March 18, 2006 – Adar 18, 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

Purim at TBE

More photos are at www.tbe.org

At our website you’ll also find my complete Passover “Guide for the Perplexed” and a downloadable Sale of Hametz form

Quotes for the Week

“When Adar arrives, we increase our joy."

(Talmud Ta'anit 29a)

The gematria (numerical value) Heb. b'simcha, is the same as that of 'year' [Heb. shanah]

This means that the joy that a person is inspired to have at this time will be a source

from which he can draw upon himself joy for the whole year. And so it should be God’s will.

(Rebbe Avraham Yehoshua Heschel of Apt.)

JUST THE FACTS

If you have yet to RSVP for Dan’s Bar Mitzvah on 4/22, please do so at http://www.tbe.org/dansbarmitzvah/index.htm

We want to be sure to get accurate numbers to the caterer.

Thanks

The Hammermans

Friday Evening

Candle lighting Candle lighting: 5:44pm on Friday, 17 March 2006 - Havdalah is at 6:46 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: 6:45 – in the lobby - Tot Shabbat will be hosted this week by Jeannette and Mike Timmons and their children, Liam and Forrest, in honor of grandparents Wendy and Bob Levine. Liam and Forrest both attend Westover School.

Shabbat Morning: 9:30 AM – Mazal tov to Peri Shapiro, who will become bat mitzvah this Shabbat morning! Mazal tov also to Ari Tannenbaum and Rachelle Lipschultz, whose ufruf will take place at this service.

Children’s services: 10:30

Torah Portion: Ki Tisa/ Shabbat Parah - Exodus 27:20 - 30:10

1: 31:18-32:6
2: 32:7-11
3: 32:12-14
4: 32:15-24
5: 32:25-29
6: 32:30-33:6
7: 33:7-11
maf: Numbers 19:1-22

Haftarah – Shabbat Parah / Ezekiel 36:16 - 36:38

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

Mincha – Ma’ariv – Havdalah: 5:15 PM – Mazal Tov to Julie Alswanger, who will become Bat Mitzvah this Shabbat afternoon!

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

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.

(This was distributed nationally by the JTA several weeks ago – it formed the basis for my sermon last Shabbat)

Is the ‘Wicked Man’ Just Misunderstood?

by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Jewish Telegraphic Agency

STAMFORD (JTA) -- Last month I took my family to see the Broadway musical "Wicked," a recasting of the "Wizard of Oz" where all the supposedly good people turn out to be self-centered and the Wicked Witch is revealed to be a sensitive iconoclast battling a malicious smear campaign.

Such moral ambiguity has a home in Judaism, which revels in the hidden complexities of life. The Bible paints few of our heroes in bold, simplistic strokes. Arguably, Judaism's most towering figures, Moses and David, are among the most flawed. There are no "happily ever afters" to be found. No one is purely good, nor is anyone entirely evil.

Except for one. Oz had the Wicked Witch, and we have our Wicked, Wicked Man: Haman. Jews are expected to have sympathy for just about every enemy, with the exception of Haman.

Admit it. Don't you feel just a little uncomfortable on Purim night, beating the tar out of Haman, shouting him down, cheering ecstatically at his demise? Doesn't it bother you just a little bit that the same tradition that encourages us to spill drops of wine at the seder in memory of suffering Egyptian slave drivers also encourages us to drink ourselves silly while hanging Haman and drowning out the very mention of his name?

With Haman being painted with cartoonish evil clarity, however, the Talmud throws us another zinger, calling upon us to imbibe on Purim not to ignite more anger, but to create a very wicked-like confusion, according to one interpretation. We are to drink until we cannot tell the difference between "Cursed be Haman" and "Blessed be Mordechai." This custom seems to undercut the Bible's assertion that Haman, simply by virtue of his Amalekite roots, as well as his own deeds, IS the pure embodiment of evil. It introduces the possibility of moral ambiguity, or worse, a moral equivalence between Haman's intentions and those of his accusers.

