Shabbat-O-Gram for March 10

 

Purim-O-Gram

The Shabbat Announcements are sponsored by Risa and Steven Raich in honor of their daughter, Talia, becoming a Bat Mitzvah

 

Above: TBE Seventh Graders baking hamentashen

   Below: Some of my favorite Purim costumes

For more Past Purim Pics, you can stroll down memory lane 

in our TBE Photo Album Archives, 

and don't have a cow-mentashen, man!

 

 

 

(Purim + Passover) X5

How do I love thee, Purim?  Let me count the ways.

OK so there are five ways to love Purim here this weekend:

1)   Tot Purim -Friday at 5:30 (BYO veggie dinner)

2)   Kabbalat Shabbat Friday @7:30 - "Be Happy, It's Adar" edition.  Bring your favorite (clean) jokes - especially if they have Jewish content.

3)   Shabbat Zachor service on Sat AM, with d'var Torah by Meryl Silverstein, as we remember Amalek

4)   Havdalah, Full Megilla reading and TBE's first-ever* Purim Night Bat Mitzvah. Begins with end-of-Shabbat nosh at 5:30.  Service begins at 6:30.  Click here to preview our Purim Packet and practice the parody songs!

5)   Purim Morning: Family Megilla Reading and the our world famous Carnival: Sunday at 10 AM (Hebrew School starts at 9) Meet me at the Karaoke booth!

Plus, our 8^th graders will be 'hanging at the Hammermans'" for a sleepover on Sat. night.

Looking ahead, now's the time to plan ahead for these FIVE Pesach events.

1)   Women's Seder, March 29 - reserve

2)   Chocolate Seder, March 31 - reserve

3)   Interfaith Seder at Grace Farms, April 5 - reserve

4)   Shababimbam Celebrates Passover (TBA)

5)   Second Night Seder, April 11 - reserve

Please make sure to sign up in advance where required. Space is limited and deadlines sneak up on us!  If you would like to help to plan our congregational Second Night Seder, please contact me at rabbi@tbe.org

*First-ever that I can recall. Did you really scroll down to this simply because you saw an asterisk?

 

Purim: The Drama and the Dramamine

Mark Twain was the one who first said that comedy is "tragedy plus time."   If that is the case, Purim fits the bill.  Imagine the Purim story being reported in real time by Walter Cronkite.  It would not sound so funny to hear about a genocidal plot, with anti-Semitism reaching the highest pinnacles of power.  Not funny at all...

But over the centuries, time has healed most wounds, and this story has become the source of more punch lines and parodies than any other in Jewish history.  This holiday - and the month in which it falls - is now seen as the happiest and rowdiest in our calendar. 

The best jokes not only rely on time, they are dependent on timing.  How often do we hear a late night comic telling a joke about, say the Lincoln assassination and then respond when the audience groans by saying, "Too soon?"

Purim has a great sense of timing.  Only on Purim weekend would we have a snowstorm in mid March when the winter has been virtually snow-less.  This year in America, even time itself will disorient us on Purim night, as we move our clocks forward one hour.

If comedy is tragedy plus time, Purim teaches that the amount of time that it takes to transform tragedy into comedy borders on the infinitesimal.  "Tragedy plus time," perhaps, but more accurately, "tragedy that turns on a dime."

The dizzying, disorienting pace of pace of change is only the half of it.  It's the dizzying pace PLUS the 180 degree, roller coaster nature of the upheaval that flings us from revolution to revolution with breathtaking speed.   Ironclad results are instantaneously overturned, making a mockery of metrics. No one could predict how, in the past few dizzying months alone, we've seen Alabama, La La Land and the Atlanta Falcons fall victim to unprecedented, instantaneous reversals, similar to last fall's elections.  We are now getting so used to being shaken up that we have begun to feel like astronauts in a zero-G simulator, shaken so violently that we feel like we are floating, unanchored to precedent.  

So it snows on Purim weekend - how appropriate! So we move the clocks an hour, even as we are still slightly inebriated to the point where we can't tell Mordecai from Haman.  So now we can't tell Saturday from Sunday.  Changing the clocks on Purim is so perfect, so fitting, so clear, so unconfused in its confusion.

A president committed to obliterating all norms tempts fate so often that we wonder whether the most stunning reversal of all might be just around the bend, only we can't predict what that reversal will yield.  We don't dare.  The only thing that we can predict is that whatever happens next will be unprecedented.

