June 17, 2006 –Sivan
21, 5766
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman,
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Contents
of the Shabbat O Gram:
(Click
to scroll down)
Just
the Facts (service schedule)
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunities
Required Reading and Action Items (links
to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)
Announcements (goings on in and around
TBE)
Quote for the Week
|
|
“All journeys have secret
destinations
of which the traveler is unaware.”
Martin Buber
Thanks to
Sharon Goldstein for sending this photo
of our 7th
graders at their Aliyah service last week.
See their inspiring
statements on Jewish identity below.
I invite
others who took photos to submit them for our website
And Mazal
Tov also to our Beth El BCDS graduates:
Danielle
Bachar
Benjamin
Burstein
Jacob
Cohen
Laura Eber
Katie
Maimon
Ilana
Polak
Lindsey
Simon
Alyssa
Wiener
And Mazal
tov also the the first graduating class of the
Westchester
Fairfield Hebrew Academy, this coming Monday
JUST THE FACTS
Friday Evening
Candle lighting: 8:10
pm on Friday, 16 June 2006,- Havdalah is at 9:14 pm 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 – OUTDOORS (and
it’s lookin’ good!) WEATHER PERMITTING,
OTHERWISE IN THE SANCTUARY!
Tot Shabbat: 6:45 – in the lobby. Tot Shabbat will be hosted this week by
Stacye and Stuart Nekritz in honor of their children, Jason and Hannah and new
experiences. Jason participated in
the North Stamford Little League and Hannah was a ballerina in the Classical
Kids dance recital at
For those who can’t
get enough of Tot Shabbat, Nurit conducts Tot Shabbat Morning at 10:30
am every Saturday morning. All are
welcome to attend.
Shabbat
Morning: 9:30 AM – Mazal tov to Alexander Cooperstone who will
become Bar Mitzvah this Shabbat morning.
Children’s services: 10:30
Torah Portion: Beha’alotcha Numbers
8:1 - 12:16
1: 9:15-18
2: 9:19-23
3: 10:1-7
4: 10:8-10
5: 10:11-20
6: 10:21-28
7: 10:29-34
maf: 10:32-34
Haftarah Zechariah
2:14 - 4:7
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
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
THE ENTIRE
HEBREW BIBLE (AS WELL AS OTHER JEWISH SOURCES) CAN BE FOUND WITH SIDE-BY-SIDE
TRANSLATION AT
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.
A
Guaranteed Minyan Request has been made for THURSDAY, JUNE 22
Please sign up at www.tbe.org - Rosner Minyan Maker
We’ve had several people coming lately
who are saying kaddish following recent deaths in the family. We want to make sure we have a minyan
each day. Your presence any morning is greatly appreciated!
What
Does it Mean to Be a Jew?
Last week, our 7th
Grade class, for its graduation (Aliyah) service, prepared a booklet of essays
responding to the question, “What does being Jewish mean to
you?” Their responses are
below and these brief essays run the gamut of reasons. In addition to the essays, the students
created a wall of testimony as their class gift, which can be found near their
classroom, in the hallway just behind the social hall. This beautiful collection of panels,
artwork inspired and coordinated by Karen Tobias, our art teacher, as well as
their classroom teacher Mara Hammerman, is a sight to behold. Every congregant should make a point of
visiting it over the coming weeks.
As you look at the panels, think of these amazing essays.
Julie Alswanger
I love being Jewish and going to the
I have been going to
I also express my Judaism through my art work. For example, in the seventh grade
Jonathan Arons
Being Jewish is not just having matzoh ball soup or eating
challah on Shabbat. Being Jewish to
me means history, the history of our ancestors. I will always remember my years of
AJ Bass
I am very happy to be Jewish for many reasons. First, I had my Bar Mitzvah during my
last year of
I’m also happy to be Jewish because of the
history. First, it’s really
interesting to learn about
Mitchell Berkoff
This year the seventh grade painted a mural on the wall in
the
We don’t know why we are born to the parents we have
or the places we live, but I am glad things worked out the way they did because
I am proud to tell people I am Jewish.
Randi Braun
If you look in the hallway near the seventh grade
classroom you’ll see paintings that the seventh graders made. Mine is a peace sign with
Being Jewish to me means that our heritage is one of the
strongest in the world, because it has lasted for such a long time. If we care enough, we can continue to
make it last.
Annie Cohen
To me our religion is all about learning and experiencing
life. We have been through so much.
Every journey we take in life results in some kind of ending; however, what we
learn on the journey is more important than the destination. Everything I have learned from
For many kids,
Eric Cooper
I’m proud to be a Jew because of the history. It helps me to understand my
heritage. Learning about Jewish
history made me feel proud because we survived so many things, from escaping
Pharoah in
I also have more friends now, because I met a lot of kids
in
Jeff Cooper
Jenna Frank
What being Jewish means to me….
Being Jewish is a huge part of my life, and it opens up my
world to new ideas and thoughts.
The Jewish memories that are most important to me involve just being
happy and sharing great times with my friends and family. Even though I am moving on, I left,
along with my friends, a small painting of my thoughts about Judaism. What it really represents for me is a
piece of me that I am leaving within my temple as the years go by. My friends are extremely important to me
here at Temple Beth El and I hope to continue these friendships in the years to
come.
Michelle Greenman
Being Jewish to me means appreciating our ancestors and
our history. I painted a picture of
Eric Hazen
My favorite thing about being Jewish is that I get a Bar
Mitzvah. I can’t wait to
become a Jewish man and to finally get the party that I’ve been waiting
for. I also love learning a new
language and believing in one God and the Jewish heritage.