If the book of Esther were to be rewritten the way "Wicked" recasts Oz, it would make for a great Purimspiel. Essentially, the inverse story of Haman would begin at birth, where his parents reject him. As a child, the neighborhood bullies beat him up, poking fun at his three-cornered hat given to him by Mordechai, the Big Man on Campus, as a prank. "Tri-corner is this year's kaffiyeh," Mordechai tells him. Haman then wallows in self-pity with a show-stopping number entitled, "My Life Is Bad Noose." He hopes against hope that some day maybe he will make it so big "that they'll name a pastry after me."

Finally, he is granted an audience with the king, but he is forced to wait outside for hours on end. "Why does the king leave me hanging?" Haman laments. While he is waiting, he overhears Mordechai plotting against the king. The plan is to place Esther on the throne and force all the royal subjects to become life members of Hadassah.

Mordy also plots to create a diversionary smokescreen by accusing Haman of scheming to annihilate the Jews. The plan works to perfection and the "wicked" Haman is hanged. But it turns out that Haman gets wind of the plot, substitutes a scarecrow effigy at the last minute and while the scarecrow swings, Haman escapes to Hollywood to produce morally ambiguous movies for Steven Spielberg.

Jewish tradition teaches us that no human being is either totally evil or completely good. Spielberg has been maligned for his recent film ``Munich" because he meddled in the moral complexities of our contemporary Purim saga involving Israeli good guys and terrorism's evildoers. Spielberg's attempt to break through the caricatures is refreshing and commendable in this polarized world, as long as the terrorism itself is not minimized or justified.

The key here is not the evildoer; it is the evil deed. When we are instructed to blot out the name of Amalek, Haman's infamous ancestor, it is because of what they did to the weak and defenseless with their rear-guard attack on Israel in the wilderness, not because Amalek was inherently evil. A person cannot be entirely depraved -- but a deed can.

To a degree, we need Amalek. Imagine Superman without Lex Luthor or the Red Sox without the Yankees.

We define ourselves according to those we hate. We measure ourselves by the Other. It is an eternal dance with Amalek that galvanizes us. As King Saul discovered, there was something inside him that wouldn't allow him to destroy Amalek completely, even when he had the chance. Without the Other, we can't be The One.

We read in Genesis 36 that Amalek was, after all, the great-great grandson of Abraham. Amalek is first mentioned during one of those long, seemingly innocuous genealogical listings that are found routinely in Genesis. For the most part the names found in these listings are of nominal literary interest, but not here.

Amalek, ancestor to an outcast nation, was the son of an outcast who was the daughter-in-law of another outcast. His is the story of the ultimate outsider - one that most Jews would recognize as being very similar to our own. Amalek, the great-great grandson of Abraham, is us. And so is Haman.

Am I being too forgiving of Judaism's Wicked Wicked Man? Not at all. I'll be out there on Purim night, raising a ruckus like everyone else. But I'll do so with the understanding that book of Esther is only part of a long and complex story whose end has yet to be written.

What is Shabbat Parah? (from www.ou.org)

"This is the decree of the Torah, which Hashem has commanded, saying: Speak to the Children of Israel, and they shall take to you a completely red cow, which is without blemish, and upon which a yoke has not come." (BaMidbar 19:2)

This is an example of Law of the Torah, which is considered completely above human comprehension.  The paradox is that those who are involved in the preparation of the ashes of the cow become ritually impure, while the sprinkling of water with those ashes is used to remove contamination! It is an example of a Law, which must be accepted on faith alone.

On the Shabbat after Purim, two Torah Scrolls are removed from the Ark. The Sidrah of the week is read from the first, and from the second, the chapter of Parah Adumah, the Red Cow (or Red Heifer), is read. It gives the procedure through which people can purify themselves from the contamination caused by a human corpse.

The reading of this chapter was instituted for this time of the year because Jews were required to purify themselves before coming to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage festival of Passover.

The Haftarah read on the Sabbath of Parashat Parah contains the verse, "And I shall sprinkle pure water upon you, that you be cleansed. From all your contamination and from all your filth I will cleanse you" (Ezekiel 36:25). There are other parallels in the Haftarah between the concepts of sin represented by contamination, and atonement represented by purity.

This idea is discussed in the commentary to the ArtScroll Ezekiel (pp.534-5), as follows: Freedom of will in moral matters is the first and irreplaceable condition for living one's life on the higher plane demanded by the Torah. Belief in man's freedom of action, however, is endangered by the fact that man cannot avoid death and that he is subject to the superficial limitations imposed by the forces of nature.

