TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Rachel Plotzky on Bamidbar

Shabbat Shalom!

Those of you who know me, know that I have a passion for crime shows, like NCIS.  I started watching them when I was about 10.  Why?  Well, because my mom liked them.  It was something we could do together because she was not interested in watching Disney shows with me. 

I slowly got into it and then I REALLY got into it.  I started with NCIS, and then I went on to CSI, Law and Order: SVU, Criminal Minds, NCIS: LA and about every crime show out there. 

Part of the reason I love these shows is that math is my favorite subject.  Every crime is like one big math problem to solve.   Every piece of information needs to be accumulated and stored away. Even the things that may not seem important now, might become really important later on.

So it’s fitting that my portion is the most mathematical portion of the entire Torah – it’s a census, but not only that: It’s the first portion in what we call the book of Numbers.

My portion is about counting people - even though, I must add, that in this census, the women are left out – WE COUNT TOO GOD!!!!

There’s an expression that’s used when someone dies, especially when they die because of a crime or disease.  They become what is known as “a statistic.”  When people are dead, they often become just a number.  In the Holocaust, the Nazis tried to turn the Jews into numbers even before they murdered them.  Part of the process of killing, was taking away their identity, their name and their humanity – and that was started by tattooing a number on their arms and eventually killing a large population of Jews. About six million.  They saw this as a great accomplishment.

Judaism makes it very clear that every human life is of infinite value.  Even a census is seen as dangerous – ONLY, if God gave permission could one be held.  This is because it limits the full potential of the Jewish people.  However, my Haftorah begins with an important line to counter what’s in the Torah portion:  “The number of Israel, shall be greater, than the sands of the sea.”

Now back to my regularly scheduled program on my crime shows.  What I’ve noticed is that when someone is murdered, it’s because the killer has stopped seeing the victim as fully human.  Instead, his life has a price, and his death, a certain fixed value.

For example, when a person hires a hit man, he takes away that person’s humanity.  The price that is paid becomes the price for his life.   Essentially, he becomes the value of that number.

     

  Once you’ve seen someone as being less than fully human, it becomes easier to build up a reason to justify killing someone.  Many psychopaths think everyone’s out to get them. In that situation, it’s easy to convince themselves that the murder is in self defense.  It’s just like what happens in the “Tell Tale Heart,” by Edger Allen Poe.  When the narrator makes himself think that he should kill the man with the vulture eye, because he feels like the vulture eye is digging into his soul. 

It’s not just in the world of murder mysteries where you learn that life should be of infinite value.  My Mitzvah project teaches that too.  Kids in Crisis is an organization that demonstrates that every child should be cared for, that everyone counts.  I’ll be donating all of the money I have raised and the board games I have gotten for them – Which are in my bimah baskets and will be on the tables at my luncheon.  If you would like to donate any money or purchase any candles, please see me later.

Taking this a step further, two summers ago, I took an amazing trip to Israel with the temple.  In Jerusalem we went to Mount Herzl, a cemetery, where Israelis mourn their soldiers not as statistics but as human beings.  In Israel, each soldier is special and unique.  They each have their own story.  Their humanity has not been striped in death.  Here in America, this is Memorial Day weekend.  We also need to remember all those who have fought and died for our country.  Those soldiers have allowed us to appreciate the freedom we have.  We should remember each soldier as more than just a number as they gave up their lives for ours.

For Jews, this is the most important lesson taught by the book of Numbers.  And it’s an important lesson of my crime shows too.  As Peeta tells Katniss in Suzanne Collins’ book “Mockingjay.”  “To murder innocent people,” Peeta states, “It costs everything you are.” 

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Zachary Blomberg on Bechukotai

Shabbat shalom

Standing here today has a lot of meaning for me. On this very spot almost 30 years ago, my dad became a bar mitzvah. So much has changed since then and yet… so much has stayed the same. For instance, the Knicks were terrible then and they sure are terrible now. But seriously, while I know today will bring back a lot of memories for my family, the prayers I have learned trigger lots of memories for me.  Strangely, one has to do with camp.

