Shabbat-O-Gram

January 21, 2006 - Tevet 21, 5766

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Temple Beth El, Stamford, Connecticut

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Contents of the Shabbat O Gram: (click to scroll down)

Just the Facts (service schedule)

The Rabid Rabbi

Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunities

Ask the Rabbi

Spiritual Journey on the Web

Required Reading and Action Items (links to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)

Announcements (goings on in and around TBE)

Joke for the Week

Quote for the Week

“I’m not complaining about the fact he said it — he can say whatever he wants. One of my problems is the lack of outrage from the public, though the White House has come out against the reverend’s statements. Why aren’t more people upset about this? I know that Robertson expresses the opinion of a radical minority, but the fact that this group exists and continues to grow scares me — and should scare all of you”

-- TBE’s Sam Ginsburg, on Pat Robertson, in his column in the Pitt News

JUST THE FACTS

Friday Evening

Candle lighting for Stamford, CT: Candle lighting: 4:38 pm on Friday, 20 January 2006. Havdalah is at 5:42 on Saturday evening. For candle lighting times, other Jewish calendar information, and to download a Jewish calendar to your PDA, click on http://www.hebcal.com/. To see the festivals of other faiths as well, go to http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/

Kabbalat Shabbat: 6:30 PM – in the chapel

Tot Shabbat: cancelled for this week

Shabbat Morning: 9:30 AM – Mazal tov to Philip Schapiro, who becomes Bar Mitzvah this Shabbat morning!

Children’s services: 10:30

Torah Portion: Shemot - Exodus 1:1 - 6:1

1: 3:1-6
2: 3:7-10
3: 3:11-15
4: 3:16-22
5: 4:1-5
6: 4:6-9
7: 4:10-17
maf: 4:14-17

Haftarah – Isaiah 27:6 - 28:13; 29:22 - 29:23

See a weekly commentary from the UJC Rabbinic Cabinet, at www.ujc.org/mekorchaim. Read the Masorti commentary at http://www.masorti.org/mason/torah/index.asp. University of Judaism, JTS commentary is at: http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/. USCJ Torah Sparks can be found at http://uscj.org/item20_467.html. UAHC Shabbat Table Talk discussions are at http://uahc.org/torah/exodus.shtml. Other divrei Torah via the Torahnet home page: http://uahcweb.org/torahnet/. Test your Parasha I.Q.: http://www.ou.org/jewishiq/parsha/default.htm. CLAL’s Torah commentary archive: http://click.topica.com/maaaiRtaaRvQhbV2AtLb/. World Zionist Organization Education page, including Nehama Liebowitz archives of parsha commentaries: http://www.moreshet.net/web/index.asp?f=1 For a more Kabbalistic/Zionist/Orthodox perspective from Rav Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Israel, go to http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/index.html. For some probing questions and meditations on key verses of the portion, with a liberal kabbalistic bent, go to http://www.jewishealing.com/learning.html or, for Kabbalistic commentaries from the Zohar itself, go to http://www.kabbalah.com/k/index.php/p=zohar/weekly/intro. To see the weekly commentary from Hillel, geared to college students and others, go to http://www.hillel.org/hillel/NewHille.nsf/FCB8259CA861AE57852567D30043BA26/DF7D129F15B3DF0885256AB80058E9C3?OpenDocument. For a Jewish Renewal and feminist approach go to http://rabbishefagold.hypermart.net/Torah1.html . For a comprehensive Orthodox viewpoint from the Israeli rabbi, Yaakov Fogelman, go to the Torah Outreach Program at http://israelvisit.co.il/top/previous.shtml. Guided meditations for each portion by Judith Abrams at http://www.maqom.com/kavannah.pdf For online Parsha quizzes from Pardes in Israel, go to http://www.pardes.org.il/online_learning/parsha_quizzes/ Torah for Kids: http://www.torah4kids.net/ Weekly Lesson of Popular Israeli Rabbi Mordechai Elon: http://www.elon.org/archives/archives.htm - and his parsha sheets: http://www.mibereshit.org/special/download_eng_pdf.htm From Bar Ilan University: http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/; http://www.torahproductions.com/weekly_article.jsp