I will miss my
Jessie Hirtenstein
Being Jewish can mean many different things depending on
who you ask. To me, being Jewish
means to be all that you can be. Do
a mitzvah to help other people, whether they are friends or enemies. A mitzvah that I have done recently was
donating a set of Holocaust books to the seventh grade classroom. In addition to that, I recently became a
Bat Mitzvah, which is a great deed to perform.
As a class project, we all drew pictures on the wall
outside of our classroom. My drawing
spelled out the word “mitzvot”. The “m” is two candles,
standing for the deed of lighting candles on Shabbat. The “i” is a dollar and a coin, representing the
mitzvah of giving tzedakah. The two
“t’s” show people reaching out to each other. The “z” is made up of
latkes, which represent Chanukah, the miracle of the light. The “v” is
This is what being Jewish means to me. It means doing mitzvoth, and helping
others as much as you possibly can.
Jonathan Karp
Being Jewish!
My life has had major changes as I have discovered my
Jewish heritage. Until a year or
two ago I didn’t understand or was inactive. But now as was shown in my picture I see
the connection that I now make when I am both in the sanctuary and in
prayer. Being Jewish has made a
large impact on my daily life.
Because of its unique beliefs, it gives me a different personality. In a school that is primarily Christian,
I am one of the only people who has such a different background and culture.
Samantha Karp
To me, being Jewish is very important. It is what sets me apart from the crowd,
the Jewish people being a minority in the area in which we live. It’s about celebrating Judaism in
your home, as well as in the temple.
It’s also about making sacrifices and compromises. Last, it is about going through hard
times together, even if we are miles apart.
These are all very important, but I think going through
hard times together is one of the most important things about being a Jew. Through the years, the Jewish people
have gone through hard times, including being taken over many times by other
nations, the Holocaust, and so many different wars. Even now, we are still fighting. Even though it may be hard to imagine,
we have made it through these hard times, and the Jewish people will do it
again.
You may ask, how does this involve the class of 2006? Well, we have made it through eight
years of
Billie Katz
Being Jewish means…
Being Jewish means celebrating Shabbat. Throughout our
David Katz
To me Judaism means a lot. In my picture I drew modern and ancient
One of my best
Zachary Krowitz
What makes me Jewish is the way I was raised by my
parents. I celebrate the Jewish
holidays and go to temple on Shabbat.
I can read Hebrew and will have my Bar Mitzvah in November. Being Jewish means I am proud to believe
in one God and that I will respect my parents and others.
I drew a world with Jewish symbols inside it because there
are Jews all around the world. This
is important because it shows that there are many Jews with different
backgrounds, but we all share the same beliefs, religion, and caring feelings.
Rebecca Lavietes
To me being a Jew is not just a belief. It’s about survival. As a people,
the Jews have survived whatever was thrown at us. From being slaves in
Abby Leibowitz
To me, being Jewish means being part of a heritage; being
able to share stories, experiences, and hardships with others. It is amazing to me how the Jewish
religion can bring millions of different people, all with different views,
lifestyles, and languages, to one place and make them all feel like
they’re old friends. Being
Jewish means knowing wherever I am, whoever I am with, I am always part of one
people. I can go to a synagogue
anywhere and fit right in.
Jake Levensohn
Over the past four years, I have learned many things in
One of my favorite
Sarah Liffmann
There are many things that are great about being Jewish. You
get to celebrate unique and fun holidays, learn about an interesting past, and
I even get to have a Bat Mitzvah. Although i find all of these things such a
great part about being Jewish, there is one thing that really has been great
for me, and that was my seventh grade year at Hebrew school.
This year at Hebrew school was a lot different then the
other years.
In the past years i have made some friends at Hebrew
school but i wasn't very close with them. This year i have become really close
friends with so many new people that i haven't talked to in the past. With all of these new friends, it is so
much fun to go to each others’ Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. Since I live in New
Canaan, i only go to school with one kid in our
Andrew Madwed
Being Jewish to me means having a Bar Mitzvah. It also means making at least one trip
to the Western Wall in
Ross Neugeboren
When you are in TBE, take a walk down to the seventh grade
hallway. When you look at the wall,
you’ll see the wonderful paintings done by our class. Mine is of an outdoor scene with a stone
ark. At my camp, that was the
sanctuary. I do tech stuff, and at
my camp, I always set up the sound system.
I remember meeting and loving the camp rabbi. I once set up lights for a camp
play. When we had services in the
playhouse, the Torah was positioned under the lights. I turned the lights on, and the Torah
glowed.
I was once told that I do things for people when I have no
obligation to do so. That is what I
think Judaism is all about. Jews do
good deeds when they have no obligation.
So each time I help someone when I don’t need to, it makes me
happy.
My best memory of TBE was on the seventh grade
shabbaton. By far, that was the
best shabbaton I’ve ever been on.
We had just started using a new facility, and unfortunately it rained
heavily during the entire time. But
that didn’t stop us. I used
to be a boy scout, and I was prepared to help people, as I like to do. I had a huge mag-lite, and a smaller
one. In the dark and the rain, I
guided everyone back to the bunks after the evening activity. Of course, after that I was soaked. Even though I could have gotten color
war points for my good deed, I didn’t need them as a reward. I liked using my flashlights like a
traffic director!
Rebecca Poser
My favorite thing about being Jewish is knowing about the
past and about my heritage as a Jew.
The Jewish people are one family that has gone through many things in
many different places. A Jew knows
about suffering, but also knows happiness.
We have gone through good times and bad times. Every Jewish family has traditions that
they follow, and those traditions come from our heritage. Being Jewish means family. Thankfully, I have a family that cares
for me, loves me, and teaches me what it means to be Jewish.