We just chanted a prayer where the Torah is called a “tree of life.”  Why is it called a tree? Trees protect us, nurture us, provide fruit and oxygen – we really would not be alive without trees. Similarly, the torah provides us with spiritual nourishment.

So it reminded me of camp.  Every week we sit in a circle around a campfire and do what my camp friends like to call shenanigans, crazy things like catching eggs tossed over the fire, or doing a camp wide Harlem shake.  By the way, speaking of camp fires, this weekend is Lag B’Omer, a Jewish holiday that is marked by huge bonfires, especially in Israel.  In my opinion, it’s the closest the Jewish calendar comes to being like camp.

So, while the torah is a tree of life, at camp we have the Tree of Values, which are Enthusiasm, Loyalty, Sportsmanship, Friendship, Achievement and Cooperation. Every Sunday at our camp fire, two campers, who during the prior week demonstrated each value, get nominated for the award . I am proud to say thus far during my camp Winaukee career, I’ve been named on the tree every year.

My Torah portion also talks about trees – twice.  If we follow the commandments, and do the right things, trees will give us fruit.  And if we don’t, they won’t.

Now, I don’t believe that the Torah is teaching us that if you do good deeds, you are rewarded and if you bad things you are punished.  I’ve seen too many kind people who suffer unnecessarily. Personally, I know that I did not deserve having two oral surgeries in the past few years.  Also, the special needs kids I work with at Friendship Circle do not deserve their challenges. Or the underprivileged kids at Casa Verde Home of Hope in Medellin, Colombia.  My family has been supporting Casa Verde for as long as I have been alive, and I am proud now to be doing my part, by featuring Casa Verde as my bar mitzvah project. Combining my love for basketball and Casa Verde, I gathered up my closest friends and family. I selected those who were good free throw shooters for the free throw fundraiser (sorry mom that is the real reason why you were not chosen). To date, we have raised $2,965 dollars. Those of you that are staying for the kiddush, will notice the branches and photos on the table which  tie together my love for Casa Verde. 

       

So we’ve talked about a tree of life and we’ve talked about a tree of values , there is a third type of tree that is the most important to me– my family tree. Not only did my dad become a bar mitzvah right here on this very bimah, but so did my Aunt Pam.  And my grandparents and great grandparents have set down deep roots here. I am so proud to become part of that legacy. 

Now they've come for us: Price Tag attacks Conservative center (Times of Israel)

OPS & BLOGS  >  JOSHUA HAMMERMAN

Now they’ve come for us: Price Tag attacks Conservative center

This was discovered on Monday at the Center for Conservative Judaism in the heart of Jerusalem.  It was the second attack in two days.

Was this another “Price Tag” attack? Of course it was. “Price Tag” has become a generic title for hate crimes committed by Israeli Jews against religious groups that differ from their own. In this case, Conservative Judaism is considered “non Jewish” by the xenophobic, hate-filled Jews who did this. What once was done exclusively to intimidate Muslims on the West Bank, and then shifted to Muslim targets inside Israel, and then Christian targets, and then the Women of the Wall, now includes Reform and Conservative targets too.

First they came for the Muslims, and I did nothing…..

And now they have come for me.

Anyone who might suggest that this hate crime – which is at its heart a form of terrorism – might have been committed by an Arab, has clearly never been to the corner of Agron and King George. The chances of that are about as remote as the chances of this government pressing hard to apprehend the offender.  Yes, it’s totally plausible that an Arab decided to wreak revenge on the Price Tag attackers by schlepping to a place just across from the Great Synagogue, a place that is despised by the very people who despise them.  Yeah.  Right.

Do you think maybe it’s time for American Jews to say something about this?  Like, maybe, before the Pope gets there and something more than embarrassing happens?

In light of the decision of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to bar J Street from membership, one wonders whether condemnation of the corrosive, toxic culture that produced Price Tag would be a verboten topic in public conversation – because it might come across as critical of Israel.  To it’s credit, the Conference has expressed outrage against extremist attacks, but this hate-crime campaign must be met with a sustained and forceful response by American Jews and that response has not yet been forthcoming.