Sunday morning at 11:00 – visit by Camp Ramah representative

THE ENTIRE HEBREW BIBLE (AS WELL AS OTHER JEWISH SOURCES) CAN BE FOUND WITH SIDE-BY-SIDE TRANSLATION AT

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/

Morning Minyan: Weekdays at 7:30, Sundays at 9:30 AM

IN THE CHAPEL

TO ENSURE A “GUARANTEED MINYAN” FOR THE DAY OF YOUR YAHRZEIT – GO TO THE ROSNER MINYAN MAKER AT WWW.TBE.ORG AND ALSO CONTACT ME AT RABBI@TBE.ORG.

Winter Weather Advisory

Note that in the case of bad weather, weekday minyan does not take place when Stamford public schools are cancelled OR postponed. On Sunday, minyan is cancelled if our Religious School sessions are cancelled. Friday evening and Shabbat morning’s main service is never officially cancelled, but do use your best judgment in deciding whether to come. We will endeavor to get proper notification to WSTC radio regarding cancellations, but that may not always be possible for children’s services held on Shabbat.

The Rabid Rabbi

Holy Schleppers

Reb Shlomo Carlebach used to call the wayward assortment of down and out Jews who followed him around “Holy Schleppers.” Journalist Jennifer Bleyer describes her Jewish journey among the Holy Schleppers in an essay found at http://www.nextbook.org/cultural/feature.html?id=173. Bleyer became the founder of “Heeb” magazine, a counter-culture swipe at the Jewish establishment that simultaneously expresses the deep alienation and tribal connection that many Jews feel. Although the focus of this alienation has always been on young Jews, the culture of “Heeb” has struck a chord among many baby boomers, who, after all, invented the counter culture.

Try though we might, the Jewish establishment cannot shake its stodgy image. The simple fact of our being a suburban synagogue is a serious obstacle in our quest to reach out to those who are seeking meaning in being Jewish. Bleyer’s journey is fascinating because once she achieved the imprimatur of “coolness,” she quickly began to lose interest in “Heeb,” eventually leaving it and going on to other things. She found that you can’t be both cool and an outsider, and for her, being Jewish was meaningful only through the alienation of being a Holy Schlepper.

So here’s our conundrum. So much of what we do in framing Judaism for the next generation is to convince them that it is “cool.” And in fact, now it is! (I won’t bore you by reciting all the evidence in our popular culture). But in achieving “cool” we have lost, in Bleyer’s estimation, the authenticity of our message. Judaism was founded in exile, nurtured in exile and framed by the experience of exile. Even in the Jewish homeland, there is a feeling of being an outsider, unwanted by the world. When we stop being outsiders the Jewish message loses much of its power.

I’m not sure what the answer is. I know that by saying “Be Jewish and be Miserable,” we won’t gain too many converts (and remember that every Jew these days is literally a Jew by Choice). But I love Jennifer Bleyer’s obsession with the question.

Her essay concludes with this apocryphal tale the alienated insider, one that we can all relate to:

Once, there was a young rabbi. People came from near and far to hear this young rabbi speak, because the way he spoke about Torah made them feel like they were flying through the air. And when the rabbi spoke, he himself felt like he was flying, such was the enjoyment he received from teaching Torah. Once he met with his own rabbi in the privacy of his study. There, he confessed that he didn't believe a word that he said. He didn't believe that the Torah was true.

"Oy," said the young rabbi, "how can I go on like this? They hang on my words, and I enjoy teaching them, but this is hypocrisy!" The great rabbi looked at him and replied, "So you enjoy it, and they enjoy it. You get joy from it, and they get joy from it. The only one it's bad for is hypocrisy!"