Jeff Rich
To me, being Jewish is having faith, hope, and believing
in miracles. My picture of a
menorah shows this, because it’s a symbol of hope and miracles. In the Chanukah story, the oil lasted
for eight days when there was only supposed to be enough for one day. Judaism is a religion of faith, hope,
and miracles. There are lots of
great things to believe in. You
just have to believe. Judaism is
also about joy. In the Chanukah
story, the Jews were joyful when the menorah stayed lit for eight days, and we
are joyful when we celebrate Chanukah today.
Rebecca Savransky
To me, being Jewish means beautiful music. Music is a language through which
everyone can communicate. I believe
that it is a sound which can bring an entire community of people together,
despite their differences.
My picture is of a violin, surrounded by musical
notes. This represents when I had
the opportunity to play Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur this year at my temple. I was overjoyed. When I was up on the bima next to
the cantor, I felt as if I was reaching out. It was one of the most rewarding
experiences that I have ever had.
For me, this picture represents my life. Music is an important part of my
experiences. I can’t explain
my love of music in words, but no matter what happens, I believe that it will
never be lost.
Peri Shapiro
To me, being Jewish means I love and care for
everyone. The first word in the
second paragraph of the Shema is v’ahavta, which means love. When I designed my picture for the wall,
I included everything Jewish that I love: Passover,
Morgan Temple
At the end of this year I will have been going here for eight
years. But I will never forget
it. I have made so many friends,
learned about our history, and learned to read, write, and speak some Hebrew. But most of all, I have gotten a sense
of what being Jewish means to me. I
used to think that there were only a few Jewish people in the world. I would be one out of two Jewish kids in
my class. I thought that we were
not one of the main religions. When
I came to
Judaism gives me a way to express myself through
prayer. If someone is sick, I can
pray for them. If the Red Sox are
in the World Series, I can pray for them.
I can also express myself through art. For our end of the year project, we each
painted a block on the wall. I
painted the world, with all the Jewish people holding hands and working together,
to make the world a better place.
Douglas Weisman
Being Jewish to me is to learn about our history, because
it’s amazing what our ancestors went through. I think learning Jewish history has been
a great part of
On the wall, I painted a picture of me at my Bar
Mitzvah. My Bar Mitzvah means a lot
to me. It means a lot to me that I
am a man. I was also proud of
myself because I worked very hard to prepare, and I felt like I did a great
job. This has been a great
year. Seventh grade was my favorite
year at
Samantha Wise
Being Jewish means healing the world. It means caring about what goes on
around you, and helping those in need.
It means being with family, celebrating victory, and mourning loss. It means looking to the past for answers
for the future, and appreciating what we have.
TBE helps us discover a new aspect of Judaism:
learning. We should appreciate the
gift of education. I have learned
to love the Torah, and in some respects, to understand it. I’m on my way to becoming a Bat
Mitzvah. I see lots of work ahead,
but I will give it my heart and will hopefully succeed in becoming a
responsible adult. The most
important thing is to believe in yourself, and never underestimate the power of
our only God.
Katie Zabronsky
Being Jewish means…
Being Jewish means bringing happiness to the world. My picture is of a sunflower wrapped
around a Torah. A sunflower brings
happiness and color to its surroundings.
A sunflower also represents children. Because children are joyful, they light
the world around them. Jews do good
deeds, which brings light and life to others. I have visited
Matt Zielinski
Being Jewish has taught me many lessons. First, I learned how to act and treat
people according to what the Torah teaches us. I’ve learned about the Jewish way of
life from studying the many centuries of Jewish History. From my Bar Mitzvah experience, I
learned to be more confident.
"Like a multi-screen theater,
Synaplex™ offers a variety of Shabbat
experiences
for our diverse Jewish community."
-- starsynagogue.org
INTRODUCING
OUR NEW LOGO…
Save the date for our Grand Opening:
Oct. 27-28
Featuring
SHABBAT
UNPLUGGED, THE FIRST ANNUAL TBE “ROSNER BOWL” TOUCH FOOTBALL GAME, TBE
PET PALLOOZA, TORAH YOGA, and much more…
And save the following dates as well…
SYNAPLEX at TBE 5767
Friday and Sat., October 27-28 GRAND
OPENING Synaplex Shabbat
(Including Shabbat Unplugged on Friday night)
Friday, December 8 - Synaplex Shabbat
(theme of diversity, Sephardic dinner, December Dilemma)
Friday and Sat. January 19 – MLK weekend Synaplex
Shabbat/Shabbat Unplugged
social action theme
Fri and Sat. February 9 and 10 - Synaplex Shabbat
Scholar in Residence, Havdalah Unplugged
Friday March 9 - Synaplex Shabbat, Shabbat Unplugged,
Shabbat, April 7 - Synaplex Shabbat - Passover
Friday and Sat. May 4 and 5 - Synaplex Shabbat/Shabbat Across
Shabbat Unplugged, Scholar in Residence
Shabbat, June 23 - Synaplex
Shabbat, adult b’nai mitzvah
Download a volunteer form at
http://www.tbe.org/site/sog/SynaplexVolunteerPackage.htm
Fill it out and send it back – and join the dozens who have
already stepped forward!
And for more general information about Synaplex,
go to www.starsynagogue.org
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah
Opportunties
Beth El Cares
Cathy Satz (968-9191; csscounsel@yahoo.com)Cheryl Wolff (968-6361; cwolff@optonline.net)BETH EL CARES co-chairs
FROM JACKIE SCHECHTER, BAT MITZVAH
STUDENT
Dear Temple Beth-El families,
My name is Jackie Schechter, and I'm
in 7th grade. In preparation for my upcoming Bat Mitzvah, I have decided
to run a Jewish book drive to supply newly founded Jewish libraries in
- Jackie
Robert Grossman, the new Executive Director of WFHA (
In August he will move his family from
Perhaps someone in the TBE congregation knows of an available
accommodation.