I’ve always promoted open conversation regarding Israel, because a secure, Jewish and democratic Israel is of ultimate importance to world Jewry and to America.  That security can only be guaranteed if we see Israel clearly, with all its incredible strengths as well as its challenges.  When we suppress or delegitimize those who present contrasting or critical views, especially those from within the community of Israel’s supporters, we do Israel a disservice.

But the Conference of Presidents’ decision is problematic for another reason: it emboldens those who feel that the path to a Greater Israel is now wide open with the apparent end of the Kerry process, however flawed that process may have been. Their prime goal now is to dehumanize the Other in the hopes that the Other might simply emigrate, lose hope or eventually overrun Jordan (and destroy the only stable peace partner Israel currently has in the region). Those who cling to these beliefs now have been given a carte blanche to continue their efforts, or at least a signal that we’ll do nothing to stop it.

Two arguments are most often offered when discussing these matters:  1) that division with the American Jewish community plays into the hands of Israel’s enemies and 2) that we Americans  aren’t on the front lines – Israelis need to make their own decisions without our interference.  I disagree with both.

Granted, I’m not standing in the line of fire on the border of Lebanon. I do understand the difference between being a tourist and a soldier and I would never denigrate the risks IDF soldiers take every day. But in this era of global cyber warfare, we are all on the front lines of social media, as are we on the front lines of advocacy and lobbying.  And rabbis are more than anyone.

In Israel, contrasting opinions are expressed vocally.  National strategies and the decisions of individual politicians can be challenged without having one’s loyalty questioned.  What a novel approach!  But here, a third of American rabbis say they are afraid to speak out honestly about Israel.

Like most Americans, rabbis prefer to be employed.  I understand the immense power of the pulpit to shape opinion and the manifold roles a rabbi plays, so I pick my spots when it comes to speaking about Israel. The American Jewish community needs to be a big tent, and I do not write this article without some trepidation.

But in choosing to be a rabbi, I made the fundamental decision that the future of Israel is more important than my job. I know that if I don’t speak out against Price Tag – and those who condone it – that silence becomes a tacit endorsement. I won’t stand by and watch the country I love be overrun by xenophobic haters. I owe it to the future of the Jewish people to speak out.

I understand why rabbis stay away from discussing Israel. I just question why they didn’t choose acupuncture or origami for a career. But Price Tag is another matter entirely.  Even those who are reticent to speak must find a way to mobilize people against it.

I understand why large Jewish organizations are hesitant to make waves. But I’m saying to them: You need to make waves, even if it means venturing ever so close to that third rail of American Jewry by seriously calling out the Israeli government for enabling the haters to continue to hate.

We must fight Price Tag as if there were no Iran and Iran as if there were no Price Tag.

There’s a price tag for our silence. And this morning on the corner of Agron and King George, the bill came due.

Read more: Now they've come for us: Price Tag attacks Conservative center | Joshua Hammerman | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/now-theyve-come-for-us-price-tag-attacks-conservative-center/#ixzz31syTf46F
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Excerpts from 1989 s High Holidays Sermon on Loneliness, the Homeless and the Origins of Beth El Cares

Modern American life segregates us, unlike any society in history.  People lose one another.  Grandparents find themselves thousands of miles from their grandchildren.  The torah says, “Love your neighbor,” but many of us don’t even know who are neighbors are.  We have become atomized.  Where once extended families lived on the same block  -  cousins, second cousins, and Reb Nachum the beggar, now there are only husbands and wives, a friend or two, and if they’re lucky, maybe some live-in help.  What an incredible strain to put on a marriage  -  to expect your spouse to be your community as well.  That is what America has become.  Sweet land of loneliness.  All those lonely people.  Where do they all come from?

One doesn’t have to visit a homeless shelter to see the face of American loneliness close-up, but it helps.  If one can see the faces at all, that is.

Christmas Eve:  1987.  I joined several of you at the local homeless shelter, allowing the Christian volunteers a night off.  Since this is the day for confessions, here’s one of mine.  Were it not for the tug of my profession, I might well have stayed home.  I’m no saint and my body was not sorely needed.  I’ve no doubt that I would have found some excuse to sit by the TV and watch the black and white version of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  But I felt I belonged at the shelter.  So I went  -  and did not regret it.