This Thing Called Shul The following interesting article, “This Thing Called Church,” was sent out in the newsletter of the Alban Institute’s weekly newsletter. While many of the Christian references may seem foreign to us, the main message rings true to all faith groups, including TBE: “Our challenge, therefore, as we consider how to create vital, healthy congregations for the future, is to help congregations regain—or gain for the first time—theological content, integrity, and passion. It’s time for us to recognize that such theological focus and renewal are at the heart of the renewal and vitality of the church.”

by Anthony B. Robinson A lack of theological content and clarity may be at the core of the current malaise of many mainline Protestant congregations. It is my belief that an integral and vital relationship exists between our core convictions, our theology, and our health as congregations. It therefore concerns me that the literature on what it takes to create healthy congregations includes a great deal on systems theory, leadership studies, conflict management, and a variety of other approaches (all of which are helpful and valid) but little that is explicitly theological or biblical in nature. By and large, it seems that congregational health is not considered to have much to do with either the core convictions of the Christian faith, theology, or the Bible. In particular, little attention is paid to ecclesiology—the theology of church. In fact, Christian conviction about the church often seems to be missing entirely. This lack, I believe, should be central to our efforts as we work to build healthy congregations for the future. Click here to continue reading “This Thing Called Church,” featured in the current issue of Congregations magazine

Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Projects

Beth El Cares:

Locks of Love
 
  
 
Todah Rabah to Lily Schacht (age 10) (on bottom), Sophie Koester (age 10, just below)
and to mother and daughter team Mindy Hausman and Stephanie Hausman (age 7, above),
the most recent in a series of donors to cut at least 10 inches of their hair for Locks of Love,
an organization that makes wigs for needy children!
We will announce the spring group donation date shortly,
for those of you who want to cut your hair in a group setting and the comfort of the temple’s building.
We hope those children who expressed an interest in participating will have their 10 inches by then!
 
 
 
 

 
Blood Drive: 
Sunday, April 30th 8:30am-1:30pm (before, during and after religious school)
 
Wanted: 125 adults looking to get involved in a short term project that will save lives. 
No lengthy commitment required.
 
We need at least 125 volunteers to make this blood drive a success. 
While the Red Cross provides the “beds” we need to put “arms in the beds”. 
We also need volunteers to staff a sign up table during religious school, 
make sign up phone calls, assist with registration, assist with information forms, 
and generally help during the blood drive. 
Don’t forget to sign yourself up to donate-we need 125 donors! 
Please call Cheryl Wolff (968-6361) to get involved. 
 
Religious School Book Sale: 
One Day Only: Sunday, March 26. 
BUY A DIFFERENT HAGGADAH, BUY AFIKOMAN PRESENTS and MORE.
 
Religious School Mitzvah Projects:
We are pleased to report that Grades K-3 have completed their annual class mitzvah projects. 
Depending on the grade, the children gave a Chanukkah concert at Brighton Gardens 
assisted living facility or made toiletry kits for the homeless. 
During the next few months the upper grades will participate in their class mitzvah projects:
 
Grade 4- Make pictures to cheer up the sick at Stamford Hospital 
Grade 5- Birthday closet
Grade 6- Temple/cemetery spring clean up
 
Watch for details! Students in 7th grade perform individual mitzvah projects 
in conjunction with their Bar/Bat Mitzvah!
 
Please contact us if you have ideas for mitzvah projects 
or if you are working on a mitzvah project that you need help with.
 
Cathy Satz (968-9191; csscounsel@yahoo.com)
Cheryl Wolff (968-6361; cwolff@optonline.net)
BETH EL CARES co-chairs
 
 

Spiritual Journey on the Web

The Right To Die

Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Suicide Law
Gina Holland/Associated Press (washingtonpost.com)
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court upheld Oregon's one-of-a-kind physician-assisted suicide law Tuesday, rejecting a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die. In a 6-3 ruling, justices reject a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors in Oregon who help terminally ill patients die.

Who has the right to end a life?

See full coverage of this issue on the ReligionLink website by clicking the link above. We’ll cover it from the Jewish perspective in the next Hot Button Halacha session, to be held on Sunday the 29^th at 11 AM – note the chance – not this Sunday but NEXT Sunday.