Robert can be reached by email: Robert Grossman robert.grossman@wfha.org
HELP ME HELP OTHERS WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY WHO NEED OUR ASSISTANCE BY DONATING TO PERSON TO PERSON. Person to Person located in Darien , Connecticut such as clothing for babies, kids and adults.They are looking for donations for only Spring and Summer items.Needy families in emergency situations will go to Person to Person for assistance.Person to Person services the Stamford , Norwalk and Darien You may donate clothing, food (canned items) and only brand new unopened toys. We will be bringing a large donation of items on the first of every month.Please help me with any donations that you would like to make.I would greatly appreciate it.I am hoping you can help me with this for my Mitzvah Projectbecause it is important for us to help others who may need it. This is how you can help:Please bring your donation to my house, 116 Wedgemere Road or e-mail coopbry@aol.com to make arrangements for us to pick it up.We will do this during June, July and August. Thank you so much for helping the needy. Eric Cooper 968-9591 Support the
and Bid on an eBay Auction
for a Baseball Autographed by Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy.
The ball was autographed at
last year's FCCJLL Championships when he threw out the first pitch.
Proceeds support the
FCCJLL.
Link to the auction on eBay is:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7774985362&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
Starting bid is just $5.00. Auction ends on Wednesday, June 21st at
07:13:32 EDT
BABYSITTER
AVAILABLE
My name is
Shira Burstein. I’m twenty one years old, and will be a Senior at
The Annulli family will be staying at an ulpan in
Netanya for a few weeks this summer
and would like
someone to house and dog sit from July 22 through August 24 or 25.
Please call Richard or Melanie at
203-569-7562 or email mrdrannulli2@yahoo.com.
Actually, this week it’s not just
ask the rabbi, it’s “Ask the Chancellor.” Much has been made about the commencement address – his
farewell address – made by JTS Chancellor Ismar Schorch. You may have read about it – now
read it and see for yourself. Was
it unduly negative and bitter? Was
it brutally honest? Was it unfair
for someone who was the leader to be so critical of trends occurring under his
watch? I’ll be sharing my own
reflections over the coming weeks as the Schorsch era ends and the Arnold
The Schorsch Address
http://www.jtsa.edu/about/communications/speeches/sca.shtml
112th Commencement Exercises of the Jewish Theological
Seminary
Dr. Ismar Schorsch, Chancellor - May 18,
2006
Commencement Address
Trustees, faculty, distinguished guests, graduates and friends:
Others are more worthy to speak on this auspicious occasion than I, and
I regret their silence. Still, there is poignancy to this commencement as it is
my last as Chancellor, and I have reluctantly heeded the wishes of my trustees.
After all, it is they who over the years made it possible for me to leave my
post at this time with pride and satisfaction.
I am particularly touched by the record number of students receiving
degrees with me today, more than 140. The Seminary does many things, but none
more important than enlarging and elevating the ranks of Jewish leadership
— lay, professional, religious and academic — in the Conservative
Movement and the total Jewish community. Growing that number has always been my
top priority and the number graduating today is almost double what it was
twenty years ago. In the process, we have tripled our endowment, grown the
faculty by fifty percent, including the hiring of many women, and renovated our
campus. The selection of Professor Arnold M. Eisen of
Yet this is not the moment to herald my record, but rather to restate
the convictions that have impelled my actions. It is a moment that I have been
mindful of since I took office because I believe in the wisdom of living life
from the end. Is that not the salient lesson of the High Holy Day season: to
remind ourselves of our mortality and to urge us to make the most of the days
allotted us. Someday when I will meet the founders and shapers of The Jewish
Theological Seminary in the academy on high, will I be able to convince them
that I was a good steward of their legacy? Will they say of me as we say of
Abraham each day in our prayers, ומצאת את
לבבו נאמן
לפניך, "And you, God, found him at life's
end to have been unswervingly faithful to your vision?"
For me, the job of Chancellor has been nothing less than a calling. The
Seminary embodies a brave, if fragile experiment to prove the compatibility of
אמת ואמונה, of truth and
faith, where אמונה signifies the eternal and
אמת the ephemeral, a nexus where the divine and the human,
the ancient and the modern intersect. This blend of piety and skepticism, of
allegiance and integrity, of observance and critical scholarship is precisely
what distinguishes the Seminary from a university or yeshiva, and to preserve
it in all its tenuous complexity has been for me a sacred duty. The cultural
forces eroding that mix are intensifying.
A few months ago, a light snowfall covered the quadrangle of the
Seminary with a pristine white blanket. My fifth–floor office fronts on
the quad and when I happened to look out I noticed that someone had written in
large letters "Wissenschaft," the German word for science or short
for "Wissenschaft des Judentums, the academic study of Judaism pioneered
in nineteenth–century
The rebuke could not have been more comical or stinging. As opposed to
the dense and demanding discourse of scholarship, students crave instant
gratification. The way to the heart is not through the circuitous and arduous
route of the mind but the rhythmic beat of the drums. The gate is now
determinative in the Conservative synagogue. The primitiveness of rap and the
consumerism of the mall threaten to trivialize the literary culture that is the
pride of Judaism. Kitsch has become kosher. A synagogue out of sync is deemed
bereft of spirituality.
And yet a rich tradition of spirituality, never estranged from the life
of the mind, has long animated Jewish practice. At the Seminary, as at
The cogency of this insight struck me this summer when I visited the
gravesite of Moses Maimonides in Tiberias. To my astonishment, I discovered
that Isaiah Horowitz, the author of a sprawling compendium of Jewish law called
שני לוחות
הברית The Two Tablets of the Covenant, was buried
just a few feet away. I could not imagine an odder couple.