At first I felt useless.  By the time I arrived the food was ready to be served and fifty or so had already come in from the cold and lined up to receive their dinner, cafeteria-style.  I managed to make myself useful by dishing out stuffing from an aluminum tin.

As the guests passed by I would say “Stuffing?” and they’d nod, eyes glued to the floor.  Half a dozen went by, maybe more.  Then came this small girl of six  -  or seven at the most, escorted by a guardian.  I couldn’t let her pass the same way, just another faceless encounter.  A little girl, without a family on Christmas.  As she walked past, I dished out some stuffing, and searching for the right thing to say, blurted out, “Merry Christmas.”  And what I suddenly witnessed were the two brightest thank-you-Santa eyes I’ve ever seen. There is a line in the finale of the musical version of “Les Miserables,” “To love another person is to see the face of God.”  I was never crazy about it at first, but when I think of that girl’s face, suddenly the line takes on a whole new meaning for me.

That one moment encapsulates all that makes my job worthwhile.  All the committee meetings, the 3,000 piece mailings; it all suddenly became worth it.  To ease another person’s loneliness is to ease one’s own.  I was able to understand why the word “religion” comes from the Latin, meaning “to bind.”  For that girl and I were at that moment bound by religion, both hers and mine.

That little girl’s case is extreme, but each of us in his or her own way can feel the same numbing, overwhelming emptiness she must have been feeling.  We all at times feel that no one cares.  We all feel forgotten.  We all are lonely.

Let us invite others to share in the wellspring of life that exists within us, contained within our solitude.  That is where true relationship begins, where the I meets the Thou.  And the sounds that will come forth from such an encounter are not be the sounds of silence, but the sweet sounds of children at play, the buzzes and murmurs of men and women praying together, learning together, bound together as the very term religion implies, bound by a shared commitment and a community, bound by prayer and the triumphant blast of the shofar.

Coming together as concerned individuals, we can demonstrate that Temple Beth El cares for individuals.

Beth El cares  -  about the hungry and homeless of Stamford, as we’ve demonstrated many times over, and as we’ve shown again this Yom Kippur, with our food collection last night.

Beth El cares  -  about those who are part of the Temple family.  All of them.  All individuals.  As an example, I’m proud to announce today that we are in the process of establishing a support group for single-parent families, with the first meeting to be held in the next two months and the first program being a special Hanukkah party.

Beth El cares  -  about our new Soviet Jewish immigrants, many who are attending a Yom Kippur service for the first time, here today, by special invitation.  To all of them I say, “Dobro  -  Pojaolovart,” “Welcome!”

Beth El cares  -  about the particular loneliness of parents and teens.  A number of our members have been at the forefront of community-wide efforts to address this crucial issue.  We are proud of our association with the Adult Council for Jewish Youth, and we urge you to support it, and to attend the program series that has been planned.

This is our Temple, as it is and as it can be.

At the outset I discussed the Shma Kolenu prayer.  In truth, this prayer is not a cry of desperation uttered from a broken human being to a distant God.  It is a cry uttered from the depths of man himself, from his afflicted soul, from his loneliness.  And the cry is directed not at God, but inward.

We must hear that cry, our own cry from within.  And we must hear the cries of others.  For the sake of that little girl at the shelter, for the sakes of all the lost and forgotten, the living and the dying, the widowed, the divorced, the single and the married.  The children with one parent, with no parents, with two, three or four.  The children with AIDS or drug dependency.  The unemployed and the overworked.  The homesick college freshman and the home-bound senior citizen.  The child prodigy, pushed to excel, and the mentally challenged adult, pushed aside.

SHMA KOLENU!  -  they say  -  “Hear Our Voices!”

SHMA KOLENU!  -  the cry also comes from within.

V’AL TA’AZVENU!  “Do not abandon us.”

We must not be afraid of our loneliness.  We must hear its cry and embrace it  -  so that we can embrace others.  There is so much work to do.

Walt Whitman wrote:

            I saw in Louisiana a live oak growing

            All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches.

            Without any companion it grew there uttering leaves of dark green.