When Jews chant from the Torah - or the Megilla - one note sums up the entire Jewish experience and is a microcosm of the entire human experience as well.  It's the first note we typically hear, right at the beginning of most sentenced.  It's called Ma'hapach.  The word means "overturned" but in the vernacular of historians and journalists, it means "revolution."  When Menachem Begin gave Likud it's first-ever electoral victory in 1977, and when Rabin led Labor back to power in the 1990's, Israeli newspapers screamed out "Ma'hapach!"

On Purim the call is "Hafoch ba!"  "Reverse it!" On Purim, the norm IS the abnormal.  On Purim, the world turns upside down. On Purim, we can learn how to live in zero-G.

The note Ma'hapach starts high, slumps dramatically downward and then rises again.  As we hear this note - and others even more dramatic - when the Book of Esther is chanted, it reminds us that history doesn't flow in waves or repeat in patterned cycles.  It jerks us around like a series of Ma'hapachs. 

But rather than being the jerks who get constantly get jerked around, we have another choice, and that is precisely the choice made by Esther and Mordechai - to take the reins of this bucking bronco and ride it, holding on for dear life but at the same time enjoying every minute of the thrilling ride.

It might take a few moments to get oriented to the sudden twists and turns.  History doesn't provide the Dramamine to match the drama.  We just need to learn how to steer into the skids.  Sudden reversals need not be traumatic.  We just need to figure out how to laugh at them, while we wait for the hairpin bend in the road.

Let it snow!

 

More on Purim

Purim as a Model for Survival in a Dangerous World

Drinking on Purim is No Laughing Matter

Valentines Day, Purim, SI's Swimsuit Issue and the Jews

When Esther Meets Easter

The Best Purim Parodies and Jewish Jokes

Jewish Week 2017 Purim Parody Issue

Six Hilarious Purim Videos

 

Fault Lines and Lines in the Sand

This past Tuesday was the 9th of Adar, the day on which approximately 2,000 years ago, the initially peaceful and constructive disagreements between two dominant Jewish schools of thought, Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, turned destructive over a vote on 18 ideologically charged legal matters, leading, according to some sources, to the death of 3,000 students. The day was said to be as tragic as the day the golden calf was created. Today we observe the 9th of Adar as a day to explore the potential of constructive conflict to strengthen relationships, communities and societies. See more at the Adar 9 Website

A terrific example of how two protagonists who are diametrically opposed on a topic can find a way to disagree constructively is the new Fault Lines podcast produced by the Forward. Peter Beinart and Daniel Gordis, who stand at the opposite sides of almost every major issue, are also good friends - and this series of conversations is must-listen material.  I especially recommend the second and fourth installments of the series.  You'll find that these ideological opposites agree on more than you might think.

On the other hand, there are times when even those committed to consensus building must draw a line in the sand and speak out "carefully yet boldly; with love for God and Israel."  Such is the case now for rabbis, argues JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen in a recent speech to Conservative rabbis that you can read here.  

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Purim!

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman

NEXT SHABBAT, MARCH 17

Dr. Kareem Adeeb and the Reverend Shannon White will join me to discuss "Christians, Muslims and Jews: Forging a Common Path"

(see flyer)

Shabbat-O-Gram for March 3

Shabbat Shalom

I'm very happy to hear this morning that the FBI has made an arrest in the case of the over 190 anti-Semitic events over the past six weeks. The suspect is Juan Thompson of St. Louis. Let's hope this marks the beginning of the end of this wave, which also includes three pogrom-like desecrations of Jewish cemeteries, the most recent in Philadelphia (where hundreds rallied against hate crimes) and Rochester, NY. Undoubtedly more perpetrators are out there, but this is a promising arrest.

Heritage Tour Deadline

Today is the last day to sign up for this summer's Jewish Heritage Tour of Central Europe before the deadline.  I'm pleased to say that right now we have about twenty people set to go with us to Poland, Budapest, Prague and Berlin this summer.  There still may be room for others, so by all means, let me know if you are interested - or go to the site today and make your reservation!