Truth and Consequences

In early March we’ll be welcoming our scholar in residence Joseph Telushkin who is publishing the most complete compendium of Jewish Ethics yet written in the English language – and it will appear here first! Read about "The Code of Jewish Ethics" here and also his other books.

So in his honor, let’s focus on ethics in this week’s journey…

The Wikipedia has a nice article on Jewish Ethics, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_ethics. It includes external links specifically on bioethics. Also, as always, Myjewishlearning is a great place to begin: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/daily_life/About_Jewish_Daily_Life/TO_Ethical_Behavior/Jewish_Ethics_in_Rab_Lit.htm, there you’ll find an article by Michael Strassfeld, On Being a Mensch and also The Theology and Ethics of Speech.

Check out www.radicalhonesty.com.  What is Radical Honesty?  According to the site, "Radical Honesty is a kind of communication that is direct, complete, open and expressive. Radical Honesty means you tell the people in your life what you've done or plan to do, what you think, and what you feel. It's the kind of authentic sharing that creates the possibility of love and intimacy."  It's an interesting concept, though I am wary of radical anything and would not cough up a cent for anything here.  It's interesting to look at the site's "Ten Tips to Living a Radically Honest Life" and compare them to Jewish values regarding gossip, business ethics etc.  There are some clear parallels, but the Talmud came up with these ideas 2,000 years ago.

For business ethics see the articles at Jewish Business.com, at http://www.jewishbusiness.com/torah.html.  This site is part of the (Orthodox) Project Genesis Network.

ASK THE RABBI

How Many Commandments are there?

The traditional number, based on Maimonides’ calculations, is 613. Find a complete list online at http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm. This list features hyperlinks to explanations of most of them mitzvot. Notice that many of them can’t be carried out in our day, as they were intended only for a time when the temple existed; also certain commandments can only be fulfilled in the Land of Israel. But that still leaves plenty to keep us busy!

Notice also how many of them have to do with ethical behavior (what is called in Hebrew “ben adam l’chavero,” those mitzvot between human beings), and how many also dwell on domestic relationships. Also see:

The Positive Commandments and The Negative Commandments--This Hebrew  and English text is hypertext linked, so you can click on a verse and immediately see all of the places in the Tanach where that text is cited.

Finally, read what modern thinkers say in “Contempory Views of the Mitzvot.”

Is it worth spending some time on this subject? I can give your 613 reasons why it is.

MERCAZ USA — Slate #9

IMPORTANT WORLD ZIONIST CONGRESS ELECTION NEWS

VOTER REGISTRATION: Deadlines for voter registration are now approaching. Mail-in registration ends as of January 15th, while online registration continues to February 15th. If you have not yet registered to vote, go to www.mercazusa.org. Click "Register" to start online process. Click "Learn", scroll down to #8 to download and print out a mail-in form.

PAPER BALLOTS: A second mailing of paper ballots for those who registered after November 15th were mailed at the end of December while a third and final mailing will be going out in the third week of January. Those who register by January 15th and ask to receive a paper ballot (either initial ballot or duplicate/replacement ballot) will be included in this final mailing. Mail-in ballots must be returned to Election Services Corporation postmarked no later than February 28, 2006. Remember to place a stamp on the envelope and put only one ballot per envelope.

EMAIL BALLOTS: Voters who register online after January 15th or those who request a duplicate email ballot will be sent a ballot to the email address provided in their registration. The email ballot will arrive with the words "AMERICAN ZIONIST MOVEMENT" in the "FROM" line. The email address from which the ballot is sent is azmelections@electionservicescorp.com. Email ballots are sent out "bulk", so depending on how your email account is set up, you may find your ballot in your Spam or Junk Mail folder.

CASTING AN EMAIL BALLOT: For the internet ballot to be counted, you need two sets of numbers: a 10-digit Election Validation Number, which is supplied by the American Zionist Movement and is indicated in the message accompanying the ballot, and one's Personal ID Number (the last 6-digits of the registrant's SSN or your DATE OF BIRTH, whichever number was provided at the time of registration). The deadline for casting a ballot is 12:00 midnight, PST, February 28, 2006.