            And its look  --  rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself.

            But I wondered how it could utter joyous leaves,

            Standing there alone without its friends near.

            For I knew I could not.

Whitman understood that the oak drew its strength and majesty from within.  It needs no other trees in order to utter joyous leaves.  But he realized that without other people around him he would not be able to flourish like the oak, for he would want to share that strength with others.

Let us try to be like the oak, drawing strength from within.

Let us be like the poet, sharing that strength with others.

Let us never close ourselves off from others.

But most of all, let us never be afraid to be alone.

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Shayna Druckman on Behar

Shabbat Shalom

Lets start by talking about the movie “Frozen.”

If you have not seen “Frozen” you may be quite confused, however those of you who have, know that it is not your typical Disney movie. While in many other Disney classics the damsel in distress is saved by her “true love”, AKA the prince, In “Frozen” it was an unexpected act of kindness by her sister that saved princess Ana.

So you may be wondering, what does this have to do with my torah portion B’har? Well, we learn in B’har that kindness occurs in many surprising ways. Many of us think that kindness is just an act of being nice to one another, but it is really much more than that.  We all have our own ideas of what kindness really is.  Is there really one specific key to kindness?  Well, my portion explains a view that I had never really thought about before:

Kindness works in a cycle.  If you treat others with kindness, you’ll get it back in return. But it’s not just about how you treat people.   My portion shows that if you treat the LAND with kindness, it can also be kind to you in return.  In the Torah, the land is supposed to rest every seven years, just the way people rest every seventh day, on Shabbat.

The 7^th year is called Shmitta – and in fact, the next Jewish year will be a Shmitta year, beginning on Rosh Hashanah.  That means that in Israel, many farmers will not grow their crops next year to allow the land to replenish itself.

The logic goes that if you treat the land kindly, it will yield lots of produce.  And that in turn gives us food to eat – and not only eat but to share with others, including those who are less fortunate, which in itself is another act of kindness.

So it’s a full circle.   That is the key to kindness.  My portion explains many other ways we can be kind in terms of the environment, our social life, and our business and daily interactions.

I can really relate to this torah portion because kindness is a very important aspect of my own life. I strive to complete this same cycle by showing kindness to others; I have often heard phrases like “Shayna you’re too nice”, or “Shayna doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.” And I’m proud of that.

Another way I demonstrate kindness is through my passion of cooking healthy food for my family and friends. Almost every night I help in the kitchen, but let’s face it, on most nights I am the Iron Chef of the house and my parents are the sous chefs.  I extend my passion for being kind to others by baking for the Hadassah tea-at-two at Stamford Hospital for the patients and staff to enjoy.

My mitzvah project also ties directly into my Torah portion which says “share what you have, don’t let anyone go hungry”.  I made and sold bows to raise money for Blessings in a Backpack, a charitable organization that provides backpacks of food to school children who do not have enough to eat over the weekends.  I am still accepting donations to help students right here in Stamford.

If there is one lesson you take away from my Torah portion, it is very simple, BE NICE! Don’t be hatin’, Stop sippin’ on the hateraid, be kind to your family and friends, be kind to the environment, and be kind to everyone.  If you need help remembering these lessons, watch the movie “Frozen” and be inspired by its acts of kindness.

"Price Tag" Swastikas at Jerusalem Conservative Center

This was discovered today at the Center for Conservative Judaism in the heart - and I mean the HEART - of West Jerusalem.  Was this another "Price Tag" attack?  Of course it was. "Price Tag" has become a generic title for hate crimes committed by Israeli Jews against religious groups that differ from their own.  In this case Conservative Judaism - just as with Reform - is considered "non Jewish" by the xenophobic, hate-filled Jews who did this.  What once was done exclusively to intimidate Muslims on the West Bank, and then shifted to Muslim targets inside Israel, and then Christian targets, now includes Reform and Conservative targets too.

"First they came for the Muslims," and I did nothing.....

And now they have come for me.

Anyone who might suggest that this hate crime (which is at its heart a form of terrorism) might have been committed by an Arab has clearly never been to the corner of Agron and King George.  The chances of that are about as remote as the chances of the Netanyahu government pressing hard to apprehend the offender.

