Happy Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah!
October 13, 2006 – Tishrei 22, 5767
So – is Friday the 13th
unlucky for Jews??? How can it be: We become
bar/bat mitzvah at 13, it’s Sukkot and tonight is Shabbat. This is in fact, arguably the luckiest
day of the week. Happy Friday the 13th!
(and besides, it’s the 21st…of Tishrei). In fact
today is a day of many blessings…a day for this one in particular:
Blessed are You, O Lord our
God, King of the universe, Who has kept us in life,
and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season.
Synaplex is
coming – in just 14 days!!!!!
Check our website at www.tbe.org for the complete Synaplex schedule, along
with NEW super photos of our spectacular TBE Sukkah and mp3 files of the High
Holidays sermons.
And fill out a Bark Mitzvah “All About Me” page for your pet! Download it at http://www.tbe.org/site/sog/blessingofanimals.htm
- deadline for our Pet Pallooza booklet is Oct. 22! Thanks to Beth Boyer for sending this
amusing link along (with a local connection) to get us into the spirit of our
own Jewish Blessing of the Animals: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061006-pet-church.html?source=rss
SIMCHAT TORAH SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14th
at 7:00 p.m. and SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15th at 9:30 a.m.
Join our celebration!
This year’s Hattan Torah will be Peter
Weissman and our Kallat Bereshith
will be Joan Katz.
Send your friends and relatives the gift of Jewish awareness -- a
Shabbat-O-Gram each week, by signing them up at www.tbe.org. To be removed from
this mailing list, sent e-mail request to office@tbe.org. If you have signed
up and are not receiving our e-mails, check your spam filter to make sure that
TBE is not being “spammed out.”
Please
give generously to our High Holy Day Appeal!
Thus
far the response has far exceeded expectations –
we are most grateful to all who have given. For those who have not as of yet, please
give TBE extra consideration this year as we continue to try to bring the
spirit of excellence and warmth to our Jewish Village and to service the needs
of our congregants.
Contents
of the Shabbat O Gram:
(Click
to scroll down)
Just
the Facts (service schedule)
The (Occasionally) Ranting Rabbi
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
A Talmudic Discussion…
From When Do
Mention God’s Power in Providing Rain?
(The line that
is added to the Amida near the beginning
acknowledging that God “makes the wind to blow and the rain to
fall”)
Rabbi Eliezer says: From the first
day of the festival (Sukkot).
Rabbi Yehoshua says: “From the last day of the festival.”
Said to him Rabbi Yehoshua: “Since rain on the festival is a sign
of curse, why mention it at all?”
Replied Rabbi Eliezer: “I did
not say we should pray for rain, but rather that we proclaim that ‘He
causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall in its season.”
He answered: “If so, one should always mention
it!”
(Mishna, Ta’anit 1:1)
Friday Evening
Candle lighting: 6:00 pm on Friday, 13 October 2006. 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/
Shabbat and Festival Evening service: 7:30 PM
– in the sanctuary (note the special time) – Thanks to Jerry
and Beth Cooper for sponsoring the oneg Shabbat in
honor of Eric.
Shabbat
and Sunday Morning: 9:30 AM– on Shabbat, we celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of Eric
Cooper. Mazal tov
to him and to his parents Beth and Jerry Cooper! The service will also include a reading
of selections from the book of Ecclesiastes, Yizkor and the Prayer for Rain
(for background on this prayer, see http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=195&letter=G).
Children’s services: 10:30 AM – (jr.
congregation service in the chapel, Tot Shabbat morning downstairs. 6th
and 7th graders not on the Shabbaton are expected to be in the main
sanctuary)
Saturday evening Simhat Torah service –
7:00 PM – We honor our Yad Squad Teen Torah readers (and thanks to the
Robinov family for once again sponsoring Cantor Littman’s Yad
Squad).
BRING YOUR OWN DECORATIVE FLAGS IF YOU’VE GOT ‘EM. AND BRING YOUR
DANCING SHOESAS WELL! A GREAT TIME
WILL BE HAD BY ALL! THE FUN
CONTINUES ON SUNDAY MORNING, AS WE WILL DO OUR SEVEN HAKKAFOT A LITTLE AFTER 10
AM – MAKE SURE TO GET HERE ON TIME FOR ALL THE DANCING, WHICH, WEATHER
PERMITTING, WILL LEAD US OUT TO THE PARKING LOT AS WELL. SIMHAT TORAH IS A TIME TO DISPLAY SOME
REAL PRIDE IN BEING JEWISH AND OUR LOVE OF THE TORAH. IT IS FOR ALL AGES. HELP US TO HONOR PETER WEISSMAN AND JOAN
KATZ, WHO HAVE DONE SO MUCH FOR OUR COMMUNITY.
Torah Readings
Book of Ecclesiastes: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt3101.htm
Torah Portion: Deuteronomy
14:22 - 16:17 & Numbers 29:35 - 30:1
1: Deuteronomy 14:22-29
2: Deuteronomy 15:1-18
3: Deuteronomy 15:19-23
4: Deuteronomy 16:1-3
5: Deuteronomy 16:4-8
6: Deuteronomy 16:9-12
7: Deuteronomy 16:13-17
maf: Numbers 29:35-30:1 (6 p'sukim)
Haftarah: I
Kings 8:54 - 8:66
Erev Simchat Torah - ערב שמחת
תורה
Torah Portion: Deuteronomy
33:1 - 33:17
1: Deuteronomy 33:1-7
2: Deuteronomy 33:8-12
3: Deuteronomy 33:13-17
Torah Portion: Deuteronomy
33:1 - 34:12 & Numbers 29:35 - 30:1
1: Deuteronomy 33:1-7
2: Deuteronomy 33:8-12
3: Deuteronomy 33:13-17
4: Deuteronomy 33:18-21
5: Deuteronomy 33:22-26
6: Deuteronomy 33:27-34:12
7: Genesis 1:1-2:3
maf: Numbers 29:35-30:1 (6 p'sukim)
Haftarah: Joshua
1:1 - 1:18
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.