QUESTIONS: Registration problems should be addressed to the American Zionist Movement at (888) 657-8850. Voting issues, including requests for an email ballot or changes of email address should be addressed to the AZM Help Line at azmhelp@electionservicescorp.com or (866) 720-HELP (4357), 8:30 am - 5:30 pm, EST. Please allow up to 3 days for an answer.

VOTE MERCAZ USA — SLATE #9

Click here to read the MERCAZ Platform and Slate of Candidates.

Required Reading and Action Items

Mofaz accuses Iran of funding Tel Aviv bombing

Let's Give Iran Some of Its Own Medicine - Mark Steyn
The majority of Iran's population is younger than the revolution: whether or not they're as "pro-American" as is sometimes claimed, they have no memory of the Shah; all they've ever known is their ramshackle Islamic republic where the unemployment rate is currently 25%. If war breaks out, those surplus young men will be in uniform and defending their homeland. Why not tap into their excess energy right now? As the foreign terrorists have demonstrated in Iraq, you don't need a lot of local support to give the impression of a popular insurgency. Would it not be feasible to turn the tables and upgrade Iran's somewhat lethargic dissidents into something a little livelier? A Teheran preoccupied by internal suppression will find it harder to pull off its pretensions to regional superpower status.
    Eight of the regime's border guards have been kidnapped and threatened with decapitation by a fanatical Sunni group in Iranian Baluchistan. I'm of the view that the Shia are a much better long-term bet as reformable Muslims, but given that there are six million Sunni in Iran and that they're a majority in some provinces, would it not be possible to give the regime its own Sunni Triangle? Insofar as Iran has a strategy, the president's chief adviser, Hassan Abbassi, has based it on the premise that "Britain is the mother of all evils" - the evils being America, Australia, Israel, the Gulf states, and even Canada and New Zealand, all of which are the malign progeny of the British Empire. "We have established a department that will take care of England," said Abbassi last May. "England's demise is on our agenda." Apropos the ayatollahs, England could at least return the compliment. (Telegraph-UK)

The Iran Charade, Part II - Charles Krauthammer (Washington Post)

• Britain, France, and Germany admitted that their two years of talks to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program had collapsed. This negotiating exercise, designed as an alternative to the U.S. approach of imposing sanctions on Iran for its violations of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, gave Iran time to harden its nuclear facilities against bombardment, acquire new antiaircraft capacities and clandestinely advance its program.
• Instead of being years away from the point of no return for an Iranian bomb, as we were before we allowed Europe to divert anti-proliferation efforts into transparently useless talks, Iran is probably just months away, and now led by a president who fervently believes in the imminence of the apocalypse.
• Having delayed two years, we now have to deal with a set of fanatical Islamists who we know will not be deterred from pursuing nuclear weapons by any sanctions. Even if we could get real sanctions. Which we will not.
• The Chinese in particular have secured in Iran a source of oil and gas outside the American sphere to feed their growing economy and are quite happy geopolitically to support a rogue power that - like North Korea - threatens, distracts, and diminishes the power of China's chief global rival, the United States.
• The Europeans have no appetite for real sanctions either. A cutoff of investment and high-tech trade from Europe would be a minor irritant to a country of 70 million people with the second-largest oil reserves in the world and with oil at $60 a barrel. It is the Iranians who have the world over a barrel. On Jan. 15, Iran's economy minister warned that Iran would retaliate for any sanctions by cutting its exports to "raise oil prices beyond levels the West expects."

Mortal Threat - Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
What if Iran's nuclear weapons were actually intended to bring about one of Ahmadinejad's other stated objectives: "a world without America"? Would we indulge in still more talk-a-thons like those of the last two-plus years led by the EU3 - for which the Iranians have publicly expressed appreciation as "buying time" for their nuclear program? A blue-ribbon commission's report to the Congress last