A Menorah Story

Every menorah tells a story.



The Hanukkah menorah that Mara and I have used since the year we were married has journeyed with our family across the globe. You can see photos of it above and below, as it was lit in our apartment at Neve Schechter in Jerusalem. Notice how I look younger and she looks the same.



We purchased the menorah from a small art gallery in the Old City's Jewish quarter. 'Twas the day before Hanukkah and we needed something to light that night. We passed by all the typical ones, the traditional brass, the modernistic glass, the Zionist replicas of the Menorah outside the Knesset.

None of the menorahs we saw were what we were looking for. Until we came across this shop and immediately, we both knew - this was the one for us. Why did we love it so much?

- It's made of Jerusalem stone. This of course made it a pain-in-the-Knesset to move around (and my mother in law was the one who schlepped it home for us in her carry on - which has in itself become a family legend over the years). But wherever we lived, we felt we would be carrying a piece of Jerusalem with us. Literally! We owned a piece of the rock.

- The stone is carved out in a grid pattern, reminiscent of the Western Wall. But this no kitschy Kotel scene that you will find on ashtrays in trinket stores. This was a one of a kind, gently carved slab of marble, which may, who knows, have been part of the temple itself once upon a time. You have to understand, one of the more remarkable things about Jerusalem is that when the Romans destroyed the temple, the debris was too heavy to be moved very far. Much was simply tossed into the valley beneath. Entire pillars found their way into the upper city, which is now the Jewish quarter. I saw a bunch of kids creatively use one as a soccer goal. Every pebble in that area could well have come from the holy of holies. Every stone is holy. And each one tells a story. As the popular Israeli song about the Kotel states: Some people have hearts of stone; some stones have the heart of people. These stones cry. When wax drips down, it looks like the menorah itself is crying human tears.

- The menorah is not perfect. It slopes a little and the the little holes for the candles (or oil dispenser, which we used at first), are not symmetrically aligned.

- The Jewish star and olive branches speak less of Maccabean militarism than of the miraculous enduring hope that lights up our darkest moments - a hope that represents the most eternal victory of our indestructible people.

- This menorah, deeply rooted in our holy city, like us, has also accompanied us on our family's journey. As our lifelong companion (and in many ways, our first child, even predating Maggie, the dog), it faithfully waits all year on the floor of our upstairs closet for me to lift it (with a more audible "oy" each year) and carry it downstairs, where it awaits its first glance at us and the boys. And this menorah has seen them grow, year by year (click on photos to enlarge).

This year the menorah will look upon our family again, as we gather around it this coming week, all together again, once Ethan comes home following his finals. In a world where everything changes, this slab of Jerusalem has become, quite literally, our rock, one the few constants in a crazy world.

How fitting that we chose this simple, earth toned, unbalanced shining half-moon with which to share the light of our miracles with the world.

Even our dogs love to gather round when we light the menorah, although they prefer their own, which, when they bite it, plays "Maoz Tzur."

See here some contemporary menorah designs from the Betzelel School of Art in Jerusalem.

Below are some of the more traditional variants, taken from the 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, now in the public domain. See below also for a description of each:

1. Bronze, French, attributed to 12th cent. (in the Musée de Cluny, Paris).
2. Yellow copper, modern (in the synagogue at Pogrebishche, Russia).
3. Silver (?), medieval (in the possession of Dr. Albert Figdor, Vienna).
5. Silver and bronze, 17th cent. (in the possession of Jacob H. Schiff. New York).
6. Silver, late 19th century (from the collection of the late Rabbi Benjamin Szold, Baltimore).
7. Bronze, Italian, 15th cent. (in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London).
8. Silver, English (?), 16th cent. (in the possession of E. A. Franklin, London).
9. Silver, Nuremberg, 17th cent. (in the possession of N. S. Joseph, London).
10. Silver, modern (in the possession of Maurice Herrmann, New York).

G-dcast Hanukkah Special

Chanukah starts this Friday night, the 11th. So what is Chanukah about anyway?

To help you answer that question for your kids, your clueless coworkers or, er, yourself, we made a cartoon about it: G-dcast Spins Chanukah! The cartoon is a light retelling of the Chanukah story from a teen's point of view. It's appropriate for kids who are old enough to think about war and injustice. Watch it with your family before you light the menorah, screen it for your clueless coworkers, or show it to your Sunday school class. (Psst, teachers: there's a curriculum guide about using this episode in your class.)




G-dcast Spins Chanukah! is one of dozens of cartoons from G-dcast.com

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Andrew Schwartz on Vayishlach

Shabbat Shalom!


Today’s Torah portion, Vayishlach, contains the famous encounter of Jacob and a stranger which meeting turned out to be one of the most famous wrestling matches of all time, and one of the great sports moments in the Torah.