 

Another Shabbat Across the Bow

This evening is "Shabbat Across Stamford" and once again, we will be the only community in North America where congregations across the denominational spectrum will come together to share Shabbat.  We will not have services here this evening.  Even if you have not signed up for the dinner, you can join us for services at the Stamford Athletic Club, 75 Third St. at 5:15 PM. Two years ago, I wrote about how this coming together was in fact a "Shabbat Across the Bow" in the uphill struggle to truly embrace diversity, even within our own community. Thank you to the UJF for its leadership, and to the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP) for leading the way. 

I'm pleased to announce that we have also received a grant from NJOP to assist us in our second night Congregational Seder, along with a grant from the Mann Family Foundation.  Click here for information and to reserve for that Seder.

 

A Revitalized Men's Club - A Revitalized Judaism

Tomorrow morning is Men's Club Shabbat, something we haven't done in several years.  Thank you to our revitalized men's club for putting this together, and to our speaker, Rabbi David Markus, co-chair of Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal.  We are part of the Aleph Network, a leading force in reinventing Judaism for a new generation.  

Also note that Rabbi Markus will be teaching a four part series on Jewish spirituality, beginning THIS COMING WEDNESDAY, with a session entitled, "Illness and Healing in Jewish Spiritual Tradition." See the full listing of upcoming classes in this series.  Our Scholars Series is free to the public and sponsored by Michael Horowitz in loving memory of Penny Horowitz, Bessie Silver and Millie Reiss. 

And on Sunday, our Weekend of Jewish Renewal continues on Sunday at 10 AM, with a men's club-sponsored brunch with Rabbi Mike Uram, executive director and campus rabbi at the University of Pennsylvania, who will discuss his recently published and highly acclaimed book, Next Generation Judaism. The book just received a 2016 National Jewish Book Award. 

BTW, if you are looking for a high-level ongoing conversation about how Judaism is changing and revitalizing, check out the Judaism Unbound podcast and website.

Another example of Jewish revitalization is the National Day of Unplugging (NDU) tonight, and will last for a full 24-hours of disconnected bliss. It's the biggest NDU yet, and that means making sure that you have everything you need for a meaningful experience. We've got some great resources that will help keep things fun and fresh as you prepare to unplug. 

We're revitalizing Judaism here in other ways as well.  Also on Shabbat morning we have another day of Shabbat School for our Hebrew School students (and our day school students are welcome to join us!), with special guest JCC emissary Yael Stolarsky, and another fantastic Shabbabimbam for young families, at 11 AM.  Then we all join together for lunch!  Next Friday, Shabbabimbam expands to a Pre-Purim Tot Shabbat and BYO Vegetarian Dinner. click here for more info and to sign up.

 

Oh, and next weekend is Purim, which means, of course, our always great carnival and this year, on Sat., night, our first-ever "Big Megilla Bat Mitzvah."  More on that next week!

 

A Rabbi, Imam and a Minister Walk Into a...

 

Mark your calendars for Friday, March 17, when we'll be joined by my friends, Imam and Dr. Kareem Adeeb and Reverent Shannon White, for a lively conversation, "Muslims Christians and Jews: Forging a Common Path."  We appeared together yesterday before over 100 students at Greenwich High School, and I came away feeling that we had done something very important, given today's climate.  Also save the date of March 31, when we will be visited by the Israeli Consul General for our region, Yehuda Yaakov, who will speak at services about Israel today.

 

News About News from Israel

I can recall a time not so long ago when I would clamor for news, unfiltered and direct from Israel.  I would schlep down to the Kosher butcher (remember when we had those?) on Fridays for a copy of the weekend edition of the Jerusalem Post or fiddle with my shortwave dial to pick up Kol Yisrael.  Now we have an embarrassment of riches.  Of course we have the internet, and sites like JPost and Haaretz.  But if you have Cablevision, you now have three terrific options on TV.  There's JBS (formally Shalom TV) on channel 138, there is the Israeli Network on 1118 - with English subtitles on Israel's highest rated news broadcasts. And now, go to channel 102 and you will find something very exciting and new.

Israel's version of 24 hour cable news, in English, has come to American TV - it's called i24.  It's been available online for a while, but just last month, a brand new American version of i24 came to Optimum.  While it now has more of an American focus, it still covers Israel and the Middle East extensively.  I find it to be much more balanced than other cable news, both in how it treats Israel and America, while at the same time focusing much more on international news than American cable news networks.  Give it a try!