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!
Please sign up at the Rosner Minyan Maker at www.tbe.org (for those who have had problems,
it’s been fixed).
The
(occasionally)
We Honor Joan Katz and
Peter Weissman
We could honor no more
worthy people this weekend than Peter and Joan. On Sunday morning they will be honored
with the traditional final aliyah of the Torah cycle and then the first aliyahs
for Genesis as we begin the cycle anew. Each year we ask our Hatan Torah and Kallat Bereisheet (the Bridegroom of the Torah and Bride of
Genesis) to make a statement about their ties to TBE and the importance of
volunteering.
Here is Peter’s
Statement
My own first
association with
Later, my father was
a president of Beth El, at the time of the purchase of the land on which Beth
El now sits and he repesented the temple on the
sale of the old temple site.
I had my own bar
mitzvah in the old temple building and later, I was president of the Men's
Club during in the 60s, but my closest association with the temple was
with my son Adam. Adam loved the temple, going to high holiday
services, and going to dances and other affairs with the youth
group. I went to services and all of the affairs with him to assist with
his wheelchair, but he danced on the floor without any help from me amd after services, always went up to wish the rabbi and
cantor a Shanah Tova. His Bar Mitzvah here was one of the highlights of
his and my life.
When Adam passed away
eight years ago, I began my attendance at morning minyans and ushering at the
holidays. While these are bittersweet, they provide me with opportunities
to think of and talk to Adam as if he were still here,
and indeed, in my heart and memory, he will always be here. So I thank
Is Kissing the Torah Idolatry?
Beliefnet held a dialogue on this
week of Simhat Torah on the question of whether we have turned the Torah itself
into exactly what it is most opposed to – idolatry. Here
are three responses to this question, from Orthodox, Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbis.
Personally, I think we
should treat the Torah with utmost reverence (see the CLAL new ritual below for
carrying a Torah), and love often is best demonstrated physically. We do LOTS of kissing at services: torahs, siddurs, spouses, b’nai mitzvah, tzitzit,
mezuzuahs….we’re one of the kissingest religions around. I’d hate to see our ritual drained
of that spirit of love – on the other hand, the worship of the letter of
the law, for its own sake, as an end in itself, is idolatry in my view. The Torah is indeed sacred, but only in that it points to Something more Sacred.
What do you think?
A Slippery Slope
to Idolatry
The Torah scroll is taken
out of the ark. The rabbi walks in a procession around
the synagogue holding the Torah as congregants reach out with their tallises
(prayer shawls) or siddurim
(prayer books) to touch the scroll and then put the tallis
or the siddur to their lips, thus giving the Torah a kiss. It’s the way I’ve always seen it done, and I
never gave it much thought.
Until, that is, a couple of years ago when a non-Jewish congregant expressed
confusion and distaste about the tradition. An avid
student of Judaism who was committed to raising her children Jewish, she
explained that she had always appreciated Judaism’s absolute refusal to
worship objects, a check against idolatry.
But wasn’t kissing the Torah just that, an idolatrous act? I gave an answer about how kissing the Torah was simply a
way of showing respect, but I wasn’t entirely convinced–and I still
am not.
The fact is, kissing the Torah as it is carried through the congregation does
look a lot like practices in other religions that seem idolatrous to Jewish
eyes, such as placing food before statues or venerating icons.
When do you cross the line from respect to honor to veneration to
worship?
The fact is, many traditions have entered Judaism as folk practices,
discouraged or denounced by rabbinic authorities–from lighting Hanukkah
candles to the Kol Nidrei prayer. Perhaps
kissing the Torah found its way into our practice as a folk tradition–a
tradition of the people. It's a physical way of
showing reverence and awe, but one not necessarily based on the bedrock Jewish
principle of rejecting idolatry. Interestingly, many
traditional authorities are troubled by the same concerns and proscribe kissing
the Torah, or wish to see the practice limited to young children.
Of course we want to honor the Torah for the sacred texts it contains,
including God’s name. At the same time, it is
vital to remember that the holiness we cherish lies in the content–the
wisdom, the stories, the laws–and not in the vessel.
I still reach out my tallis to touch
the Torah and kiss it but, thanks to my congregant, it is now accompanied by a
conscious reminder to myself of just how easy it could
be to slip into idolatry.
Of Love and
Torah
I don’t share Rabbi
Waxman’s ambivalence about whether kissing the Torah smacks of the
very idolatry Judaism has always been so vigilant against. I
think of it more like kissing a love letter: a physical expression of a passion
for the writer, in this case God.
Idolatry
is when something takes the place of God as Number One on our priority list. We may have many idolatrous relationships in our lives:
with our credit cards, our stock portfolios, our jobs, our looks, our
electronic toys, all sorts of things we give higher priority to in our lives
than to God. But when we show reverence
for the Torah, we are directing our attention to the One who is the reason
why we are here as Jews in the first place.
That is why kissing the Torah is not idolatry in my book: because the Torah is
not a substitute for God. It is what God has left us
with. Therefore, it represents the closest most of us
can come to “hearing” God’s voice in our lives.
If you have ever lost a loved one, you may know what I mean. There
is power in my holding the sweater my late mother wore and breathing in her
perfume one more time, or seeing her handwriting on a letter she sent me. Touching these things brings her closer to me. L’havdil (to make a
distinction), this is how kissing and hugging the Torah works for me: it is an
expression of my love for God. All we can do is hold
what God has left us, this Scroll with its ancient words, dressed in a way that
shows our respect and reverence. That is also why
hugging the Torah and dancing with it this weekend on Simhat Torah
is such an act of true spirituality and piety.
Perhaps we would be a stronger Jewish community if more of us made an effort to
leave our credit cards and computers alone one day of the week and made more of
an effort to kiss the Torah more regularly.