This belief is particularly shaken by the sight of a dead human being. If the whole human being has succumbed to death, been overpowered by physical forces - If man, like all other organic beings, cannot escape the spell of an overpowering force - then there is no room for the moral "you shall" next to the physical "you must." Moral freedom of will would then be an illusion, and the Divine law of morality with its demand for total free-willed devotion to the illuminating, purifying fire of its sanctuary would be incomprehensible. (R'Hirsch, Numbers 19:22)

Thus, sin is related not only to death, but also to contamination, which is closely associated with death. Because the sinner is shackled by his desires, he loses spiritual control of actions. He is swept along by the physical lusts that have overpowered his spiritual self. Thus, the most meaningful part of life, the spiritual, has been killed. For this reason, when G-d forgives man's sin and grants him a new heart and a new spirit, He is imbuing him with purity, the state of mind in which man is the sole master of his actions.

A living (and therefore a pure) person uses his body as he wills; it is his tool to use as he sees fit. The regenerate sinner, upon returning to the state of purity, joins once more the state of the living - and the free. (Chazon HaMikra)

Action Item

FROM THE ADL

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

IF YOU HAVE TRAVELED OR MIGHT TRAVEL TO ISRAEL OR OTHER COUNTRIES ON THE STATE DEPARTMENT ADVISORY LIST, YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO GET LIFE INSURANCE!

ADL, JFACT, the Pakistani American Association of Connecticut and others are working to change that likelihood in the Connecticut legislature.

Please contact your State Senator and Representative by letter or phone today and ask them to Support SB 259 "An Act Prohibiting Discrimination in Life Insurance Based on Lawful Travel Destinations."   The language of the bill is included below.  

You can find your state legislators here: http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/lcc.asp.  While emails are OK, the best contact is via letter or phone call. 

Talking Points:

· Currently, denials are not being made based on life expectancy or risk.

Travel to Israel is safe.  Business Week noted that there were 17 homicides per 100,000 people in the U.S. in 2002, compared with just 11 in Israel.  Being in Israel is safer than living in the United States (see attached article).

· Denials are made for entire countries when travel warnings may pertain to limited areas or circumstances.

Insurers are currently not making actual, quantitative risk assessment, but merely citing a State Department list of countries with cautionary warnings for travelers.  If travel to Israel or any other country could be demonstrated actuarially to yield unusual risk, we don't dispute that insurers should have discretion to deny applications or charge higher premiums and the proposed legislation so provides. 

· The current practice of discriminating based on travel to Israel will have the effect of preventing legislators, businesspeople, religious leaders and others from traveling to one of America's closest allies.

.

Please let us know once you have made contact with your legislators and consider sharing any response you receive.

____________________________

Proposed Substitute Bill No 259

No life insurance company doing business in this state may deny or refuse to accept an application for life insurance, refuse to renew, cancel, restrict or otherwise terminate a policy of life insurance, or make any distinction or discrimination between persons as to the premiums or rates charged for policies of life insurance, on the basis of any past or future lawful travel destination of the applicant or insured, except that such company may deny such application or charge a different premium or rate for coverage under such policy based on a specific lawful travel destination where the denial or rate differential is based on sound actuarial principles or is related to actual or reasonably anticipated experience.

Proposed bill would fight insurance discrimination based on travel to Israel

By Stacey Dresner - CT Jewish Ledger

Last year, Stephen Barshay of West Hartford attempted to secure a new life insurance policy in hopes of reducing the premiums of two of his existing life insurance policies.

Barshay, 54, the married father of four, underwent a physical and was determined to be in good health.

In his insurance application, Barshay, a Fellow Scientist with Westinghouse Electric Co., was asked if he had plans to travel outside the U.S. in the next 12 months, and he replied that he and his family were thinking about going to Israel for two weeks this summer.

After weeks of review, Barshay received a letter from his insurance company in January that said that they could not offer him the insurance due to his "planned foreign travel."

Barshay was one of several members of the Connecticut Jewish community who testified last week before the Connecticut General Assembly in support of Bill No. 259, "An Act Prohibiting Discrimination in Life Insurance Based on Lawful Travel Destinations."