 

Oscar's Golden Gaffe

I turned 60 two weeks ago. No drum roll, please.  I celebrated quietly, with my family, not feeling a need to throw myself a big bash - but neither did I feel compelled to hide under a rock (at least because of the birthday).  The Patriots gave me all the birthday present I could ever want.

Aging became a tangentially hot topic this week, in the wake of Oscar's Very Interesting Evening.  In his opening monologue, Jimmy Kimmel became eerily prophetic when he quipped, "In Hollywood, we don't discriminate against people based on what countries they come from. We discriminate on them based on their age and weight."

Sure enough, age became a prime issue when 79 year old Warren Beatty and 77 year old Faye Dunaway fumbled their way through the "Best Picture" announcement, ultimately and incorrectly announcing that "La La Land" had won.  Of course the true guilty party was the much younger PWC accountant who gave Beatty the wrong envelope, but still there was plenty of age-based derision directed to the pair of presenters, who looked so lost and confused up there.

 

It reminded me of the touching film, "On Golden Pond," which featured an elderly Henry Fonda as the curmudgeonly Norman Thayer and his wife Ethel, played by Katherine Hepburn, who won as best actress for that part.  It's possibly Hollywood's most touching film dealing with the frustrations of aging and facing one's mortality.  Norman turns 80 in the film and has trouble accepting it, especially after one climactic scene where he becomes disoriented while on his boat, riding on a pond that for so long had been his home, his anchor.  I found Beatty's visible confusion equally touching.  Jimmy Kimmel later said that Beatty and Dunaway needed extra rehearsal time because they couldn't read the teleprompter. I'm sure some producer of the telecast was wondering whether it might be better to screen award presenters for signs of dementia.

 

Let's get this straight.  79 is not old.  80 is not old.  Teleprompters are hard to read with bright spotlights shining in your eyes.  And when you are handed the wrong envelope at the Oscars, anyone would be confused.

 

But Oscar's Golden Pond-like gaffe has a message to teach us, not about aging per se, but about being human and vulnerable.  Last week, all the Hollywooders thought it was so cute to bring in a busload of "real people," tourists, who got the surprise of their lives.  When Kimmel asked one who her favorite star is and she pointed to Denzel Washington and said "that one," it was the most moving, unscripted, human moment of the entire night.  Until Beatty squinted into the lights.

 

In the end, the stars were the ones who had to go off script.  In the end, they became the real people. In the end, there was no difference between them and those tourists.  In the end, the sex god from "Shampoo" and the scheming ice-queen from "Network" became just good old Norman and Ethel Thayer from Golden Pond, aging and raging against the dying of the light, just like the rest of us.

In this week's portion of Terumah, the book of Exodus tells us that the ark located in the sanctuary in the wilderness, which housed the Ten Commandments, was lined with gold both inside and out.  The rabbis easily understood why it should look nice on the outside.  But why the inside as well?  The response (from the Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 27) is that we all should be the same, and as ethically pure, on the "inside" as we are in public.  It's a great lesson on the evils of hypocrisy, but it also has a slightly different meaning for us in the wake of Oscar's Golden Gaffe.

What glowed from Ethel, Norman, Warren and Faye, was an inner beauty that glitters every bit as much as what is on the outside.  Last week, the Oscars ended in a moment that was entirely Botox-free.  The statuette was given to honor a film, "Moonlight" that was so totally about real people that they forgot to hire any megastars to act in it.

The ark was lined in gold on the inside.  And so are we.  Last week's supposed fiasco was really a celebration of the intrinsic value of being human that does not dissipate over time, even - no, particularly - as we age.

Shabbat-O-Gram for Feb. 24

Shabbat Shalom! 

Join us for an exciting end-of-month Shabbat.  Adar begins on Sunday, and as the Talmud tells us, "When Adar enters, our joy increases."  If March comes in like a lion, Adar comes in like a hyena - a laughing one.

Tonight our joy will increase with Cantor Fishman's return, accompanied this week by Beth Styles - we look forward to it!  On Shabbat morning, we'll be in the sanctuary celebrating a very special birthday for Carol Sander, with a d'var Torah being given by Hank Silverstein.  Happy birthday, Carol!  We've also got our B'nai Mitzvah Club Shabbat and the ever-popular Shababimbam for tots! Followed by lunch, and then Comedy Night in the evening.  A very busy final Shabbat of Shevat it will be!