C'mon, Get Real
Idolatry
as “Bad habits,” “addictions,” “kissing Torah
scrolls”: Weren’t these the kind of things pulpit rabbis spoke
about in the 1950s on Shabbat when they couldn’t think of anything else
to talk about?
Both Rabbi
Waxman and Rabbi
Grossman fail to address the searing social and religious issues regarding
idolatry and Torah today.
As I have written elsewhere,
the issue of idolatry is at the center of what some have called the clash of
civilizations. If we look back and remember the first
time most of us heard about the Taliban, it was not on Sept. 12, 2001, but a
few months before that, in March 2001, when they decided to blow up ancient
statues of the Buddha, claiming that the images where idolatrous.
Truth be told, the greatest idolatry being perpetrated today is by those who
have substituted finite religious text for an infinite God. The
extreme elements within Islam and Christianity (and some religious Zionists in
God’s fixed word has in some sense taken the place of God’s
infinite being. Idolatry is when one confuses a
partial truth for a whole truth, or when one makes a relative into an absolute. As the 18th-century thinker Moses
Mendelssohn argued in his book, "Jerusalem,"
God gave Judaism an oral law in order to act as bulwark against the idolatry of
text. What these groups fail to realize is the
ultimate infinity of God’s being. The struggle
each of us engages in every day is keeping that infinity present.
These radical elements of religion, especially in Islam, wish to engender an
absolute rule over all of humanity, forcing all to obey their reading of sacred
text. This tyranny has now moved beyond politics and
is infecting culture.
Whether it's Muslim cab drivers
in Minnesota who refuse to take passengers carrying liquor, or Muslims in
What is most ironic is that it is those who are screaming against idolatry are
its greatest practitioners. What is child sacrifice if
not a suicide bomber?
In Judaism, the term for idolatry is avodah
zarah, which literally means a strange worship of
God. It does not mean a denial of God, but rather
serving God in an abnormal way. In other words,
although one's intention may have a grain of truth, the mode of practice is all
wrong and confused.
What all idolaters have in common is that they are religiously intoxicated
human beings. They want to become closer to God; unfortunately what they forget is that they, like all of us,
will never truly know God.
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunties
Congregant
Seeks Sitter
The Annulli
family of our congregation is seeking a babysitter, preferably someone who can
drive,
Definitely
non-smoking. For more
information, contact Richard Annuli directly, at mrdrannulli2@yahoo.com
Beth El Cares
Cathy Satz (968-9191; csscounsel@yahoo.com)Cheryl Wolff (968-6361; cwolff@optonline.net)BETH EL CARES co-chairs
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Habitat
for Humanity is recruiting volunteers to assist with the planning and building
of 6 to 9 housing units on West Main Street in Stamford (near the Kentucky
Fried Chicken). The actual timing of the building
depends on site plan and other approvals, but the ceremonial ground
breaking should take place in October 2006. Please contact bknebal@habitatcfc.org if
you want to help in any way. Assistance is needed now
in the formation stages, as well as later with the building. Bob
Knebel, CEO, can tell you what jobs are available.
LOCKS OF LOVE HAIR DONATIONS CONTINUED
Any
one wishing to donate 10 or more inches of hair to Locks of Love can contact
Cathy or Cheryl for more information on how to donate and how to get your
before and after photo on the TBE web sit
Cheryl
Wolff
Cathy
Satz
What
is “Flexidox?”
(from the Forward)
Old
Labels Feel Stiff for ‘Flexidox’
When I was growing up, in the Conservative movement, Jews
were defined by the synagogues they attended, and the movements to which they
belonged. We were all Jews, to be sure, but that bond
was less strong than the loyalties of denomination. We
were the USY team; they were the NFTY team. (I grew up
in central
Now, as studies have shown, all that is changing, at least
for younger Jews in metropolitan centers like
Some of these Jews say: Call us flexidox. What does that mean?
“Orthodox in spirit and flexible in practice,”
says one self-identified flexidox Jew.
“More concerned for the spirit than the letter of the
law,” offers another.
“Culturally Orthodox,”
according to a third.
By those definitions, there have been millions of flexidox Jews over the centuries. But
there is more to the story than that — there’s something new, and
interesting, going on here. Flexidoxy
is a kind of anti-label, a postmodern category that simultaneously mirrors and
subverts the usual structures of Jewish ideology. It
is both very old and very new, questioning the denominational structure of
mainstream Judaism.
The first known use of the word “flexidoxy”
was in 2003 by Rabbi Gershon Winkler, who called it a
corrective to Orthodoxy, “reflecting its original intent and spirit as
opposed to its otherwise superficial extremities.” For
Winkler, whose own journey from ultra-Orthodoxy to flexidoxy
was described in his memoir “Travels with the Evil Inclination”
(North Atlantic Books, 2004), flexidoxy is the belief
“that you can do Jewish right by following the forms of Judaism” as
traditionally understood, or by following different forms, such as “the
fledgling version of it offered by those Hebrews who preceded Moses.”
As is often the case with neologisms, however, the term
eventually came to mean something different — and less radical. Esther Kustanowitz, a columnist
who writes frequently on the Jewish community, says that
“a lot of flexidox Jews are people who would
otherwise be called Conservadox, but they don’t
like the ‘Conserva’ part since it’s
an ideology that they may find distasteful.”
The flexidox Jews I spoke to
agreed. Yocheved Amrami, for example, grew up within the Chabad-Lubavitch
world but now says “flexidoxy feels appropriate
to where I am in my yiddishkeit.”
She demurred from the “Conservadox”
label. “I am Orthodox and feel deeply committed
to tradition and remaining in a relationship with it,” she said,
“but I don’t want its laws and rules to dictate my life.”
This is where flexidoxy becomes
more interesting. How could you possibly have
Orthodoxy without all the laws and rules? And
what’s the difference between that and, say, Conservative Judaism?
For Amrami, the difference is in
ideology — or the lack thereof.