According to the text, this struggle occurred as Jacob was crossing the Jabbok River, returning to Canaan after many years away. Jacob was just about to meet his brother again and was very worried about what would happen.

Jacob won the battle and the stranger gave him a new name, Israel, which means the one who has wrestled with God and prevailed. That incident changed Jacob, and the rest is history. But Jacob did not come out of the fight unscathed. I was amazed to discover that at the end of the battle, Jacob actually came away limping.

For those of you who may not know, this past Fall I was on my school’s varsity football team, and at the end of September, I suffered a season ending leg injury – much like Jacob at the end of his fight. However, unlike Jacob, I wasn’t even able to limp - I had a broken leg and was stuck with crutches for seven long weeks.

Like Jacob, I learned a lot from the experience of being injured. Even though he won, Jacob came out of the encounter a much more humble man. I’ve learned some humility, too. When I went back to school, the simplest tasks were so much more difficult. Simple things like going up the stairs or carrying my books. People offered to help and I was very grateful for that. But they were grateful too, since they would get a hall pass and could arrive late to the next class. I’ve learned what it’s like to be dependent on others. I know that now, when I see others in this situation, I will respond quickly with help.

Jacob also learned how important it is to stand up for himself and his wrestling match gave him the courage to stand up to his brother the next day. I’ve learned the same thing from playing football; standing toe to toe with opposing linemen in the trenches. And that’s why it’s good to play football, Mom!

Another thing that we learn from this portion of the Torah is the importance of rivers. Throughout World literature and history, important things happen when people cross rivers. Their lives change. Washington crossed the Delaware. Joshua crossed the Jordan, and that pilot landed his plane in the Hudson. Strangely, it is by a river that I have also learned a lot about myself.

At a young age, I came to love paleontology - dinosaurs, fossils, dirt and rocks; it all fascinated me, and still does. One year, I made an amazing discovery by a river in New Jersey called Big Brook. I found a lot of shark’s teeth in the riverbed. Now that might not seem that unusual, except that Big Brook is many miles inland and there are no sharks there. But millions of years ago, this part of New Jersey was, in fact, under water so these teeth actually came from sharks that lived at the time of the dinosaurs. In fact, I found a dinosaur bone there once.

Who knows, maybe Jacob was looking for fossils at the river and he and the other guy were fighting over a priceless claw from a Dryptosaurus that happened to have lived in the area.
When I make these discoveries, one thing it teaches me is that we are all connected. The things that we stumble over at the river today, were possibly parts of living creatures a few million years ago. Who knows, in a few million years, people, or whatever inhabits this area, will feel similarly connected to us. That shark’s tooth connects me to all living and formerly living things.
So it’s no surprise that this major moment in Jacob’s life happened at a river. Come to think of it, my football battles are also connected to a river – “Turn of the River” Middle School…
It is also interesting that in Jacob’s case the river and the person have almost the same name – if you switch around the letters of Jacob in Hebrew, you get Jabbok.

Our lives are never the same once we cross those rivers and suffer the wounds of battle. For me and for Jacob it was not so bad; especially when you compare it to what Elie Wiesel had to go through when he was my age. He survived the Holocaust. Now, he has taken that experience and used it as an inspiration to help others who are suffering. For my mitzvah project, I have been raising money for The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. So far I have raised almost $2,000! I had the honor of meeting Mr. Wiesel several weeks ago. He told me that he was very grateful that I was helping to rebuild his foundation. I am also going to be adopting a Holocaust survivor to help chronicle their life so their stories will never be forgotten.

Next year, I am planning to be back on the football field (sorry, mom – I’ll be really careful, I promise!) While I was definitely disappointed that my football season was cut short this year, I realize now that this year hasn’t been a total loss. In fact, it has been a great year, even if I did have to limp my way through some of it.

Chelsea Mezvinsky

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Chelsea Clinton is engaged to marry her Jewish boyfriend of two years.

Clinton, 29, the only daughter of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, became engaged over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, 31.

Mezvinsky, who works for Goldman Sachs, is the son of former U.S. Reps. Ed Mezvinsky (D-Iowa) and Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinksy (D-Pa.). The elder Mezvinsky recently served a prison term for swindling $10 million from investors in a series of Nigerian e-mail scams. He was released in 2008.

Mezvinksy and Clinton met in Washington in 1993, and both attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Clinton, a Methodist, was seen attending Yom Kippur services in September with Mezvinsky at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where they both now live.

The couple announced their engagement last Friday in a mass e-mail to friends, a Clinton spokesman said, according to media reports.

One rabbinic colleague, in speculating about the paragraph in bold, wondered how it was possible for Chelsea and her fiance to be living in the dorms at JTS! (I think the last clause is modifying "in New York," rather than "the Jewish Theological Seminary," though. But it could give a boost to Torah fund.)