Keep in mind that next Friday, March 3, is Shabbat Across Stamford, so there will not be a service here that night. The service (which will be at 5:15) is open to all who wish to come, but you can also register for the meal and the whole evening by signing up here.

Finally, some recommended reading. If you can't stand the suspense and want to just cut to the chase and see what the Jewish people will be like in 2050, check out this free download from Moment, which includes essays from a number of noted scholars.

Europe Trip Deadline is 7 Days Away! See our revised itinerary

Sign up for the trip now!  More than 90 percent of Poland's Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, and most of those who survived emigrated or were driven out long ago. The result is that a land that once was home to 3 million Jews - 10 percent of Polish society, the largest Jewish population in Europe - is now more than 99.9 percent non-Jewish. Millions of Poles have never knowingly met a Jew. But oh, how enraptured they are with the genius that was Israel!  See the rest of this article about contemporary Poland's infatuation with Jews and Jewish culture.  And better yet, see for yourself this summer!

Passover Second Night Seder

Passover is just six weeks away!  For the first time in several years, by popular demand, we are doing a Passover Seder here on the second night of the festival, thanks in part to a grant from the Mann Family Foundation.  Despite the high cost of Passover food, we've kept the price as low as possible.  Note that the start time is going to be 7 PM, to give people a better chance to get here.  Space will be limited, so please sign up early!  And let me know if you would like to serve on a committee that will plan a very special evening.   SIGN UP HERE.

67 Bomb Threats.  One Cemetery Desecrated. 

Absolute Kindness Revealed.

It has been very comforting to see the response of so many to the revolting acts of hate committed against Jews and others this past week.  VP Pence's comments at the desecrated Jewish cemetery in St Louis were especially reassuring.  So too was the following release from the National Council of Churches.  We are not alone in or effort to eradicate anti-Semitism.  No one should be in confronting senseless hate.

The cemetery that was vandalized goes by the name "Hesed Shel Emet," which is also the expression for the mitzvot of caring for the dead.  These acts, which include the ritual washing of the body and the participation in a timely burial, are considered acts of "absolute kindness" in that they are the only favors we can do for someone that cannot be thanked or repaid.  When we perform a "Hesed Shel Emet," we are truly paying it forward, knowing that some day, people will be called upon to exercise such kindness toward us.

In this case, the acts of kindness not only involve what is being done to restore the cemetery, especially by Muslim and Christian groups, but the kindness is manifested also the ways religious groups are supporting one another.  The statement below from the National Council of Churches illustrates my point.

See also the website Values and Voices.  Religion scholars from across the spectrum of religious groups have gotten together to send a daily letter emphasizing the core values that all religions share.  

Finally, note that Stamford has a Chevra Kadisha, a burial society, whose mission is to perform "Hesed Shel Emet" in preparing Jews for burial.  Several TBE members represent us, but the society is always looking for more.  Their annual dinner is being held next week, on the seventh of Adar, traditionally Moses' yahrzeit, a time when such groups have often been honored.  To read more about the dinner, click here.

And let's aim to fill our lives with acts of Hesed - and ultimately with the ultimate form of Hesed: Hesed Shel Emet.

WASHINGTON: The National Council of Churches denounces recent anti-Semitic incidents and condemns rhetoric that has fueled such acts. We stand firmly with our Jewish brothers and sisters during this difficult time. As a community of 38 Christian communions in the United States, the National Council of Churches continues to pray and work for a nation in which all persons may freely worship as they wish without fear. In this, we are not alone.

For months now there has been a sharp rise in threats made against synagogues and Jewish community centers.There have been at least 67 incidents at 56 Jewish Community Centers in 27 states and one Canadian province since the beginning of 2017. This week, bomb threats were called in to Jewish organizations across the nation, and a Jewish cemetery in University City, Missouri, was vandalized.

We are encouraged to see acts of love, moral courage, and solidarity among faith groups in response to these hateful acts. When a mosque in Victoria, Texas, was destroyed by fire in an apparent arson, Jewish leaders from the community gave Muslim leaders the keys to their synagogue. In response to the Jewish cemetery vandalism, Muslims have launched a campaign to raise funds to repair it, more than tripling their goal of $20,000. We encourage churches to reach out to Jewish communities being threatened and offer similar acts of friendship and solidarity.