“Conservative Jews spend most of their time
rationalizing why they are right, or why the law has been read wrong. I’m more interested in valuing my tradition, and my
Orthodox upbringing, moving it forward and making it work for me. It’s Orthodoxy without the guilt.”
This is why I find the term appealing myself. Unlike Amrami, I did not come
from an Orthodox background. But I became disenchanted
with the Conservative movement as soon as I started getting interested in
Judaism. When, as a teenager, I sought a community of
Conservative, commandment-keeping Jews, I found it just didn’t exist, at
least not where I grew up. Conservative Judaism felt
like a salad bar, all about picking and choosing — and most just chose to
leave.
So I left too, taking on Orthodox halachic
practice in my 20s. I liked that it worked as a
system, and that it was “trans-subjective” — that it
contained my preferences, rather than catered to them, hearkening back to an
imperative that transcended humanity. Most of all, it
was coherent, and it worked. The people at synagogue
cared more, and the people at my Shabbat dinner table sang more. They even knew the words by heart.
But I never bought into Orthodox ideology, or how I had to
either pretend that biblical criticism, astronomy and evolution didn’t
exist, or somehow “interpret” the Torah in order to make room for
them. And gradually, I came to see that Orthodox
values weren’t “trans-subjective” — they were just the
results of other people’s subjectivity. And
those people had no understanding of my life, my spirituality or my sexuality,
and didn’t want to gain any.
At the same time, the Conservative movement, with its
countless social structures, rationalizations, and, at times, equally obtuse
ideologies, didn’t feel like home either. I have
more in common with meditating Reform Jews, spiritual Hasidim and committed Reconstructionists than with mainline,
rattle-your-jewelry-on-Rosh-Hashanah Conservative and Orthodox Jews. Where do Jews like me fit into the spectrum of movements
and denominations?
Flexidoxy is a rejection of the spectrum itself. If
we imagine the continuum of Jewish denominations as a horizontal line from left
to right, then flexidoxy falls not on a particular
place on the line, but on a different vertical plane entirely, where the
importance of ideology itself is questioned. Yosef Goldman, whose religious journey has taken him from
Modern Orthodoxy to “centrist, rigorous Orthodoxy” to the liberal
Orthodox rabbinical program at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and finally to a self-admitted flexidox practice, argues that flexidoxy
is a “postmodern label” that is intentionally self-contradictory. “On the one hand, it says I’m sort of Orthodox
but flexible, but on the other it says that my beliefs are flexible —
which is healthy but it does question whether there is Truth with a capital T,
which is the essence of Orthodox belief.”
In other words, flexidox Jews have
practice, but not theory. Flexidoxy
is defined by its refusal to defend itself or invent rationales to justify this
or that deviation from traditional religious practice. In
contrast, say, to the Conservative Jew who says that ancient religious law
evolves, or the Reform Jew who says it is irrelevant, the flexidox
Jew takes no position on what Jewish law actually is — only on how he or
she interacts with it. “What has been so
liberating about being in this flexidox place is the
intimacy of the relationship,” Amrami says. “There are no set rules, no survival guide of how-to
or how-not-to — it’s about being in relationship to my own spirit,
my own relationship to God and our world.”
Of course, it’s hard to imagine such an anti-ideology
turning into an organized movement like the major denominations of Judaism. But, Kustanowitz says, “it
is definitely growing — at least in
Naturally, flexidoxy and its
adherents have come under fire from more traditional quarters.
On a recent conversation on a prominent Jewish blog,
one writer accused flexidox Jews of simply wanting
“the benefits of an Orthodox lifestyle and the Orthodox community,
without any of the burdens of not being able to do you want, when you want to.” Another said the term applied to “Jews on the
Goldman, like Winkler, said that flexidoxy
is actually a much-needed corrective: “Once an orthodoxy is formed,
rigidity is built into the system. Anyone who knows
history knows that Jewish Orthodoxy is under 200 years old, and is in some ways
a radical movement that is defined in opposition to the Reform. It embraces rigidity and is almost ossified by definition.” Goldman says that as a student, the clarity of
Orthodoxy appealed to him (“the concept of hypocrisy was big for
me”), but after a “feminist crisis” in his 20s, “the
paradigms of Orthodoxy as I was interacting with it were not working anymore.” At the same time, he didn’t want another
Orthodoxy, another movement. “The idea of
labeling and adhering to labels just doesn’t appeal to me,” he
said.
So, do I qualify as flexidox? Like Goldman, who stressed that “where I’m at
is not an ideal,” I don’t defend my practice or try to make it fit
an ideology — two key indicators of flexidoxy. I understand that I’m on a slippery slope, but
I’ve found a home there. And the “salad
bar” of religious observance that I’d much derided when I was
younger — I’ve found it’s not so bad, as long as the values
guiding me weren’t mere preferences but were instead grounded in sincere
intention and introspection.
Sincerity really is the key. Kustanowitz jokingly defined flexidoxy
as “shomer shabbes
except for during the Final Four.” But the
distinction between flexidoxy and laziness is
sincerity. Jews have been finding ways to watch
basketball on yom tov for a long, long time. There’s nothing new there. But
if flexidox Jews are for real, if they are, in Amrami’s words, “honestly seeking our own
unique relationship to God, spirituality and our roots,” and if they are
doing so in a way that does not fit the denominational structure that Ashkenazic Jewry has propounded over the last two
centuries, then there might be something new — even important.
Jay Michaelson teaches Zohar at the JCC of
Fri. Oct 13, 2006
AND, AS WE PREPARE TO PRAY FOR
RAIN TOMORROW…
TEFILLAT GESHEM – THE MISSING VERSES
By: Karen Hayworth Hainbach
REMEMBER SARAH
Lively, lovely eyes, clear as aqua water
Amid two harems, she stayed pure as water
She greeted passers-by with food and water
Her laughter bubbled as a spring of water
Congregation: For Sarah’s sake, send water!