Shabbat-O-Gram for May 9

This Shabbat-O-Gram is sponsored by Robin and Greg Druckman in honor of Shayna’s becoming Bat Mitzvah this Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom

Mazal tov to Shayna Druckman, who becomes Bat Mitzvah this Shabbat morning! We also will welcome an IDF Sergeant with host family Sharon and Rob Yudell, as part of the JCC’s Tzahal Shalom program. 

A special mazal tov to Steve Osman, honored last week for his work on behalf of the new Mill River Park.  Steve and Harley have done so much for our community over the years.  And the park looks lovely with the new cherry trees in bloom.  And next week, Sheila Romanowitz and Eve Goldberg will be honored by UJA Greenwich.  And next week a whole slew of TBE members will be honored by the JCC, including the Hyacinthe & Harold Hoffman Humanitarian Award to Joy Katz.  TBE teen Rachel Katz and a number of volunteers will also be honored. And lest we forget, next week, Fred and Joan Weisman and our entire congregation will be honored by the Shelter for the Homeless for our longstanding Christmas Eve outreach.  Mazal tov to all!

And Happy Mother’s Day! (You can see my blog about what’s so Jewish about Mother’s Day, or better yet… take that time to call your mother!)

Bennett Cancer Center Walk

At next month’s Bennett Cancer Center walk, our sisterhood will be well represented and also a number of congregants will be memorialized or honored by various teams.  One that deserves special mention this year is the team that has been created in memory of Deb Goldberg by her son Andrew.  With great love for Deb and pride in Andrew, I share his email below.  Andrew and his family will be joining us in Israel this summer.

Dear Community,

I am Andrew Goldberg, I am 12 1/2 years old and I attend Bicultural Day School.  Since my Bar Mitzvah is in October, I have decided to create my own team at the Bennett Cancer Center, Hope In Motion Walk, this year, which is on June, 1st.  I have decided to do this for my mitzvah project in honor of my mother.  My mother passed away in July of 2013, from 4th stage Breast Cancer.  We did the walk each year, and I hope to do the honor of having my own team, and to have many members join my team, in honor of my Mother, Deb Goldberg.  The walk is on June, 1st, and I invite you all to join my team in honor of my mother.  If you are able to join and participate, please even ask your friends and family to do so also.  All of the proceeds raised, support the Bennett Cancer Center.  

Sincerely,

Andrew Goldberg

If you would like to sign up for my team, please email me at @andrewegoldberg@gmail.com, and if my team isn’t registered already, I will make sure to do so as soon as possible, and let you know immediately!  See the Hope in Motion website 

P.S. If you aren’t able to attend, please sign up for my team, which will be a donation, and then you will still get the Hope in Motion 2014 t-shirt

“Frozen” and the Chosen

This week it was revealed that the Disney film “Frozen” has become the top grossing animated film ever.  This unbelievable news sent me scampering to my Pay Per View to see what all the fuss is about. I even watched some the soundtrack in Hebrew.   It also happens to be a favorite film on this weekend’s Bat Mitzvah girl.   So at services this Shabbat morning I’m going to explore the “Frozen” phenomenon from a Jewish perspective.

Some interesting tidbits: Hans Christian Anderson, whose story “The Ice Queen” serves as the basis for “Frozen,” actually received his early education at a Jewish school.  (I wonder if his mother considered changing his middle name to “Jewish.”) 

Some reviewers have commented on the Christian themes of the film, but I would contend that the notion of sacrificial, redemptive love, which forms the film’s core,  is very Jewish too.

Others, like Tablet magazine’s Marjorie Ignall, point to the more feminist aspects of the film including the portrayal of a perfectionist girl who worries that she needs to be perfect, as being very resonant to American Jews.  The two main characters are women, but they are no mere princesses waiting for Prince Charming.  Well, even when they are, the princes turn out to be far less than charming, and (spoiler alert) they are incapable of planting “love’s true kiss.”  There’s a lot more to say about that, and I’ll save it for tomorrow.