Anti-Semitism has no place in our society. Eradicating it requires keeping constant vigil. The National Council of Churches is committed to this effort. 

Reinventing Judaism, Re-imagining Ourselves

According to Wikipedia, no one has ever proven that the phrase, "May you live in interesting times" has origins as a Chinese aphorism, as many have surmised.  Some have even suggested that the phrase has Jewish roots, although no one can guess as to whether, if it was originally Jewish, it was meant to be a blessing or a curse. 

Most likely, the answer would be "both."  These certainly are interesting times, here, in Israel and around the world, times that demand our full attention and engagement.  

But stressful times also demand that we dig deep within and center ourselves, to regain a sense of balance and firm footing, a rootedness that can sustain us through the challenging days ahead.  Never has it been more important to find strength wherever we can, and for Jews that means going back to our sources.  It means striving to activate the inner wellsprings of the soul, through prayer, meditation, reflection and mitzvah.  It means utilizing the full toolkit at our disposal, so that Jewish wisdom might be more meaningful to us - and it means doing it with a loving, non-judgmental community around you, as we help one another each step of the way.

It is with that mind that we are intensifying our focus on Jewish Renewal at TBE.  Jewish renewal is not a movement per se, but an extension of the intensified, out-of-the-box spiritual encounters that included the great Kabbalists of Safed, the early Hasidim and the Havurah movement of the more recent past.  We have seen glimpses of this intensified spirituality in our services of the past several years, as well as some classes and meditative sessions.  

Recently I have been strengthening our connection with this network, and over the next several weeks, those efforts will begin to bear fruit.  Rabbi David Markus, who is the co-director of Aleph, a hub for Jewish Renewal, will join us at Men's Club Shabbat on March 4 to give a d'var Torah.  Then, on Wed., March 8, he will begin a four part adult ed series exploring how Jewish spirituality can enrich our lives and heal our burdened souls.  This series is sponsored by Michael Horowitz in loving memory of Penny Horowitz, Bessie Silver and Millie Reiss, all of blessed memory.  There is no charge for these sessions - and they may change your life!

Also join us next weekend as Rabbi Markus will participate in our Men's Club Shabbat and on Sunday, Rabbi Michael Uram will help us to develop strategies in reaching out to those seeking the kind of re-imagined Judaism we are growing here.

And as we we bring to life a new vision of Judaism, we'll also bring new potency to TBE's central role in helping all of us navigate these "interesting" times.