And what a year: A Trump and a Clinton, both marrying Jews.

What a country!

So the question for Chelsea and Marc is, which family gets the first seder?

"JAI" (Chai) is Beautiful - a Parable of Numbers on an Aging Arm

This video is in Spanish, with English subtitles. it is deeply moving and thought provoking. It causes us to wonder, how will we be able to communicate the horrors of the Shoah to the next generation, once all the witnesses are gone?

More on "Fiddler" in Stamford

Click here for the Stamford Times' coverage of the all-school production of "Fiddler on the Roof" that begins this weekend. I was happy to serve as the "rabbinic consultant" for the production. Also see my prior posting on the play, Stamford and Anatevka: Our Little Village.

Why Visit Israel?

Why visit Israel? Here are 25 reasons culled from various sources.*

1) Visiting Israel takes you higher. It heightens your senses. It heightens your awareness. It heightens your sense of self. It heightens your faith. And it heightens your sense of identification with a land, thousands of miles away, a land that is so very dear to us all. Experience Jerusalem, visit Tel Aviv, float in the Dead Sea, tour the Negev, visit Safed, the highest town in Israel, one of the four holy cities of Judaism. Drive into the Galilee hills and ascend up to the Golan.

2) Meet the Family. Israel is filled with unforgettable places, but ultimately what will make this trip so special will be the people that we’ll meet – the ones in the country and the ones in the group. I can think of no group with whom I would rather share these precious days than all of you.

(3) Feeling the serenity of Shabbat in Jerusalem.

(4) The sense of community that exists everywhere, from people annoyingly telling you not to cross the street on the red light (would they bother to do that here?), to the calls you get after every terror attack — to inform you, to console you, to include you.

(5) To show unity and support.

(6) Because it’s our home.

(8) To get back to our “roots,” smell the air and feel the dirt of our ancestors. You can feel the history come up through the soles of your feet.

(9) When I walk anywhere in the country, I always feel that I’m “home.” When I’ve traveled anywhere else in the world, and even where I live, I’m still part of a minority. In Israel, I’m part of something much more — I belong to a vibrant, dynamic, friendly society that has made its own modern history of success.

(10) Seeing the accomplishments of the Israelis . The desert has become alive with bustling cities, and a thriving economy. Visiting Israel now becomes an important statement of support for Israel, and a denial of the philosophy that “fear” will make the Israelis leave.

(11) Everything is better in Israel. Personal relationships are very real and very caring, the air smells better, the food tastes better, the sky is clearer, the birds are happier.

(12) The shwarma at Maoz on King George Street, the shwarma at Masov Burger near the central bus station, to talk to the people who make shwarma, and to see the lambs that become shwarma.

(13) The feeling I experience at the Western Wall. All of life’s idiosyncrasies become smaller when you are engulfed by what’s most important and special.

(14) Eating falafel and chumous in Machaneh Yehudah on Friday.

(15) Because I haven’t been there yet!

(16) To raise the spirits of the Israeli people.

(17) The Bible just comes alive.

(18) To see that Jewish people come in all colors, shapes and sizes and can hold all kinds of jobs……from doctors and lawyers, to police and street cleaners.

(19) To feel connected in the present to past and future at the same time.

(20) The scenery is unparalleled when standing at the Dead Sea (lowest point on earth) and then directly above it at the top of Masada. The unplanned tears that come down your face as you experience the pain of what was lost, but yet the hope of what will come promised through the prophets long ago. It is so awesome beyond words, that when you depart, you cannot say goodbye, only that you will be back. There is an unseen force that draws you in and assures you that you will be back again, it’s where you belong, it’s home.

(21) The incredible sense of unity. Being in Israel makes you feel connected to everything and every person on earth.

(22) To see true permanence. As Mark Twain said, “All things are mortal but the Jew.” In Israel, you can see buildings that were around thousands of years ago, and what could easily be around thousands of years from now. In America, nothing goes back more than a few hundred years (except for a few Native American sites), but those don’t compare to places that are all over Israel.

(23) Miracles occur daily.

(24) Two words: Kosher McDonalds

(25) Because WE’RE GOING! Our group is growing and waiting for YOU! Click here for the full itinerary for next summer’s TBE Israel Adventure.