I watched “Frozen” just as Israel was celebrating her 66^th birthday.  The focus of the central celebration at Mt Herzl this year was, fittingly, women.  The ceremonial torches were all lit by women and music emphazied a message of equality and opportunity for women an, even more, for young girls.   One song, Gali Atari’s “Mah She’at Ohevet,” implores girls to do only what they want to do, only what they feel will be good for them.  It was very moving at one point to see a preteen girl, in an angelic white, flowing dress, recite a poem about the unlimited choices she could have, growing up in Israel’s egalitarian society. It was nice to see Israel choose this theme, even if challenges remain in that area, particular in ultra Orthodox neighborhoods. (Embarrassingly, though, the male announcer at the ceremony was paid $1,000 more than the woman, accoding to Ha’aretz).

This week’s Torah reading of Behar also focuses on the need to reduce social inequalities, for women and others.  Let’s hope that the feminist heroes of “Frozen” can help us to accomplish that goal.

The Deer in the Floodlights

On Friday night, April 26, I shared some thoughts related to Yom Hashoah that later were adapted into a featured op-ed on the Times of Israel site. 

I was intrigued by a BBC story that appeared last week about a group of about 300 deer living on the frontier between Germany and the Czech republic. According to the report, fully a quarter of a century after the iron curtain fell, the deer still seem to believe there is an electrified fence spanning what is now a totally open frontier. As confirmed by GPS-equipped collars placed on the herd, the German deer stay on the German side, the Czech deer stay on the Czech side, and never the twain shall meet.

A biologist noted that this is remarkable because the average life expectancy for deer is 15 years, meaning that none living now would have encountered the barrier.

The report adds that scientists believe that fawns tend to follow mothers for the first year of their lives and develop a pattern in their movements, so the same area remains the habitat for each new generation.

In Czechoslovakia, exactly 70 years ago, spring 1944, not far from that same border, a young man named Michael Flack looked out toward the lovely, spring-like countryside surrounding Terezin and wrote:

The sun has made a veil of gold
So lovely that my body aches.
Above, the heavens shriek with blue
Convinced I’ve smiled by some mistake.
The world’s abloom and seems to smile.
I want to fly but where, how high?
If in barbed wire, things can bloom
Why couldn’t I? I will not die!

Behind an electrified fence, a generation ago, a young Jew dreamed of flight. The spirit of freedom never died within him. Like the deer thirsting for water witnessed by the author of Psalm 42, this imprisoned soul refused to allow his life force to succumb to grim realities.

Flack ran the children’s home in Terezin, caring for about sixty children aged four to nine, many of them orphans or who had arrived in the ghetto without parents.

And now, 70 years after the Holocaust – a full human lifespan – we ask ourselves – are we like Michael Flack, who looked around in the depths of hell and saw beauty and let his spirit soar?

Or are we like those deer in the floodlights, who, though they never themselves knew pain of that barbed wire, confine themselves in a virtual prison, their souls are imprisoned simply by force of habit?

Read more: The deer in the floodlights | Joshua Hammerman | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel 

Israel’s 66^th and Israel’s Vibrant Democracy

 (American Jewry…Not so much)

Some wonderful tributes to Israel this week.  My favorites include Benjy Lovitt’s annual tribute, “66 Things I Love About Israel.”  Also see this powerful Yom Ha’atzmaut video produced by Nefesh b”Nefesh. Or you can read my son Dan’s moving blog posting about his experiences on Jerusalem during Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut.

The decision of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to bar J-Street from membership has created much controversy.  As you know, I’ve always promoted open conversation regarding Israel, because a secure, Jewish and democratic Israel is of ultimate importance to world Jewry and to America.  That security can only be guaranteed if we see Israel clearly, with all its incredible strengths as well as its challenges.  When we suppress or delegitimize those who present contrasting views, especially those from within the community of Israel’s supporters, we do Israel a disservice. 

We’ve invited to our pulpit articulate spokespeople from both the right (like Ruth Wisse and Bret Stephens) and the left (like J-Street’s Jeremy Ben Ami).  Few synagogues have been so vigilant in promoting the open exchange of ideas.  We’ve been vocal supporters of all of Israel’s prime advocates on the world stage, including the ADL and AJC (and both Abe Foxman and, most recently, David Harris, have spoken here), and we have been very supportive of AIPAC’s essential efforts.  So when it comes to open dialogue, we have put our money where our mouth is.