Maimonides, who had died in Egypt in 1204, consummated the rationalism
and worldliness of Sephardic Judaism. He had written his superbly ordered
codification of the totality of Jewish law, the Mishnah Torah, in a fluent Hebrew that was pithy and supple,
but chose to compose his theological masterpiece, the Moreh Nebukhim, in the more universal
language of Arabic. In contrast, Horowitz, who had died in Tiberias in 1626,
embodied the insular but integrated world of Ashkenazic Judaism. He had begun
his Hebrew compendium in 1621 as an ethical will to his children when he left
his birthplace in
What linked them to my mind was that each personified a distinctly
different expression of emet
ve–emunah. They shared a common emunah, that is a religious life animated by halakhah, which
served to set communal norms, modes of relating to the other and sacred times
for experiencing God. They diverged in the realm of emet¸ that is the spiritual aquifer which invigorates
observance by rendering it meaningful. For Maimonides, Judaism operated
historically to end the perversion of idolatry, with intellectual perfection
leading to the love of God. For Horowitz, it operated ontologically to diminish
the disorder that marked the existence of God and man. Observance did more than
recall seminal acts of a sacred past; it actually restored a measure of harmony
to God, thereby alleviating human suffering. In a daring move, kabbalah
replaced memory with magic.
In brief, then, both Maimonides and Horowitz strove for what Bachya Ibn
Pakuda in the eleventh century had called שלמות
הנפש or soulful piety, in which the inner state of the
pious complemented meticulous outward observance. That is how he understood the
verse in Deuteronomy (18:13), תמים
תהיה עם ה'
אלק'ך — "You must be wholehearted with the
Lord your God." The complete Jew was expected to struggle with the
subtleties of emet as well as the rigors of emunah.
The history of Jewish spirituality is the never–ending effort to
keep halakhah and meta–halakhah in creative tandem. Halakhah is the deed;
meta–halakhah, the disposition. Halakhah is fixed, meta–halakhah
fluid. Halakhah is legal, public and objective, whereas meta–halakhah is
theological, private, and subjective. The intent of meta–halakhah is to
inform, enrich and spiritualize our fulfillment of the mitzvot. Or to revert to
my image of the aquifer, what is concealed is no less vital than what is
visible.
And thus it has always been. In rabbinic Judaism, it was aggadah that
nourished and sustained halakhah, as did philosophy and kabbalah in the Middle
Ages. Time and again, imagination intervened to vitalize performance. With the
advent of emancipation, the founders of Conservative Judaism embraced history
as their new meta–halakhic worldview. In Zacharias Frankel's classic
formulation of positive–historical Judaism, the term positive stood for
halakhah while the term historical was its meta–halakhic underpinning.
The study of history was to gird afresh Jewish adherence with a radically
expanded national narrative that sought to highlight the motifs of exile and
resistance, literary virtuosity and cultural contributions, insularity and
integration, contextualization and development. Each new discovery added
meaningfulness to a religious heritage revered for its evident antiquity.
Heinrich Graetz's History of the Jews, Solomon Schechter's Studies in Judaism
and Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, all still in print, are but the most
sparkling specimens of history as meta–halakhah.
The malaise of Conservative Judaism today, as etched in the snow on the
quad, is that its adherence to halakhah is devoid of a spiritualizing
meta–halakhah. In the wake of Mordecai Kaplan's wholesale reduction of
halakhah to folkways, the function of history shifted to vindicating change. Ever
more identified by the inane mantra of "tradition and change,"
Conservative Judaism lost access to critical scholarship as a source for
religious meaning, with nothing substantially spiritual to replace it. For all
its emotive power, music is not a surrogate for a vibrant system of meaning.
The intense grandeur of Mahler's second symphony, known as resurrection, can
surely stir one's soul, but hardly leads to a belief in the mystery at the
heart of Christianity.
Our impoverishment is sadly exemplified by the ambivalence toward
critical scholarship in Etz Hayim,
the movement's new humash. As
commentary, the abridgement of the Jewish Publication Society Torah Commentary
is so eviscerated as to betray not the slightest trace of the plenitude of the
original to generate spiritual meaning through empathetic scholarship. As
exposition, the end notes, with a few striking exceptions, are spiritually
inert. Their rabbinic authors go through the paces without passion, making no
effort to extract religious significance from the scholarship being mediated.
While Conservative rabbis often chide the research oriented faculty of JTS for
allegedly doing just that in their classes, as transmitters of scholarship, the
rabbis replicated what they condemn. Ironically, the rare spiritual voice to be
heard in the end notes usually emanates from one or another of the academics in
the roster.
The Zohar relates that when Moses beheld the spectacle of the Golden
Calf, he did not smash the tablets of the Ten Commandments as scripture
records. Rather they slipped from his hands because the letters inscribed on
them fled back to heaven. Minus the letters, the stone tablets were too heavy
to carry. The image graphically depicts our predicament.
With history no more than an argument for supersession, the halakhic
yoke has lost its lightness. Great scholarship has ceased to energize it as it
had in the past. Once, the polarity of truth and faith at the Seminary had made
it home for the acme of twentieth–century Jewish scholarship, a venue of
ferment and fertility. Faith once moved us to study our heritage deeply, while
truth asked of us that we do it critically, in light of all that we know.
Willful ignorance was never an acceptable recourse. The interaction set us
apart as the vital center of modern Judaism.
But no longer. Our meta–halakhic aquifer has run dry, eroding our
halakhic landscape. With frequency, fundamental changes come more easily. Our
forebearers embraced history to enlarge and enrich Jewish observance; we wield
it, if at all, to shrink it. How quickly have we forgotten the bracing
spiritual power of Gershon Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Yehezkel
Kaufmann's Religion of Israel, Saul Lieberman's Hellenism in Jewish Palestine,
Nahum Sarna's Understanding Genesis, or Jacob Milgrom's commentaries to
Leviticus and Numbers. Our addiction to instant gratification has stripped us
of the patience to appreciate any discourse whose rhetoric is dense and
demanding. Mindlessly, we grasp for the quick spiritual fix.