Shabbat-O-Gram for Feb. 17

Shabbat Shalom!  Join us for services this evening at 7:30, as, I will be joined by guest musicians Katie Kaplan and Assaf Gleizner (Cantor Fishman is away this week). On Shabbat morning, our Torah portion is Yitro, which includes the Ten Commandments.  We'll look at them in depth.  Meanwhile, from the archives: -          See this parsha packet: Ten Commandments and World Religions.  -          And see also: Thou Shalt Not Covet: The Impossible Commandment. Shababimbam is off this week, but it is growing fast!  If you know of anyone with little ones (babies through preschool), let them know about our vibrant, exciting young family programs.  Send them to our new TBE Tots Facebook page.  Your Presence is Your Present! Our daily morning minyan benefits the community in innumerable ways.  We almost always have people attending who are saying Kaddish, either for a yahrzeit or because they are in the mourning period for a relative.  People also come to say prayers for loved ones who are ill, or because they are facing a life crisis.  Unfortunately, some of our "regulars" are facing challenges of their own - so we occasionally fall short of ten.  If you have ever benefitted from our community's support of you during hard times, please consider "paying it forward" by coming to minyan.  7:30 weekdays, 9 AM Sundays and federal holidays (including this Monday).  And you can brush up on the prayers by checking out our "Minyan Mastery" webpage.  Remember, there is no need to be intimidated.  Your mere presence is your present! Europe Trip Deadline is 14 Days Away! See our revised itinerary We live-streamed Wednesday evening's superb lecture on "Secrets of the Warsaw Ghetto" by Dr. Samuel Kassow.  You can watch it by going on to our TBE Facebook page; and "like" that page to have quick access to our streamed services and lectures. And sign up for the trip now! Passover Second Night Seder Passover is just six weeks away!  For the first time in several years, by popular demand, we are doing a Passover Seder here on the second night of the festival, thanks in part to a grant from the Mann Family Foundation.  Despite the high cost of Passover food, we've kept the price as low as possible.  Space will be limited, so please sign up early!  And let me know if you would like to serve on a committee that will plan a very special evening. SIGN UP HERE. President's Day: "To Bigotry No Sanction' When confronted by fears of anti-Semitism from the Jewish community of Newport Rhode Island, President George Washington wrote his famous response: "It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent national gifts. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support...  May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."  When confronted with a nation more divided than ever as result of centuries of institutionalized racism, President Lincoln gave his famous "House Divided" speech.  It's interesting that in this speech, Lincoln did not advocate unity at all costs.  Unity for its own sake can never be the ultimate goal.   What he was looking for was a nation united for a just cause, in this case the abolition of slavery.  Unity with a common purpose can bring people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives together.  This week, the President of the United States was given the chance to answer virtually the same question posed by 18th century Jews of Newport - a softball toss from an Israeli journalist giving him the chance to address the fears of Jews facing the documented rise of anti-Semitism and hate in this country.  The number of hate groups rose in 2016, and most are anti-Semitic. You can read the unfiltered responses of the President and Israeli Prime Minister here and decide for yourself whether those responses fit into the mold so powerfully cast by Washington and Lincoln.  You can also read how President Trump responded to a Haredi reporter who was asking about anti-Semitism in Thursday's press conference, once again - twice, actually - missing the chance to state clearly and calmly that anti-Semitism and all forms of hate are not to be tolerated. Afterwards, the Ultra-Orthodox reporter gave President Trump a mulligan in the hopes that he will soon clarify his response.  But the ADL and AJC were less generous in their assessments of what transpired at the press conferences. Despite the alarming trends on hate groups, American Jews have no reason to fear an onslaught of hate directed against us.  The bigger picture was revealed in a poll this week, which shows that Americans are warming up to religious groups, and Jews are at the very top of the list.  The top!  Jews have never been more secure here. They like us!  They really like us!  But still there is much to be concerned about. The form of hatred being incubated, whether deliberately or tacitly, is every bit as virulent as those Middle Eastern strains that are being so zealously targeted. The terrorism of Quebec City and Charleston was every bit as hateful and murderous as the terrorism of Orlando and San Bernardino. Bigotry is bigotry, no matter what the source.  On Thursday, I attended a meeting of clergy and other community leaders, called by Mayor Martin and Chief of Police Fontneau.  It was heartening to see how our community has come together to help those who feel the most vulnerable and counter hate in all its manifestations. (See the mayor's press release about the meeting here). The Mayor and Police Chief emphasized that the police will be increasing patrols around vulnerable institutions and that the rights of individuals will be protected. So on this holiday weekend celebrating the gifts of great leaders, we pray that our current leaders live up to their immortal words - so that bigotry will never find sanction in either land. The Complicated Legacy of Jacob Neusner During last fall's election turmoil and High Holidays crush, the death of Jacob Neusner, one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of the past century, received relatively little attention.  Neusner, who died in October, was one of the giants who established Jewish studies in the 20th century, and a central figure in the history of critical scholarship on our holy texts. He was also my mentor and inspiration.  