I close with this poem, by Rabbi Sidney Greenberg:

For the Jew, Israel is a state of mind
It is not only a piece of geography
It is history
It is theology
It is Jewish tears and Jewish triumphs
It is Jewish anguish and Jewish ecstacy
It is childhood legends and biblical verses
It is the direction that we pray and the subject of our prayers
It is exile and homecoming
It is a burning Temple and a new flag at the United Nations
It is the 9th of Av and the 5th of Iyar
It is a people restored and hope reborn


*(including this from Aish and from another blog, Sixty things I love about Israel) :

Nefesh B'Nefesh Hanukkah Flash Mob

This flash mob one starts out as a rap hora and suddenly turns Bollywood. Nefesh B'Nefesh, which has revoluntionaized Aliyah, making it cool and easy the way Birthright Israel has made Israel tourism cool and easy, brought over 150 participants together on Ben Yehuda Street for the first ever Jerusalem flash mob in honor of Hanukkah. Enjoy! Or as they say in Mumbai: Jai ho!

לקראת חג החנוכה , ארגון "נפש בנפש" הביא
מעל ל-150 משתתפים לריקוד רחוב ספונטני- פלאשמוב- ברחוב בן יהודה בירושלים

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Jennifer Rich on Vayishlach

Shabbat Shalom. And…hola!

If you know me, you know how much I like asking questions. I’ve always liked asking questions. I think it’s the best way to learn new things. Sometimes other people find my questions annoying …. Like when I ask my dad questions about football ---- right in the middle of a New York Giants football game. I always get confused about the penalties. There are way too many of them. My favorite penalty is ------- “in the grasp”. It may be within somebody’s grasp, but all those penalties are certainly NOT within my grasp.


It’s also difficult for me to be quiet. When I have a question, I have to ask it! I smiled when I learned my Torah portion says it’s good to ask questions. Lots of questions. The tougher the question, the better. Sometimes the really tough questions make us wrestle within ourselves for the answer. For example, there is the never ending question of the difference between right and wrong. As I get older, I wrestle with that question more often and the answer is not always so clear. Should I be honest knowing it will hurt or embarrass somebody or can I figure out a way to still be truthful without causing any pain?


In my Torah portion, Jacob is given his new name ------ Israel. Receiving that new name was not easy for him because he had to wrestle and struggle with an angel to get it. The word Israel means to struggle with God – and that’s exactly what the Jewish people have been doing ever since. We don’t wrestle just with questions about God, we wrestle with questions about everything.


Here are some questions I’ve been wrestling with lately:


Why does God allow so much pain and suffering in the world? In 2009, why did God cause so much suffering to the New York Mets? I’m serious. It seemed like every time I went to a game this year somebody was injured. I was at the game when David Wright got hit in the head by a fastball. I was also at the game when Jon Niese fell off of the pitcher’s mound and tore his hamstring. But the scariest injury I saw was when my mom got hit in the face by a foul ball. There were three silver linings to that day ----- they gave my mother the baseball, it was only a bruise and it was K-Rod bobble-head day!


I’ve even posed many questions to Rabbi Hammerman, who has promised to give me some answers. I don’t even have to look at him right now to know he is probably looking at the congregation and shaking his head ‘No’.


I’ve asked the rabbi a variety of questions--- Like:


What came first the chicken or the egg? Should I practice for my Bat mitzvah, do my homework or take a nap? Why do some countries hate the United States? Why do some people want to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and what would these same people think if the circumstances were reversed? Why are some people against not only the Jewish religion but any religion other than their own?


These are some questions we wrestle with, but can’t be answered with just words. They must be answered with actions. It’s easy to ask, “Why is there homelessness? But the real struggle is to trying to do something about it. For the last several years my family has spent Christmas Eve at a local homeless shelter, serving dinner with other congregants from Temple Beth El, to the residents of the shelter. Sometimes, I think it was the first time some of these people were actually served a meal by someone happy to be serving them. Of course, after we volunteer, we usually go to the movies and enjoy a late dinner of Chinese food which ------ is usually the only place open on Christmas Eve. We hope to continue our tradition and be doing this again in a few weeks. Also, the baskets of food you see decorating the Bimah will be donated to a local Fairfield County food bank.


It’s easy to ask God how he could have allowed the Holocaust to happen. But the real struggle – or question we wrestle with today is --- how do we do everything possible to prevent anything like it from happening in the future? Currently, hundreds of thousands of people are being slaughtered in Darfur. Isn’t this also a Holocaust? Why? For what reason? It’s 2009, not 1939! We should all wrestle with those questions for a while. . . . . . .


There are about 70 different ethnic groups in Darfur. If you’re in the wrong ethnic group – what happens?? Should you and your family be slaughtered?? I surely don’t think so. How can something like this be happening today? We, as Jews, know all too well about being targeted for torture and death because of our religious beliefs. What can be done to stop this? ………………..
That’s what becoming a Bat Mitzvah is all about, It’s not about just thinking of the answers, it’s about taking decisive actions and living them every day.