A grievous failure of nerve affects Conservative Judaism. We have lost
confidence in the viability of the distinctive polarity that once resonated
within. It is not a slick new motto that we need, but a vigorous reaffirmation
of the old which gloriously captures our essence. When Schechter left
In many different ways, we’ve begun a process of determining
our own congregational needs and desires.
On Tuesday at our Synaplex forum, we broke up into small groups to do some
brainstorming of the kinds of programs that would bring them – and their
friends – to synagogue. The
responses really took us out of the box, ranging from having a beach party in
January (with all kinds of Jewish tie-ins, like a session on synagogues of the
|
|
by Janet R. Cawley (Alban Weekly) When I ask people what
church they go to and to tell to me in one phrase what distinguishes their church
from others, I get a wide range of answers. People mention location, history,
denomination, size, architecture, cultural stance, ethos, program, public
presence, internal and external demographics, and theological stance. These
are just a few of the ways we commonly identify our churches. Through each of these
lenses, however, we see only one aspect of that complex thing we call
congregational identity. We would have to use all the available lenses to get
a comprehensive picture of a congregation. In the end, we would have a huge
volume of information—probably many volumes—containing the
history, finances, governance, the individual stories as they affected the
congregation, and many more topics. All of these studies together would capture
the identity of the congregation, in theory at least. However, there are
major problems with trying to do such a thorough description of a
congregation. It is too big a project for the vast majority of congregations,
and if they did do it, the resulting volume of information would be too big
to be used by more than a few people. |
Let’s
begin with GOOD NEWS from
Health | Israeli doctor heads Merck team that has developed vaccine against
cervical cancer
An Israeli-born doctor stands at the head of team
from pharmaceutical giant Merck who have announced the FDA approval of a
vaccine that is 100% effective in preventing cervical cancer and precancerous
changes linked to two types of common sexually transmitted viruses. More...
Technology | Israeli expertise mines the new water frontier
As
clean water sources become scarcer, the world is turning to
Profiles | Not your typical Israeli grandma
Gamila Hiar, a 68-year-old Israeli Druze grandmother may not look like a
pioneer and feminist icon in her traditional black cotton dress and white head
covering, but looks can be deceiving. Recently honored by
Culture | Getting your iPod right (to left)
now for the rest
Israel
Says It Didn't Cause Deadly Gaza Blast - Mark Lavie
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Tuesday that Israel was not
responsible for a blast that killed eight Gaza beachgoers, rebuffing
Palestinian accusations that blamed an Israeli artillery round. "The
accumulating evidence proves that this incident was not due to Israeli
forces," Peretz said.
An Israeli inquiry concluded the blast was caused by an explosive
buried in the sand, not from Israeli shelling on the afternoon of the
Palestinian family's beach picnic.
See also Israel
Denies Causing Beach Deaths - Tim Butcher
Scrutiny of shrapnel, photographs, and timings proved, according to the
inquiry, that Israeli forces were not involved in actions near the beach at the
time of the blast. Dan Halutz, the Israeli chief of staff, said, "We
checked each and every shell that was fired from the sea, the air, and from the
artillery on the land and we found out that we can track each and every one
according to a timetable and according to the accuracy of where they hit the
ground." (Telegraph-UK)
See also Annan Dismisses Israeli Claims
on Gaza Beach Deaths
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told the London-based Al-Hayat daily on
Wednesday, "The Israeli claim that the beach blast was caused by an
explosive charge at the site sounds strange to me. I don't believe it is
possible that the Palestinians planted charges in a place where civilians often
spend their time." Annan said he would send a representative on his behalf
to the region to investigate the Palestinian claims that an Israeli shell
killed the family on the beach. (Albawaba-Jordan)
Israel
Does Not Target Innocents, Will Defend Its People from Terrorist Rockets -
Herb Keinon
The Foreign Ministry is instructing its representatives to stress the following
points: The Israeli Army is a cautious, professional, accurate, and ethical
organization. Israel does not target innocents, yet must fight terrorists who
willingly shield themselves behind their own population in their ongoing
campaign to kill and maim Israeli civilians. These terrorists also manipulate
and exploit the suffering they cause their own people in order to achieve
fleeting advantages in their propaganda war against
Since Israel's disengagement from Gaza last August, more than 500
terrorist rockets have fallen on Israeli civilian targets, including
kindergartens, schools, homes, and factories. Daily life in those Israeli towns
within rocket range has been turned upside-down, streets are deserted,
factories have closed down, schools have been shut, and children have been
traumatized beyond measure. The government of
Olmert:
"1967 Borders Are Indefensible" - Gil Hoffman
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke before the British Parliament on
Tuesday and said that
The Big (and
Never-Ending) Lie - Melanie Phillips
It is now clear that
Meanwhile, more than 100 missiles have been fired at Israeli
towns from
Welcome to
the Bazaar - Warren Christopher
There are lessons from our 1979-81 negotiations over the Iranian hostage
crisis, in which I was chief negotiator, that can inform our efforts in 2006.
First, we must be sure we are talking with the right people. At the moment,
Second, our negotiators should prepare themselves for
"bazaar behavior." With the Iranians, the negotiating style is likely
to resemble that of a Middle Eastern marketplace, with outlandish demands,
feints at abandoning the process, and haggling over minor details up to the
very last moment.