REMEMBER RIVKA
She kindly sated man and beast with water
Guided by faith elemental as water,
She transposed twins, at odds as oil and water,
Switching Isaac’s blessing, precious as water
Congregation: For Rivka’s sake, bless us with water!
REMEMBER LEAH
Spurned, soft eyes burned by tears like salty water,
Sustained by faith deep as a well of water,
Fertile as a field, surfeited with water,
She praised God, thanks overflowing like water
Congregation: For Leah’s sake, favor us with water!
REMEMBER RACHEL
She met her husband by a well of water
He yearned for her as sabras thirst for water
Her children exiled to
Her tears cascaded as a fall of water
Congregation: For Rachel’s sake, comfort us with water!
REMEMBER MIRYAM
Miryam the Prophet, named for bitter water,
Protected Moses’ basket in the water
Timbrel in hand, she danced beside the water
In her merit, you sent the well of water
Congregation: For Miryam’s sake, provide
us with water!
REMEMBER THE DAUGHTERS OF
They shunned the Calf - their virtue shone like water;
Gave copper mirrors, reflective as water,
To fashion the Mishkan’s laver of water;
And monthly dunked in mikvas’ cleansing water
Congregation: For their sake, shower us with water!
November 2004
For those who read
Hebrew, here’s a very creative egalitarian version written by my Israeli
colleague, Gil Nativ: http://www.bmv.org.il/ab/geshem.pdf. And another one
in Englsih can be found at http://www.tor-ch.org/geshem96.html
CLAL
Ritual Life This Week: Dancing with the Torah
By CLAL Faculty
"There is a
tradition that if the Torah is dropped, the one responsible must fast for 40
days. In other words, the Torah makes for a difficult
dance partner, particularly on Simchat Torah, when we hold onto the Torah
with all our strength, as we whirl, twirl and spin around. Dancing
with the Torah is like dancing with your newborn children and your parents at
the same time. Like a newborn, we dress the Torah and
cradle it, kiss it, and protect it. Like a parent, we
respect the Torah, challenge it, and learn from its words.
MEDITATION
I embrace this Torah in my arms, and the Torah embraces me. Together,
we dance.
RITUAL
Hold on to the Torah, placing one hand underneath it and on its handles, and
the other around its waist. Lean it to your left side,
over your heart. Then dance! There
are no right or wrong steps, only steps of joy. Even
standing still with the Torah in your arms is a "Torah dance!" When it is time to pass on the Torah scroll, seek
someone who may not yet have had the opportunity to dance with the Torah-on
this day, or ever in their lives.
BLESSING
(As you are given a Torah scroll to hold, or as you enter into the circle of
dancers)
Blessed is the Holy One who gives us the gift of Torah.
TEACHING
And Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand,
and all the women went out after her with tambourines and all the women danced. (Exodus 15:20) Singers and dancers alike will say:
"All my roots are in You." (Psalms
87:7) Praise God's name in dance. (Psalms
149:3) And father, always so quiet, so calm, moves from his place, makes
his way toward the dancing men, and falls into the whirling ring. The chain of people gives a tug and swallows him…. From the corner I watch father. I
look for him among the dancers. There is his head,
slightly bent to one side, his eyes lowered, his long beard afloat. There he is, whirling as in a sweet dream, his whole body
melting with pleasure. (Bella Chagall, Burning
Lights) Simchat Torah is intended to be crowded, so use a
space that is a bit too small...so that people can crowd in and be intimate and
close, and so the music is loud and strong…. (Sarah
Shendelman and Avram Davis,
Traditions)
Let’s
begin with GOOD NEWS from
Israel Discovers Oil Near Dead Sea - Ramit Plushnick-Masti
An Israeli company has discovered a small amount of oil at a drilling site near
the
Tannenbaum said the reserve could hold up to $300
million worth of oil, or 6 million barrels. (New
York Sun)
Foreign
Investment in Israel at Record Levels - Zeev
Klein (Globes)
Foreign investment in
At the current rate, foreign investment
in
Hebrew U. First Among Universities Outside the U.S. and Britain for
Registering Biotechnology Patents - Dudi Goldman
(Ynet News)
The Hebrew University in Jerusalem ranked 12th in the world for
the number and quality of patents it registered during the year 2005 in the
field of biotechnology.
This puts
The study, published by the Milken Institute in
Having
a Baby with a Government's Blessing, In-Vitro Pregnancies Boom in Israel - Carolynne Wheeler (Globe and Mail-Canada)
Israel is home to one of the world's most aggressive,
state-supported fertility drives, spurred in equal parts by biblical calls to
reproduce and the demographic realities brought on by a country trying to prop
up its birthrate against a booming and sometimes hostile population next door.
Every Israeli woman, regardless of
marital status, is entitled to have two children through in-vitro
fertilization, no matter how many courses of treatment it takes, and
Profiles | Israeli
author Etgar Keret explores
the human condition
Etgar Keret is one of
Technology | Make
way for Israel's next-generation video content
Seven of Israel's most prestigious companies in the video infrastructure and
applications delivery field have joined forces to create a new paradigm for
viewing video content. Their goal? To
enable individuals to view video content of their preference, any time, anywhere,
on their device of choice, without any kind of hitch. The
three-year NeGeV project, which is expected to cost
$20 million, aims to tackle and solve a range of thorny technical,
architectural, sociological and even psychological issues that surround the
adoption of this new TV and video technology. Listen to podcast here. More...
Culture | For
Israel's Agam, it's all about visual thinking
For over 30 years, world-renowned Israeli artist and sculptor, Yaacov Agam has been urging
educational boards to teach children visual cognition and creativity. Now a course he developed in the 1980s - the Agam Visual Cognition Program - has been introduced to
Israeli pre-schools and the results are phenomenal. Children
who participate in the program significantly outperform those that have not
taken part in visual cognitive tasks. Earlier studies
also suggest that children who participate in the program perform better on
most visual memory tasks, score higher in fine-motor skills and in tasks
related to mathematical readiness. More...
now for the rest
Prime source: Daily Alert of the
See also http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.672581/k.CB99/Home.htm
Law Committee Decision
(from the USCJ)
As the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards decides the halakhic
status of gay men and lesbians, the United Synagogue offers education on the
issue. There are links available on our homepage, at
the top of the bulletin board; click here for a
story on the issue.