One way we do this is through our Mitzvah projects. My project was to create a living piece of history for the Jewish Historical Society of Stamford and Temple Beth El. I copied, organized and catalogued the dedication plaques from the old prayer books, in some cases the Temple’s original prayer books, before they were recently replaced with more modern books. You know, the one where the prayers include the women, too, such as Rachel and Leah. This catalogue immortalizes many of the Temple Beth El congregants that came before us and without whose efforts we may not be celebrating my Bat Mitzvah in this beautiful sanctuary tonight – and that – is a concept even I can grasp!!

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Josh Kaplan on Vayetze

When we think of the Torah, words like “awesome,” “cool” and “amazing” may come to mind, but it’s hard to imagine seeing those words IN the Torah. Those are the kinds of things you more likely hear kids screaming on the playground – at a magic show.

But in my portion of Vayetzay, Jacob says exactly that. When he wakes up from his dream, where he had seen angels moving up and down a ladder, he opens his eyes, looks around and says, “This place is AWESOME!” He says that it is none other than a gateway to heaven – an amazing sight.

One of the most important things that Torah does is to help us feel a sense of amazement. The same thing is true with magic – it builds a sense of amazement and wonder. I can see that every time I do a magic show in front of any audience, whether they are four years old or a hundred.

Everyone is amazed by magic.


My interest in magic began when my dad showed me a phenomenal mind reading card trick, back when I was about 8 ½ years old. Since then, I’ve been performing professional magic tricks inspired by great magicians from all over the world. At this point, I know hundreds of tricks and have performed a few magic shows had have made countless appearances at shopping centers, my school and on the street.


I especially like to perform in front of young kids. They seem to the most amazed of all, because they are less cynical than adults and teens. They just love to be amazed and leave it at that. Older people want to know the trick – except for my mom, who loves just about everything I do!
Aside from amazement, there is another aspect to magic that is also found in my portion: deception. While the magician needs to draw out people’s sense of amazement, he knows that it’s only an illusion. When you are doing a trick you have to sound amazed – there’s some acting involved, and acting involves manipulation.


Jacob is quite a manipulator. In last week’s portion, he was able to deceive his father and manipulate his brother in order to gain the birthright and the blessing. But this week, the deceiver gets deceived by someone even more manipulative, Jacob’s father in law, Laban. When he saw that Jacob wanted to marry his daughter Rachel, he substituted Leah in disguise and she married Jacob instead. It was a masterful illusion – I can only imagine how he set up the lighting at the wedding, and all the costumes and masks worn to hide Leah’s true identity. It wasn’t until the next day that Jacob recognized that the joke was on him.

Later in the portion, he gets his revenge, however, beating Laban at his own game.

Ever since those days, it seems, Jews have been very involved in the world of magic. Did you know that the word Abracadabra is an ancient Hebrew word meaning, "...with these words I shall create it." If you think of the great magicians of out time, many of them have been Jewish, including Houdini, Lance Burton, and David Copperfield. At times magic has been considered dangerous, but Jews have always taken seriously its power to awe and amaze.


As someone who is learning the art of deception, I realize that it is a great responsibility. It’s a lot like becoming a bar mitzvah. After all the hard work and practice, my job will be to amaze people, not only with my card tricks but with my Torah reading, and not only with that, but with my desire to make this world a better place and make sadness disappear. Whether at a magic show or right here, the most amazing thing a person can do is magically to put a smile on someone’s face.

Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA)

The posting below is from AIPAC. This week's news of increasing defiance by Iran in the face of the world's demands only serves to increase the urgency of Congressional action on sanctions before everyone goes home for the holidays. As I've been stating again and again, right now, nothing else matters as much as this matters. We can't get sidetracked by other debates. On Iran there is no debate - or at least very little. There are many unknowns about the health care plans. But health care can always be tinkered with, no matter what bills eventually pass. There are few unknowns about what an Iranian bomb would become - the Iranians have as much as told us - an existential threat to Israel and a serious blow to American interests in the region. My hope is that the Congress won't lose sight of the need for unanimous action on Iran, despite the divisive debates going on in other areas.

Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA) Due for House Floor Action

Call Your House Members and Urge Them to Vote Yes on IRPSA


The House of Representatives is likely to vote on the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (H.R. 2194) before departing for their December break. This important action comes at a time when Iran is refusing to seriously engage with the United States and other world powers and suspend its uranium enrichment program. Yesterday, Iran rejected the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors' November 27 resolution calling on Iran to suspend its nuclear activities, and vowed to build ten additional enrichment plants.

The legislation contains sanctions curtailing Iran 's ability to import and produce refined petroleum, measures which could be implemented if Iran rejects U.S. overtures and continues to enrich uranium in defiance of five U.N. Security Council resolutions. The legislation was introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).