If passed, the bill would make sure that insurance companies doing business in Connecticut would not be able to "refuse to renew, cancel, restrict, or otherwise terminate a policy of life insurance, or make any distinction or discrimination between persons as to the premiums or rates...on the basis of any past or future lawful travel destination ..."

Also giving testimony in support of this bill were representatives of the Anti-Defamation League's Connecticut Regional office, and president of the Connecticut Chapter of Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee, some of whose members have been denied life insurance due to travel to that country.

The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning for 12 countries, including Israel and Pakistan. But David Waren, Regional Director of the ADL, said that life insurance companies should not be discriminating against people based on their future travel plans.

"We have heard from people from all over Connecticut whose applications for life insurance have been denied simply because of past or future travel to Israel, without any evidence of increased risk," said David Waren. "This practice impacts everyone from tourists and business leaders, to students studying abroad."

Subhead: Denied benefits

Stephen Barshay was dismayed enough after his experience with his life insurance company that he testified before the General Assembly last week.

"After recovering from my shock, [at being denied] I called the underwriter to ask if there was any room for negotiation," said Barshay during his testimony. "The underwriter replied that if I would amend my application with a statement that I would not travel outside the U.S. in the next 12 months, the application could be approved."

Barshay is not the only Connecticut resident to be denied life insurance coverage because of travel to Israel - several members of the Jewish community, as well as individuals seeking to travel to countries like Pakistan are also being denied.

Audrey Lichter of West Hartford, executive director of Yachad, the Greater Hartford Jewish Community High School, also testified before the state senate.

When her husband Arlen, a physician, purchased new life insurance policies two years ago, he was told that if he died in certain countries - including Israel and even of natural causes - that he would be ineligible for death benefits. He had also had to cancel other previous life insurance policies as a condition of his new coverage.

The travel condition "was not only shocking to us but was also considerably disruptive since my husband had plans to visit our daughter who was studying in Israel at the time," Audrey Lichter said in her testimony. "Due to the restrictions on the life insurance policy, he was forced to meet her in France instead of Israel... This extra trip added considerable expense for our family, since it meant flying our daughter to Paris, acquiring two hotel rooms, and all that goes into a visit overseas."

Waren said that the bill would insure that insurance companies decide whether to cover individuals based on sound actuarial principles.

According to an ADL fact sheet, research has shown that travel to Israel is "four times safer than living in the U.S."

"The Connecticut bill allows insurance companies to do what they do best, assess risk based on bona fide statistical data," Waren said. "The practice of denying coverage with no backing up the decision is wrong."

As for Barshay, he and his family are still hoping to make it to Israel sometime in the future. But the effects of his denied insurance coverage could potentially affect his job with Westinghouse Electric Co. in Windsor, since his work includes assignments at secure installations requiring background checks.

"My family and I are still considering our travel plans, with the additional cost of my current life insurance now figured into the travel budget," Barshay said. "I also realize that, on any future insurance application, and on my work-related background checks, I may have to explain why I was turned down for life insurance in 2006."

Comments? Email staceydresner@jewishledger.com

From the Alban Institute (a think tank for congregations):

Discovering Your Core

by Fredric M. Roberts

Before a church commits itself to a major program for change, it needs to know what it’s changing. History counts! Visioning the future, a popular exercise in many congregations, is important. There is a great deal of truth in the oft-repeated stricture from a well-known church consultant: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” But such a focus on change, on the future, can lead to a dangerous neglect of a more basic principle: If you don’t know who you are, you can’t know what you can become.

Many faces become familiar at Sunday worship. But there are a smaller number of people with whom we became much better acquainted. These are the folks most likely to be at committee and circle meetings, Bible studies, prayer breakfasts, and potlucks. These are also the people who give the unique flavor or tone to each church. These are the people that prospective members are most likely to meet. And when peripheral members find themselves becoming interested in heavier involvement, these are the people to whom they are most likely to turn. They are also those with whom the pastoral staff spends most of its time.

Knowing something about these people remains pivotal for understanding how your church responds to those proposals for change that comprise a significant part of mainline Protestant church life.

Click here to continue reading “Discovering Your Core.”

COMING THIS FALL!!

Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Projects

Beth El Cares
Cathy Satz (968-9191; csscounsel@yahoo.com)
Cheryl Wolff (968-6361; cwolff@optonline.net)
BETH EL CARES co-chairs
 
 
Blood Drive
Give the Gift of Life! Get involved in a short term mitzvah project that will save lives. 
Who benefits from these blood donations? 
People who are born prematurely, people with auto-immune and other blood disorders, people involved in accidents… 
Many people, including temple members, have received blood transfusions in the past and some people need regular blood transfusions. 
 
On Sunday, April 30th between 8:30 am and 1:30 pm we need 125 healthy adults who are at least 17 years old, 
weigh at least 110 pounds and have not given blood since the beginning of March. 
The Red Cross will provide the “beds”; we need to put “arms in the beds”. Color War points will be awarded to your child’s color war team!
 
Contact Cheryl Wolff to schedule your donation time or to volunteer to help. 

Lock of Love

As promised, Beth El Cares will be hosting another group donation for children and teens to cut their hair for “Locks of Love”.  

If your hair is 10” or longer (in a ponytail), mark Sunday May 7 on your calendar.

Guy Sasson & Company will be coming to Temple Beth El to start haircuts at 12:00 noon

(right after Religious School). Advance sign-up is required. 

Mother and daughter teams will be accepted! Rebecca and Cathy Satz are hopeful they’ll both have their 10” by then-they’re close!

Contact Cathy Satz to schedule your appointment.

Beth El Cares Shabbat

We hope you can join us at Shabbat morning services on Saturday April 15,

when we will be hosting a panel discussion regarding Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. 

We will feature at least two panelists, Gabi Birkner, staff writer for the Jewish Week

who has been to the south several times since Hurricane Katrina and has written some moving reports

and Rosaline Feinstein, congregant, who has also written a moving report detailing her recent visit to the south.

The panel may also include some students who recently spent a few days performing mitzvah projects in New Orleans with the JCC.

SAVE THE DATE, SAVE DARFUR.

Rally to Stop Genocide

Sunday, April 30th

2:00 - 4:00

(Group will gather beginning at 1:00)

The Mall Washington, DC

Carl Weinberg is working with Beth El Cares to organize a group from Stamford to attend this rally.  

For more information about the rally and other Darfur initiatives,

contact Carl at 539-5560 (day), 322-8675 (evenings) or carl.r.weinberg@us.pwc.com.

From E-Masorti

The Conservative Movement in Israel
e-masorti is produced by the Development Department of the Masorti Movement in Israel.
Web: www.masorti.org E-mail: development@masorti.org

Spring is Here- a Dvar Torah

In Shmot 13:4 it says: "You go free on this day, in the month of Aviv."  Rashi, on this verse, poses the following question:  Why do we need to know that it is Spring?  In other words, what does it add to the story?  Wouldn't we know anyway, just by reading in which month they went out?  The answer, he explains, is:  It shows how God cares for us.  God took us out of Egypt not in the heat of the summer, and not in cold of winter or in the rainy season; rather, God took us out in perfect weather.  I would add that God planned the exodus in good weather so that we couldn't use it as an excuse to hit the "restart" button and not leave Egypt.  God had seen all the "bugs" and viruses that had taken hold of the Israelites over the centuries and didn't want to give them any excuse for not leaving.  

And there is a lesson in that for us as well.  In the very statement, "You go free on this day, in the month of Aviv," there is a command to look at life with a sense of renewed wonderment; as they say in Latin, "Primavera," a new beginning.  There are no excuses to tie us down to the mistakes of the past year.   It is our chance to hit restart and be rid of all the "bugs" and viruses we have collected over the year.  In the Spring we cannot use the excuse of the season being too hot or too cold as we head down a new path in life.

Rabbi Ari Burzstein
Kehillat Moriah, Haifa & Chairperson, Masorti Movement Education Committee

Eight Possible Ways in Which Prayer May “Work”

Compiled by Rabbi Amy Eilberg -- (borrowed from Acts of Lovingkindness:  A Training Manual for Bikkur Holim by Rabbi Nancy Flam, Janet Offel, and Rabbi Amy Eilberg, a resource compiled by the National Center for Jewish Healing)

A.  Prayer may “work” in that one may have asked God for something which indeed came about.