Sharpton, Lieberman Exchange Barbs (the Forward)
Israeli
Leadership Briefed on Iranian Nuclear Threat - Ronny Sofer
At a meeting convened by Prime Minister Olmert
Thursday, heads of the secret services presented briefings on the Iranian issue
with estimates that
EU
Aid to PA Expands to $816 Million
The EU said Wednesday it was giving $816 million in aid to benefit 160,000
Palestinian families this year in a program that bypasses the Hamas-led
government. The fund offers a $339 monthly allowance
to poorer Palestinian families, pensioners, and civic workers whose paychecks
disappeared when international donors halted direct aid payments after the
militant Hamas group won Palestinian elections. "Despite
direct aid to the Palestinian Authority having been suspended...the EU's contribution remains high, higher than in an average
year," EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin said. "We are talking about quite a large amount of money." (AP/Jerusalem Post)
Israel Hits Hamas Rocket
Crew in Gaza - Amos Harel
An
Global
Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of
What to Do About Iran - Bruce Berkowitz
News of
We need to focus more on deterring
Is Israel in
America's Interest? - Martin
Kramer
In contrast, the problems the
Still
a Strategic Asset for the U.S. -
Efraim Inbar
The American military uses Israeli
training installations and has continuous access to Israeli intelligence,
military experience, and doctrine. Similarly, the
greater American effort to defend its homeland from terrorist threats has
intensified
Palestinians
Invite Disaster, Yet Again -
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Anyone with even an iota of sense would take one look at the loss of Lebanese
life and property caused by Hizballah's war on
Legal
Expert: Israel Justified in Self-Defense - Sarah Dajani
When
Will EU Shun Hizballah Terrorists? - Aaron Resnick
As countries join the UN mission meant to bolster the cease-fire in south
Weekend Features
German Turk Takes on
Anti-Semitic Islamic Propaganda
- Ofri Ilani
Aycan Demirel, 38,
emigrated from
Movie Review: Survivors
of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - Vered Levy-Barzilai
On May 10, 1943, three weeks after the outbreak of the revolt, next to 22 Prosta Street in Warsaw, dozens of people emerged from a
sewer main, their clothes tattered, their bodies emaciated and stinking, and
staggered over to a truck. Dozens of fighters who came
out of the sewer were saved. "Hamordim
ha'ahronim" ("The Last Fighters"), a
documentary by Yael Kipper-Zaretzky
and Ronen Zaretzky, which
premiered at the Haifa Film Festival, tells the story of the group's heroic
struggle through the words of six survivors. They are
lucid and articulate. In meetings with the members of
the group, it takes only a moment to bring them back "there": The
truth is that they never really left. Their dead walk
among them in colors as bold and prominent as in life, perhaps even more so. (Ha'aretz)
See also Deconstructing
Memory and History: The Jewish Military Union (ZZW) and the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising - Dariusz Libionka
and Laurence Weinbaum
The Warsaw Ghetto uprising remains one of the best-known chapters of the Shoah, and the heroism of the insurgents continues to
inspire. However, scholarly treatment of the Jewish
Military
Startling Revelations
from on High - Ross Culiner
A helicopter flight over
When
Disease Can Heal - Marian Lacy
It's surprising, and a little morbid, that peaceful and thorough coexistence in
Israel takes place where death is often near - in the internal medicine ward
where I work. As my first day wore on, I realized that
our patients are Christian Arabs and Muslim Arabs, Jews, immigrants from the
former
Observations:
Hizballah Will Rebuild Unless Borders Enforced - Tom Lantos (Forward)
- Last week, by a vote of 411 to 5, the
House of Representatives passed my resolution stating that
- The Lebanese government fully
understands that the flow of weapons from
- Hizballah's missiles and other major weapons come
from Syria and Iran, and virtually all of them are smuggled in via
Rep. Tom Lantos of
Behind the
Hamas-Fatah Skirmishing - Ehud Yaari
(Jerusalem Report/Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
- An unprecedented arms-acquisition
effort is underway in
- It is only a matter of time before
they also get shoulder-launched anti-aircraft rockets and third generation
anti-tank missiles, like the Russian Koronet. Such weaponry will enable the terrorists to
effectively target vehicles and structures 3-4 kms. inside
- The Israeli government will have to
decide sooner rather than later whether to implement the recommendation of
the army and the security services to retake the area along the border
between the PA and
- Fatah is not on the way back to power. Hamas is gradually penetrating the security
apparatuses which are rapidly ceasing to function in the West Bank, while
in
Support our
Our featured
item:
The Sisterhood
Cookbook
Delicious
Recipes! Kosher! Family Favorites!
Already a TBE Best Seller!
Are you going to a party? Some
suggestions for hostess gifts: Wine bottle or wine glass coasters,
small jeweled boxes, pretty serving dishes, decorative dreidels...
REMEMBER, EVERYTHING IS DISCOUNTED 20% OFF RETAIL PRICES!!!
Hours:
Sunday, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon and Tuesday & Thursday, 4:00 p.m. -
6:00 p.m.
For an appointment, please call Mia Weinstein at
595-0528.
Mazal tov to Peter Weissman, our Hattan Torah and Joan Katz, our Kallat Breisheet, who are being honored on Simhat Torah morning with the special aliyahs for their tireless volunteer efforts on behalf of the congregation!
ADULT EDUCATION:
“Judaism
for Everyone,” “Bima 101,” Hebrew classes, Israeli Movie
Nights, Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class, “The Many Dimensions of Jewish
Prayer,” Synaplex Shabbats, Hoffman Lecture, Scholars-in-Residence,
Jewish Ethics discussion groups and more.