Since Iran must import up to 40 percent of its refined petroleum, curtailing its access to gasoline and diesel fuel could have a severe impact on the Iranian economy, forcing the regime to confront a real choice: continue its illicit nuclear program and risk economic ruin OR suspend the program and open the door to relief from sanctions. As President Obama said, "If Iran does not take steps in the near future to live up to its obligations, then the United States will not continue to negotiate indefinitely, and we are prepared to move towards increased pressure."

Click here to view full text of the legislation.

ACTION

Contact your House members and urge them to vote for the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (H.R. 2194): E-MAIL

Click here to send an e-mail to your House member through AIPAC's Take Action page.

PHONE

Click here to find contact information for your House member. You will be prompted to enter your zip code. You can also reach your Representative through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 225-3121.

Sample phone script: "I am calling to ask the Representative to vote YES on the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (H.R. 2194), when it comes to the floor for a vote."
You may have the opportunity to speak with a staff person or leave a message at your member's office. In most cases, the person who answers the phone will listen to your message and take notes, but not engage you in a lengthy conversation.

If you have questions or feedback, please contact Julie Peretz at AIPAC: jperetz@aipac.org or (202) 639-5192.

TALKING POINTS

We are at a critical juncture in efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability. In a worst-case scenario, Iran could have a nuclear weapons capability as early as the end of next year.

Iran is rejecting a proposal to ship its low-enriched uranium out of the country for further processing and is refusing to meet the main requirement of the international community—the long-overdue suspension of its enrichment of uranium.

If Iran continues to defy the international community and fails to seriously negotiate soon with the United States and other world powers, comprehensive and robust economic, diplomatic and political sanctions will be needed quickly to persuade Iran to end its illicit activity.
More than three-quarters of the House and Senate have cosponsored the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA) to enhance and strengthen American efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. Congress will send a strong message to the Iranian regime by passing this vital piece of legislation.

The legislation does not call for, require or necessitate a blockade of Iran or any use of military force. Rather, the bill seeks to leverage private market forces by making companies choose between doing business with the United States or with Iran. Companies carrying out these refined petroleum-related activites would be barred from conducting any business in the United States. Shipping companies that transport the refined petroleum to Iran and their insurers are also targeted by the legislation.

For banks, shipping and insurance companies that have large U.S. investments or do considerable business in the United States, the risk of losing access to the American market would almost certainly cause them to end their activity in Iran.

The bill includes provisions allowing the president to waive the sanctions if he determines such a move is in the national security interests of the United States.

If implemented, the bill's sanctions could severely increase the costs to the Iranian regime for its continued nuclear weapons pursuit. Hopefully, the threat of these sanctions would persuade Iran to come into compliance with its international obligations and suspend its uranium enrichment program.

From the Jewish Ethics Project...

I received this intriguing dilemma from Joseph Telushkin's Jewish Ethics blog:

Subject: Ethical Dilemma #10

The following Ethical Dilemma was originally sent to Rabbi Telushkin and published in his http://www.facebook.com/l/b3be4;Beliefnet.com column. (It was reprinted in Rabbi Telushkin's book "The Ten Commandments of Character".)

"Dear Joseph,

I'm in my late sixties now, and I have terminal cancer. I'm also carrying a terrible secret. My husband and I have two children, a girl and a boy, both in their thirties. Our son, though, is not my husband’s, though he doesn’t know this. It all happened during a brief affair at a time of bad tension in our marriage. The affair turned out to be inconsequential, and the man himself is long dead. I love my husband, and yet the thought that I’m dying with this lie between us gives me no peace. I feel that I should speak to him and tell him, and my son, the truth.

-- In Deep Pain”

What do you think? Share your opinion at http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=11542&uid=56295256706

If you go to the site, you'll see that there is near unanimity that the woman should not tell her family her dark secret. Telushkins' own opinion will be posted next week.

I'd love to hear what you think.

Pluralism in Israel: Taking to the Streets

Here is an update received today from the Israeli Religious Action Center:

For background see: Woman wearing tallit arrested at Western Wall
The Israeli Religious Action Center
Secular Jews protest at ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem demos

Nofrat Frenkel’s arrest for wearing tallit at the Wall was the last straw. Last week, more of you read and forwarded our newsletter than ever before. You were thoroughly outraged – and rightly so. And just two nights ago, on this past Motzei Shabbat, Jerusalem’s progressive community also decided things had finally gone too far. It was time to react.

Months – if not years – of rising tension between the Haredi community and the rest of Jerusalem, from last summer’s Karta parking lot riots, to three Shabbat protests at Intel in just as many weeks, (to say nothing of last week’s arrest at the Kotel) culminated in a 2,000 person peaceful protest against religious coercion of any kind.