But the relationship was not without complications. In late December, with a chance finally to collect my thoughts, I reflected on how Neusner's passing has moved me to come to terms with the many ways in which this intellectual colossus both shaped me and shafted me. In fact, it's only now, decades later, with the man who launched 1,000 books now at rest, that I feel able to look back and assess his impact, both on my life and on the world. As the many scholars who knew him can testify, Neusner was famously cruel - one might even say abusive -- to students and colleagues, and in particular to those students in whom he saw promise. I was one of them. He was fundamental in shaping my perspectives on ancient and contemporary Judaisms, while challenging me to question my own faith system with an ultra-critical eye. He fed my insatiable need to smash idols and my deep desire to seek common threads linking Judaism to the universal human enterprise. He took this Ramah/USY-bred insider and ripped him from the womb of a Jewish establishment that had been ossifying for years, replacing spoon-fed platitudes with a far bolder quest. He is the reason I became a rabbi - and for the kind of rabbi I became. This Sunday evening at 7:30, I'll be discussing Neusner's legacy and his personal impact on me, at a meeting of the TBE Discussion Group, here in the lobby.  All are welcome. My reflections were published in a long form essay in the Forward, which you can read here.  Mitzvah of the Week: Hachnasat Orchim (Welcoming Visitors) A STAMFORD EFFORT TO HELP STUDENTS IN THE U.S. FROM SOMALILAND: This week, I met with representatives of an effort going on in Stamford to find host families and internships for this summer for approximately 30 students from Somaliland who come from the Abaarso School of Science and Technology.  These students are attending US prep school and colleges. Unfortunately they will not be able to go home this summer for fear of not being able to return at the end of the summer to continue their studies, due to the Executive Order barring entrance of people to the U.S. from their country.  Therefore the group is looking for host families who can host one or two students for 2 - 3 weeks this summer. There are several families in Stamford who have hosted these students in previous summers and school holiday breaks. The students are super smart, interesting and wonderful people. It is a great experience for all involved. This act of hospitality, though in response to the President's Executive Order, transcends politics. As the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, has stated, the Order flies against "Judaism's imperative to 'welcome the stranger,'" but one can participate in this particular mitzvah no matter what one feels about the Executive Order. Currently there are 58 students from Abaarso in the US. They are concentrated in the East Coast, but in the South-East, and West, as well. They are in Secondary Schools and University programs including MIT, Harvard, Brandeis, Wheaton, Brown, Ct. College, Clark, Holy Cross, Amherst, Berkshire, Choate, Yale, Taft, Trinity, Hotchkiss, Emma Willard, Maris, Rochester, Swarthmore, Lafayette, Church Farm, George Washington, Woodbury Forest St. Albans, Agnes Scott, Rabun Gap, Oberlin, UWV, Grinnell, Westminster (Mo.), TCU, and Hockaday (TX). Some of these students will be finishing their studies and others will be able to stay at their schools, but we do need host families for approximately 30 students. For the college students we are also looking for internships. Here is some information and coming news coverage for the school and its students (www.abaarsoschool.org). 1. Jonathan Starr, Founder of Abaarso, was interviewed on "Morning Joe", on Friday Feb 8 to discuss the school and his new book about the school, It Takes a School: The Extraordinary Story of an American School in the World's #1 Failed State (available through Barnes and Noble).  See the interview here 2. Anderson Cooper went to Abaarso last year (see preliminary YouTube interview on the Abaarso site: The full interview is scheduled for the "60 Minutes" program this Sunday.  The interview will emphasize the value to an integrated and more secure world where students like these, smart, educated, worldly become leaders in their countries. 3. Nicholas Kristof's column in the New York Times, about an Abaarso student at Harvard. Here is a brief summary of the help needed to find host families and internships for summer 2017: a. Summer host families: Abaarso management has advised current students in the U.S. not to leave the U.S. while they are students here, to prevent any possible rejection when they attempt to return. No matter what happens with the on-going appeals of the court decisions, there is likely to be a new Executive Order that might affect these students. This means that we are seeking host families for these students for this summer. Obviously critical is that these families are well known by the person recommending them. b. Internships: The Abaarso students are in the U.S. with F-1 visas which permit them to work in the US, so long as the work is related to their Major in college. If you or members of your congregation have ideas for internships for summer 2017 please let us know and we will marry your sources with the majors of the Abaarso university students (to conform with the USSD reg's). A lot of people don't know that there is a difference between Somalia and Somaliland. (Apparently, neither does the US government; hence its inclusion in the travel ban). Here is some info from Wikipedia: Somaliland is a self-declared state internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the former British Somaliland protectorate, which as the State of Somaliland, united on 1 July 1960 with the Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somalia Republic (Somalia).  The territory has been governed by democratically elected governments that seek international recognition as the Government of the Republic of Somaliland. The central government maintains informal ties with some foreign governments, who have sent delegations to Hargeisa. However, Somaliland's self-proclaimed independence remains unrecognized by any country or international organization. It is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, an advocacy group whose members consist of indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognized or occupied territories. Please contact Belle Horwitz or Walter Stewart for additional information: Belle Horwitz: bhorwitz@orintl.com: Cell: 1-917-603-1175 Walter Stewart: walterstewart@optonline.net: Cell: 1-203-912-8266 Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Joshua Hammerman