Check out Beth El’s new adult ed
brochure, downloadable in pdf from the TBE website, www.tbe.org.
Beth El Seniors Luncheon
Sunday Oct. 22 @ 12:30
Lunch will be catered by DANA,
TBE’s own future Emeril and featuring menus from the Sisterhood cookbook.
$10 per person
RSVP by October 18th to 322-6901 X300
Please contact Cantor
Littman if you are interested in singing with our Adult Choir. The Adult
Choir is not JUST for the High Holy Days.
We continue to learn music together, develop our voices, and plan for
future performances.
Attention students
from 3rd – 12th grade: Cantor Littman will
soon be holding auditions for TBE’s Youth
Choir. Anyone interested please
contact the Cantor, 322-6901, ext. 303 or cantor@tbe.org.
COLLEGE STUDENTS! Rabbi Hammerman would like to keep in touch with you throughout
the school year. Please send your
e-mail address to office@tbe.org to be
included in his college list.
What is
Synaplex?
Synaplex™
is a way to celebrate simultaneously the many authentic expressions of Judaism
- learning, culture and gathering as well as prayer. Jews have a multitude of ways to
participate in Judaism and Jewish life; Synaplex™ brings them together in
Jewish "prime time," that is, in the synagogue on Shabbat.
Grand Opening:
Oct. 27-28
SHABBAT UNPLUGGED
and
Storahtelling promotes Jewish cultural literacy through original
theatrical performances and educational programs for multi-generational
audiences. Using twenty-first century performance art
techniques, Storahtelling brings personal contemporary meaning to 5,000 years
of Jewish tradition.
Touring across the country and internationally, Storahtelling has established
itself as a "trailblazer of the Jewish World" (B'nai B'rith Magazine) promoting "reverence and
relevance" (The Washington Post). Performances
have been presented at hundreds of venues and enjoyed by thousands, as we are
continually presenting a wide array of provocative and innovative programs to a
new generation of Jews seeking content and continuity on their own terms.
Founded in 1998 by Amichai Lau-Lavie,
Storahtelling is now in its eighth year of operations, celebrating ancient
ceremonies in modern garb: deep inside tradition, way outside the box.
For the portion of Noah
In the beginning, there was only one language.
Then the tallest tower toppled, and
translation was born.
Join the Storahtellers as they present a
ritual performance of Torah portion Noah complete with traditional Hebrew
chanting, dramatized English translation, live original music and audience
interaction.
And Pet Pallooza:
Fill out a Bark Mitzvah “All About Me” page
for your pet! Download it at http://www.tbe.org/site/sog/blessingofanimals.htm
Here’s the schedule for the first Synaplex Shabbat
Fri. Oct. 27, 2006
7:30 pm - Tot Shabbat with Nurit Avigdor
Shabbat Unplugged with Cantor Littman
Candlelight Oneg and “Rebbe’s
Tish”
Sat. Oct. 28, 2006
9:00 am - Continental Breakfast,
Body-Mind-Spirit Bike Ride, led by Cantor
Littman and Matt Kasindorf
Kabbalistic Yoga (@ 8:45) with Raema Salmon
and Jackie Tepper
Study Session with Rabbi Hammerman on
Heschel’s “The Sabbath”
10:00 am - Choose from our Shabbat Morning
Service Options:
Traditional Service (@ 9:45), including
Hazzan Rabinowitz
Meditative Service led by Dan Klipper,
Tot Shabbat Morning with Nurit,
Teen Service, run by our teens and assisted
by Youth Advisor Edoe Cohen,
Family Learner’s Service, led by
Rabbi Hammerman.
Followed By A Short Kiddush.
11:20 am - We
present STORAHTELLING, including the celebration of an UFRUF!
Followed by 12:30 Luncheon
1:30 pm – Speakers and Activities
Your choice:
Workshop: “Backstage with
Storahtelling,”
Go backstage and between the lines with the
Storahtellers to learn the art of ritual theater and Torah commentary
“Communicating with your Pet,”
with Dr. Herb Nieburg,
Family Communication Workshop with Mara
Hammerman and Elissa Stein
Especially for the AARP Generation:
“Communication about Medication:
Dealing with Doctors and Drugs,” with Bob Katz
Israeli Dancing for Kids w/ Shmulik,
2:30 pm – Fun Activities
Your choice:
“Backstage with Storahtelling”
continues (optional)
Family Scavenger Hunt,
“Rose-ner Bowl” Touch Football
Game,
Israeli Dancing for Grown-Ups with Shmulik,
Afterwards you can hang around or go home to bring back your family
pet/pets for our…
3:30 pm – Pet Pallooza (Pet Show and
Blessing over the Animals) @ the Hammermans’ front lawn
Evening: USY Teen Movie Night
We
thank all our sponsors and supporters, including Jackie Tepper and David
Robinov, and Greg and Benjy, who are sponsoring this month’s Shabbat
Unplugged, in honor of David and Benjy’s birthdays. We also thank Gary Gladstein in
particular for his support of Synaplex and wish him Mazal Tov on the ufruf of
Jeff Gladstein and Theresa Eickman on Synaplex Shabbat. And we thank
all our volunteers and participants as well!
And save the following dates
as well…
SYNAPLEX at TBE
5767
Friday and Sat.,
October 27-28
GRAND OPENING
Synaplex Shabbat
Featuring Cantor
Littman’s fantastic Shabbat Unplugged, Rebbe’s Tish,
Kabbalistic Yoga,
Meditative Service, Learner’s Service,
STORAHTELLING,
ritual theater and improv,
Children’s
and teen programs,
Israeli Dancing
with Shmulik,
Stimulating
Lectures for all age groups,
The Rose-ner Bowl Football Game
And TBE Pet
Pallooza
Friday, December 8
- Synaplex Shabbat
Exotic
multi-cultural Shabbat dinner celebrating the new Sisterhood Cookbook,
New Member Shabbat,
December Dilemma, Themes: Diversity and Hospitality
Friday and Sat.