2,000 people – it might not sound like a lot, but in a country smaller than New Jersey, in our little Jerusalem, 2,000 people is huge. The protestors stretched from Kikar Paris, where the protest began, then marched up King George Street, filled the pedestrian walkway of Ben Yehuda, and overflowed Kikar Zion. There were signs, songs, and speeches – including one from Nofrat Frenkel.

The protest brought out a diverse crowd organized by the Forum for Free Jerusalem: Reform and Conservative Jews, secular Jerusalemites, city councilmen, and members from the Jerusalem Open House. In a special nod to Nofrat, the Masorti movement had made bumper stickers which read: “hakotel l’culam/n” – the Wall for everyone – which means women as well.

It was a protest not only against religious coercion, but FOR religious pluralism. It was inclusive, non-violent, and, notably, took place after Shabbat.

Last week, forty women were prohibited from reading Torah at the Wall. Forty women, and one arrest. This week, 2,000 people showed up to prove that what happens at the Wall affects the rest of the city.

And read Nofrat Frankel's own account - from the Forward:

http://www.forward.com/articles/119509/

Every morning, since I was 15, I have worn a tallit for prayer in my home. During my army service, I was forced to swallow many negative comments by other soldiers who prayed in the army synagogues, some of which did not even have a women’s gallery, because female soldiers never set foot in them. After leaving the army, I began to visit the Kotel every Rosh Hodesh. The atmosphere at the Kotel, the feeling that all those women praying around me were also turning to God and pouring out their hearts to Him, inspires me with the joy of Jewish fraternity. Here is one place in which, shoulder to shoulder, all the hearts are calling to God. more

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren

Mara and I arrived in Providence for the Thanksgiving college pickup early this afternoon - a new ritual for us - just in time to hear Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren speak at Brown. As you can see from the Providence Journal's coverage of the event, perhaps the most newsworthy aspect of it was how uneventful it was. Given the charged climate of anything involving Israel on college campuses, plus the charged and uncivil climate of just about any discussion these days, I was expecting significant protests and hecklers. There were none, neither inside the packed hall nor on the street outside the building.

Perhaps that was due to the timing, which the Ambassador described as "Erev Yontiff." But, while students were beginning to scurry over the river and through the woods, I don't think so. It was heartening to see that he could be received so warmly on a campus that, despite its large and active Jewish population, is also perceived as being very liberal on foreign policy matters, which at times has led to anti-Israel activity.

Or maybe the protesters have met their match in Oren. Maybe the word has gone out not to challenge this guy. He is the simply the best advocate Israel has had on this side of the Atlantic since Abba Eban - and unlike Eban, he speaks English (and Hebrew, he confesses) with a distinctly American twang. And his English is not a techno-smooth monotone like Prime Minister Netanyahu's, but more like the calming cadence of your doctor, or at least the guy who plays a doctor on TV. As we discovered when he was the Hoffman lecturer at Beth El two years ago (see highlights of that appearance here), he speaks our language in more ways than one. He understands the core reasons for the unique relationship between America and Israel, a bond that transcends administrations and political parties. He made a strong case that the relationship with the current administration is every bit as solid as it was with the prior one, that Sec. Rice was over there complaining about settlements every bit as much as George Mitchell might be now.

He made the case for "natural growth" of settlements (upward not outward), accompanied by the partial freeze negotiated between the Israeli and American governments, and he spoke of the eventual need to redraw borders and for each side to give up part of its dream. As a noted historian of the region, he claimed to have a deep understanding of the Palestinian "narrative" as well as the Israeli. But his main focus was Iran. He stated that Israel and America are absolutely on the same page right now, and that we are, over the next few weeks, likely to see a transitioning from the engagement-in-dialogue stage toward a consensus for crippling sanctions. Israel was consulted in the formation of the sanctions protocol. These next few weeks are therefore crucial.

Oren was asked about the Gilad Shalit deal, and he said that he had just spoken to the Israeli leadership only 90 minutes before this appearance, and was told that no deal is in place.

His most moving response was to a question about his having to renounce his American citizenship, a requirement of the American government (not Israel's) when one takes a position like this in a foreign government. He described a tearful ceremony of renunciation that took place in the American Embassy in Tel Aviv. He admitted, however, that in ceasing to be an American, he did not have to renounce his love of football and turkey, and he added that he was looking forward to Thanksgiving. Plus, he was told that if he remains married to an American, when he leaves the government, he could apply for a Green Card.

He said that he is in a good position to interpret Israel's ways to American audiences, but that he also could help explain America to Israelis, adding that Israelis have no idea what all the fuss is here over health care. In speaking of that fuss, he also expressed a grave concern that a lack of civility in political discourse can have dire consequences - he said that as one who worked closely with Prime Minister Rabin at the time of his assassination.