Third, if the new package of incentives does not persuade the
Iranians to suspend their enrichment program, which was Washington's condition
for joining the talks, I believe sanctions can play a valuable role. The
writer, Secretary of State from 1993 to 1997, is co-chairman of the Pacific
Council on International Policy. (New York Times)
Israel
Does Not Need Palestinian Recognition - Yehuda Avner
On the first day of his premiership in 1977, Menachem Begin was asked by the
BBC whether he looked forward to a time when the Palestinians would recognize
"We were granted our right to exist by the God of our
fathers at the glimmer of the dawn of human civilization four thousand years
ago. Hence, the Jewish people have an historic, eternal, and inalienable right
to exist in this land, Eretz Yisrael, the land of our forefathers. We need
nobody's recognition in asserting this inalienable right. And for this
inalienable right, which has been sanctified in Jewish blood from generation to
generation, we have paid a price unexampled in the annals of nations." (
Abbas'
Comeback Plan Is a Dead End - Aaron David Miller (
- If
you had a headache, even a migraine, would you shoot yourself in the head
to get rid of it? That's precisely what PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is doing
in his current gambit to corner Hamas by forcing a referendum on the
future of the two-state solution. If he succeeds, it will not help his
cause, but it will undermine his credibility and set the Palestinian national
movement back twenty years.
- The
problem is that the document that Abbas sees as the vehicle of his
deliverance will only muddy the clarity of his own stand against terrorism
and for negotiations - the very positions that make him credible with
- The
fact that it may represent an advance over Hamas' maximalist goals cannot
hide the fact that it is a serious retreat from Fatah's more moderate
objectives. Indeed, it reopens vital questions about
- Abbas
risks locking himself into positions that raise serious doubts about his
own moderate intentions and could formally link him to prospective
partners and committees (the document calls for the creation of a
committee to direct resistance in the occupied territories) that will
undermine his own approach toward negotiations.
- Abbas'
approach may play well in the Palestinian Peoria, but it will do little to
advance his case in
The
writer, a former senior State Department Middle East negotiator, is a public
policy scholar at the
Olmert in
France: We'll Do Our Best to Strengthen Abbas - Ronny Sofer
Speaking before the French National Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert vowed Wednesday to support PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and enable him to
lead the PA towards adopting the principles set by the Quartet: recognizing
Israel, renouncing terror, and standing by its previous agreements with Israel.
Olmert stressed that in any event, "we have decided to move forward in
order to bring about the result everyone wishes to see: A Palestinian state and
defensible borders for
Three Hurt as Islamic
Jihad Fires Rockets at Sderot -
Avi Issacharoff, Amos Harel and Mijal Grinberg
Islamic Jihad fired a salvo of Kassam rockets into the western Negev city of
See also Palestinian
Rocket Lands Near Strategic Facility - Shmulik Hadad
A Kassam rocket fired Wednesday afternoon from the northern
· Palestinian Suicide Politics - Editorial
On Monday, several hundred Fatah "soldiers" stormed and then set fire
to the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Parliament in the West Bank city of
Investigate
Palestinian Aggression -
Editorial
Palestinian aggression, in the form of unprovoked rocket attacks, is
responsible for the recent events in
The
Seductive Beat of the Militant Islamic Drum - H.D.S. Greenway
Canadians have told me that their model for immigration is more of a quilt
rather than a melting pot, meaning that cultural identities are recognized and
honored, rather than asking everyone to assimilate. But if a patch on the
Canadian quilt could possibly contemplate the kind of terrorism that has been
alleged in
There has arisen in recent years a phenomenon of home-grown
youths in Western countries, who, susceptible to the seductive beat of the
militant, Islamic drum, are finding romance and adventure in the jihadi
cause. The whole jihadi culture has become fad-like, sexy, and cool,
says Jessica Stern, a terrorism specialist at
Daniel
Pipes: "The Elimination of Israel Is a Consensus Goal Among 80% of
Palestinians" - Ruthie Blum
(
- In
- "
- "The Palestinians hold the notion
of occupation dear to them, to the point that no matter what
- The ultimate Palestinian war goal is
"definitely the elimination of
- "The dominant Palestinian slogan
last summer was, 'Today
- "The Arabic-speaking Muslims have
had a great deal of difficulty in coping with modern life, and blame
others for their problems. They're not introspective and not productive
and constructive in their self-criticism." There needs to be "a
sense of taking responsibility for themselves. An attempt to be
introspective, to figure out what the problems are."
- "There are positive examples. The
ruler of
Fact Sheets
#45: Fact Sheet - The Palestinian Referendum
(June 12, 2006)
Mahmoud
Abbas called for a July 26, 2006, referendum on a proposal drafted by
jailed terrorist leader Marwan
Barghouti and Hamas
and Islamic
Jihad prisoners held by Israel.
The document, or “prisoners
peace plan,” has been portrayed in the media as a historic step in
the peace
process because it reputedly recognizes Israel,
drops Palestinian territorial claims beyond the 1967
borders and renounces violence and terrorism
against Israeli citizens. A closer look at the actual document indicates the
proposal’s contents are very different than the media descriptions.
The “prisoners
peace plan” is really not about peace with
Reading the text of this “peace
plan,” it is striking that the language is confrontational rather than
compromising. The document calls on the people to “confront the Israeli
enterprise,” to form a “united resistance,” and to
“liberate” their land and prisoners. Nowhere in the document is
there any mention of a Palestinian state coexisting with a Jewish State or any
explicit recognition of
The first point of the plan states,
“The Palestinian people... seek to establish their independent state with
al-Quds al-Shareef (Jerusalem)
as its capital on all territories occupied in 1967 and to secure the right
of return for the refugees
and to liberate all prisoners and detainees...” The demand for all
territories
Nothing in this section or the rest of the
document indicates the Palestinians will drop their claims to Israeli territory
should they establish a state in the pre-1967 borders. The document, for
example, does not recognize any Israeli claim to Jerusalem.