January 19 and 20 - Synaplex Shabbat/Shabbat Unplugged
Scholar in
Residence Dr. Benjamin Gampel
Fri and Sat.
February 9 and 10 - Synaplex Shabbat
Sisterhood Shabbat
Scholar in
Residence, Rabbi Burt Visotzky
Havdalah
Unplugged
Friday March 9 -
Synaplex Shabbat, Shabbat Unplugged,
Shabbat, April 7
– Beth El Cares Synaplex Shabbat - Passover
Friday May 3 - Synaplex
Shabbat/Shabbat Across
Friday, May 10
– Synaplex Shabbat/Shabbat Unplugged
Shabbat, June 23
-Synaplex Shabbat, adult b’nai mitzvah
Download a volunteer form at
http://www.tbe.org/site/sog/SynaplexVolunteerPackage.htm
or Click
here for the Volunteer Form
contact our Synaplex committee at
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
Judaism: The
Miniseries
What
are the events in the Jewish life cycle?
What do the Jewish holidays really mean? If you are an interfaith couple and
these questions have come up in discussion or
you’ve thought about them, this
four-part seminar is for you.
Please join Elise Klein, Director of the
BRIDGES Program, Rabbi Phil Schechter of the
Fellowship for Jewish Learning and Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El, as
together,
we explore the Jewish life cycle. Bring your curiosity and your questions!
2006 Schedule & Locations
October 18: A Hands-on Exploration of Sukkot and
Simchat Torah
November 15: From Birth to Eternity - The Jewish Life
Cycle
December 13: What Jews Believe (. . . some
don’t)
To register or for more information,
please contact Elise Klein at bridgesujf@aol.com or call
203-321-1373 x112
THE INTERFAITH COUNCIL
OF
and
The Interfaith Advisory Committee of
THE CENTER FOR JUDAIC & MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES
at UConn,
invite you to a discussion on
TORTURE IN AN AGE OF TERRORISM:
The Struggle to Maintain Human Rights
Thursday, October 19, 2006
At the General Auditorium at UConn,
Moderator:
Publisher,
The
Discussants:
Michael Posner
President, Human Rights First
“Detention, Interrogation and Judicial Process:
A Human Rights Perspective”
Specialist Tony Lagouranis
(Ret.)
U.S. Army interrogator from 2001-2005
“The Moral
and Practical Choices: A Military Perspective”
President,
The InterFaith Council of
“Keeping One’s
Soul in an Age of Terrorism”
Q&A Session to Follow · REFRESHMENTS
You are
cordially invited to Temple Beth El’s Annual Sisterhood
Paid Up
Membership Brunch
Featuring:
Mrs. Diane
Ferber-Collins
Diane Ferber-Collins has an MBA in Marketing and is
completing her Masters in School Psychology.
Finding herself at home and noticing that there were many objects in her
home that she was not using/did not need/never opened, she began her EBAY
garage sale odyssey. Today, Diane has experience with
what sells easily, will attract bidders, and insider tips to share. She has taught an Ebay
course to adults in the Darien Continuing Education Program for several years,
and brings that content to Beth El.
Also Featuring:
Brunch food from Temple Beth El’s own cookbook.
Where:
Time: 10:00 a.m. –
12:00 p.m.
Learning and Latte at Borders
featuring Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Rev. Douglas McArthur and Dr. Behjat Syed
This year’s topic:
“Moral Dilemmas for a World in Crisis”
Join us as we engage in friendly dialogue about some of the hot-button issues of the day.
Meets on the second Tuesday of each month (except November), from 7:30-8:30 PM, October-May
Topics (subject to last-minute adjustment to keep up with the headlines)
Nov. 21 – Can an enemy become a friend? When is forgiveness possible? To what ends must we go to achieve peace? What does it mean to love your neighbor?
Dec. 12 – What comes first, loyalty to one’s country, or loyalty to one’s faith?
Jan. 9 – When does life begin and what happens to the soul after life ends?
Feb. 13 - Can other religions be “true?” How can pluralism work for the believer?
March 13 – Is sexuality good, evil or neither? What are the worst “sins” for our traditions?
April 10 – What are different ways of imagining God in our traditions? How does God show love?
May 8 – What is the future of religion in
Join Us to Learn
“How To Maximize Your Financial Future
and Optimize Your Investments in Roller Coaster Times”
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
7:15 – 9:00pm (Dessert served)
At Congregational Agudath Sholom,
RSVP:
(203) 321-1380 X 111
Featured Speaker: Bill Laws., CFP, Regional Planning Consultant
Fidelity Investments,
Joel A. Feerst, Esq., Executive Director,
Jewish Community Endowment Foundation.
Jewish Community Endowment Foundation
Check out the photos of our recent car wash and barbecue
programs at www.tbe.org!
A young woman brings home her fiance to meet her parents. After
dinner, her mother tells her father to find out about the young
man.
The father invites the fiance to his study for a
drink. "So what
are your plans?" the father asks the young man.
"I am a Torah scholar," he replies.
"A Torah scholar. Hmmm," the father says. "Admirable, but what
will you do to provide a nice house for my daughter to live in, as she's
accustomed to?"
"I will study," the young man replies, "and God will provide for
us."
"And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she
deserves?" asks the father.
"I will concentrate on my studies," the young man replies, "God
will provide for us."
"And children?" asks the father. "How
will you support children?"
"Don't worry, sir, God will provide," replies the fiancee.
The conversation proceeds like this, and each time the father questions,
the young idealist insists that God will provide.
Later, the mother asks, "How did it go, Honey?"
The father answers, "He has no job and no plans, but the good news
is he thinks I'm God
Previous Shabbat-O-Grams can be accessed directly from our web site
(www.tbe.org)
To be removed from this mailing list, send an e-mail request
to office@tbe.org