and terminally ill should be allowed to end their lives with dignity, respect, and catastrophic destruction," SatireWire "reports."

Quotes of the Week:

"After the Holocaust, Jean Paul Sartre came out with that dismal and untrue statement, ‘A Jew is a Jew because he is seen as a Jew.’ Sartre’s disciple, Victor Levy—who began as a Maoist, a revolutionary and then returned to Judaism and now is a great Talmudic scholar in Jerusalem, made Sartre admit that he had made a mistake. We are not now nor have we ever been, defined by those who hate us. We will never, and must never, allow that to happen."—Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, speaking in Jerusalem, where he participated in Yad Vashem’s International Conference on the Legacy of Holocaust Survivors. (Jer. Post, April 22)

"For me, now I know what is a massacre…This is a massacre."--Major Avner Fuxman, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman, expressing horror after seeing the barbarism of the Palestinian assault on the West Bank town of Adora, in which 4 Israelis, including a small child, were gunned down and killed in their beds. (Nat’l. Post, April 29)

"…The psychological structure [of the perpetrator of a suicide attack] is that of an individual who loves life… As a professional psychiatrist, I say that the height of bliss comes with the end of the countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. And then, you press the button to blow yourself up. When the martyr reaches 'one,' and then 'boom,' he explodes, and senses himself flying, because he knows for certain that he is not dead… It is a transition to another, more beautiful world… The message to Israel is that we will not cease… It is very important to convey this message… The child who threw a stone in 1993 today wraps himself in an explosive belt."--Dr. 'Adel Sadeq, chairman of the Arab Psychiatrists Association and head of the Department of Psychiatry at 'Ein Shams University in Cairo. (MEMRI, April 30, 2002)

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Scholar-In-Residence
Hazzan, Dr. Joseph Levine
May 3-4, 2002
Kicking-off a special weekend honoring Hazzan and Sandy Rabinowitz
Kabbalat Shabbat 8:00 p.m.
Shabbat morning service 9:30 a.m.

We welcome Hazzan Levine at Kabbalat Shabbat services, when his topic will be "Help, Rabbi, I'm Lost." The adult and junior choirs will be participating in the service, joined by singers who have sung with the choir throughout the Hazzan's 32 years at Beth El. On Shabbat morning, Hazzan Levine's topic will be, "The Paradox of Jewish Worship."

--------------------------
House-Hunting Help Needed by the Temple

---------------------------------------

Friday Night Outdoor Services

weather permitting (otherwise we'll be indoors, but still at 7:00),

May 10, 2002 at 7:00 p.m., the first outdoor service will be led by
Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Keiner
------------------

Eighth Annual Elders Day
Shabbat, May 11, 2002
Honoring Norma and Milton Mann,
featuring a special d'var Torah by Rabbi Andrea Cohen Keiner
Services begin at 9:30 a.m.
Congregational Family Luncheon to follow

----------------------------

May 19 - Community Event to Honor Hazzan Sidney and Sandy Rabinowitz
-------------------

Junior Choir Reunion! Friday, June 14, 2002

--------------------------
COMMUNITY MISSION TO ARGENTINA

A mission under the direction of Tommy Haendler, going to Argentina, will depart on the night of May 12 and return early on May 16. The cost is approximately $1000. The purpose is to assess the deteriorating economic situation in Argentina and to determine how we can help specific needs there. Contact the UJF office (321-1373) for more information.

-------------------

Beth El Cares

BETH EL CARES and AMERICARES HOME FRONT NEED YOU!

SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2002 (FLEXIBLE HOURS)
Please volunteer to help us refurbish and repair the home of an elderly Stamford resident. No experience needed, though we are also looking for people with painting and home repair experience to assist the group.
TO SIGN UP OR TO GET MORE INFORMATION CALL:
Art and Sue Greenwald at (203) 329-1662 or e-mail adg521@optonline.net
JOIN THE MAY MITZVAH TEAM!

--------------------

SHA’AR
Outreach to Young Jewish Singles

For more information please contact Dan Rozett, Coordinator of SHA’AR, United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien.
203.321.1373 ext. 115 or dan@ujf.org
www.ujf.org