He spoke eloquently and was received warmly. Israel's most important foreign diplomatic position is being filled by just the right man at just the right time.

Job, Jobs And Jobs: Turning The Page (Jewish Week)

by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman

Special to the Jewish Week

I’ve been thinking about Job lately. Not “job” as in “employment,” though the rate of joblessness keeps rising to staggering proportions, or Jobs, the Apple CEO who defied death this year, while keeping his liver transplant a secret from his stockholders, but Job the biblical figure and inspiration for the Coen brothers’ much-discussed film, “A Serious Man.”

Or maybe I’ve been thinking about all three. Because those who are suffering, whether Job, Jobs or jobless, all share the same need to turn the page, to move on, to emerge from the shadow of death renewed and refreshed, back and better than ever.

That is precisely what happens at the end of the book of Job. God appears in a whirlwind to inform Job that it is pointless for humans to seek discernible moral patterns in God’s ways. The skies clear, and at the book’s end we find our hero thriving once again. He is blessed with thousands of sheep, camels, oxen and she-asses, seven sons and three beautiful daughters. Job lives 140 additional years, sees four generations of progeny and dies old and contented.

I’ve always been bothered by that ending. It may work as a fitting bookend to the fractured fairytale prologue, but it denies the existence of everything in between. When we first meet Job, he also has seven sons and three daughters. Then God makes the Faustian bargain and everything is wiped out, meaning that the sons and daughters of the last chapter are different sons and daughters. The happily-ever-after Job must have had at least seven yahrtzeits for that first set, plus a body and psyche ravaged by the scars of victimhood. How could he recover so effortlessly? How could he have been able to leave it all behind?

I recently had the privilege of hearing Elie Wiesel discuss Job at the 92nd Street Y. In addressing the end of the book, Wiesel spoke of the fine line separating faith from insanity, suggesting that a little madness might be required in order to maintain a posture of belief in the face of an unjust world. He postulated that Job did not fear an unjust God so much as an apathetic one. Once he heard from God directly, he could regain his balance, knowing that even if no divine reward were coming, at least God was there.

The Jewish experience has been such that the book of Job has not only been read from generation to generation, it has been lived. And, at the end of each trial, in the face of each encounter with absurdity, each generation has gotten up from the dung heap and chosen life.

As Wiesel put it, in recalling Deuteronomy’s call to “choose life,” the word for life, chayim, also means “the living.” For him, and for all survivors since Job, the only real choice has been to choose the living — as illogical as it that choice might at times appear. It may seem like madness to move on, but it is also the secret of Jewish survival. So Job had to move beyond mourning his dead kids to celebrate life with the living ones, just as so many Holocaust survivors have astonished us with their ability to embrace life and build new families.

So now I understand Job’s motives better, but I’m still troubled. Does turning the page require a self-imposed amnesia? The Torah, after all, commands us to remember, zachor, rather than simply to get over it. Wiesel’s life’s work has been built on the basis of fostering memory. And now, with events bombarding us at a frenetic pace, we are often too quick to put yesterday’s news behind us.

One gets the impression that, with this year’s stock market’s rebound, we are living out the Wall Street version of that epilogue to Job. The recession is far from over, but once unemployment figures begin to decline, I’ve a feeling that we’ll be celebrating like it’s 2007 — as if the intervening horrible two years never happened. Already we are seeing the return of exorbitant bonuses, astronomical bank profits and a relaxation of the pressure for regulation and reform.

Jewish organizations, too, seem to have learned little from the cataclysm that we’ve just endured. They’ve been chastened, but have they really changed the way they do business? Too many are trying simply to turn the page.

We may be the people of the book, but we are not the people of the page. Our most sacred text is in the form of a scroll, not a book, and scrolls have no pages. The beginning, middle and end are all interconnected, the one flowing into the next seamlessly — and when there are seams, they are hand woven together, without the slightest gap or tear. Jews don’t turn pages; we scroll with the punches.

Ironically, the next stage of literary technology is taking us back from the printed page to the seamless flow of words and stories. The journey from scroll to book to Kindle is, in reality, a round trip.

Rumor has it that Steve Jobs was dismissive of the Kindle when Amazon.com first released it in 2007, saying, “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore.” But now, with the Apple Tablet set to appear, the master futurist may have been humbled by his recent brush with death. Instead of turning the page, he too is scrolling down as he scrambles to catch up.

Elie Wiesel believes that when we hear the story of a witness, we too become witnesses. The story lives on; a living scroll ever unfolding. All that is must flow from all that came before, no matter how painful those memories can be.

“Because I remember, I despair,” Wiesel says, then adding, “Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.”

Which is why we can never really turn the page.

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman is spiritual leader of Temple Beth-El in Stamford, Conn.