The Conference of Presidents’ decision is problematic because the one umbrella organization supposed to represent the entire spectrum of American Jewish opinion has failed to do that, and therefore risks alienating the most at-risk group from which Israel needs support: those on college campuses.  Those students are truly on the front lines and J-Street’s message is particularly resonant there.  Even those who don’t agree with all of J-Street’s positions see great risk in disenfranchising a large bloc of young Jews. 

If you check out J.J. Goldberg’s piece in the Forward, you’ll see how every organization voted on this issue – and it is clear that almost all those groups that represent the Conservative and Reform movements voted to include J-Street.  So did Hadassah, the AJC and the ADL.  Read their statements, including the sentiments of the Rabbinical Assembly president, Rabbi Gerry Skolnick, and R.A. executive director Rabbi Julie Schoenfeld.    

So who opposed or abstained?  Most of those groups aren’t talking, but Goldberg did the math.

Two arguments are most often offered when discussing these matters:  1) that division with the American Jewish community plays into the hands of Israel’s enemies and 2) that we aren’t on the front lines – Israelis need to make their own decisions without our interference.  I disagree with both.

Granted, I’m not standing in the line of fire on the border of Lebanon.  Oh wait… I have stood there, many times.  I’ve been in Israel during many periods of great tension and danger.  Still, I do understand the difference between being a tourist and a soldier and I would never denigrate the risks IDF soldiers take every day. 

But in this era of global cyber warfare, we are all on the front lines of social media, as are we on the front lines of advocacy and lobbying.  We are foot soldiers, for sure. But most of all, at a time when the Prime Minister is placing such emphasis on Israel’s being the Jewish state, every Jew in the world as a special responsibility toward protecting Israel’s future, and with that responsibility comes the right – and even the obligation - to voice an opinion, without being faced down by what Letty Cottin Pogrebin calls “the new Jewish McCarthyism.”

In Israel, contrasting opinions are expressed most vocally.  National strategies and the decisions of individual politicians can be challenged without having one’s loyalty questioned.  What a novel approach! But here, a third of American rabbis say they are afraid to speak out honestly about Israel.  Like most Americans, I suppose, rabbis prefer to be employed.  I understand the immense power of the pulpit to shape opinion and the manifold roles a rabbi plays, so I pick my spots when it comes to speaking about Israel.  Our community needs to be a big tent, and I do not write this article without some trepidation.

But I know that if I don’t question the wisdom of the Conference of Presidents’ choice, that silence becomes a tacit endorsement, and I won’t sit by and watch Israel’s support continue to erode among our young people.  I owe it to them - and to Israel - to speak out.

In Israel, there is a vibrant democracy.  People are not afraid to express opinions.  Take this spoof that opened the Yom Ha’atzmaut edition of Israel’s signature comedy show, “Eretz Nehederet.”  This show has been called the SNL of Israel, but it is much funnier and its satire far more biting.  In this clip, subtitled by the Israeli Network (which I watch religiously on Cablevision channel 1118), Prime Minister Netanyahu is chewed out by Theodore Herzl and the imbroglio over John Kerry’s use of the “A” word is skewered, as Tzipi Livni mourns over the casket of the peace process.  It goes much farther in its criticism of current policies than J Street ever has. This, on one of Israel’s most popular programs.  On the same broadcast, Eretz Nehederet (which means “Wonderful Country”) also questions a plan to teach the Holocaust as early as Kindergarten (the cynical misuse of the Shoah for political purposes is a prime target of the show) in a manner that most American Jews would find uncomfortable - or even offensive - but for Israelis is routine.  There are no sacred cows.  And that’s what makes for a vibrant democracy.  That’s part of what makes Israel such a “wonderful country.”

And that’s what makes the decision of the Conference of Presidents all the more regrettable.

7th Grade Class Wedding

Click here for the photo album from last week's 7th grade mock wedding.