The document also explicitly calls for continuing acts of violence, noting in
point three the “Palestinian people’s right to resistance...and
continuing popular resistance against the occupation in all its forms, places
and policies....”
By advocating the “right of
return” for Palestinian refugees, but not specifying that they should
return to the future state of Palestine, the signers of the document are
inferring that the refugees should return to Israel, the equivalent of
advocating a one-state solution to the conflict.
The current Israeli population is
approximately 7 million, 5.3 million are Jews. If every Palestinian was allowed
to move to
Palestinian intellectual Sari Nusseibeh has
noted that if the refugees are not resettled in a future Palestinian state,
“what does a two-state solution mean?” This is exactly why Hamas
views this provision as crucial. Aziz Dweik, Hamas’ parliament speaker,
said that approval of the referendum “would kill all other past
initiatives and understandings excluding the right of return. It would push
others, not us, to the corner, since others, not us, have shown a willingness
to compromise on the right of return.”
The referendum also misrepresents UN
resolution 194, which was a nonbinding resolution that all Arab
states voted against in 1948. That resolution called upon the Arab states
and
The Christian Science Monitor ( May
31, 2006 ) described the prisoners who wrote and signed the proposed plan as a
“moderate and influential force.” These prisoners, however, are
among the most dangerous terrorists serving sentences in Israeli jails:
- Marwan
Barghouti is serving five life sentences and 40 years for terrorist
attacks that killed five people;
- Sheikh Abdel Khaliq al-Natsche is senior Hamas
leader who ran a network of charities that directly funded the Izz al-Din
al-Qassam Brigades;
- Sheikh Bassam al-Saadi led Palestinian
Islamic Jihad in Jenin;
- Abdel Rahim Malouh was No. 2 in the PFLP
and helped plan the murder of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam
Zeevi;
- Mustafa Badarne recruited DFLP
members to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians.
According to recent Palestinian polls, the
referendum has overwhelming support. Even if the referendum were adopted,
however, it is unclear that it would have any meaning given that the elected
representatives of the Palestinian
Authority from Hamas
have rejected the document and the idea of a national referendum. In fact, Hamas
and Islamic
Jihad prisoners who helped author the document have withdrawn their names
from the plan and, on June 11, 2006, Hamas
announced its intent to block the referendum and accused Abbas of trying to
undermine its authority with the referendum.
Thinking of making a Job Change
or looking for a new Job?
These two workshops will get you thinking about how to make your next
move.
6/14 & 6/28 - 7.30-9.30pm, TBE, Library (entrance on the Office
level)
6/14: How to develop momentum in your job search~ Job
Searching the
6/28 : Beat the odds: How to make the Internet Job Search
work for you
Please confirm with Donna Sweidan if you are interested. She will be
making handouts and will need to know how many to prepare.
Donna@careerfolk.com or 203.613 1049
Donna Sweidan, a career
coach and counselor in Stamford and TBE member, has facilitated numerous
“Job Search Strategy groups” in her work as a career counselor.
Before starting her own business, Careerfolk, she was the Founding Director of
Career Services at The
She is graciously offering these
valuable workshops to her TBE family free of charge.
Sisterhood Cookbook
First Ever!
Available September 2006.
Delicious Recipes! Kosher! Family
Favorites!
Order your copies in advance ($18
per book)
Call Beth Silver 967-8852
Registration materials are
now available for the 2006-2007 TBE Religious School
If you are interested in
registering your child (children), please respond to Caroline at education@tbe.org and include your address so
she can mail you the forms!
UJF and
Adult Jewish Education:
The
The United Jewish Federation and the Jewish
Community Center are starting a list for new classes in the fall of 2006.
The
- is an internationally recognized
program of adult Jewish study developed by the
- is designed for adults interested in serious
study without enrolling in an academy of higher learning
- engages students in two years of
study; 30 two-hour weekly
sessions per year (knowledge of Hebrew is not required)
- topics include key ideas in Jewish
theology, ethics and the history of Jewish life
For more information about class
registration, please contact Ilana De Laney at (203) 321-1373, ext. 114 or
email her at ilana@ujf.org. or
Jonathan Fass at (203) 487-0958 or email him at jfass@stamfordjcc.org.
Thanks to
my sister Lisa for forwarding this one:
One dark
night outside a small town near
The alarm went out to all the fire departments for miles around. When the
volunteer fire fighters appeared on the scene, the chemical company president
rushed to the fire chief and said, "All our secret formulas are in the
vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved. I will give $50,000 to
the fire department that brings them out intact."
But the roaring flames held the firefighters off. Soon more fire departments
had to be called in as the situation became desperate.
As the firemen arrived, the president shouted out that the offer was now
$100,000 to the fire department who could bring out the company's secret files.
From the distance, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came into
sight.
It was the nearby Chasidic Jewish rural township volunteer fire company
composed mainly of Jewish, ultra-orthodox men over the age of 65. To everyone's
amazement, that little run-down fire engine roared right past all the newer
sleek engines that were parked outside the plant.
Without even slowing down it drove straight into the middle of the inferno.
Outside, the other firemen watched as the Chasidic old timers jumped off right
in the middle of the fire and fought it back on all sides.
It was a performance and effort never seen before. Within a short time, the
Chasidic old timers had
extinguished the fire and had saved the secret formulas.
The grateful chemical company president announced that for such a superhuman
feat he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to personally thank
each of the brave fire fighters.
The local TV news reporter rushed in to capture the event on film, asking their
chief, "What are you going to do with all that money?"
"Vell," said Moishe Goldberg, the 70-year-old fire chief, "Da
first thing ve gonna do is fix da brakes on dat dam truck!"
Previous Shabbat-O-Grams can be accessed directly from our web site
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